Summary

04 Editorial
06 Pan shot
20 Can Fibre Channel can be a thing of the past?
24 RAI, interview with Stefano Ciccotti (CTO)
36 Current status of audiovisual systems integration
40 AVI Systems
48 BIS B.V.
58 Diversified
66 Human Circuit
74 BVE 2018 preview
78 Multislider by Waterbird
86 UHD, much more than 4K - HDR and Standards
94 Test Area: Chrosziel Zoom servo CDM-MK-Z

Editor in chief Creative Direction TM Broadcast International

Javier de Martín Mercedes González #55 March 2018
editor@tmbroadcast.com design@tmbroadcast.com

International Account TM Broadcast International is a

Director
Cristina Feduchi
international@tmbroadcast.com
Key account manager
Beatriz Calvo
b.calvo@tmbroadcast.com
Editorial staff magazine published by Daró
Daniel Esparza Media Group SL
press@tmbroadcast.com Centro Empresarial Tartessos
Calle Pollensa 2, oficina 14
28290 Las Rozas (Madrid), Spain
Administration Phone +34 91 640 46 43
Laura de Diego
administration@tmbroadcast.com Published in Spain
 Editorial
A few weeks ago, news of exceptional relevance to our industry reached this
editorial office: the acquisition of SAM by the Belden Group, owner of the Grass
Valley brand. A spokesman for the latter confirmed that they would not make any
official announcement until the next NAB, a factor that has enveloped the news in
a certain halo of mystery.

It will be then, in Las Vegas, when the new company unveils further information
about its future action plan, something that the entire market will surely be
waiting for.

This purchase is, in any case, the last link in a trend that our industry has been
projecting for years towards a greater concentration of the market (something
that, by the way, is not exclusive to this sector). Leaving behind the last echoes of
the crisis, companies are gathering forces to successfully navigate this new
scenario.

Everything indicates that the market has taken off again. And, as for movements
like this one, it seems that it does so with strength.

It is our duty to ask the protagonists; and that's precisely what we've done. As part
of our special serial series to address the state-of-the-art technology of the world's
leading television companies, we spoke with RAI's CTO, Stefano Ciccotti.

We also approached the systems integration industry, in the centre of news after
the last edition of ISE, which has broken records again. In this issue, we have
contacted some of the best audiovisual integrators on the planet for them to tell
us about their projects and technological innovations.

With this menu, we invite you, once again, to analyse all the details of this universe
of change.

TMBi - 4
 PAN SHOT
GRASS VALLEY AND SAM WILL EXHIBIT ON A SINGLE STAND AT
NAB, AFTER THE ACQUISITION
Grass Valley anticipate executing an aggressive external communications
effort at 2018 NAB Show
The plan is for Belden to
combine the SAM and
Grass Valley operations and
go to market under the
Grass Valley brand. They’ll
continue to be
headquartered in Montreal,
Canada, under the
leadership of Grass Valley’s
President, Timothy
Shoulders. The SAM brand
will be retired, but many
product brands used by
SAM and its predecessors
through the years will be
retained.
Dave Cohen, Vice
President of Marketing at
Grass Valley, comments:
“We’re excited about the
advantages this transaction
enables us to offer our
customers, who continue to
deal with a rapidly changing
broadcast landscape that
includes almost constantly
evolving viewer and
advertiser behavior,
changing business models
and enormous
unprecedented competition.
To stay competitive, they
require support from their
suppliers to help increase
their efficiency and
TMBi - 6
effectiveness. They need to
reach new audiences,
across different media, with
more dynamic content”.
“This announcement
improves our overall offering
to provide customers with
the most comprehensive,
innovative selection of
products and services, with
assured interoperability, and
extend our ability to offer in-
region support to the global
broadcast community”, he
continues.
Belden is not intending to
broadly communicate the
closing of this transaction
until they’re in a better
position to provide useful
information to their
employees and customers.
They anticipate executing an
aggressive external
communications effort at
2018 NAB Show where the
combined company’s
product roadmap will be
exhibited on a single stand.
Tim Shoulders, President
at Grass Valley, explains:
“With this investment Belden
again demonstrates our
commitment to the
broadcast industry. Adding
SAM’s employees and
products to the Grass Valley
family extends Grass
Valley’s global reach, makes
us more agile and provides
even more domain expertise
to enhance Grass Valley’s
industry-leading solutions in
networking, news and live
production and content
delivery for broadcasters.
Our customers face
competition and uncertainty
like never before. This
transaction will help them
navigate the technology
options available to them
with fewer concerns around
interoperability and
deployment complexity while
providing them greater
access to the innovators
developing the solutions of
tomorrow.”
 PAN SHOT
D2D TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES THE AVAILABILITY OF D2FLEX
3000
D2D Technologies
announces the availability of
the D2Flex 3000, the latest
full duplex IP/ASI Video
Gateway that features the
Secure Reliable Transport
(SRT) protocol for reliable
transmission of high quality
video with low latency across
the public internet. The
receiving system can also
regionalize at head-ends and
transmitter sites with
advanced channel branding,
a dynamic PSIP electronic
program guide and insert the
critical emergency alerts
(EAS) required by the FCC.
Now, broadcasters, cable
and IPTV operators can send
their own digital video
multiplex that is regionalized
with advanced channel
branding and optional PSIP
data insertion from point to
point via the public internet.
“We are excited to introduce
the latest D2Flex product that
provides a cost effective
TMBi - 8
solution for transmitting your
broadcast streams over the
public internet using the
powerful SRT protocol”,
comments Steve Doll,
President of D2D
Technologies. “SRT provides
the best quality video
possible by accounting for
packet loss, latency, jitter and
dynamically adjusting for
bandwidth between each
endpoint.”
The D2Flex 3000 is based
on the D2Flex 6000 and
supports the D2Guide option
to insert an Electronic
Program Guide (EPG) so that
viewers can find the
programs they want. The
D2Flex 3000 can set the
major and minor channel
numbers on each output
stream and pass through or
regenerate the necessary
PSIP tables. The optional
D2Guide can run on the
D2Mux platform to provide
dynamic PSIP data insertion
from popular services like
Titan TV and Gracenote
(TMS) or from a spreadsheet
with programming for the next
several weeks.
The D2Flex 3000 platform
can also host the optional
D2Alert application which
inserts digital video from an
Emergency Alert System
(EAS) like the Digital Alert
Systems DASDEC or the
Trilithic EAS system. The
D2Alert system constantly
monitors the EAS system and
when a valid alert is found, it
is automatically inserted into
all of the configured programs
until the alert is complete.
With D2Alert broadcasters
can comply with FCC
requirements and inform
viewers in the event of an
emergency.
The D2Flex 3000 features
dedicated ASI input and
output ports for full duplex
Transport Stream over IP
(TSoIP) conversion of up to 4
independent streams. Digital
streams over IP are handled
by a standard RJ45 Gigabit
Ethernet port that also
supports browser based
management and SNMP
remote monitoring with
configurable traps.
 PAN SHOT

GRASS VALLEY EQUIPS CANAL JUDICIAL WITH NEWS

PRODUCTION SOLUTIONS

Grass Valley offers GV STRATUS, EDIUS and K2 Summit servers

Canal Judicial provides

viewers in Mexico with a
firsthand look at the news
from the country’s Supreme
Court. With dozens of live
cases and educational
programs being broadcast
each day, the channel
needed solutions that could
expand with its growing
content demands. GV
STRATUS Video Production
and Content Management
Systems, EDIUS Workgroup
8 Nonlinear Editing Software,
K2 10G RAID Storage
management system includes stored and distributed. The
systems and K2 Summit 3G
full integration with EDIUS. K2 10G RAID Storage
Transmission Clients from
Both in the courtroom and in System is scalable with SAS
Grass Valley, a Belden Brand,
the studio, EDIUS Workgroup storage drives, 8 Gb/s Fiber
will manage Canal Judicial’s
8 offers more formats and Channel hardware RAID
current and future production
more resolutions in real-time,
workflows. controllers, redundant
providing the ability to edit
GV STRATUS Express and connectivity, hot-swappable
anything, anywhere. For post-
GV STRATUS Elite HR help power supplies and high-
production on Canal
the network keep up with its performance bandwidth
Judicial’s live broadcast and
judicial programming and news programs, the editing delivery. K2 Summit
manage multiple news software offers real-time, no- Transmission Client includes
production workflows since render editing of all popular two HD/SD bidirectional
users can tailor the solution’s channels and two HD/SD
SD, HD and 4K formats.
production tools based on
playout channels for
function. GV STRATUS GV STRATUS and EDIUS
are also fully integrated with configuration variety, as well
handles the entire content
creation and delivery process K2 10G RAID Storage and as up/down/cross-conversion
across multiple digital media K2 Summit 3G Transmission capability with full AFD, for
platforms, and the video Clients so that finished worry-free migration from SD
production and content content can be efficiently to HD.

TMBi - 10
 PAN SHOT
RIEDEL’S MEDIORNET INTERCONNECTS MULTIPLE VENUES AT
BANFF CENTRE
Canada's Banff Centre for
Arts and Creativity has
deployed Riedel
Communications' MediorNet
real-time media network to
interconnect the Centre's
theatres, recital halls,
recording studios, and
production facilities.
Supplied and installed by
Canadian distributer BSE,
the integrated and
decentralized signal
transport network consists of
five MediorNet Compact
PRO 50G media distribution
frames.
TMBi - 12
As Canada's largest arts
training institution, Banff
Centre is situated on a 42-
acre campus in the
Canadian Rockies near
Banff, Alberta.
With a MediorNet Compact
PRO unit deployed
permanently in each of two
control rooms and three
more used as portable
stageboxes at various event
venues, Banff Centre can
simultaneously interconnect
multiple performance and
recording spaces with a self-
healing, redundant feed of
multiplexed HD-SDI video,
MADI audio, analog audio,
Ethernet, and intercom
signals.
For a larger production in
which two studios are active
simultaneously and
supported by both control
rooms, the Banff Centre
team can create fiber links
between the two studio
stageboxes — while the
third stagebox manages the
active cross-feeds between
the control rooms. When
inter-control-room feeds are
not required, the fiber links
simplify the interconnection of the two
active studios.

"The MediorNet system has allowed us

to tie our campus together in one
comprehensive fiber- optic production
network. This robust flexibility is handy
since we often have simultaneous
performance and recording demands that
occur throughout our campus," said
Woody MacPhail, Senior
Producer/Technical Director, Media and
Production, Banff Center.

"Also, MediorNet has allowed us to

reduce our labor costs and the ongoing
wear and tear on audio/video switching
and monitoring equipment when it's
moved throughout the campus.
Establishing remote feeds is now a much
more efficient process by which we just
route signals to our remote video and
audio control rooms as the need arises."

