Day: Sep 6, 2019

“MALAKA” to open the XI Vitoria FesTVal

Posted on by xlbrothers in News, Production & Post Production

The disappearance of the daughter of an important businessman and the arrival of a new drug on the streets are keys to this southern noir. Antonio Gil, Cuca Escribano, Laura Baena Torres and Susana Córdoba, among others, complete the cast of the series shot on location in Malaga.

CARTEL MALAKA_Alta

An unexplained disappearance, an extremely diverse group of protagonists, all with a painful past, and the city of Malaga. The three keys to “Malaka”, the latest reality thriller from La 1 which has been chosen to open the XI edition of the Vitoria FesTVal, getting underway today, Monday 2nd September. Maggie Civantos, Salva Reina and Vicente Romero head up the cast of this hour long serialized drama in which our protagonists strive to settle old scores with their pasts… and with their present.

Produced by RTVE in association with Globomedia (THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO), Malaka begins with the disappearance of an important local Malaga-born businessman’s daughter. The Andalusian city takes on the role of an additional cast member in what has been described as a ‘warts and all’ look at the city, with everything from the bright lights of high society to the very underbelly of the underworld producing the drug.

The series features a formidable cast, a great many of who are native Andalusian’s: Cuca Escribano, Antonio Gil, Laura Baena Torres, Susana Córdoba, Alejandro Casaseca, Manuel Morón, Víctor Castilla, Emilio Palacios, Ignacio Mateos, Héctor Medina, Pilar Gómez, Helena Kaittani, and Naomi Ruiz. The nuts and bolts of society’s landscape; wealthy businessmen and young people, mafia clan capos and petty criminals.

Created by Daniel Corpas (Yo soy Bea, Lo que me contaron los muertos, Bajo el mismo techo) and Samuel Pinazo (Topos, Las tetas de mi madre), directed by Marc Vigil (The Ministry of Time, Red Eagle, Locked Up, Aída, 7 Lives), Malaka originated in the 2018 SGAE Workshops. The drama is supervised by Javier Olivares (The Ministry of Time), showrunner and co-producer, and with Jordi Calafí as script coordinator.

Characters with a painful past

Blanca Gámez (Maggie Civantos), only child and daughter of legendary Police Chief Gámez, poised, intelligent, calm and straight-talking. But nobody in Malaga knows why she has decided to return to her hometown after spending her entire working-life in Madrid. She may be an elite Inspector, but she’s got a lot to learn about what the real world is like.

FOTO MAGGIE CIVANTOS.[1]
Maggie Civantos
Darío Arjona (Salva Reina) has no doubt in his mind “Someone has to get dirty to keep everything clean”, the soundbite that best defines his moral compass and its flexibility. Dario is a Police Inspector who navigates skillfully around the city’s grimiest neighborhoods that spawned him and his type. With one foot in the world of corruption, he fights to maintain the status quo in the drug market.

FOTO SALVA REINA
Salva Reina

These are two very different Police Inspectors, but who share a complicated past as more is revealed to us in each episode.

Joaquín Romero ‘Quino’ (Vicente Romero) joins Blanca and Darío in their inquiries into Noelia’s disappearance. The ex-cop turned private detective handed in his badge a long time ago. A murky affair he prefers not to discuss.

FOTO VICENTE ROMERO
Vicente Romero

An unexplained disappearance…

Noelia’s disappearance is the starting point for Malaka. A young loner, in love with oriental mysticism and nature, the daughter of Germán Castañeda, an important local businessman. The investigation into her disappearance begins to reveal unimaginable connections and secrets.

Oro, a new drug that comes in the form of a gold ingot, unleashes a gang-war between rival clans who run drug trafficking. Among these, boss of the Los Cucos clan, La Tota rules with an iron fist.

But, who really is Noelia? Who benefits from flooding the streets of society’s underbelly with the strange yellow pollen? These are just some of the questions Inspectors Darío and Blanca with Detective Quino will be forced to find answers to.

Malaga, an additional member of the cast

Filming for Malaka took place in partnership with the City of Malaga between April and July of this year. The capital of the Costa del Sol was host to and backdrop for scenes filmed on location at some of Malaga’s best-known natural interior and exterior beauty spots, taking in a varied route including emblematic spots like the Paseo de los Curas, the Alameda Principal and Avenida de Cervantes, in addition to the Puerto del Condado and the ​​Cerrado de Calderón district.

