14 August 2009
Vizrt announces that Viz Multichannel 2.5the lastest version of its powerful channel branding softwarewill be unveiled during the companys invitation-only Amsterdam Sessions, held from September 10th-15th in the Hotel Okura in Amsterdam. Viz Multichannel integrates Vizrts realtime 2D/3D graphics and effects with industry-leading broadcast automation, traffic, and delivery systems, giving broadcasters an effective, hands-off workflow for presenting tickers, banners, snipes and program schedule graphics for more dynamic channel branding.
This new version makes the creation, scheduling, and delivery of channel branding an automated, cost-effective process that will benefit broadcasters in todays demanding, multi-channel business environment, said Ran Yakir, head of R&D Israel, Vizrt. Creating and delivering effective, visually compelling channel branding is essential to attract and retain loyal TV viewers.
Multichannel 2.5 provides many new user-friendly features and operational capabilities that further streamline and automate the operational workflow, including full integration with Viz Ticker3Dan advanced, flexible, creative tool for designing and building graphics-rich tickers. With this integration, Ticker3D elements can be positioned on-screen with their buttons in a pane, which allows the tickers to be triggered either manually or automatically, timed or by automation. Users may also define the import and update rules for these Ticker 3D graphics to be scheduled either by Multichannel or according to traffic/automation system.
Multichannel 2.5 also adds a new settings user interface. It is more channel-based, and enables users to: import and export settings, save to/restore from default on a per-channel basis; and utilize multi-language support.
The import/update mechanism in Multichannel 2.5 was improved, resulting in dramatic performance enhancements and the ability to work with all traffic and automation systems available.
Multichannel 2.5 includes an improved interface with Viz Video Hub, Vizrts video clips database. Using this interface, video clips can be displayed as part of the graphic or the main video. The new version also includes: the ability to automatically send editable templates from the scheduling station to a defined channel in the master control room; cross-channel promotion; GMT offset as required for traffic and automation scheduling; and automatic deletion of old, edited templates.
One example of a customer whos experienced a dramatically improved workflow and channel branding is VC Studios, a television company handling the technical operations at A&E, History, BIO and E! Entertainment Television in Caracas, Venezuela. VC Studios distributes channels via cable television, mobile and web site for all Latin-American countries. VC Studios selected Viz Multichannel to control the order of the television networks overlay graphics on air. VC Studios inserts graphics and station IDs over a total of ten channels five A&E channels and five from History. Viz Multichannel is run from two master control rooms, one in Caracas and another in Sunrise-FL.
Viz Multichannel gives us the opportunity to insert more graphics on air via an automated workflow, said Fernando Campagnoli Master Control Technical Supervisor at VC Studios. We now have automated control on air instead of having to manually control it. We coordinate the transmission plan in the logging department before play out. It has dynamically changed the image of our channels on air, offering more promo capabilities during the shows instead of just during the breaks. The branding of our channels has greatly improved since we started using Viz Multichannel.”
12 August 2009
The Times reports:
The host of a Brazilian TV crime show has been accused of ordering a series of execution-style murders to snuff out rival drug traffickers and boost his own ratings. Police say that Wallace Souza, a former policeman who built a political career as the scourge of crime in the lawless Amazonas state, would feature their killings on his Canal Livre show.
For years the show had an uncanny knack for being the first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victims. Mr. Souza says it relied on good old-fashioned journalism: its staff had well-placed sources and constantly monitored police scanners for murder alerts.
The order to execute always came from the politician and his son, who then alerted the TV crews to get to the scene before the police, Thomaz Vasconcelos, head of intelligence for the state police force, told the Associated Press news agency.
Mr. Souza denied all the criminal allegations and called them absurd.
23 July 2009
From the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty web site:
Azerbaijan marks National Press Day today, but with three journalists in jail and two bloggers awaiting trial there is perhaps not too much to celebrate.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says a Baku court’s rejection of an appeal to release two jailed Azerbaijani bloggers is “unacceptable,” RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports.
Clotilde Le Coz, of RSF’s Internet Freedom Desk, said the pretrial jailing of Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli on charges of hooliganism is “confirmation” of the lack of freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.
