Archive for July, 2011

SEATAC, WA — Premier systems integration firm Advanced Broadcast Solutions (ABS) will present the Harris® Selenio™ Road Tour, a five-day tour of television stations and other facilities in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, to showcase the new Selenio media convergence platform. The free tour, which runs Aug. 1-5, 2011, will feature demonstrations of the new Harris product.

As the industry continues to migrate from a traditional broadcast model to a more flexible IP-based workflow, adding new services – without significantly increasing operating expenses – is vital for revenue. Selenio offers a flexible, all-new approach to signal processing and compression for the converging baseband/broadband area. The modular platform integrates into existing fixed or mobile production environments, broadcast facility or digital terrestrial redistribution head end infrastructures, and cable, satellite, and IPTV head ends.

“Selenio represents a significant change in technology for broadcasters, more

Grass Valley™ has completed the turnkey installation of a multi-million dollar high definition studio and live sports production system to allow a sports stadium to cover events in house. The new studio gives the Baluan Sholak Sport Palace, in the Kazakhstan former capital of Almaty, unprecedented facilities and the ability to manage its own productions without the need to bring in outside contractors.

The system includes eight Grass Valley LDK 4000 Elite cameras, two with wireless transmission, as well as four LDK 8300 Live Super SloMo cameras, which can operate in single, double, and triple speeds. The unique AnyLight™ feature guarantees stunning flicker free replays, especially during indoor use where artificial lighting is applied. To support the LDK 8300 cameras, the studio also includes two Grass Valley K2 Summit™ production clients with three variable speed K2 Dyno™ Replay Controllers and a K2 Dyno Production Assistant (PA) management workstation. A Grass Valley Kayak™ HD video production switcher sits at the heart of the control room.

The installation also includes a Grass Valley EDIUS® nonlinear editing workstation to allow highlights packages and other rapid turnaround material to be created. The EDIUS NLE is attached directly to the Grass Valley K2 SAN network which manages all shared recordings and playback. The facility’s infrastructure features a Grass Valley Concerto™ Series router with Jupiter™ router control, and GeckoFlex™ modular products.

The turnkey project, which included graphics from Pixel Power, multiviewers from Apantac, and a Yamaha audio mixer, was designed by Grass Valley in association with its local systems integrator SKYMAX TECHNOLOGIES, based in Almaty.

“The stadium, owned by the city of Almaty, hosts events on international level from ice hockey [it was the venue for the recent Asian Winter Games 2011] to football and boxing, as well as big concerts,” said Erik Shortanbayev, CEO of SKYMAX TECHNOLOGIES. “The city saw an opportunity to now better serve all the users of the stadium by providing all of the modern facilities they would need to produce their own television coverage, reducing costs and increasing turnaround. And thanks to the great support from our partner Grass Valley, that is just what we have delivered.”

“Design and engineering teams from Baluan Sholak Sport Palace, SKYMAX TECHNOLOGIES, and Grass Valley sat down at NAB in 2010 to finalize the requirements and sign the contract,” said Aengus Linehan, Senior Vice President of Global Services at Grass Valley. “We demonstrated to them that we could deliver not just world class products, but a complete turnkey solution without the risks associated with other integrators. And we justified that by delivering the project on budget and on time, giving this remarkable stadium a terrific creative production platform.”

The project included acquisition of the third-party equipment, systems integration, commissioning on site, and training. Following the April 2010 contract signing, systems acceptance testing was successfully accomplished in February 2011, with the training program for the stadium’s team of technicians completed in May. As well as delivering a successful project to the end user, the contract also allowed for detailed knowledge transfer to SKYMAX TECHNOLOGIES, giving it technology leadership in the Eurasian region.

To learn more about SKYMAX TECHNOLOGIES, please, visit www.skymax.kz

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Products from AJA Video Systems featured prominently in the video infrastructure of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, held in April and May. Louisiana-based Full Motion Productions handled tapeless recording of performances using AJA Ki Pro digital recorders for archiving and streaming, and put multiple AJA FS1 HD/SD audio and video converters to work supporting on-site big-screen projection of live performances on the main stages.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell is one of the world’s largest outdoor music festivals, featuring over 500 musical acts on 12 stages and drawing an estimated 400,000+ visitors. Full Motion Productions has been supporting the event’s festival productions team for the past four years.

