technology

HDR is the next major development in Ultra-HD/4K television, vastly improving contrast and detail to enhance the viewer experience.

Wilson dismissed some of the myths that have built up about the new technology: tube cameras and cathode ray tube televisions are not HDR; and the first innovators of this new technology provided charge-coupled image devices for post-tube cameras.

In fact, it was transfer knees and slope processors that compressed highlights and stopped bright detail from blowing out, providing better peak definition for standard television sets.

Renowned futurist David Wood has warned against a world in which “technology runs out of control” and viewers and consumers are “manipulated” by machines.

Wood was speaking on the “Accelerating digital revolution” at a special members-only London Centre event, hosted at IBC, in October.

The futurist, he explained, “anticipates a set of possible futures, including things that could go very badly [wrong], but, equally, is looking for opportunities”. Before embarking on a career as a technological seer, Wood was a pioneer of the smartphone industry.

It requires clarity – clarity of thought and clarity of action. It means being able to align technology deployment along business units and service capabilities. It means being able to distinguish between the cost of running the business and the cost of changing the business and it means being able to delineate effective spend from wasteful spend. This applies whether you are shipping cement or filming the next Happy Valley.  

The RTS has this year invested £75,000 in two schemes – offering 20 bursaries for Television Production and Broadcast Journalism students and, for the first time, five bursaries for Computing and Engineering undergraduates. The bursaries aim to widen participation in media and related industries and support talented students from lower income backgrounds seeking to pursue a career in television. During their studies, each scholar will be given £1,000 per year to assist with their expenses.

September’s International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) will mark the transition from hype to reality for a wide range of transformative new technologies. Attendees of the week-long broadcasting conference and exhibition in Amsterdam will be able to assess the growing impact of Ultra-HDTV, big data and Cloud computing.

It is no coincidence that IBC has themed its entire conference as “The future of media in an age of disruption”.

Thames Valley hosted a display of drone technology in July at Pincents Manor,  featuring daring fly-past stunts from Skypower’s Russell Cleaver, who guided a drone to hover in front of, and then fly towards, a setting sun.

Aerial-filming specialist Skypower provided a wire-cam system, typically used above sports stadia, and two drones for the display, although the larger, six-rotor Hexacopter proved too difficult to handle in the wind.

As I find my seat among the 150 or more people who have come to Steve Dann’s latest Meetup, I know that the evening will be stimulating and, possibly, provocative. Dann, CEO of Amplified Robot, runs regular monthly Meetups, and this one, “AR and VR in medical education”, is being held in a lecture theatre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

London is an exciting place to be, as we live and work through the digital revolution in content creation and distribution.

Hello, I’m Michael Colyer – and recently I won the RTS Young Technologist 2015 award. Needless to say, I was honoured to receive the prize and very much look forward to attending IBC later in the year to gain a greater understanding of where our industry may be heading.