Other well-known locations featured include the Perchel bridge over the Guadalmedina river, Balneario Los Baños del Carmen, former Provincial Prison, and the area surrounding the Albéniz cinema in the Alcazaba neighborhood.

The RTS chooses StudioTalk to video broadcast its radio programmes

Posted on by contentntek in Broadcast & Playout, News, OTT & Streaming media, Radio & Audio

The Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) is a public service audiovisual company, owned by the media group SSR (Swiss Broadcasting and Television Corporation), which offers programmes on four radio channels, two TV channels and numerous digital platforms.

Studio_FORUM
Studio for the “Forum” show at RTS

“The RTS project uses all the strengths of StudioTalk, whether in production, channel branding, monitoring or distribution. Working hand in hand, we were able to make our solution evolve to meet their needs,” comments Olivier Waty, Workflows and Media Solutions Director at BCE.

StudioTalk, a solution developed by Broadcasting Centre Europe (BCE), is a complete solution for live and non-live video production with the management of the editorial content of the shows, the channel branding and the sets as well as the broadcasting of the programmes on any platform.

Stéphan_Mahrer“We needed to take a new step with “Forum”, and we were looking for a solution that could offer us all the tools we needed to make television from the same interface. StudioTalk was the answer.” Explains Stéphan Mahrer, Responsable mise en image des productions radio at RTS.

In order to enrich the user experience on the Internet and on social networks, it was important for RTS to shoot its most important radio programmes, namely “La matinale” and “Forum”. Using StudioTalk, RTS creates real talkshows, broadcast these on their website, on social networks and especially on television.

“For StudioTalk users, it’s very easy to find all the tools they need to do their production, whether it’s Picture in Picture, enrichment or the management of the screens on the set. The user also has the option to switch to the automatic production mode to perform another task during a broadcast and then regain control in due course,” adds Stéphan Mahrer.

More than an advanced production solution, StudioTalk also allows the RTS to monitor its equipment via a real-time monitoring interface of all the elements of their workflow.

Philippe_Staehlin“In StudioTalk, we have access to a technical supervision that usually appears on more expensive systems. This allows us to have an overview of the services and monitor the operations. This will allow a person to perform complex support tasks even for a Level 1 intervention support, restarting one or another system to ensure its availability during live production.” Explains Philippe Staehlin, Chef Secteur Systèmes Broadcast at RTS.

BCE has also supported the RTS teams in the integration of their new studio. The solution has been customized to meet the customer’s expectations. Working hand in hand, RTS and BCE made the solution evolve and to allow any employee, with a technical background or not, to use the solution easily.

StudioTalk_RTS
StudioTalk at RTS

“In this project, what was really important for us was the relationship with BCE, we found a real partner with whom we made our show and our tool evolve at the same time.” Concludes Stéphan Mahrer.

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Qatar Media Corporation (QMC) puts their operations on the map with DataMiner

Posted on by contentntek in Distribution & Delivery, News

With this deployment, Skyline adds another big name to their customer list of major broadcasters around the globe.

Skyline_logo

The DataMiner system at QMC will manage their entire current broadcast network, spanning across the various different technologies such as AM, FM, DAB+, DVB-T2, UHF, VHF, and this across their transmission sites in Doha, Khissa, Shahanyia and Arish.

“At Qatar Media Corporation, we always keep up with the latest trends and evolutions in the media industry. That’s easier said than done due to the incredibly fast pace of developments and the increasing complexity of our infrastructure,” commented Mohammed Abdulaziz Ali Ibrahim Al-Emadi at QMC. “A next-generation management and orchestration platform is therefore an absolute must to ensure a future-proof and flexible operation, and DataMiner offers the best solutions on the market to give us that guarantee.”

By achieving a single-pane-of-glass monitoring perspective, QMC unlocks tremendous operational benefits. Those range from operational optimizations in problem detection and problem resolution workflows to being able to monitor and report from a service point of view instead of a pointed siloed environment.

“With DataMiner in place, QMC is ensured to live up to their viewers’ high expectations,” explained Glenn D’Haene, Sales Director for the EMEA and APAC region at Skyline Communications. “It’s becoming common knowledge in the broadcast and media industry that we deeply integrated innovative AI-powered technology into DataMiner. As such, the platform enables QMC to keep on delivering high service quality to the consumer, no matter how complex their ecosystem is or will become. And that’s invaluable in this modern and fast-changing world. Viewers don’t expect to be hindered by sudden errors or service failures anymore. It’s so important that operators are able to resolve issues before they even occur. And thanks to DataMiner, they can.”