Joyce Bente, President and CEO of

Riedel North America commented,
"Drawing high-profile, landmark events
such as the TEDSummit and the Banff
Mountain Film + Book Festival, Banff
Centre is a showcase of the best in the
creative arts. Facilities such as the Banff
Centre, with its spread-out campus and
widely distributed venues, are a perfect
use case for our MediorNet Compact
PRO. It's just right for small to mid-sized
applications, and because it's compatible
with all other MediorNet devices, it's fully
scalable as a satellite stagebox in larger
media networks."
 PAN SHOT
24 AJA FS-HDRS POWER 4K/UHD HDR CONVERSION FOR
BETAMEDIA/DBW
Italian production company
BetaMedia delivers a range
of television programming for
clients including Endemol,
Infront, and OBS, among
others, with credits spanning
“Big Brother Italy,” “Master
Chef,” the Alpine Skiing
World Cup, Olympics and
Serie A Football
Championship. The company
recently joined forces with
DBW to develop one of Italy’s
first IP-based 4K HDR
Outside Broadcast (OB)
vans, the Esterna 14. To
blend incoming and outgoing
signals for 4K/UltraHD HDR,
HD HDR and HD SDR
broadcasts, BetaMedia
recently invested in 24 AJA
FS-HDR converters for real-
time HDR and WCG
conversion.
“FS-HDR is extremely
versatile and can serve most
any signal function we need,
TMBi - 14
so it was a natural fit for the
Esterna,” shared Rosario
Messina, Chief Engineer and
Technical Designer at
BetaMedia. “If I have a signal
coming in that isn’t formatted
for use in the pipeline yet, I
can just run it through FS-
HDR in realtime and the
problem is solved.”
Capable of 4K/UltraHD and
HD production, the OB van is
based on a scalable FlexIP
structure with operating
dimensions that can
accommodate up to 36 4K
SONY cameras and 12 EVS
XT4K servers. It also includes
SAM/Grass Valley technology
for IP and video switching, as
well as gear from Stage Tec
and Clearcom for audio and
communications. For HDR
productions, the van uses an
S-Log3/2SI/2160p50 profile.
AJA FS-HDRs are used to
convert signals from outside
sources for a consistent look
across production, and to
convert outbound signals to
match whichever flavor of
signal each broadcaster
requires.
“FS-HDR has been an
excellent addition to the
Esterna 14. We can easily
send and receive incoming
sources from far away with
copper and optical inputs that
can be switched via an
internal matrix, in addition to
standardizing or conforming
new color spaces,” Messina
explained. “FS-HDR also
allows us to up and down
convert, and we can vary the
frame rate, deinterlace or
synchronize as needed.
Another advantage is the
ability to vary between Level
A, Level B, 2SI and more,
and extract and deliver audio
to the audio matrix in MADI
mode.”
 PAN SHOT

BROADCAST SOLUTIONS WILL HOST A BROADCAST
INNOVATION DAY IN POLAND

Broadcast Solutions GmbH,

together with local partner
Tadeusz Gawenda from
SKULL, will host a Broadcast
Innovation Day in Warsaw on
March 19. Registration is
possible free of charge at
www.broadcast-innovation-
days.com. With several
additional companies joining
the event, Broadcast edition will follow on the the chance to learn about
Solutions will offer the Polish successful format of the Remote Production, IP-
Broadcast Innovation Days technology, HDR and
broadcast community insights
with a mixture of lectures, 4K/UHD as well as wireless
into the latest trends in Live-
panel discussions, an and satellite communication
TV production and an event
exhibition area as well as and innovative broadcast
for networking.
hands-on demonstrations, workflows.
Companies, joining the plus a guided tour through an
event will be Grass Valley, OB-Van, recently built for a The full programme and
Riedel, ChyronHego, EVS, Broadcast Solutions’ registration are available at
IHSE as well as customer. With this diversified www.broadcast-innovation-
Twenty4Seven. The Warsaw programme visitors will have day.com.
 FROM ISE 2018
PANASONIC UNVEILS A SIX MODEL SERIES OF 4K
PROFESSIONAL DISPLAYS AT ISE
TH-75EQ1
The entry class LCD
panels come with, 350
cd/m2 brightness, making
them suitable for shopping
centres, showrooms,
meeting rooms, and
classrooms. The two largest
panels (86/75-inch) also
feature In-Plane Switching
technology, which maintains
colour accuracy and clear
visibility when the screen is
viewed off-axis.
The new display series
presents 4K imaging with a
slim depth and stylish
narrow bezel design which
maximises the screen area
in relation to the display’s
TMBi - 16
physical size. To support the
latest 4K and Full HD video
content, all the displays
have two HDCP 2.2-
compliant HDMI terminals to
play DRM-protected content.
Like all displays in this
series, the EQ1 features
VESA-compliant mount.
“The design focus for the
EQ1 Series, was to simplify
the installation, setup, and
control of the displays,” said
Enrique Robledo, Marketing
Manager at Panasonic.
“Each has a USB media
player that displays 4K and
Full HD content without the
need for external cables or a
Set-top Box. In a local
network, content can also be
updated using a master
USB device, synced across
multiple displays via LAN.”
Single or multiple displays
can be monitored and
controlled using Panasonic
Multi-Monitoring & Control
Software. This free software
includes basic control
capabilities, able to expand
its function by using Early
Warning Software, for
networked displays—
suitable for schools, retail
and offices.
 FROM ISE 2018

EPSON ANNOUNCES NEW 2,000-LUMEN WXGA ACCENT
LIGHTING PROJECTOR FOR RETAIL, GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS

Epson has announced the unobtrusive, without Projector Content Manager

LightScene EV-100 Series, compromising performance, Software, which allows
a new type of projector that versatility or reliability.” single or multiple playlists to
expands the company’s
Epson’s flexible laser be loaded via SD Card and
presence in the signage and
technology gives the EV-100 changed using remote
lighting sector. With a sleek,
a wide variety of mounting
low-noise design, available control by employees, with
options – it can project from
in black or white and no need for a computer. The
any angle, and can be
created to blend into the software also allows user to
ceiling-mounted, floor-
background, the 2,000- add overlay effects including
standing or attached to a
lumen WXGA EV-100 can
lighting track¹, all without colour and shape filters to
work as either a projector or
requiring specialist permit tinted and irregularly-
a spotlight without
installation or set-up. It is shaped images, as well as
distracting viewers from the
also capable of projecting in
subject. creating and editing
portrait, and multiple units
The LightScene EV-100’s playlists, timetables and
are capable of edge
unobtrusive design is blending for larger displays. custom filters.
suitable for curated visual
The LightScene EV-100 is The LightScene EV-100 is
environments such as retail
supplied with Epson available from June 2018.
showrooms, shop window
displays, museum exhibits
and art installations, where
minimal visual clutter is key.
It can be used to provide
information, show video or
moving patterns, and even
projection map imagery onto
small objects.
Leon Mclean, product
manager, Epson Europe,
says, “The LightScene EV-
100 is a first move into a
completely new type of
projector for Epson, and a
great addition to our range
of laser signage solutions.
I’m very pleased with a
design that manages to be
stylish and visually

TMBi - 17
 FROM ISE 2018
CRESTRON UNVEILS XIO CLOUD, ITS CLOUD-BASED
PROVISIONING PLATFORM, AT ISE
Crestron demonstrated
XiO Cloud, its cloud-based
provisioning platform at ISE
2018. XiO Cloud enables
centralized enterprise-wide
configuration, monitoring,
management, and control of
Crestron products including
Crestron Mercury®, 3-
Series® Control Systems,
DigitalMedia™ products
(including DMPSs), and
TSW touch screens.
“With XiO Cloud, you
simply connect a device to
the network and it’s
automatically recognized,”
said Brian Donlan, Crestron
Technology Manager,
Enterprise Software.
TMBi - 18
“There’s no time-consuming
programming, and any
device in the world can be
managed remotely. The
device doesn’t even need to
be online when it’s
configured. It’s simple,
worldwide, browser-based
management with the
network security IT
professionals demand.”
XiO Cloud provides IT
managers with a centralized
tool that enables them to
deploy and manage
thousands of devices in the
same amount of time as it
would to manage just one.
Using simple drag and drop
functionality, devices can be
named, configured, and
organized by groups and
subgroups. Settings and
firmware updates can be
silently pushed to one or all
devices. Device licenses
can be activated,
transferred, or removed. The
dashboard provides
interactive charts, a fully
searchable activity log of all
actions within the portal, and
a group status page. And
with live status and full
monitoring of every
connected device, the help
desk can quickly address
technical issues to maximize
uptime.

CORE BY DPA MAKES ITS EUROPEAN DEBUT AT ISE 2018
At ISE 2018, DPA
Microphones launched
d:sign™, the latest product
group to join its d: branding
that already encompasses
d:facto™, d:vote™,
d:screet™, d:mension™ and
d:dicate™.
Microphones and
accessories within the new
d:sign Installation Solutions
Series are specifically
targeted at the installation
and conference markets and
were on show at Booth 7-
P240, where DPA exhibited
in conjunction with its
Netherlands distributor
AMPTEC.
“When it comes to
delivering a successful event
or conference what you
really need is clear,
intelligible sound,” says DPA
Product Manager René
Moerch. “DPA has a range
of products that are ideally
suited to conference and
installation environments
and by bringing them
together under one generic
branding, we are making it
much easier for customers
to identify exactly what they
need. All of the products in
the new d:sign range feature
sleek Scandinavian design
and deliver neutral and
accurate sound to the
smallest detail, even in the
most difficult surroundings.”
DPA also used the ISE
platform to give European
customers their first chance
to experience the new
CORE by DPA amplifier
technology. Launched in
2017, CORE by DPA has
already been adopted as
standard by key rental
companies including Terry
Tew Light & Sound Hire, the
UK’s largest supplier of RF
audio equipment to the
broadcast market.
CORE by DPA lives within
the company’s line of
miniature lavalier and
headset microphones where
it minimizes distortion and
increases dynamic range, or
workable area. They also
provide water and moisture
resistance through nano
coating and hermetic sealing
of the sensitive electronics.
DPA developed this new
amplifier to create a clearer
sound from the ‘highest of
the highs’ to the ‘lowest of
FROM ISE 2018

the lows.’ The dynamic
range has been expanded in
all CORE miniature
capsules. For example, the
dynamic range of the
d:screet 4061 Miniature
Microphone and the d:fine
4066 Headset Microphone
has been increased by 14
dB at 1% THD. CORE
technology gives the
microphones a more clear
and open sound in the
whole level range; from a
whisper to a scream.
Located in the capsule of
its miniature mics, CORE by
DPA is currently available in
the d:screet 4060, d:screet
4061, d:fine 4066 and d:fine
4088 mics. Microphones
purchased with the new
technology will come in
CORE packaging and will
have a blue label near the
serial number on the cable
to differentiate between
these and the original
versions. A laser engraving
stating ‘core’ has been
incorporated at the
microphone capsule as well.
TMBi - 19
 ZOOM IN

Can Fibre Channel be a thing of

the past?
New technologies catapult Ethernet performance
closer to its expensive counterpart

By Elements

The world of media insanely fast Non-Volatile still a little more

storage is changing, yet Memory Express (NVMe) is expensive than SATA SSDs,
again. After traditional now on the rise, providing the unrivalled speed of
spinning hard disk drives another huge boost in NVMe accelerates less
(HDD) have been performance for post- expensive Ethernet
outperformed – and
processing large topologies so
oftentimes replaced - by
resolution media files. tremendously, comparable
significantly faster Solid
State Drives (SSD) for The exciting news is that, to Fibre Channel
quite some time now, the while the flash memory is performance.

TMBi - 20

It’s somewhat of an
oxymoron: While
continually pushing for
higher resolutions and end-
to-end uncompressed
productions, the post-
production and VFX
industry keeps demanding
increasing storage
performance to the
extreme. To top it off, there
is absolutely no tolerance
for latencies. Larger and
larger amounts of data
must be accessed and
processed rapidly and
stutter-free to improve end-
user application experience
and reduce time-to
completion – and the
storage often turns out as
the bottleneck.
Of course, there is no
single right answer for
everyone, or one ultimate
storage environment that
will fit the bill for every
post-production facility, as
it all depends on the
individual workflow and
requirements. But
especially for production
islands, or smaller facilities,
running a mix of Ethernet
and Fibre Channel
topologies, faster NVMe
storage can potentially
make a significantly more
expensive Fibre Channel
set-up become obsolete.
HDD < SSD < NVME
In the first big step
moving from HHDs to SSDs,
a remarkable gain of
ZOOM IN

performance was achieved
because SSDs use memory
chips instead of spinning
disks; hence, no slow-downs
due to head seeks.
However, the behavior and
“appearance” of SSDs was
still the same as HDD - and
most importantly, SSDs still
utilize the SATA bus
interface to connect.
Unlike HDDs or SSDs,
NVMe is equipped with an
integrated storage
controller and interface,
and instead of utilizing the
comparably slow SATA host
adapter, NVMe connects
through the lightning fast
Peripheral Component
Interconnect Express (PCIe)
bus, allowing for a
tremendous boost in
TMBi - 21
 ZOOM IN

performance - one NVMe

card is as fast as up to ten
SSDs.
As solid-state storage
with no moving parts,
NVMe and can handle a
lot more simultaneous I/O
requests than SAS and
SATA, providing better
bandwidth with close-to-
zero latency, ideal for
render-intensive
operations that require
extremely high IOPs.
Bottom line: NVMe will
over time replace the
legacy bottleneck
protocols SATA, SAS (SCSI)
for both Fibre Channel
and Ethernet, and bring
shared storage arrays to
lightning speed
performance.
HIGH-SPEED STORAGE
WITHOUT THE COST ?
Without a doubt, storage
is a very - if not the most -
essential and integral part
of every media workflow,
and with workloads
constantly rising, both
capacity and speed are
critical. But while it sounds
tempting to create entire
storage arrays with
incredibly fast flash
storage, utilizing NVMe transparent read cache
within the storage array (Flash Cache) on the
poses the problem that server level, providing
the OS of the array itself higher safeguarding of
becomes the bottleneck. media assets. In case of a
However, albeit NVMe power outage, for
may not (yet) be a viable instance, the most
option for supplying the frequently used media
whole storage capacity, it files would usually be
offers a good opportunity flushed from any standard
to potentially disregard RAM, whereas with the
rather expensive Fibre new hardware set-up,
Channel connectivity. those assets will remain in
the non-volatile memory
Especially smaller-sized
(NVMe) cache, ready to be
post-production facilities
and production islands written to disk as soon as
with dedicated user the power supply has been
restored.
groups may want to
consider abandoning Fibre
Channel, and running the ETHERNET WITH FIBRE
more cost-efficient CHANNEL PERFORMANCE
Ethernet protocol instead.
German manufacturer Offering an alternative
ELEMENTS just released to block-level and pure
its latest generation of Fibre Channel set-ups,
media servers, utilizing ELEMENTS supports up to
NVMe flash storage as a 100Gbit Ethernet and

