TV Production (analogue)
268	A cost-effective strategy for the archiving of ageing film I. Baker and I. Bulford (64 KB)
	This article describes a cost-effective strategy that the BBC has developed for the archiving of images stored on ageing film. It is aimed particularly at images which are important for their historical content, rather than at the high-quality images normally associated with peak-time drama. The system requires the use of a 10-bit digital tape recorder that does not use compression. The images are transferred from film to tape in such a way that regrading can be carried out at a later date, e.g. during the making of a future television programme.
268	A new Super-16mm telecine alignment film R. Hurley (50 KB)
	This article describes a Super-16mm telecine alignment film which was developed at Channel Four Television, because suitable material could not be purchased commercially. The prime purpose of the film is to provide an easy method of checking telecine scan size and position, so that a 16:9 image (1V78:1) which is suitable for widescreen 625-line television can be extracted from a Super-16mm original (1V66:1). Supplementary calibrations allow working with a 4:3 aspect ratio. A quick assessment of overall gate focus, resolution, scan / display linearity, and overall system performance can also be made.
264	A new technique to maintain sound and picture synchronization D.G. Kirby and M.R. Marks (100 KB)
	It is becoming more common to see television programmes broadcast with the sound and pictures out of synchronization. Such timing errors can occur very easily today, due to video and audio signals being processed separately, for example by synchronizers and video effects units. The BBC has been concerned with signal synchronization for some time and has explored various techniques to control it. The most promising approach uses delay codes, carried within the signals themselves, to indicate the amount of delay which each signal has experienced. These codes are updated whenever a signal is further delayed by equipment, and therefore they indicate the extent of the mistiming between sound and vision at any point in the production chain. When required, typically at the point of recording or transmission, the accumulated delay values are read from the signals and used to apply a compensating delay to re-synchronize the sound and pictures.
TV Production (digital)
2008-Q1	ANTS — a complete system for automatic news programme annotation based on audiovisual content and text analysis
	Giorgio Dimino, Alberto Messina and Roberto Borgotallo (356 kB)
	This article describes an integrated system for the automatic annotation of television news programmes named ANTS (Automatic Newscast Transcription System). It consists of several analysis components, integrated within a unified architecture. Users have the possibility of accessing a large daily-growing database of news stories from the main national channels – all identified, categorised and published in a fully automatic way. The system identifies story boundaries, extracts texts from spoken content, classifies stories by subject and links external relevant information coming from the web. The system’s performance has been evaluated in a real-life scenario by a panel of professional users inside RAI. The strength of the approach behind ANTS is its ability to integrate several heterogeneous tools in a performant and ready-for-production environment. ANTS is capable of elaborating many hours of material per day, without significant service drops and with sufficiently good accuracy for industrial deployment in large broadcasting facilities.
310	Tapeless workflows at S4C — putting an end to the battle for the master copy Andy Palmer (1 MB)
	Tapeless workflows are now the goal of many broadcasters but the road to “tapelessness” is not always smooth and straight. Some of the biggest obstacles are cultural rather than practical. However the benefits of ending the battle for the master tape are well worth having. S4C has embarked on a programme of editing, creating and transmitting it’s content in a totally file-based environment and is beginning to see the benefits of this way of working. This article explains our rationale and shows the way in which the various systems integrate.
304	Rec. 601 — the origins of the 4:2:2 DTV standard Stanley Baron and David Wood (284 KB)
	The year 2005 marks the 25th anniversary of the development of the 4:2:2 component DTV standard. This standard – as documented in SMPTE 125, several EBU Recommendations and ITU-R Recommendation 601 – was the first international standard adopted for interfacing equipment directly in the digital domain, avoiding the need to first restore the signal to an analogue format. This article – one of three published in this edition to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Rec. 601” – presents an overview of this historic achievement. It provides a history of the standard’s origins, explaining how it came into being, why various parameter values were chosen, the process that led the world community to an agreement, and how the 4:2:2 standard led to today’s digital high-definition production standards.