The management role that DataMiner takes up at QMC’s operation is meant as the first step of a larger project. In time, the intention is to extend the scope to multiple other business units of QMC. The end goal: one single pane of glass to manage and see it all.

UEI Brings Smarter Living to IBC 2019

Posted on by contentntek in Event, Multimedia, News, Non classé, OTT & Streaming media

Universal Electronics Inc., a worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home, will be showing its latest products and demonstrating its range of innovative, intelligent solutions designed to bridge the home entertainment and smart home ecosystems at IBC 2019 in Hall 1, stand C41.

universal-electronics

Highly favored by customers and partners for several years now, UEI will showcase its latest Designovation product ideas that demonstrate UEI’s unique ability to blend user experience, consumer trends and innovative technology, which lies at the heart of UEI’s product strategy of consolidating home entertainment control and smart home applications into one seamless user experience. For this IBC 2019 edition, UEI will deliver a uniquely meaningful and personal digital lifestyle experience, by leveraging the latest technology advances in context awareness and hyper-personalization, while capitalizing on UEI’s voice and latest adaptive control innovations, to discover, recognize, and interact with smart devices and sensors within the home.

NevoButler-16x9-2

For the first time in Europe, UEI will also welcome customers and partners in a dedicated showroom to experience the Nevo® Butler platform. Nevo Butler is an end-to-end voice-enabled smart home hub with a built-in white label digital assistant that unifies entertainment control and home automation experiences, enabling interoperability across highly fragmented ecosystems. Built-in entertainment control capabilities and smart home hub features, powered by QuickSet® Cloud, make this device a versatile assistant for the home, capable of addressing a wide range of the current installed base of devices in consumers’ homes, offering multiple use cases and innovative new service opportunities for service providers expanding in the smart home segment.

Menno Koopmans, SVP for Global Sales and Marketing at Universal Electronics Inc. said “This year at IBC, attendees who come to visit our booth will see, not only our industry’s leading entertainment control solutions but will also discover the award-winning Nevo Butler platform, a unique platform that delivers on our vision of simplifying the user experience and bringing entertainment control and smart home systems into one unified solution.”

“Only a company like UEI, leveraging unrivaled success in creating and deploying innovative and intelligent AV system control solutions, can bring a platform like Nevo Butler to market. I am excited to bring this platform to our customers and discuss the multiple opportunities we see in our industry to expand and monetize new services in the smart home domain.” added Koopmans.

Another key demonstration of UEI’s industry-leading voice platforms is highlighted in its new line-up of Android TV remote controls. With Android TV becoming a real force in the broadcasting value chain, UEI has deployed a broad range of advanced voice remote platforms to meet the demands of this fast-evolving market. Among the platforms being highlighted during IBC 2019, UEI’s new premium Android TV remote is taking a central role, as UEI’s flagship Android TV voice platform, featuring a USB-C rechargeable port and a unique contextual backlight approach (Adaptive Control), enhancing the Android TV experience and making OTT easy to use for a wide range of Pay TV audiences.

Visit the UEI team in Hall 1,  stand C41 at IBC2019 at RAI, Amsterdam 13-17 September 2019.

Cobalt Digital Signs Distribution Agreement with Plura MEA for Middle East Sales, Support

Posted on by contentntek in Event, News

Plura MEA will provide sales and support for Cobalt’s extensive product line of video and audio conversion, processing, and monitoring standalone modules and card-based solutions for openGear® frames.

“This is a major step in the continued expansion of our efforts to provide Cobalt Digital product sales and support across the world,” said Chris Shaw, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Cobalt Digital. “Plura MEA is an ideal company to promote the Cobalt brand in the Middle Eastern region, and we are pleased to work with them to expand our global footprint in this growing market.”

Based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Plura MEA is a subsidiary of Plura Broadcast, Inc., which also has offices in Germany, South Korea, and the United States. Plura is a leading international manufacturer of high-performance video monitors, sync and timing, and calibration solutions for professional media markets.

“This is a tremendous addition to the Plura MEA portfolio of products, backed up with more than 30 years of market experience,” said Hassan Salamah, business development manager, Plura MEA. “Our new alliance with Cobalt presents substantial opportunities for both companies to offer extensive and interconnected solutions to a wide spectrum of market segments.”

 

“As a big advocate of long-term strategic alliances, I’m convinced this agreement will lead to collaborative prosperity and market development,” added Ray Kalo, president and CEO of Plura. “Our work with Cobalt will provide strength and cohesion in our international business philosophy.”