TMBi - 22
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

high as before, providing

exceptionally high parallel
stream count in non-linear
editing (NLE) applications,
and huge random IO
performance, especially
interesting for demanding
render farms in post-
production. With an
overhead of multi-stream
concurrency of close to
zero, and no moving parts
on the solid-state NVMe,
allocation and
fragmentation issues on
the file system become
irrelevant on the
transparent cache.
This approach allows
post-production facilities
to deploy a single
topology for the whole
storage environment while
even benefitting from
RDMA. In combination throughput to the disk extremely low CPU
with the newly embraced layer, the overall consumption, leaving
NVMe cache, a significant bandwidth available from more CPU power for
increase in performance
a single unit is twice as applications.
compared to classic NAS
protocols was achieved,
pushing the simpler and
more affordable Ethernet
infrastructure to provide
more throughput than
Fibre Channel. By adding
another 6GB/s of read

TMBi - 23
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

RAI
RADIOTELEVISIONE
ITALIANA
Exclusive interview with
Stefano Ciccotti, RAI’s CTO

Stefano Ciccotti has recently taken over the technical control of RAI, one of
the most important European public broadcasting & media services. What
better time than this to talk to him about the stamp he wants to print on
his new professional adventure.

The pioneering application of 4K technology in news contents or the

launch of an OTT platform are just some of the recent milestones of RAI.
Among the challenges that the broadcaster is facing in the near future,
Ciccotti highlights the ambitious “Full-IP” project or the applications in
television of 5G technology. And be careful, because he also warns: “From
2020, everyone will seriously work towards 8K”.

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 ZOOM IN

You have been working

at Rai (Radiotelevisione
Italiana) almost
uninterruptedly from
1987. After moving
through several leading
positions, you were
appointed as CTO in
October 2017, just three
months ago. What does
it mean for you to
assume this role?
Being appointed as CTO
of RAI, one of the most
important European
public broadcasting &
media services, is not only
the crowning achievement
of my technical career, but
also an important
challenge: my main task is Stefano Ciccotti, RAI’s CTO.
to continuosly monitor the
development of
time ensure that the most efficient way
technology in the “world
technological solutions possible.
of media”, allowing RAI to
anticipate disruptive adopted are up-to-date You are a privileged
events, and at the same and implemented in the witness of the
technological evolution
followed by Rai in the
Today the user looks for a user last decades. What are
experience focused on image and the main milestones
sound quality, flexibility of the reached by the company
in its recent history,
enjoyment of services, fluidity between according to you?
linear and non-linear, transparency of • The digitalization of the
the platforms, multi-screen continuum. TV networks: completed
at the beginning of this
4K is an essential part of this customer
decade, allowed the TV
proposition. offer to be developed

TMBi - 26
 from the 3 generalist new RaiPlay Radio
networks to a bouquet "app", which allows
composed today of 14 personalized listening
channels (generalists, of ten radio channels
semi-generalists and on smartphones,
thematic) broadcast tablets and PCs.
on all distribution • The first use of 4K-
platforms: terrestrial, HDR technology for
satellite and IP. the news with the shot
• The development of "Back to Iraq", realized
High Definition: Rai1, by the troupe of the
Rai2, Rai3, RaiSport + program "Petrolio" in
and, in some areas, the territories of the
also Rai4 and city of Mosul in Iraq.
RaiPremium, are
broadcast in HD also You started
on digital terrestrial, broadcasting in 4K in
June 2016. What
while on satellite the
challenges did you
offer is completely in
face when launching
HD.
Rai 4K?
• The new RaiPlay: the
First of all, a
new portal, improved
consideration on the
with a more
reasons of this choice.
captivating and stable
Today the user looks for
frontend, collects
a user experience
online the whole Rai
focused on image and
offer (live and on-
sound quality, flexibility
demand) completely
of the enjoyment of
free and achieved
services, fluidity
great public success
between linear and
among all the targets
non-linear,
of our audience.
transparency of the
Would you highlight platforms, multi-screen
any recent purchases continuum. 4K is an
or innovation? essential part of this
• Rai's on-line offer has customer proposition.
recently been further At the time of the
developed with the Rai4K launch we had to
 ZOOM IN
face two limitations. The
first is today's limited
(though increasing)
availability of content in
UHD.We have broadcast
some football matches of
the European
Championship 2016, some
movies such as “Suspiria”
by Dario Argento, some
fictions like “I Medici”, a
series of documentaries
TMBi - 28
also produced for Rai. We
faced an initial resistance
by the “majors” in
releasing 4K rights of the
films for issues in content
protection. And this brings
us to the second
constraint: the receiver
availability. 4K with HDR
requires receivers with
HEVC main 10 and, for
content protection,
specific systems - ECP -
approved by the “majors”.
When Rai 4K started, the
receivers availability (in
the specific case UHD TVs
with HEVC and CAM
Tivusat) was very limited.
The very specifications of
the receivers were not
fully defined. Only at the
end of 2017 specifications
for receivers that would

10, ECP and dual tuner
DVB-T2 and DVB-S2.
Why did you decide to
partner with Eutelsat to
deploy the 4K channel?
Eutelsat has always been
a partner of Rai in
developing satellite
broadcasting. As is known,
Eutelsat manages a
satellite fleet at the 13°
east orbital position, a
position considered as a
reference for the Italian
market. Tivùsat - the free
platform launched in 2009
and participated by Rai,
Mediaset, Telecom Italia
and a network of local
broadcasters – broadcasts
from 13 ° east. Sky
broadcasts from the same
orbital position.
Eutelsat and Rai have a
strong partnership in
innovation, which began
We know that,
with high definition and is
from 2020, now continuing with 4K.
everyone will Do you have in mind any
seriously work innovation in the field of
4K?
towards 8K
We started to introduce
HDR and certainly we’ll
have been spread on the continue in this direction,
Italian market from 2019 switching from the
were defined in the UHD colorimetry BT709 to the
Book 1.0, with HEVC main much more performing
ZOOM IN

BT2020. Moreover, in a
few years we’ll probably
have the new HFR, that is
a higher number of frames
per second very suitable
for sports events in 4K.
And then we know that,
from 2020, everyone will
seriously work towards 8K.
What technical
challenges do you face
with your OTT service
RayPlay (launched in
December 2016)?
Rai, like all broadcasters,
must first learn to get a
good orientation in the
OTT world: in other words,
we must understand which
are the opportunities that
this new ecosystem is
going to offer us (I’m
talking about
opportunities because
threats are obvious: the
disintermediation between
content and user -that will
lead to the end of the
programming schedule
centrality- and the
disruption of the value
chain and its
reorganization around a
few global players). From
a technological point of
view, the challenge is
being able to develop and
expand a HBBTV 2.0
TMBi - 29
 ZOOM IN

environment that keeps - designed to manage this IT systems.

in smart tv’s and around challenge? • The strengthening of the
smart tv’s - • The "social" connotations paths that lead to a
interoperability of of interaction with our direct contact with
services, system audience are already citizens through new
transversality and chances represented - into Rai's technological platforms
of linear and non-linear on-line offer - by is also required by the
integration. “RaiPlay” and “RaiPlay new Service Contract
Radio” apps. signed between Rai and
Nowadays, social
networks are in the • Our ICT Department is our Government.
focus of all mass media also developing a
specific Social What is your current
as a way to interact with
Management module technological situation
their audience. How do
you face this theme? Do embedded in a project of in the field of Outside
you use any Digitalization of Broadcast?
technological solution processes and business • Embedded in the Full HD

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 ZOOM IN


For the external shootings, the • For the external

shootings, the
endowment of KaSat vehicles for our endowment of KaSat
ENG is also planned, as well as the vehicles for our ENG is
creation of mobile flight-case control also planned, as well as
the creation of mobile
systems equipped with HDR and UHD flight-case control
technology. systems equipped with
HDR and UHD
technology.
project we planned, in a external production
And what about IP
four years span, the crews (heavy vehicles, technology?
renewal of the studios
medium and light SNG)
and, in addition, the • Rai “Full-IP” project will
complete renewal of the and the related allow the use of
vehicles used by our contribution systems. information technologies

TMBi - 31
 ZOOM IN

along the whole virtualizing the control

production chain and the and management
use of audiovisual and systems of the Master
multimedia content in Control Rooms located
multi-platform mode. throughout the territory,
• The T-Cube system is in order to manage
now active in almost all operational processes of
the newsrooms of our connections
editors (journalists and management in a
not journalists). The geographical and local
“Full-IP” project embeds environment.
the completion of the T-
What technology or
Cube system and the
equipment do you
update of MAM (Media
consider essential for
Asset Management), your workflow?
aimed at contents
archiving and at the • IP technologies for the
integration with the digitalization of all
informative system for business processes and
show schedules systems, with the
management. dematerialization of
contents and archives.
• For post-production, the
“Full-IP” Project will • The progressive
provide the construction development of the High
of infrastructures aimed and the Very High
to enable the activation Definition and of the
of post-production HDR along the whole
workflows and graphics production, distribution
in remote collaboration and transmission chain.
with the integration of • The evolution of
cloud services.
• In the field of central
control and
Rai “Full-IP” project will allow the use
broadcasting, we of information technologies along the
planned to use IP whole production chain and the use of
technology in
centralizing, audiovisual and multimedia content in
automatizing and multi-platform mode.
TMBi - 32
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

broadcasting networks development of the innovations make you

towards DVB-T2. DAB+ network. different from the rest of
• The increase in the Italian broadcasters?
As the biggest television
technical quality of the broadcaster in Italy, Targeting the
Radio, also with the what technologies or improvement of the

TMBi - 33
 ZOOM IN
technical quality of our
contents, Rai has
developed a very strong
experience in the
production of 4K and HDR
documents. As previously
mentioned, the shot "Back
to Iraq" is the world's first
application of this
technology to news, which
leaded to the creation of a
news report for the TV
program "Petrolio".
What if you compare it
with other leading
televisions?
TMBi - 34
Rai is different because it
is the Italian TV public
service: technological
innovation is embedded in
its mission as an essential
dimension of its role for
the development of the
Italian audiovisual
industry.
What challenges will
you face in the nearest
future?
The shift of frequency
resources from television
to 5G will lead to a
restructuring of the Italian
television system which
will impose rethinking and
new strategies to all
broadcasters. I’d like to
underline how the release
of the 700 MHz band
takes now place in a
transition phase where the
targets of the “digital
agenda” will be put into
effect and where the
competitive scenario will
be characterized by the
dynamism of global OTTs.
Produce contents for
international markets,
 ZOOM IN


Rai has a Business Continuity and What is the future of the

television, according to
Disaster Recovery project that will your opinion?
merge several data centres now Due to the
distributed throughout the territory, transformation speed, it is
creating a modern and upgradable difficult to forecast
beyond a medium-term
Data Centre architecture and also horizon. But surely we’re
fulfilling the further strengthening of facing a long period trend
the corporate IP network distinguished by the
personalization of
audiovisual and
supervise multiplatform that will merge several communication
distribution, innovate data centres now consumptions, the
products and processes; a distributed throughout the consolidation of the logic
new phase of innovation is territory, creating a of fruition “anytime /
starting and, in the modern and upgradable everywhere”, the
medium period, it will not Data Centre architecture globalization of content
be possible to avoid three and also fulfilling the markets, the attraction of
topics: transition to the further strengthening of audiovisual systems by IP
centrality of the IP, the corporate IP network. technologies.
achievement of the Big
Data dimension,
construction of a strategic
networking for the control
of the technological chain.