304	The dawn of Rec. 601 ... 25 years on David Wood (166 KB)
	David Wood interviews pathfinder Peter Rainger (ex-BBC and a former Chairman of the joint EBU-SMPTE Task Force) on his major contribution to the standardization of 4:2:2 digital video, aka ITU Recommendation BT.601
304	Rec. 601 — the move to components Chris Clarke and Andrew Oliphant (763 KB)
	In the late 1970s it was clear that the time was right to standardize the sampling parameters for digital video signals. This would allow the emerging digital “islands” to be connected over the course of time, to form a complete digital programme chain. However, many broadcast engineers preferred composite digital video standards, with the sampling frequency linked to the PAL or NTSC subcarrier, while others looked forward to a universal standard based on sampling separate luminance and colour difference components. The resolution came from work at BBC Research Department on standards conversion. The BBC became convinced that digital component standards were the way forward and was able to demonstrate how composite signals can be accommodated in a component world – based on line-locked orthogonal sampling patterns.
294	Taking the digital route — YLE news post production Fiacha Harrington and Timo Huovinen (398 KB)
	Over the past five years or so, the Finnish public broadcaster YLE has progressively been advancing along the route to full digitalization of its news post production operations. This article describes the stages covered thus far, the problems encountered along the way – and includes the observations of a YLE journalist who has closely monitored the progress.
291	File exchange formats for networked television production Hans Hoffmann (199 KB)
	While many digital TV production systems have been introduced in isolated “islands”, there is increasing user demand to incorporate these islands into larger networked infrastructures. As a consequence, television production is currently undergoing a second phase of digitalization – the move towards IT-based technologies. By way of an introduction to the AAF, GXF and MXF articles published in this issue of EBU Technical Review, this article presents – in a broader context – the file formats and systems issues that are likely to be encountered when migrating to “file-oriented” TV production.
291	AAF — the Advanced Authoring Format Brad Gilmer (214 KB)
	The Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) enables content creators to easily exchange digital media – essence – and metadata across platforms, and between applications. It simplifies project management, saves time and preserves valuable metadata that was often lost in the past when transferring essence between applications.
291	MXF — the Material eXchange Format Bruce Devlin (157 KB)
	The Material eXchange Format is an open file format, aimed at the interchange of AV material along with associated data and metadata. It establishes interoperability of content between various applications used in the television production chain. This leads to operational efficiency and creative freedom through a unified networked environment.
291	GXF — the General eXchange Format Bob Edge (219 KB)
	The General eXchange Format was originally conceived by Grass Valley Group for the interchange of simple camera shots over data networks, and for archival storage on data tape. Over the years it has evolved to include additional compression types, and support for compositions with video cuts, audio fades and metadata. It is now an SMPTE standard.
289	Digital news production at DR Torben Lundberg (260 KB)
	Since December 2000, DR has produced two news broadcasts daily, five days a week, in a purely digital environment – with no significant errors. The latest step consisted of taking a digital archiving solution into the news production environment. This article evaluates the progress made throughout the project.
280	Content Management Systems for television production J. Heitmann (312 KB)
	This article provides an overview of the Content Management Systems for TV production that were exhibited at IBC ‘98. The author makes a plea for more open systems which are much less constrained than the proprietary systems that currently dominate the marketplace.
279	A method for the modelling of integrated network TV production facilities A. Deliysky (380 KB)
	Having carried out a comprehensive analyzis of television production systems from a data-processing viewpoint, the author describes a functional model of a base network platform that has been developed by means of the theoretical instruments of the Generalized Nets. A method for the modelling of typical production operations – by removing unwanted facilities from the base network platform model – is also briefly described. The proposed model clarifies the interaction between the author-editor and creative realization activities. It also shows what kinds of data are used and generated by different types of data-processing modules – looking at television signal-processing and transport from both a network / data-file aspect and a datastream aspect. The model provides connectivity to both these domains. The software realization of the model may be used as a valuable practical tool for optimizing project-planning decisions.
276	An untraditional approach to the development of untraditional tapeless TV technology A. Deliysky and I. Baberkov (724 KB)
	A tapeless news-processing facility is currently in the process of pilot operation with Bulgarian National Television. Based on the most powerful multi-initiator high bit-rate network technology, and incorporating the hardware and software resources provided by inexpensive and widely-used computer systems, it offers several advantages over traditional tapeless systems that are based on computer technology using real video servers. By extending this subsytem to include other similar subsystems for TV production, post-production, scheduling and archiving, the Authors outline their proposals for a fully-integrated tapeless TV production facility.
272	Virtual studios — the BBC's experience D. Popkins (429 KB)
	When a broadcaster is faced with any new technology there is initially a period of uncertainty. Is it just an engineering toy, or will it radically alter the production process? Such is the dilemma over virtual studios. The Author describes the facets of virtual studio production which the BBC has found hardest to adapt and get right, and puts forward some ideas on where improvements could be made by the developers of such systems.
