THE CHANNEL
|
ISSUE 2 2013
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35
landscape in Ethiopia, and will be
available both terrestrially and free‐
to‐air via Nilesat. We are very
proud to be involved in this
transition project – it is not only key
for the company but also important
for the media industry in Ethiopia
as it will provide the countryʹs 50m
viewers with their first HD
experience.
Which are buoyant markets for you?
The African deal in Ethiopia is one
of many, we are very excited about
the opportunities in the region. We
are seeing a lot of activity in the
Middle East, Eastern Europe and
Russia/CIS ‐ all these markets are
very vibrant due to the rollout of
HD and the adoption of new
workflow solutions. The CIS
countries are very similar to Africa
in terms of where they are in the
transition to digital. In the Middle
East, particularly in the Gulf, it
remains very lucrative as again
there is still a lot of HD rollout to be
done, especially in the area of
sports broadcasting.
In developed countries, the
cycle of upgrading has slowed due
to a combination of factors. The
first transitions to HD have already
happened and it will be some time
before broadcasters start another
cycle to ultra HD or 4K, and the
impact of the financial crisis means
that in Europe only the UK,
Germany and France are still in
good shape.
Are you a system integrator too?
We had the in‐house system
integration capability to provide
turnkey solutions, but a year ago
we decided not to do this anymore.
So when we engage with customers
we are the technology supplier
while there is a separate system
integrator who puts the various
technology offerings from us and
from others into a turnkey solution
for the customer.
Where is technology going?
The buzz word in the industry is
4K. As a technology supplier, Grass
Valley continues to follow the
developments in 4K very closely.
No matter
what
resolution
technology
can achieve
there is a
limit to
what the
human
eye can
react to
“
”
Our cameras have already migrated
to the CMOS technology which
means we are better positioned than
any other camera manufacturer
today to adopt higher resolutions in
the future to a familiar camera
platform. The consumer electronics
side of the business is pushing for
higher resolutions all the time, and
of course when viewers ask for that
broadcasters will have to react and
move to even higher resolutions.
Grass Valley is committed to
supporting 4K as and when our
customers require it. Iʹm sure by
2016 we will see a number of
advances on that front.
In terms of 3D though I am not
sure how well it fits within the
sports side of the business nor what
will happen at the 2016 Olympics.
At the moment there is a big push
on 4K and even potentially 8K, thatʹs
where itʹs going – ESPN knows this,
which is why they will be ending
ESPN 3D at the end of the year and
concentrating on higher resolutions.
And consumer manufacturers like
Samsung and Sony are already
advertising their 4K panels for the
home at attractive prices in many
countries. For sure, weʹll all need
bigger houses for bigger panels –
there is no point in having a small
screen for 4K display. But there has
to be a limit. No matter what
technology can achieve, there is a
limit to the resolution that the
human eye can react to.
How do you stay ahead?
We believe that as an organisation
we need to outperform and outsell
our competitors by out‐innovating
them, exceeding their capability of
innovation. Being at the forefront of
innovation – this is what the
company has always been focused
on. Recently we demonstrated this
again with the launching of a
number of products that are changing
the way live production is done –
for example with our GV Director.
We showed a pre‐production
model of GV Director at NAB and
have been swamped with customer
enquiries ever since. This product
not only appeals to traditional
producers and directors but also to
www.grassvalley.com
▼
The newHD
facilities at
Ethiopia’s
Amhara TV
the new generation of TV makers. It
has the look and feel of a switcher
in a way but with far fewer buttons.
And it has an iPad‐style touch
screen which allows you to control
various devices from it at the same
time – itʹs a leading edge example
of nonlinear production.
Another true innovation, in my
view, is the LDX flex option on the
LDX camera series. When
production requirements change, a
GV‐elicence is all you need to
expand your cameraʹs capabilities
to a higher‐level model. For
example, if customers have an HD
production where they need 1080p
support for just one week – in this
case they just buy a 7‐day term GV‐
elicence, enable it and then it gets
disabled after seven days. GV‐
elicences give you incredible
production flexibility, easing
CAPEX pressures.
There is nothing better than
listening to customers and getting
an idea from them about what it is
that they need moving forward. But
technology advances are a two‐way
process – what customers want and
what technology can do. When the
iPad was launched, for example, we
were wondering what we would
need the iPad for but now we all
use them and we couldnʹt do
without them.
Said Bacho, thank you.