Do you have in mind any

purchase of equipment?
Further more than the
major projects already
highlighted, targeting the
improvement of the
technical quality of
services we provide to our
audience, Rai has a
Business Continuity and
Disaster Recovery project

TMBi - 35
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Current status of
audiovisual
systems
integration

TMBi - 36
 ZOOM IN


The Pro AV industry is expected to

grow at an annual rate of about 5%
from now until 2022

TMBi - 37
 ZOOM IN
The current scenario,
where technology is
advancing at such a rapid
pace, undoubtedly
presents specific
challenges for the
integration industry. One
is the ghost of
obsolescence, a factor
that must be considered
when equipping a high-
level audiovisual space.
System integrators deal
with this issue on a daily
basis. Technological
advances sometimes even
lead to changes in the
initial design plans for an
audiovisual installation to
include some technical
improvements that have
only just landed on the
market.
This paradigm obliges
the technical staff of
integrator companies, now
more than ever, to keep
an eye on the latest
TMBi - 38
innovations. This factor to a recent study by AVIXA
can help us understand (Audiovisual and
the reason behind all the Integrated Experience
acquisitions and mergers Association). This study
that have taken place over even estimates a turnover
the past year between of US$231 billion for that
companies in the sector, year, compared to
as part of their approximately US$180
commitment to having billion in 2017.
employees and If we zoom in, we see
technological systems that that the Americas are still
guarantee optimum levels the leading region, driven
of excellence. The by the United States, with
geographical factor a turnover of close to $67
should also be added billion in 2017. It is closely
here. In a global world, followed by the Asian-
many companies expand Pacific region, boosted by
their business range to the Chinese wake, which
new areas through the already has a turnover of
acquisition of regional around $64 billion. And
companies. watch out, because Africa
In any case, all is the continent that
indications point towards thrives most rapidly, with
a booming industry. The an annual growth rate of
Pro AV industry could 8% (compared to
grow at an average annual approximately 4% in the
rate of close to 5% from other areas). Africa is
now until 2022, according already above 8 billion

euros in turnover. Europe,
for its part, reached a total
turnover of 43 billion
euros last year.
These figures seem to
anticipate a good business
period for audiovisual
integrators.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Within the range of
verticals these integrators
serve, we can highlight
several. One of the most
thriving areas is live event
coverage. At a global
level, all the focuses have
recently been on the
Winter Olympic Games, an
event that many leading
companies in the sector
have taken advantage of
to test the latest advances
in 4K, 5G or Virtual Reality
technology.
Another section that
several integrators
highlight are new
workspaces. Remote
collaboration between
employees of the same
company is becoming
increasingly frequent,
especially given the
transnational mergers
discussed above, so there
is every indication that
plans to create new
meeting rooms open to
the participation of people
who are not physically
present will continue from
now on.
The installation of
systems in the area of
health, the setting up of
educational spaces or
audiovisual equipment in
churches are also areas of
interest highlighted by
several companies. In the
area of technologies, it is
common to hear about the
implementation of Digital
Signage solutions, the
ZOOM IN

installation of LED screens
or the adoption of IP
workflows in audiovisual
spaces.
Among the challenges
faced by the sector, we
can also highlight the
evolution of the AV and IT
sectors towards
convergence, a key issue
to understand the future
of the business. Improving
customer experience, who
in many cases prefer
simple, standardised and
easy-to-use solutions over
more complex custom
structures, is another
challenge faced by many
firms in this industry.
We then chatted with a
selection of some of the
world's best audiovisual
integrators to explore
these trends, popular
technological innovations
and their most interesting
recent projects.
TMBi - 39
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AVI Systems

TMBi - 40
 ZOOM IN


AVI Systems has become

from a small supply
company 40 years ago into
Interview with a global provider of audio
visual solutions today.
Brad Sousa,
What key steps has your
Chief Technology company followed so far
Officer (CTO) to get this?
Today, we would say that
AVI is in our forth
reinvention of who we are.
We started out 40 years ago
when the industry was about
providing technical devices
and hardware. Along our
journey, we became more of
a systems integrator,
delivering systems that
combined multiple
technologies and
manufacturers; and then
eventually became an
integrator delivering systems
nationally and
internationally. Today we
would say that we are still
an integrator, but more
focused on solutions than
systems. Our emphasis is on
applying the technologies
we support to human
collaboration and decision
making. Along the way, our
customer relationships have
had the trust needed to
enable AVI to transform as a
company as well as lead
visual innovation. As a result,
AVI has customers of all

TMBi - 41
 ZOOM IN

Today we would say that we are still create, transport and

consume media is all
an integrator, but more focused on driven by this
solutions than systems. Our emphasis transformation. The
is on applying the technologies we amount of media that the
average knowledge
support to human collaboration and worker consumes in a
decision making. common workday is
absolutely staggering.
Media that is
sorts; from technology During that time, what professionally produced
buyers and those that are changes have impacted and on-air is given
looking for the best your company the most? equality with on-demand
integrated systems, to In 40 years, there are and internet media of all
organizations who value sorts. Combine this with
literally hundreds of small
the power of visual the hours of content that
changes that create large
communications. AVI’s is self-produced each day
shifts in the industry. AVI
goal is to enable people through social media and
would distill many of
and teams to collaborative technologies
these down to three large
communicate their critical and we begin to see why
points of impact.
ideas. AVI technologies our customers have
accelerate decision Digital Transformation: become deaf to messages
making, improve human The impact of digital about “what a product or
interactions and create transformation cannot be system can do” and are
impactful experiences. overstated. The way we hyper focused on “how

Do you see a high demand in fully IP-

based facilities or the main trend is
hybrid solutions?
We do see high demand for IP-based
solutions, but I would say that our
experience leads us to say there will
always be some form of hybrid. Hybrid
might be studio to post, or cloud and on-
premises, whatever the final design
there is rarely a single platform.

TMBi - 42
 ZOOM IN


visual technologies can IoT and Consumerization fought to maintain strict

solve problems and move of Media: In the past, adherence to quality
forward decision making”. systems were essentially guidelines that ensured
Today it is common place “closed” with discrete “professional” media.
for AVI to integrate connections from sources Today, IoT connected
solutions that include to destinations with some devices drive content from
technologies from sort of matrix in between. social media and mobile
Amazon and Microsoft, Today, these “IP devices” devices that are seemingly
with technologies that create a communication acceptable quality. The
include IP network environment that can be result is the ever-growing
infrastructure, UC literally thousands of expectation from users
applications and connected sources and that connections should
broadcast technologies. consumers. In the past, we be “open”, enabling users
to connect anywhere, and
from virtually device, to
In the past we would have seen each other; while
broadcast as essentially call-sign maintaining the quality
and reliability normally
stations and on-air media. Today, associated with restrictive
broadcast includes “FANGs” and managed
(Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) infrastructure. The lines
that used to segment our
and others. Internet media outlets are business between
driving this transformation. corporate and broadcast

TMBi - 43
 ZOOM IN

and digital media are

blurred. It’s all visual
communications in
different forms and the
expectation is that it is
integrated together. This
expectation is across all
segments of AVI’s
business. Broadcast,
Unified Communications
and Collaboration,
Enterprise AV and Media…
Transition from
technologist buyers to
technology consumers:
This is perhaps the biggest
current impact and likely
will be for the next several
years. In the past, our
business was transacted They speak to us in terms as Digital Media for
between technologists. of strategies and healthcare and the
Technologist buyers and outcomes. This is true enterprise. In the past we
technologist sellers that regardless if the customer would have seen
delivered well engineered is a media outlet, a global broadcast as essentially
solutions between people corporation or a house of call-sign stations and on-
that had essentially a worship. This requires AVI air media. Today,
common language and set to change our language, broadcast includes
of expectations. However, our design processes and “FANGs” (Facebook,
more and more today our our definition of “solution”. Amazon, Netflix, Google)
customers are not and others. Internet media
technologists. They are What did the acquisition outlets are driving this
technology consumers
of Dascom System (IPTV transformation and
systems integrator) Dascom is in the forefront
looking for a way to solve
mean for your business? of this transformation.
a problem and hoping our
technology will assist We are very excited The same IPTV solutions
them. These customers about Dascom and AVI. that Dascom brings to
don’t speak specifications We see Dascom as a internet media outlets can
and standards. They compelling offer for AVI’s be applied to non-
speak in business terms. broadcast practice as well broadcast IPTV solutions.

TMBi - 44

These include patient
edutainment solutions for
healthcare providers, as
an example, where
patients can access on-air
television as well as media
on-demand and
educational content from
an IP attached set-top-box
in the patient room. It
includes the potential
integration of live and on-
demand media with
virtual learning resources
for a university and
delivers these in student-
housing, classrooms and
across campuses. Dascom
brings to AVI IPTV
solutions that integrate
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
say that we have seen
significant growth and
demand in healthcare,
financial services and
AVI’s federal government
business sectors,
especially around what we
call “mixed classification
collaboration” that
enables both classified
and unclassified
collaboration.
What type of challenges
do your consumers face
in the Broadcast &
Media area?
The three points of
impact described above
with Unified certainly apply to
Collaboration, Digital Broadcast and Media. We
Media and other visual might carry these a bit
communications solutions. further as it relates to
Broadcast and Media and
Your company covers a
reiterate the demand for
wide portfolio of markets
broad, integrated
(Business, Education,
solutions, not just systems.
Entertainment, Financial,
As an example, we might
Government, Healthcare
say that Broadcast and
and Houses of Worship).
Media solutions include
Do you detect a special
systems that support
demand in any of them?
crafting, media capture
Our enterprise practice and post-production; as
continues to experience well as systems that
growing demand as include asset
organizations look to management, storage,
create an integrated databases and transport;
solution across the entire and would include
enterprise. We would also distribution, social-
TMBi - 45
 ZOOM IN

platforms and on-air We would also say that we have seen

mediums that support the
ways a media outlet might
significant growth and demand in
want the media to be healthcare, financial services and AVI’s
consumed. We would also federal government business sectors,
say that many of these
tasks are out-sourced, especially around what we call “mixed
requiring solutions to be classification collaboration” that
both cloud-based
enables both classified and
technologies as well as
on-premises networked unclassified collaboration.
solutions. Finally, we
would also say that these
systems must be is – it’s a professional subscribers tune in daily to
integrated into a solution broadcast studio consume financial trading
that includes common producing eight hours of advice. Viewership
workflows based upon video content per day, but continues to increase
who needs to add value to it only delivers to the web. steadily since the channel
the media asset. This The audience of online went live last year.
should include integration
into business workflows
that organizations use to
schedule meetings,
creative reviews, idea
development and decision
making.