272	Has the fun gone out of engineering? C. Hillier (287 KB)
	The Author has seen widescale changes in the role of the studio engineer during his thirty and more years in broadcasting. In this article, he describes many of these changes and gives his personal views on the problems which are being caused by the convergence of computing and broadcasting technologies in the television studio.
268	Virtual studio technology: an overview of its applications in television programme production M. Rotthaler (69 KB)
	As the resources available for television production become fewer and fewer, public broadcasters are looking towards virtual studio technology to satisfy the need for increased productivity with reduced costs. This article provides a brief introduction to virtual studio technology. The two main systems are discussed – sensor-based systems and those which use image analysis – and then the Author points out the advantages and limitations of the technology. He concludes by challenging the programme makers and, in particular, the graphics designers to grasp the extremely versatile opportunities offered by these new techniques.
268	Virtual studio technology: the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest D. Hughes (166 KB)
	The Eurovision Song Contest in 1996 broke new ground in the arena of live television – one hour of the programme, performed in front of an audience of 6,000 people, was made in a "virtual studio". In this article, the Author reports on many of the aspects that had to be considered, leading up to and during transmission of the programme.
268	Maintaining a valuable programme archive in the face of technological change C. Daubney (71 KB)
	The commercial value of programme archives is becoming more and more important, with the proliferation of new television channels. Ongoing developments in recording and storage technology mean that very careful decisions must be taken on how best to preserve our television archives. In this article, the Author offers his personal views on what is required to maintain a programme archive, particularly now that digital recording and bit-rate reduction technologies are taking over. He also describes the archiving strategy that has been adopted by Channel Four Television in the United Kingdom to serve its needs over the next decade or so.
267	EBU Seminar: "Sifting the Hype" — Television production tools for the next decade J.J. Peters and R.A. Chalmers (80 KB)
	In December 1995, the EBU held a Technical Seminar on new television production tools for the next decade. In this article, the authors give their personal views on the main elements covered by the seminar – compression, recording, archiving and routing.
TV Production (widescreen)
280	Safe areas for widescreen transmission I. Baker (187 KB)
	There are not yet any accepted definitions for the “safe areas” in widescreen television production. This was a matter of pressing concern in the UK so the UK broadcasters together drew up an ad-hoc standard for immediate use in the UK. The basic concepts behind dual-standard transmissions and the approach taken to achieving compatibility, are outlined here. The reasoning for setting the safe areas at the chosen values are then given.
272	The European widescreen market J.-P. Lartigue (119 KB)
	This article describes the overall evolution of the 16:9 television receiver market in Europe, and analyses the different strategies that must be undertaken to ensure its durability. It underlines the practical difficulties that have been met so far, and suggests initiatives which should help the manufacturers and the broadcasters to gain the confidence of the television viewers.
272	The 16:9 format — a technical and artistic challenge C. Darmon (369 KB)
	The technical innovations which are pervading the world of broadcasting will achieve their full potential only if all the professionals concerned adopt a new approach and new working methods. In this article the Author describes how the new 16:9 format has changed the rules for shooting, and explains the aesthetic advantages it offers.
253	HDTV programme production (a series of four articles) (390 KB)
	The development of 1250/50 HDTV B. Scott
	The Dublin conclusions — Reflections on the use of a wider picture J.J Peters
	How can we change our production chain? E. Lionetti
	New tools for the enhanced and HDTV studio centre A.H. Jones
	Once the euphoria of the new enhanced and high-definition emission technologies has worn off, the viewing public will be no more aware of the technical innovations of HDTV than they are of colour subcarriers in today's conventional systems. No doubt many viewers will remember the 1990s more for the change of aspect ratio than for the improvements in intrinsic picture and sound quality. Apart from a firm belief in the economic viability and practical feasibility of enhanced television services, a necessary pre-requisite for the launch of new services will be the ability to show top-quality 16:9 programmes on a full-time basis. The 1250/50 HDTV production standard is the common denominator permitting the launch of 16:9 programme-making throughout Europe, safe in the knowledge that, whatever the choice(s) of emission standard, the programmes will be broadcastable. Trust in this production standard has opened the way to major initiatives assisting broadcasters to master the 16:9 format and the technical quality, and is leading to new ways of handling signals in the production environment.

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