Cobalt’s product line, including a number of new 4K and HDR card-based workflow solutions, will be displayed next week in Stand 10.B44 at IBC2019 in Amsterdam.

More info

 

TVU Networks to Intro Multi-Cam Production Solution Enabling Audience Participation with Video

Posted on by contentntek in Event, News, Production & Post Production

At the upcoming IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) in September, TVU Networks, the global leader in live IP solutions, will introduce the completely cloud-based TVU Talkshow – the first all-in-one solution for multi-camera production that enables audience participation with video. TVU Networks will introduce the TVU Talkshow solution and its full line of products and services for live video content workflow at the RAI Conference Center in Hall 2, Stand B28 during IBC.

Real-time Audience Engagement with Video

TVU Talkshow supports bi-directional audience participation, enabling fans to engage with an event or hosted show in real-time. An unlimited number of participants can video call in using the TVU Talkshow app on their mobile phone. TVU Talkshow’s integrated caller management system enables producers to pre-screen all callers. TVU Talkshow also supports IFB management to ensure effective and seamless communication whether it’s hosts interacting with callers or the producers, production crew and camera operators coordinating with each other.

Simultaneous Multi-Platform Delivery and Professional Graphics Support

As the solution is based entirely in the cloud, there is no wiring required and operation is simplified with one, centralized GUI that can be operated from a web browser. TVU Talkshow can simultaneously deliver live content to multiple destinations , such as social media platform like Facebook Live or YouTube Live, the CDN or web page of your choice, and over 3000 major TV stations globally on TVU Grid, as well as traditional SDI output through a TVU receiver.

Furthermore, TVU Talkshow is an open platform which enables third party providing their services by integrating them through TVU Open API. The integration with cloud-based Singular.live IP graphics platform, provides advanced real-time graphics overlay capabilities to Producer’s live production environment from any location.

“There’s nothing like TVU Talkshow on the market right now,” said David Jorba, Executive Vice President, Managing Director Europe, TVU Networks. “It’s the first cloud-based multi-camera production solution to support and manage unlimited live audience participation with video.”

 

“TVU Talkshow was designed to be a highly flexible all-in-one solution, with modular video production components. Combining a number of patented technologies, such as frame accurate synchronization technology, TVU Talkshow enables producers to do a broadcast quality live production accessing TVU’s cloud-based platform from anywhere, with maximum scalability and an efficient pay-for-what-you-use business model.”

Embedded with H.265 encoding and patented IS+ transmission algorithm, fans can send live Full HD video from anywhere using their smartphone – be it a crowded stadium, mountain range overseas or even a fast-moving vehicle – to the studio and contribute to the conversation live.

“By incorporating lower cost and proven remote and studio applications, we’re enabling broadcasters to extend their reach to niche markets by producing live shows and events with the frequency and resolution previously reserved for much larger productions,” added Jorba.

Proven for Live Programming

Examples of recent TVU Talkshow use already include Fox Noire in the US and Sky Sports’ the Football Social in Europe. The Sky Sports’ live talk show, Football Social, streamed on youtube and Facebook reached more than 17 million online views for the 2018/2019 Premier League season using the bi-directional remote audience participation feature from TVU Talkshow. Fox Noire, a new streaming channel focused on the African American experience in Los Angeles, is also an early user.

The cloud-based TVU Producer allows producers to make quick cuts, insert graphic overlays, switch between multiple sources, manage audio, compile highlights and instant replays, capture slow-motion clips, and push finalized content to TV and the Internet. Visual radio producers have discovered the benefits of the easy-to-use TVU Producer for the creation of cost-efficient live production that can be immediately streamed to online platforms. The non-profit group, the AIMS Foundation, has used TVU Producer to live stream two classical music concerts on Facebook and Youtube to increase awareness of the foundation.

TVU Remote Production System (RPS) enables synchronized multi-camera remote production using a broadcaster’s existing studio control room and a public Internet connection from the field. Up to six camera feeds are automatically synchronized and  transmitted from a remote location back to the studio over IP, reducing the need for on-site production trucks or large crews. Al Kamel Systems, a leading motor sports live stats broadcast production specialist, uses TVU RPS to add racing graphics from remote sites. The 2019 World Roller Games held in Barcelona, Spain, used TVU RPS to broadcast from various remote locations in five cities. Six synchronized signals were sent to La Xarxa for distribution.

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