IBC 2012 in Amsterdam looks set to reveal new products, new techniques and new ideas in a year that has already seen some quite dramatic changes. As the world switches to digital transmission and regulators get heavy on audio loudness, there is much more emphasis on audio surfacing in this year’s proceedings and it is nice to see an even mix emerging after years of video heavy topics of conversation.
Japan’s national broadcaster’s NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) have been selected to receive the International Honor for Excellence, the highest honour bestowed by IBC.
This honour is presented each year to an outstanding organisation or individual that has fostered or contributed to the relationship between technology and creativity in the broadcast, movie or media industries.
NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories, which recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, have been at the forefront of research in broadcasting technology. NHK STRL pioneered high-definition television, including the development of plasma displays. It recently received an IEEE Milestone Award for introducing the world’s first direct to home satellite broadcast service in 1984.
Among its recent work, NHK STRL has developed Super Hi-Vision, its implementation of high-resolution broadcasting offering a screen resolution 16 times greater than today’s HDTV and 22.2-channel immersive surround sound. NHK STRL engineers are working on the complete chain – from high-resolution, high-speed CMOS cameras through recording and transmission equipment to screens and projection displays.
It also addresses the second screen, helping a consortium of broadcasters launch an experimental service, Hybridcast, which synchronises content on a tablet with the programme on television.
“The contribution to broadcasting technology made by NHK cannot be underestimated,’ said Peter Owen, chair of the IBC Council, the body responsible for making the award. “Their work has always been revolutionary, but equally important, NHK has been generous with its efforts, collaborating with international bodies like the ITU, ABU and SMPTE, along with its contribution to global standards like MPEG.’
One of the more interesting keynote addresses has to be Black Eyed Pea and The Voice personality, international recording artist, technologist, entrepreneur and Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation, will.i.am, who will present a unique and thought provoking session.
Titled ’Creativity and Technology Forces Combine – Transcend the Barriers of Convention and Rethink What Can Be Achieved’ this unique and insightful session promises to examine how the application of new technology can be a catalyst for new thinking and creativity.
“We want people to rethink what they believe is possible,’ says the seven-time Grammy Award winner. “I’m always thinking about tomorrow. What are the new beats? What is the new music? What will people like? What will we be capable of doing? Technology allows us to amplify our ideas, amplify our creativity, and find new ways of solving our problems and genuinely start living in those future tomorrows, and that’s what I want to share at IBC.’
This will be an important session for the broadcast industry in particular. Engaging his fans via social media while on tour, or starring in top-rated television programs, will.i.am is an adept user of social media tools. In today’s multi-screen viewing environment, broadcasters need to embrace current and evolving communications and community building tools to build, connect with and retain audiences.
Transcending the barriers of convention is unlikely to prove a problem for the man who brought us “The Internet is a trumpet’.
Re-thinking what can be achieved shouldn’t be too tricky for him either, given his myriad side-projects and laudable charity work back home in Detroit, not to mention his position as creative director at Intel.
The keynote sessions are the centre-piece of the conference and feature some of the most significant figures in the industry today, from traditional broadcasters to advertising giants, including The Walt Disney Company, Samsung, BBC and Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.
The speakers will deliver insightful sessions on the hottest topics, providing strategic overview and opinion, while offering a unique insight into their business experiences.
One such session will focus on the standards adopted by the EBU and others on audio loudness. This session presents a comprehensive explanation of the problems encountered in audio loudness for multi-platform and connected world applications.
The practice of focusing on loudness in mastering audio recordings dates back to the days when vinyl records were played on jukeboxes in clubs and bars. Any recording that was mastered louder than its competitors was more likely to gain the attention of the audience, and so disks were produced to replay at the loudness limit of the medium. Fifty years on, modern computer-based digital audio effects processing allows mastering engineers to have more intricate control over the loudness, compression and quality of a recording. Therefore with the recent rise of international broadcast standards, “audio loudness’ has become one of the most important and debated topics in broadcast and pro-audio today.
The broadcast industry has evolved rapidly from one reliant on a single form of analogue delivery – whether PAL, NTSC or SECAM – to one where a multiplicity of formats coincide. Video and audio content in 2012 has to be repurposed and standards-converted on the fly for different formats
and different platforms. There are already many differing flavours of HD and, with an array of “future formats’ including 4k and Super Hi-Vision in the pipeline, not to mention ongoing work developing a stereo 3D standard, there is plenty of potential for confusion.
How will the Internet and mobile TV cope with the increase in traffic as more and more content is delivered via their networks? Well IBC is the place to be to catch up on what’s new and evolving in an ever changing broadcast world.
By Ian Dormer
ProSystems magazine 3rd Quarter 2012