Can you detail us some

of your recent projects
that you consider
relevant?
Each year we find
ourselves taking
technology into new
territories. Recently, a
financial organization
asked us to build a studio
inside a large trading
facility. The relevant part

TMBi - 46

Traditionally, this kind of
deployment was only for
large network broadcast
budgets. This raises the
quality precedent for OTT
(online only) channels.
In the last 18 months,
AVI has deployed Asset
Management solutions for
several NFL, MLB and NBA
teams. These
organizations realize their
content has value and that
enabling employees to
find content faster helps
market their brand better.
Several of these teams
also added backup and
disaster recovery
solutions. If the content
can’t be replaced, then it’s
probably worth protecting.
Today’s backup solutions
now include hybrid
models with both cloud
and premise based data
backup. Automating the
process saves time which
in turn, saves money.
Additionally, a world
renowned healthcare
provider serves as a Case
Study for unified
collaboration. In this case,
AVI has provided Unified
Communications including
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
integration between voice,
videoconferencing and
Skype for Business, as well
as AV and conference
spaces, and over 12
channels of live streaming
and recording that
includes original content
production and “town-
hall” style meetings. This is
an example of an
increased demand for AV,
UC and
broadcast/streaming
technologies to be
integrated into a single
unified platform.
What are your plans for
the near future?
AVI will likely continue
to expand our geographic
reach organically through
expansion rather than
acquisition, while at the
same time expanding the
technologies that we offer
through acquisition. We
can foresee some of these
technical expansions
including network and
virtual datacenter
competencies as well as
software developers that
enable AVI to integrate
solutions that easy for our
customers to consume and
use.
TMBi - 47
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BIS B.V.
Council chamber with conferencing system, displays and dual projection

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 ZOOM IN


Tell us about your

evolution as a
Interview with company since your
Jean Pierre Overbeek, beginnings until
now.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
BIS, an Econocom
company, is a very
well-known audio
visual system
integrator in our
region in the last
decades. With 240
employees and
approximately 5.000
installations a year,
we’re considered to be
one of the leading AV
companies in the
Benelux.
Innovation always
has been, and
continues to be, a
major driver in the
successful evolution of
BIS. One of our
strategic objectives
calls for us to achieve
a specific percentage
of annual turnover
through innovation.
Just recently, we
started to offer AV-as-
a-service in order to
react more effectively
to market needs and
stimulate the creation
of new market
demand. This initiative
was triggered by the

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 ZOOM IN
Videowall (2x6) at reception area_building entrance
emerging generations’ clear preference
for using products rather than owning
them. Spotify and Netflix are perfect
examples of this trend in the B2C market.
We have now brought this concept to the
B2B market.
Looking back in time, within BIS we’ve
experienced every AV development since
1983, when the company was founded.
Our ability to adapt and lead to a
changing market and emerging needs,
have allowed us to grow and flourish. We
were there for the introduction of data
and video projectors, the first plasma
and LCD flat panel displays, the list goes
on and on. Up until 2002 we focused
solely on selling individual products,
after which, in subsequent years, we
added services like installation work and
maintenance to our offering. A few years
down the road we changed our strategic
course and added modular service
TMBi - 50
Which do you think are some of the
most innovative technological
trends in the markets your company
covers (Business, Government,
Education, Healthcare, Security,
Maritime, Retail, etc.)?
Various answers can be given to this.
This is why we limit ourselves to the
trends affecting audio visual & IT
technology, and impacting on the way
people collaborate and share
knowledge and ideas. The trends we
focus on are:
• Sharp rise in Internet-of-Things
• AV and IT technology becoming the
fourth utility (besides gas, water and
electricity).
• Workplaces and buildings “thinking
along” with users and support them.
• The function of the office building is
changing and so is the desired layout.
• The digital transformation
accelerating processes and
performance
• Cloud technology making AV
applications available everywhere,
all the time.
• Collaboration technology is bringing
talent together unleashing te power
of the group.
• Space & resource reservation
booming.
• Indoor LED increasingly perfecting
and replacing LCD screens and video
walls.
• Compact huddles solutions for
short-term, informal and interactive
meetings are gaining ground.
• It is no longer about specs, but about
experience.
• Usage of technology is becoming
more important than ownership
(AV-as-a-Service)
 ZOOM IN


programmes (SLA’s) Just recently, we started to offer

alongside our hardware
solutions. We also
AV-as-a-service in order to react more
invested effort and effectively to market needs and
resources in IT aspects of stimulate the creation of new market
our audio visual solutions.
This positioned BIS as an demand. This initiative was triggered
AV and IT System by the emerging generations’ clear
Integrator.
preference for using products rather
We continued our
strategic innovation and than owning them. Spotify and Netflix
over the next few years, are perfect examples of this trend in
we for instance recruited
interior designers. We
the B2C market. We have now brought
strongly believe optimal this concept to the B2B market.
use of AV and IT requires
an environment where
design, furniture and
fittings fully match the house interior designers Our history of constant
application and the user’s give us the ability to innovation is reflected by
intended purpose. Our in- showcase this. the further addition of

Building floor with multiple informal huddle solutions

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Creative meeting room in hotel-conference center

digital signage, video You have a strong their quality, knowledge

conference, collaboration, presence in Netherlands
room management, and Belgium, and you
queuing systems, smart are also part of PSNI
offices, indoor and
Global Alliance (a
worldwide network of
outdoor LED to our range.
leading AV & IT system
Obviously our service integrators). How does
programme has also
this increase your
evolved to keep pace with
overseas possibilities?
all these developments.
The PSNI membership
We developed innovative increases overseas
IT services in the area of possibilities for BIS. PSNI is
patch management, a serious and respected
security, monitoring and network of professional
reporting graphical AV & IT companies, which
content and widgets for stand out one by one in
digital signage. their home market due to
and added value, not least
due to the breadth and
content of their portfolio
solutions and services. And
we feel right at home in
company such as this.
Cooperating with
renowned partners and
sharing knowledge
throughout the network
means we can offer
international customers
even better support. Our
strength in Europe and far
beyond has increased
sharply now we have a
large number of resources

TMBi - 52

– staff or otherwise – at
our disposal through PSNI,
complying with high
industry standards and
significant certifications.
That's good news, both for
us and for our clients.
It’s said that the market
has had to evolve to
really understand the
convergence between
AV & IT. What did this
challenge mean for your
company?
As already stated with
the first question, between
2003 and 2005 we
changed course entirely
ZOOM IN

from a product-oriented the IT side of audio-visual
organisation to a full- solutions has had a huge
service system integrator. impact on our entire
organisation. We’ve
Moreover, we already
invested a great deal of
started investing in IT
time and resources into
knowledge in 2005. Even
educating and training our
back then, we predicted
sales staff, engineers,
that audio visual
projects managers,
technology would be
installations technicians
acquiring more IT
and maintenance teams.
components, and would
We’ve furthermore taken
become increasing on several IT specialists,
intertwined with IT entered into a partnership
technology; not just in the with Microsoft and have
field of digital signage and also decided to position
video conference, but also our IT service explicitly in
concerning control our communications.
systems, video over IP,
Given that we
digital signal transmission,
anticipated early, we’ve
network integration, and
been setting the tone with
monitoring and managing
our AV & IT service for
through the network.
many years now. Thanks
The decision to pay to ongoing innovation, in
considerable attention to the last year our IT service
The decision to pay considerable
attention to the IT side of audio-visual
solutions has had a huge impact on
our entire organisation. We’ve invested
a great deal of time and resources into
educating and training our sales staff,
engineers, projects managers,
installations technicians and
maintenance teams.
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 ZOOM IN

has expanded further with To give our clients a good impression

24/7 monitoring, security
services and patch
of the end result to be achieved, we
management; we’ve set up present the spaces with superb 3D
a Network Operating visualisations, and even in Virtual
Center to monitor our
clients’ IT networks live, Reality.
and to intervene if things
threaten to go wrong. design, making it difficult knowledge in house for
You also fit audio visual to hear speech and music equipping any church
systems in Places of clearly and audibly. This is building optimally, based
Worship. What type of despite the fact that of course on acoustic
solutions are your clarity and audibility are measurements.
clients demanding here? important for services and Besides audio
Most church buildings other gatherings. BIS has reproduction, we also
are of poor acoustic consultants with the right create solutions for

Boardroom with 95 inch interactive display and ClickShare integration

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

Impressive communication with Outdoor LED wall

recording images and displayed clearly and technology from a highly

sound. This allows you to
record and archive your
audio, while images and
audio can also be
streamed directly to other
rooms or to the internet
for people unable to
attend the service. In
addition, for the hard of
hearing wishing to take
part in services, we also
provide a hearing loop.
Lastly, BIS of course also
sees to image
reproduction. With high-
end projectors, video walls
and/or indoor LED
solutions, hymns and texts
visibly for all those
present. We furthermore
regularly fit LDC/LED
displays in entrance halls,
lecture theatres and/or
coffee spaces for domestic
announcements. All of the
equipment in the church
can be operated centrally
from an intelligent control
panel.
Overall, what does your
company bring to the
market in the field of
communicative room
design?
We approach the
deployment of AV & IT
holistic outlook. Our
technology genuinely has
to help our clients
progress; it has to
contribute toward
achieving their objectives.
To bring this about, it is
extremely important to
integrate the technology
into an environment
adjusted or geared toward
using this technology, and
that the users themselves
are prepared for this use.
This therefore involves the
three-step approach of
bricks, bytes and
behaviour.

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In addition to this,
experience is also
essential. Experience also
contributes to the
effectiveness of meetings,
presentations,
brainstorming and training
sessions, much more than
it did a few years back. For
the right experience, it is
also important that all of
the elements in a meeting
or presentation space
align with each other.
Due to the considerable
importance of space with
82 inch videoconference monitor in BIS VisionWall
optimal design, which also
contributes to the right
experience, BIS has
Virtual Reality. The client furnishings was conceived
employed several interior
sees at a glance what based on everyday
architects since 2007. A exactly he or she can experiences and the
great deal of attention is expect, and gets an requirements of larger and
given in our interior immediate sense of what smaller clients. All of the
architects’ designs to the the space will look like. furniture shares the
interior, furniture, style Our experience is that this features of being
and the lighting plan. This way of designing and beautifully finished,
of course also includes arranging meeting spaces, having well thought-out
inspirational colour presentation spaces and cable ducts, and boast
advice, and the entire other audio visual spaces integrated audio visual
design ties in perfectly helps considerably in the technology, smart
with the client's corporate decision-making process. operating systems and
identity. connection points.
BIS interior architects
To give our clients a have themselves designed
good impression of the a line of multimedia walls, Tell us some of your
end result to be achieved, workplaces (shared or recent projects that
we present the spaces otherwise) and make you feel proud.
with superb 3D accessories: the BIS We execute around 5.000
visualisations, and even in VisionLine. This line of spaces a year. Among

TMBi - 56

these there are a great
many we're proud of.
Sometimes due to the
extremely high-quality
technology, sometimes
due to the scale,
sometimes due to both of
these. We describe and
visualise a selection of
these projects on our
website:
www.bis.nl/nl/referenties.
To name but a few:
• An interactive video wall
at a very major
government
organisation.
• 180 different spaces for
several applications at
Showroom with videowall
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
one client. What challenges are you
• Advertising column with facing in the near
3 x 99m2 Outdoor LED. future?
There are challenges in
• High-end skybox with
many fields every day.
ultra-modern meeting
That’s what keeps our
devices in football
work in this amazing
stadium.
industry so exciting.
• 80+ modernly furnished,
interactive meeting and Exceeding clients’
expectations time and
consultation spaces at
again with hundreds of
major corporate.
colleagues and dozens of
• Creating high-end
top-brand suppliers gives
videoconference spaces
you energy and
in six countries on five
satisfaction. In terms of
continents.
that alone, the audio
• Digital signage, including visual sector is a fantastic
interactive columns, in sector to work in.
400 shops of
international chain. Our greatest challenges
in the near future are:
• Finding and retaining
sufficiently qualified staff
for achieving our
ambitions.
• Exploring, investigating,
selecting and sourcing
the right innovations
with the right suppliers,
to continue supporting
our clients as best as
possible.
• Time and again fulfilling
the wishes and
requirements of client
who are increasingly
critical, and rightly so!
TMBi - 57
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Diversified

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

Interview with

Kevin Collins,
President and Chief
Operations Officer (COO)

Karl Paulsen,
Chief Technology Officer
(CTO)

During the last 25 years,

Diversified has become a
global reference in the
field of AV integrators.
What do you consider the
keys to achieve this?
Kevin Collins: One thing
that has never changed
from the day Diversified was
founded 25 years ago was

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our relentless focus on We are working on some of the largest

being the best at what we
do and assuring we did the
and most complex Broadcast Media &
best work possible for our Entertainment projects in the world,
customers and understood including the new HQ for CNN in New
their needs.
We often talk about not
York at the Hudson Yards project.
being the biggest

wanted us to be able to
deliver solutions globally
with predictable results. In
the past 5 years we have
been building our
company to directly
respond to what our
customers tell us they
need and using mergers
and acquisitions to build
our global presence and
technical strength while
still growing organically
with existing customers.

company in our field but, team. We also made many What company’s recent
mistakes that we learned milestones would you
striving every day and in
from. During this period, highlight?
every way to be the best
at what we do. That focus we had a steady organic Kevin Collins: In 2016 we
on excellence has driven growth of around 10% were named AV Integrator
us over 25 years to year over year. of the year by Commercial
achieve a notable scale The past 10 years things Integrator Magazine.
and deliver high quality changed as our industry https://www.commercialintegra
service to our customers matured and started a tor.com/ci/diversified_named_2
globally. natural process of 016_integrator_of_the_year/
If you really look back consolidation on both the In 2017 we won the
the first 15 years of our vendors side and the award from AV Magazine
history, we learned a lot service provider side of for Corporate AV install of
about managing our the business. Our North the year for the e Bay
business and building a American customers Main Street project.