“Those bloggers will be forced to stay in detention for two months for something they didnt commit, awaiting their trial that they even dont know the date of,” Le Coz said. “They were just writing on the Internet about what is going on in Azerbaijan. What has hooliganism got to do with that?”
Le Coz said that RSF has sent two letters to the Azerbaijani government asking for the journalists to be released but has received no response.
She said it also asked that the public be allowed to attend the hearing on July 20 at the appeals court, but it was held behind closed doors.
Le Coz said RSF will work to make “more and more people aware of [the bloggers’] situation.”
She called the bloggers’ case “broader…because it shows it can happen to anybody. You dont have to be a journalist to be threatened by the government or to be put in jail.”
Hajizade, a video blogger and member of the OL! opposition movement, was arrested with activist Milli at an internet cafe in Baku on July 8 and charged with hooliganism.
Rights groups say the charges were fabricated to punish the activists — who post their work on the social networking website Facebook — for their criticism of the government.
Le Coz said that they had become online leaders in Azerbaijan “and thats why they were silenced by the government.”
23 July 2009
Daily news from Voice of America’s (VOA) Swahili Service is available, starting this week, by text message for users of Safaricom’s “Get It 411” program in Kenya.
“We’re excited about this program, which is VOA’s first short message service (SMS) project in East Africa,” said VOA Executive Editor Steve Redisch. “We’re always looking for new ways to reach audiences with our news and information on the platforms of their choice and in the languages they speak.”
The Nairobi-based Safaricom already allows subscribers to their Safaricom Live service to download VOA-TV’s English language video and audio to their mobile phones. That program has proved to be popular, particularly with programs about President Obama, whose father was Kenyan.
The new SMS program, “Get It 411,” is a subscription service that provides breaking news alerts on a regular basis.
VOA’s Swahili Service (www.VOANews.com/swahili) broadcasts to Kenya and other countries in East Africa for 1.5 hours each weekday and one hour on weekends. Swahili, a common language in the region, is spoken by an estimated 90 million people.
Safaricom networks reach areas throughout Kenya, an East African country of nearly 38 million where mobile technology often has leap-frogged conventional landline telephones. Safaricom has over 14 million subscribers in Kenya.
23 July 2009
From the GSMA Mobile Business Briefing:
South Korean vendor LG Electronics claims it will continue to defy the general market slowdown after posting record-high quarterly net profit thanks in part to robust sales of mobile devices. It sold 29.8 million handsets in the three months to July, boosted by premium products such as the multimedia touch-screen phone Arena and steady sales of mid-range phones. In the second quarter LG’s total net profit rose 62 percent to KRW1.15 trillion (US$903 million) on revenues of KRW14.5 trillion (a 13.8 percent increase on the year-ago period). Its mobile division reported KRW5.14 trillion in sales, 25.8 percent higher than the previous year, and operating profit of KRW545 billion with a margin of 10.6 percent. Handset sales accounted for 95 percent of its mobile division revenues.
LG is the world’s third-largest handset manufacturer and aims to overtake number two rival Samsung by 2012. Although LG forecasts the global handset market to decline over 6 percent year-on-year to around 280 million units in the third quarter, it expects to enjoy its own “steady growth” with the introduction of future high-end devices.
LG – a contender in home entertainment, home appliances, air conditioning and business solutions, as well as mobile communications – said it expects total company sales “to grow over 10 percent YoY as demand for LCD TVs and mobile phones continues to expand, with profitability comparable to last year’s level.”
23 July 2009
Reuters reports:
Walt Disney Co’s Japan unit said it would sell movies on flash memory cards as small as a fingernail so that people can watch them on mobile phones and other portable devices. The movie studio plans to package pre-recorded microSD cards together with DVDs holding the same movie content, allowing customers to watch at home as well as on the go. These cards will be available in November.
Users can watch movies stored on microSD cards on mobile phones capable of showing terrestrial digital broadcasting, and other portable gear such as car navigation systems.
For new movies, the package of a DVD and microSD card is expected to retail for JPY 4,935 (USD 53), about JPY 1,000 higher than the DVD alone, a spokesman at the Japan unit said.
It is difficult to make a sales forecast since this would be the first time for Disney to put its movies in microSD cards, he said. Initial titles in the microSD format include ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘National Treasure’ series. Panasonic Corp is set to provide Disney with microSD cards, the spokesman said. (Reuters