“All of the main stages depend on AJA in some way,” said Full Motion Productions co-founder Nate Page. “Last year some of the stages recorded to tape and some to Ki more

ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA— Rising Sun Pictures, which has produced visual effects for such films as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Parts I & II) and Green Lantern, has hired Mark Patterson as Head of Production and Development for its new production division, Rising Sun Entertainment. Patterson, who has a deep background as a film producer, executive producer and development executive, will develop film projects with Rising Sun participating as either producer or co-producer.
“Mark has a lot of experience as a producer, he knows the market well, and he is well respected in the Australian film community and internationally,” said Rising Sun Pictures CEO Michael Taylor. “We are very happy to have him help us with this new venture.” more

All CAD Workstations at Upcoming WorldSkills Vocational Training Competition Equipped with a Top-of-the-Line 3Dconnexion SpacePilot PRO 3D Mouse

BOSTON – July 19, 2011 – As part of its commitment to supporting the development of a skilled global workforce, 3Dconnexion will again sponsor the Mechanical Engineering Design CAD category at the 41st International WorldSkills competition, equipping all 20 CAD workstations with a 3Dconnexion SpacePilot PRO 3D mouse. More than 150,000 people are expected to watch 1,000 competitors – people from around the world age 25 and under – compete to be the best at their chosen skill. WorldSkills London 2011 will take place Oct. 5-8, 2011 at ExCeL, London.

“Many of the students taking to the global stage in the engineering competition at WorldSkills London 2011 will be familiar with 3Dconnexion 3D mice but may not have had an more

Rafa Sardina recorded and mixed tracks for Lady Gaga’s recent album, Born This Way, using JBL LSR28P studio monitors.

NORTHRIDGE, California – Recording industry veteran Rafa Sardina recorded and mixed tracks for Lady Gaga’s recent album, Born This Way, using HARMAN JBL LSR28P studio monitors. Sardina is an 11-time GRAMMY®-winning producer, mixer and recording engineer, whose credits include projects with Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Dr. Dre, Beyoncé, Sheryl Crow and Macy Gray.

Sardina worked with producer Fernando Garibay on Born this Way at The Mix Room in Burbank, California. According to Sardina, JBL LSR studio monitors have become an integral tool in his setup. “I use the LSR monitors while recording the tracks and mixing,” Sardina said. “It has been a very fruitful association for me, since the JBL LSR’s really helped more

• Annual AlwaysOn Global 250 List Recognizes Top Private Companies Worldwide for Pursuits in Technology and Innovation
• Winners Selected Based on Five Criteria: Innovation, Market Potential, Commercialization, Stakeholder Value and Media Buzz
• Sorenson Media’s Innovative Server and Cloud-based Video Encoding Solutions Built on Gold-Standard Squeeze Encoding Engine for the Enterprise

SAN DIEGO (July 19, 2011) – Sorenson Media today announced that the company has won a spot on the 2011 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies list, which recognizes leadership and contributions to global technology and innovation. more

Free Singular Software Presto for FCP update adds new features for creating visually appealing and engaging presentation videos in just minutes

Vancouver, British Columbia – Singular Software™, a developer of workflow automation applications for digital media, is pleased to announce the latest update to its innovative presentation video software, Singular Software Presto™, version 1.2, for Final Cut Pro®. Singular Software Presto dramatically simplifies the creation of high-quality presentation videos. Working alongside Final Cut Pro, Singular Software Presto synchronizes, arranges, and edits the footage of the presenter, presentation slides, and video taken of the screen in just minutes. A free update for all existing customers, the new Singular Software Presto 1.2 offers four new layout templates, better animated transitions between layouts, smoother presenter tracking, and an option for rounded slide corners. For more information or to download Singular Software more

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., July 19, 2011 – Adding to its new line of 1.3-Megapixel IP security cameras, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, has introduced the VB-M700F fixed IP camera, providing outstanding image quality, built-in video analytics, conformance to the ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) interoperability standard and many other advanced features. Streamlined in appearance, the new model integrates sophisticated technologies derived from Canon’s world-famous digital camera and optical products. Applications for the camera include transportation centers, banks and ATM rooms, schools, retail stores, gaming establishments and many other IP security-video environments.

“The security camera market is rapidly growing, and Canon has developed a range of megapixel security cameras combining superb image quality, Intelligent Features and innovations maximizing the proven advantages of video over IP for remote monitoring,” explained Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general more

CW Upfront

Valencia Production Partners (VPP) produced the high-energy 2011-12 upfront for youth-oriented network The CW with support from WorldStage companies Video Applications, Inc. and Scharff Weisberg Inc. VPP, which has staged upfronts for The CW since its debut seven years ago, moved the venue to the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center where the young stars of the network’s returning and new primetime series took center stage in an exciting presentation filled with immersive visuals and the network’s young stars.

“The upfront’s stage, design and presentation needed to match the look and feel of The CW on-air brand and its demographic’s expectations,” says Jim Piccirillo, executive producer/director at VPP. “The idea was to immerse the audience in the brand with lots of supplemental graphics and animation and a main set reflecting a pixilated more