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XR Technologies (Virtual
Reality, Augmented Reality
and Mixed Reality) are
getting importance in the
audiovisual sector. Have you
already faced in this field?
Karl Paulsen: Facilities are
certainly considering how they
future proof their
infrastructures to support
these technologies. Given the
amount of xR shown at the
CES in Las Vegas, we expect
there to be more requests for
integration across a variety of
venues in the future.
Kevin Collins: We have done
quite a few VR theatres as
part of our AV practice. We did
a global rollout for one
customer of VR theaters setup
for global product launches. I
also highlight some retail
experiences with VR and
gaming competitions, where
we used VR to bring the
audience into the game.
Today VR technology is only
just starting to mature, and we
feel customers are still trying
to figure out how to use it
best.
ZOOM IN

https://www.avinteractive.com/case-
studies/making-a-big-impression-02-12-2016/
In 2017 we added a new practice to our
offerings for Electronic Security Solutions
providing monitoring and access control to
our customers.
We are working on some of the largest and
most complex Broadcast Media &
Entertainment projects in the world, including
the new HQ for CNN in New York at the
Hudson Yards project. And QVC Japan on
Tokyo, where we are building the first 4K
uncompressed IP facility to go live 24/7 when
it launches this summer.
One of your divisions focuses on Media &
Entertainment market. What type of
integrations do your customers request in
this field?
Karl Paulsen:
• Updates to existing facilities moving from
HD to UHD/4K.
• Design and installation of IP-based solutions
for news, sport venues, and studio
production facilities.
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 ZOOM IN

• Most of our clients want a viable, affordable this type of services?

the latest capabilities in alternative to the Karl Paulsen: Major
their facilities. They Outside Broadcast trucks league sport events will
sometimes only get “one when covering some not likely do this for quite
big shot” at doing this.
events. Do you feel an some time; as it is a
We are often requested
increasing interest in cultural shift that involves
to merge multiple
advanced solutions in
the areas of video and
audio (for live, studio,
post-production,
education, etc.) into the
designs; usually explored
once commissioned on
the project and as the
consulting (design
development) phases
begin. The time between
an RFP being issued and
when the system is
launched can be 12-18
months or more –
technology is moving
faster than this, so the
concepts conceived up at
the start may have
already been improved
upon before the time to
build starts. It is our job
to continually appraise
the clients and end users
of these changes
(throughout the design
period) so as to avoid
potential obsolescence
before they start using
the systems.

The IP Remote
Production seems to be

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 ZOOM IN


We have learned that “all IP” facility is more production

turning out to take longer than
expected – due, in part, to the constant
software improvements that the
manufacturers need to make.
changes/challenges than
technology.
Where do you find more
needs in sports
productions in venues?
 ZOOM IN

What type of
integrations are
companies requesting
you in this vertical?
Kevin Collins: We offer a
full suite of service in
Sports venue projects
from design consulting to
integration including:
A. TV broadcast
production, control and
infrastructure
throughout the venue.
B. Large screen LED
display design and
consulting. IP and UHD/4K bring new challenges
C. Large Venue Sound and
which the industry is facing and
back of house sound in
concourses clubs and resolving – but it is not just a “flip of
suites. the switch” so to speak.
D. AV systems in clubs,
suites and executive
offices. You also equip the unique needs of those
E. Electronic security and audiovisual systems in customers and what they
access control. Houses of Worship. How define as success, which
much demand do you will differ from our
The push in the large receive here? fortune 500 customers
venue market is to build
Kevin Collins: Our AVE who are focused on
unique brand experiences
division Audio Visual employee communication
around the team that are
Environment is our largest and collaboration.
engaging visually and
division representing more
interactive. This drives Tell us about some
than 50% of our business.
fans to actually attend the recent, challenging
games in person to get a House of worship projects within the areas
unique experience since represents an important we have talked about.
TV looks so good from segment of that market. How did you resolve
home these days. The key is to understand them successfully?

TMBi - 64

Kevin Collins: We pride
ourselves on being
thought leaders in the
industry to educate our
customers on what current
technical advances mean
and if they have value for
their needs.
In both broadcast and
AVE we see a huge
convergence of
technology onto IP based
solutions running on a
standard network
infrastructure.
We have learned that
“all IP” facility is turning
out to take longer than
expected – due, in part, to
the constant software
improvements that the
manufacturers need to
make. Inter-operability is
still a challenge,
especially when mixing
differing manufacturer’s
solutions to a third party
network.
Karl Paulsen: Training
and familiarity with this
‘next gen’ networking
environment. The pace of
development is faster than
when we went from
analog to digital, then
standard definition to high
definition. IP and UHD/4K
bring new challenges
which the industry is
facing and resolving – but
it is not just a “flip of the
switch” so to speak.
With all these challenges
we have successfully
delivered large and
complex IP solutions at a
scale few other have. We
have invested heavily in
training of our staff to
manage the transition
from traditional baseband
solutions to advanced IP
solutions from all major
vendors.
What are you plans in
the near future?
Karl Paulsen: Getting our
engineers, project
managers and clients
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
trained and exposed to
the new real time, studio
and live IP technologies.
In cooperation with
selected vendors,
Diversified has rolled out
a comprehensive training
program for its
technology-based staff; it
is in its 5th month and is
very well accepted.
Would you like to add
something?
Karl Paulsen: In our
broadcast division
Diversified has remained
active in the development
of the new SMPTE
standards for the past 24-
36 months – this gives us
unprecedented knowledge
in understanding how this
new IP technology will
work. We have provided
integration services at
each of the IP
Interoperability
Demonstrations and IP
Showcases at NAB 2017,
IBC 2017, SMPTE 2017 and
will be doing this again for
NAB 2018. This gives us a
“heads up” on what works
today, and what is coming
tomorrow. No other
systems integrator is doing
this or has this much
experience in the industry.
TMBi - 65
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Human Circuit
John's Hopkins project

TMBi - 66
 ZOOM IN


Interview with
Jim Hatcher,
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

TMBi - 67
 ZOOM IN

Human Circuit has been

offering its services for
the last 50 years. What
key steps have you
followed to keep
working so many
decades in such a
volatile market?
Human Circuit was
formerly named
Professional Products Inc.
and our success was
deeply rooted in the sales
of broadcast video
equipment. At that time,
revenue from our
professional services was
second to our equipment
sales. Over the years,
manufactures opened
DMA virtual Set
their sales channels to
online resellers and
equipment became
commoditized. As we saw
the market change, we The commoditization of video
decided that a “box technology has removed some barriers
business” was no longer
sustainable. We made the
to entry and we have more competitors
decision to rebrand our than before
company as Human
Circuit Inc. and to focus on
professional services. As Integration, Project than commoditized box
Human Circuit, the net Management and Support. transactions.
revenue from our
In this market, we believe Do you now have more
professional services has
eclipsed the net revenue that engineering a competitors than
from our equipment sales. solution and supporting before? What makes you
Our services include the installation is more different from them?
systems Engineering, valuable to our clients The commoditization of

TMBi - 68

What interests do you perceive in the
field of healthcare? Do you consider it
a booming industry?
Over the past 15 years, Human Circuit has
designed and integrated 28 medical
simulation and clinical skills centers
throughout the United States. Even with
our long and successful track record, our
opinion of the integration business within
healthcare is mixed. Over the years,
healthcare facilities and applications have
held the promise of becoming a booming
industry for systems integrators. However,
ZOOM IN

We estimate that
our clients
typically utilize
only 20% of an
individual
product’s features
video technology has
removed some barriers to
entry and we have more
competitors than before.
Top 5 reasons we are
different from our
competition:
1. We pay close attention
to the interoperability
we have yet to see the “boom”. Human
Circuit productized its Healthcare
business under the name ACUMEN. We
offer systems that provide real-time video
streaming from medical devices, video
recording, VOD, patient monitoring and
communication. ACUMEN has had limited
success. In our experience, healthcare is
slow to adopt to new communication
technology. Many medical device
manufactures have cornered the market
and now sell video streaming and OTT
services along with their devices.
TMBi - 69
 ZOOM IN

of the technology that

we sell and we study
the disrupters. The
traditional narrow
definition of a
broadcaster no longer
applies and broadcast
equipment
manufacturers are
scrambling to stay
relevant. This scramble
for relevance can be
dangerous for our
clients. All too often, the
client becomes a
manufacture’s beta site.
In this market, we have
become our client’s
trusted adviser and
advocate.
2. When designing a
system, we trust the
scientific method and
not the manufacturer.
We verify new
distribution systems Do we tend to focus too
technology in our lab
that can be applied to much on the individual
before deploying it in
broadcasters, features of each product
the field. in a facility, compared to
production facilities,
3. We are not afraid to ask its degree of
teaching hospitals,
a lot of questions and compatibility with the
network operation
we learn from our rest of devices?
centers and corporate
mistakes. A well-designed system
communications.
4. We have extended our will produce results that
business into new 5. In our system designs are greater than the sum
markets. Human Circuit we embrace of its parts. Focusing on a
designs and builds Information Technology product’s features can
enterprise digital video and the idea of being a distract us from a system’s
acquisition and “good network citizen”. potential. Focusing on

TMBi - 70

interoperability and
compatibility of devices
within a system is critical
when considering
operation and workflow.
We estimate that our
clients typically utilize
only 20% of an individual
product’s features. At
Human Circuit, we focus
more on the underlying
enabling technology
rather than product
features. The technology
DMA control room
that enables the product
will determine that
product’s extensibility in a
market and its usefulness
in a system.
What is the future of
streaming and OTT
services? What
challenges do these
technologies face?
The future of streaming
and OTT is bright.
Bandwidth to consumers
ZOOM IN

The future of
streaming and
OTT is bright.
Bandwidth to
consumers will
continue to
increase.
Compression will
become more
efficient. Cloud
based services,
availability and
performance will
increase.
will continue to increase.
Compression will become
more efficient. Cloud
based services, availability
and performance will
increase. We will continue
to see aggregation in the
cloud and consumption at
the edge. The edge will
become more like a “thin
client” used to access
cloud services.
Communication and
entertainment will
continue consolidate over-
the-top.
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In the United States, the In the United States, the future of Net
future of Net Neutrality
will have a profound
Neutrality will have a profound effect
effect on the future of on the future of streaming and OTT
streaming and OTT services.
services.

You also work for

governmental have a need for a trusted decisions and who has the
institutions. What type of
advisor who can help capability and willingness
integrations are they
requesting? them make technical to engineer, integrate and
Our government work
includes the design and
John's Hopkins project
integration of broadcast
studios for virtual
productions, real-time
streaming and VOD
systems, media asset
management systems,
cloud-based production
workflows, production
editing and playout
systems, network
operation centers, custom
software development for
control, automation and
cloud-based micro
services.

Overall, are you finding

some common needs
among your costumers?
In general, Human
Circuit caters to early
adopters. Our clients are
willing to take risks with
new technology to
improve their position in
their market. Our clients

TMBi - 72
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

support the recently installed a ProCyc Government streaming

implementation of those free-standing cyclorama and OTT:
technical decisions. wall system at defense
Human Circuit designed
Media activity (DMA) and
Details us some of your and integrated an
a Ross Trackless system.
most recently, enterprise wide OTT video
All camera movement is
challenging projects. distribution system for
within the graphics engine
Government Broadcast: Freddie Mac. The system
and eliminates the need
for physical tracking includes 6 Element Delta
Human Circuit designs
equipment. origination servers and 3
and builds studios for
NGINX web servers with
virtual productions. We
customized landing pages.
The system is designed to
provide OTT services for
ten thousand clients.
Medical:
Human Circuit provided
John’s Hopkins with a
medical simulation center
to better prepare students
for their careers as
physicians through
realistic hands-on training.
Medical simulations are
streamed live and
recorded for video on
demand. Footage of
students performing
specific clinical tasks is
reviewed by
administrators and
instructors in real-time.
Human Circuit applied
designs specifically for
case study rooms, self-
teaching labs, patient
exam rooms and
observation rooms.

TMBi - 73
 ZOOM IN

BVE brings together

the leading brands
with interests in the
United Kingdom
The show welcomes about 15,000 attendees and
upwards of 300 exhibitors

TMBi - 74

LiveU presents its portable LU600 HEVC
transmission solution, among other
developments
Once again, the BVE
show brings together
many of the most relevant
companies in the sector
with interests in the
United Kingdom. Although
this is undoubtedly a
regional event, it should
be noted that the UK is the
second most powerful
Broadcast market in the
world, after the United
States. For this reason, the
most important
audiovisual event of the
year in this country has
captured the attention of
many of the protagonists
of the professional
audiovisual industry.
Pending the release of
official data, the
organisers anticipate that
the show brought together
some 15,000 attendees
and more than 300 brands.
The show hosted a wide
variety of seminars, as is
to be expected in this type
of events. This year's goal
was to cover all stages of
a production workflow. To
this end, those responsible
for the event organised
conferences regarding the
following six thematic
theatres: The Storytellers
Stage (where how to
stimulate creativity was
addressed), Craft of
Capture (image capture
techniques and
technologies), Techflow
Futures (changes and
innovations in production
infrastructures), Post in
Practice (innovations in
colour graduation, 360º
ZOOM IN

editing and immersive
sound), Connected Media
Stage (latest IP
technologies) and
Business of Production
(evolution of social
networks and consumer
habits).
EXHIBITOR NEWS
This year's new features
include the new Mobile
Viewpoint EyeLink, a
portable 4G action camera
that uses Wi-Fi and mobile
connectivity to capture
and share videos directly
on Social Networks or
CDNs. In addition to
streaming live video, this
device also captures
performance information
from athletes, such as
pulse or blood pressure,
via ANT+ and built-in
sensors.
Mobile Viewpoint EyeLink
TMBi - 75
 ZOOM IN
LiveU has also presented
its contribution to live
video streaming
technologies. The
company attended the
show accompanied by
Garland, its distributor in
the United Kingdom, to
present its portable LU600
HEVC transmission
solution, among other
developments.
Aviwest took advantage
of the event to showcase,
among other things, its
new AIR series, an uplink
video system designed for
professional cameramen
on the move.
TMBi - 76
Riedel Bolero
In the area of storage,
Quantum unveiled to the
English market the latest
enhancements to Xcellis,
its workflow storage
family, and StorNext, its
shared file and data
management platform.
EditShare exhibited this
issue for the first time.
They made the most of the
event to present the
QUALES QC file
verification and quality
assurance solution.
Archiware presented the
latest Cloud options for its
P5 Backup and P5 Archive
data management
software modules. The
firm also announced its
recent agreement with the
networked storage
provider QNAP, which will
allow Archiware P5 to be
installed on all QNAP x86-
64 models.
Dalet took its
orchestration and content
management solutions
(MAM) to the show. Stand
experts were available to
answer questions about
orchestration workflows
and MFIs within content
delivery chains, the
primary focus of their
presentation.
 ZOOM IN


Among the companies SDI and SMPTE ST 2110 integrated software

that joined forces for this I/O hardware market for package that provides a
BVE, we can also highlight OEMs. front-end video server and
the alliance between Riedel is another of the a streamlined real-time
Open Broadcast Systems big firms with a presence video server for playback
and Cerberus Tech Partner in BVE. Riedel took in SD, HD and/or Ultra HD
to deliver joint IP video advantage of the event to (4K). It is available on
contribution solutions. present its most recent Amazon Web Services
Kieran Kunya, Managing products, among which is Marketplace.
Director of Open the Bolero intercom Warren Peel, Trams
Broadcast Systems, system. The device offers a Managing Director,
explains this agreement: wide range of connectivity explains: “Traditional
"IP has obvious and options, which can be channel delivery today
massive benefits for used threefold: as a can be highly complex
broadcasters concerning wireless beltpack, as a and costly. Cinegy Air PRO
flexibility, scalability, and wireless keypanel, and as Bundle changes all that by
cost efficiency. However, a walkie-talkie radio. dramatically simplifying
the workflows are very
Cinegy wanted to all the the process at a far lower
different, and companies
attention to be on its new cost, without
such as Cerberus Tech will
Air PRO Bundel, an compromise.”
be key in helping
broadcasters migrate to
these new workflows."
Quicklink introduced its
Studio-in-a-box solution,
designed for productions
in remote-controlled HD
studios. The solution
incorporates the
Panasonic PTZ camera.
Matrox showcased its
complete catalogue of
Monarch encoders for
recording and streaming.
Stand managers also
answered questions
related to the broad
selection available in the Quicklink introduced its Studio-in-a-box solution

TMBi - 77
 ZOOM IN

THE
MULTI SLIDER

TMBi - 78
 ZOOM IN


The world’s first

bendable camera
slider

TMBi - 79
 ZOOM IN

INTERVIEW WITH
WATERBIRD
Patrick Centurioni, CEO
Alexander Steger,
Director of Sales

Tell us briefly your

evolution as a company
so far.
In 2011 the idea for a
flexible slider came up
during a series of wildlife
shootings for a
documentary in the
Austrian Alps. Since then a
6 year long product
development with many
hours in our basement, in
front of the computer and
in the field led to the
initiation of Waterbird
systems. Waterbird
systems quickly received
significant support from
several Austrian
innovation programs,
which allowed the fine
tuning of the product. In
April 2017 Waterbird
systems presented for the
first time the final
prototype of the Multi
Slider, the world’s first
bendable camera slider, at
the NAB in Las Vegas.
After an overwhelming
feedback and huge
interest from distributors,
cameramen,
cinematographers and
many more, Waterbird
systems set up the
production during the
summer. Additional
exposure and the same
positive feedback was
received at the IBC in
Amsterdam in September
2017. The serial
production of the Multi
Slider started in November
2017 and promising
contracts have been made
with distributors
everywhere in the world.
In January 2018 we
received the final
confirmation for our
patent in Europe, whereas
in the USA we are still
process. Due to the
feedback from various
customers, rental houses
and production
companies, Waterbird
systems emphasizes on 3
product lines. The first
product line are the
standard lengths of the
Multi Slider with 150 cm,
120 cm and 80 cm. The
second and even more
exciting product line are
the longer systems, which
are already in use. The
development for a faster
control unit and motor are
in the final stage and will
be available soon. The
third product line is
targeting the broadcast
systems, whereas the
same benefits of the Multi
Slider can be experienced
with heavier equipment.

TMBi - 80
 ZOOM IN


Let’s focus on your flagship product, MULTISLIDER. What does this new tool bring
to the field of filming? What are its main features, according to you?

The Multi Slider is the world´s first camera slider that allows to realize linear and curved
tracks – in any demanded radius - with a single device. It reduces setup time, changing
from a linear to a curved track, storage and carrying space and costs for several sliders
significantly. Within seconds the user can change it from a straight into a curved slider.
Users experience a tremendous increase in work flow and productivity thanks to the
easy setup and flexibility. The Multi Slider can be used outdoors and indoors, which
makes it the perfect tool for a huge variety of filming productions. As the Multi Slider
comes with a custom-built control unit and motor, it can be controlled via a Bluetooth
app on various devices. The app also includes a time lapse function. One of the most
exciting features is the possibility to create endless tracks. Due to the design of the Multi
Slider you can order from 80 cm to any length required. Whereas other, longer sliders
have the difficulty of carrying space, the Multi Slider can be rolled up like a snail and
stored in a specially designed box. This reduces the carrying space and packing time
enormously.

TMBi - 81
 ZOOM IN
You decided to build up
this product to simplify
the work of the
filmmakers. Do you
know any particular AV
production where
MULTISLIDER has been
successfully tested?
A very famous UK based
documentary series is
currently using the Multi
Slider worldwide for
outdoor shootings. We are
happy to present more
about their fantastic
project, once it is finished.
TMBi - 82
Video Design in the UK as
well as Creative Agency in
the Netherlands are using
the long system already
for concerts and
Filmspektakel from
Austria for their innovative
time lapse productions.
MULTISLIDER has
caught the interest of
several awards. What do
they mainly highlight
about the product?
The possibility of
bending a linear into a
curved slider within
seconds. The second
interest for the awards
was most likely the fact
that the Multi Slider can
be produced in any
demanded length. The
Multi Slider has been
nominated officially at the
NAB and IBC as one of the
most innovative products
of the show, respectively.
Furthermore, the Multi
Slider has been awarded
as one of the top three
innovations from our
federal estate in Austria

and another nomination by the German
Innovation awards which is currently
running.
Waterbird Systems was founded by
filmmakers, not by engineers. Counting
on this point, what challenges did you
ZOOM IN

have to face when developing this
product?
The biggest problem at the beginning
was to ensure stability in a truly flexible
system, since there were no comparison
values. The second point was the drive of
TMBi - 83
 ZOOM IN
the engine. In other words,
how can we guarantee a
fully functional and
wobble-free drive
regardless of the radius or
straight condition? Also,
regarding the choice of
material, it was a series of
trial and error until we
found the right synthetic
material. Finally, we had
to find the right partners
in and nearby Austria, that
TMBi - 84
where able to produce our
components. For us it was
crucial that the majority of
our slider components are
produced mostly in Austria
and surroundings.
You have exhibited in
the latest editions of
NAB and IBC. How did
attendants respond to
the product?
The amount of people
from all backgrounds
coming up during the
trade shows took us really
by surprise. Many of them
stated that the Multi Slider
is probably the most
innovative product they
have seen during the
show. There were literally
crowds standing around
the slider, people were
dragging others to our
stand and we had to give
 ZOOM IN


effort it took us before.

Nowadays it is very
difficult to build a
hardware product from
scratch, against all odds
and from a very limited
financial background. We
are currently in the state
of promoting the Multi
Slider. However, there is
some interesting product
development in process
and we are keen to further
optimize and innovate the
work flow for film and
time lapse productions.

What are your plans for

the near future?
The next steps will be
creating more
partnerships around the
many interviews. Overall, how do you
world and finalizing the
Distributors came up and value the evolution
tried to secure exclusive followed by product developments we
deals whereas cameramen MULTISLIDER since its have currently running.
asked us to let them know launch until now? We will strongly
as soon as possible when We are more than emphasize on the longer
they could purchase it. overwhelmed by the and faster systems as well
Without putting any support and interest that as the broadcast system.
marketing efforts in our has been accompanying
However, there are some
exhibitions, we were us. Two years ago, we
totally surprised by the wouldn´t have expected ideas in the pipe-line for
response at the trade such a fast development, add-ons for all of our
shows. considering the time and Waterbird systems.

TMBi - 85
 ZOOM IN

UHD
Much more than 4K (III)

TMBi - 86
 ZOOM IN


HDR and Standards

When we talk about Ultra High Definition or UHD, for
short, we only tend to think about the increase in definition
that this implies, but UHD is not just more pixels; instead, it
is better pixels. In this series of articles, TM Broadcast will
delve into what UHD really means and the most important
aspects of this new technology.

Text by Yeray Alfageme

Broadcast Systems Engineer, Olympic Channel

In this last issue, we addressed the something really limited in comparison

UHD's flagship theme, HDR, and the
amalgamation of standards that all this
brings us.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.
The dynamic range of an image is the
difference between the darkest and the
brightest parts of the scene. Dynamic
range is measured in diaphragm stops
and it gives us an idea of the difference
between the darkest and brightest areas
of an image. The human eye has a
dynamic range of 14 stops, which means
that we can see a broad range of
luminosities in the same scene. The
adaptability of the human eye is also very
wide and fast between scenes that fall
outside of those 14 stops.
Until now, the dynamic range covered
six stops within the BT.709 standard,
with our eyes. This was due to the former
limitations of the standard definition,
which led to the definition of a limited
dynamic range. In fact, beyond
colourimetry or definition, dynamic range
is perhaps the most limiting part of
technical equipment when it comes to
capturing and reproducing images.
The new HDR standards that we will see
later gives us up to 17 stops, way beyond
the human visual capacity. This does not
mean that current equipment can actually
work with such a wide dynamic range, but
in anticipation of this happening in the
future, standards already cover these
capabilities.
The Barten limit or Barten ramp was
defined to delimit how much we must
increase the dynamic range of an image
for it to be perceptible.

TMBi - 87
 ZOOM IN

Graph 1 confronts the

luminance present in an
image concerning the
contrast breaks necessary
for this difference in
luminance to be visible.
The more contrast, the
easier it is to distinguish
between the differences of
luminance in the scene.
However, there is a limit
Graph 1
above which the increase
does not bring any change
in visual perception, and luminance, while above Something else that
this occurs in high this ramp providing more allows us to explain the
luminance of the image. contrast does not importance of dynamic
Below the Barten ramp, necessarily imply that we range in the image is the
increasing the contrast can see a change in fact that the light
implies a visual change in luminance. captured by the camera is

TMBi - 88
 ZOOM IN


not represented in the

same way on the screen
afterwards. To define how
the image is captured or
represented at both the
camera and screen ends at
the end of the chain, we
talk about the EOTF
(Electro-Optical Transfer
Function) or, how we
move from the optical
Graph 2
image present in the
scene to the electronic
signal in the case of the
that appeared in order to • SMPTE 2084 (PQ – Dolby
camera and vice versa in
widen the dynamic range Vision).
the case of the screen.
and get as close as • ITU-R BT2100 (HLG -
Due to this non-linear possible, but without Hybrid Log Gamma).
difference in capturing going over the Barten
and representing images, ramp. • Sony S-Log 3.
Gamma curves were As always, each • HDR 10.
defined. Gama curves manufacturer or
explain the difference in institution launched its
luminance between the own standard. SMPTE 2084 (PQ
image as captured and its
representation.
• SMPTE 2084 (PQ – Dolby – DOLBY VISION)
Vision).
If we consider the whole Dolby laboratories have
• SMPTE 2086. defined their own Gamma
chain, i.e. from the camera
• SMPTE 2094. curve to represent HDR
to the final screen, this is
• ITU-R BT2100 (HLG - images (Graph 2) with the
defined as OOTF, Opto-
Hybrid Log Gamma). consideration that the
Optic Transfer Function,
• Sony S-Log 3. entire transmission chain
and the objective is that
must be controlled for it
the scene played on the • HDR 10.
to be effective. In other
screen is as faithful as • Technicolour HDR. words, both the camera
possible to the one
As you can see, and the screen must be
captured by the camera. addressing all these capable of representing
After introducing all standards would be and transforming the
these theoretical unmanageable, and that is electronic image into an
concepts, let's put them why we will only focus on optical one using the PQ
into practice by studying the four most influential in curve that the standard
the different standards the industry. defines. In particular, it

TMBi - 89
 ZOOM IN
Graph 3
establishes an absolute
luminance reference in
respect of the final screen
in which it will be defined,
something unrealistic in
consumer environments,
but nevertheless very
feasible in
cinematographic
environments where the
method of image
representation is perfectly
controlled in cinemas.
With an extremely high
upper limit of 10,000 nits,
this is one of the most
Graph 4
TMBi - 90
complete and highest
image quality standards.
As we see in the diagram
of Graph 3, the curve is
applied at the time of
capture, OOTF, and adapts
in the capture phase to its
electrical transmission,
Inverse EOTF, applying
only the electro-optical
conversion, EOTF, in its
reproduction. In other
words, the complexity lies
in the capture while the
visualisation is
standardised assuming
that all screens represent
the image in the same
way.
ITU-R BT2100 (HLG -
HYBRID LOG GAMMA)
HLG arises from the
collaboration in the
development of HDR
standards by BBC and
NHK, which are always at
the forefront of new
standards and
developments. A
fundamental change

compared to the Dolby PQ
curve is that HLG defines a
relative luminance that
takes into account the
maximum luminance of
the scene and not an
absolute value. The good
thing about this relative
definition is that the HLG
standard supports a wide
range of cameras and
screens, or can be adapted
to represent HDR images
under the HLG standard.
One of the great
advantages of HLG is that
it is retro-compatible with
SDR (Standard Dynamic
Range) systems, which
means that a HDR-HLG
signal can be represented
without being processed
in traditional SDR systems.
This is very important
when carrying out our
HDR production since in
another standard we
would have to produce
two different signals, SDR
and HDR, with the
complications that this
implies.
This is because, unlike
PQ, HLG only needs a 10-
bit signal to represent
HDR images while PQ
needs 12-bit. PQ can
represent a greater
ZOOM IN

dynamic range by
sacrificing backward
compatibility in favour of
a better image. However,
sometimes this is not the
main thing and many
broadcasters see HLG as
much more interesting
than PQ, due to its
backward compatibility
and ease of
implementation, although
the latter allows for better
image quality.
In this case (Graph 4),
only the end of the display
is adapted to the HDR
signal, while the rest of
the chain remains intact.
TMBi - 91
 ZOOM IN
SONY S-LOG 3
Sony introduced its S-Log
3 standard in all of its
default HDR systems by
providing partial
standardisation across all
of its products and S-Log 3
compatible products.
However, it is not an ITU
or SMPTE standard, but
Sony's own, greatly
slowing down
implementation in its
competitors.
However, it has achieved
some implementation, and
Sony has even
implemented S-Log 3
converters for other
standards such as HLG,
allowing users to adopt
this standard and
broadcast in a more
Graph 5
TMBi - 92
compatible and similar specifications
standardised standards. S- concerning colourimetry
Log 3 only uses a 10-bit and luminance, but in 10-
bit signals, and the main
signal but has a higher
difference between HDR
dynamic range than HLG,
and Dolby Vision lies in
which is a good balance
the way the image is
between PQ and HLG.
treated on the end screen.
HDR 10 As you can see in the
Graph 5, different
Manufacturers like
manufacturers - including
Samsung, LG and even
some Hollywood studios -
Sony came together to
entered the war to
implement a more open
establish one of these two
platform than Dolby's PQ,
standards as predominant
probably to avoid paying
with respect to another,
the high royalties Dolby
and the war continues as
imposes on their Dolby
we write this article.
Vision. They created the
However, this only
Consumer Technology
involves the filmmaking
Association in 2015, and
part of the industry, while
HDR 10 was born. the television and
It is based on SMPTE ST broadcast part clearly
2084 EOTF (PQ) and has opts for HLG.
 ZOOM IN


Graph 6

THE STANDARDS progressive or interlaced from 24 to 120 frames per

images are involved.
After talking about HDR
(high dynamic range), HFR BT.2020 already provides
for 8K resolutions, but it
(high frame rate), WCG
(wide colour gamut) and does not provide for
backward compatibility
resolution, we can
combine all these with HD. It discards
interlaced signals and
concepts in the different
implements the BT.2020
standards.
colour space without HDR
We will compare the capability. However,
previous BT.709 with because it considers
BT.2020 and BT.2100, increasing the number of
which implemented both frames per second to 120,
new definitions, WCG and which already falls within
HDR (Graph 6). the HFR (High Frame
BT.709 only provided HD Rate), it forces equipment
resolution and scanning to support 10 and 12-bit
methods that were both signals.
interlaced and progressive Finally, the BT.2100
while maintaining standard is the most
standard colour range and comprehensive of all as it
dynamics. 8 and 10-bit includes all the concepts
signals can be used studied during the three
depending on the number deliveries of this series on
of images represented per UHD. Definitions between
second and whether HD and 8K, a frame rate
second in progressive scan
alone, WCG using the
BT.2020 standard, HDR in
both HLG and PQ curves
and 10 and 12-bit signals
make it the definitive
standard that is expected
to be implemented in the
industry, at least in
television since in
cinematics things can be
different.
At TM Broadcast, we
hope that these three
releases have contributed
towards giving you a
deeper understanding of
the world of UHD, have
shed some light on a
technology that is no
longer the future but the
present, and that certainly
pose great challenges for
the industry and
professionals who work in
it.

TMBi - 93
 We try

Chrosziel Zoom
servo CDM-MK-Z
For Fujinon MK 18-55
and MK 50-135 lenses

TMBi - 94

The perfect accessory for an extraordinary set
The professional field is
characterised by excellent
quality tools and high
levels of specialisation.
Today, we have an
example of one of those
extraordinary components
developed by one of the
best independent
Chrosziel Zoom servo CDM-MK-Z
manufacturers of
accessories for the film
and television industry:
Chrosziel. Chrosziel is
widely recognised for its
optical control system,
among other components.
The zoom servo we've
had the chance to test on

Author: Luis Pavia
this occasion, the CDM-
MK-Z, is characterised by
being specifically
designed for Fujinon's new
cinema range lens, the
exceptional 18-55 and 50-
135, both T2.9, which
share exactly the same
physical dimensions.
TMBi - 95
 TEST AREA
Its LAN-C control renders
it compatible with remote
controls of any brand that
use this protocol, and
thanks to its two
connections, it is ideal for
cameras like the Sony FS-5
and FS-7, whose
sophisticated handles
keep all its camera
functions through the
servo.
For our analysis, we set
up the Chrosziel device
with a Fujinon 18-55 lens
and Sony FS-5 and FS-7
cameras.
The equipment consists
of a small, lightweight box
TMBi - 96
that fits securely into the
lens with two screws in a
matter of seconds and
does not require any
adjustment since the
fitting of the elements in
general, and the gear, in
particular, is simply
perfect. There is no margin
for error, and it accepts
two positions, to leave
free space on either side
of the lens according to
our needs.
Connections are also
quick and easy: the LAN-C
cable that comes from the
handle, and another from
the servo to the camera to
maintain all functionality.
There is even a mini jack
extension so that the
remote control or handle
can be positioned further
away from the lens; and
finally, the 5-pin servo
power cable from the
LEMO 0B. The one that is
supplied has D-Tap
termination for the
additional connector for
different battery types, but
other models are
available. The power
supply is very versatile
and ranges from 10 to 30v.
There is also a mini USB
port for firmware
upgrades, and a LED,
which blinks for a few
 Chrosziel Zoom servo CDM-MK-Z 

In short, this is an excellent device that sophisticated can do so

makes it so much easier to get the
most out of excellent lenses and
improve the performance of any
remote control used to activate it.
seconds on the connection
while the system
calibrates with the lens
and the zoom scale
bumpers. This procedure is
automatic, needing no
intervention on our part,
and you can see how the
zoom works at different
speeds during the process.
Once mounted, the
handling is a true delight.
It is very sensitive to the
touch. It responds
immediately and offers
extraordinary gentleness.
In this aspect, we could
emphasise that the start
and stop are smooth, and
the speed changes in the
zoom as we press the cam
are progressive, without
the perceptible jumps of
other sets; and this is
where devices like this
one begin to stand out
from others.
The LAN-C protocol has
its advantages and
limitations. As well as the
zoom controls, where the
simplest only command
eight-speed levels for the
zoom drive while the most
continuously. Well, to
improve the behaviour of
any remote control, this
Chrosziel unit allows you
to configure its response if
need be.
By holding the zoom
cam down for 5 seconds,
you can switch between
different modes, such as
"documentary" or "silent"
mode where the zoom
drive speed is limited to
60% and 40% of the
maximum live mode
speed, so that the zoom
movement during
recording is even
smoother than what our
controls would ever allow
without it. Of course,
without losing touch or
softness at low speeds.
Firmware updates will
also allow you to add
compatibility with future
lenses, as well as new
configuration options.
In short, this is an
excellent device that
makes it so much easier to
get the most out of
excellent lenses and
improve the performance
of any remote control
used to activate it.

TMBi - 97