29 ROUND TABLE Remote Studios THISMONTH’S FEED ROUND TABLE GUESTS ARE:
SHUTTLEWORTH: WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF CREATING A VIRTUAL REMOTE STUDIO FOR OUR TALENT?
GIDEON FERBER, DIRECTOR OF VIRTUAL SOLUTIONS, ROSS VIDEO Gideon Ferber joined Ross Video in 2012, where he started as business development manager for XPression in EMEA. He brings with him over 15 years of real-time, post-production and VS graphics experience.
GIDEON FERBER: The pros are that you are able to create a dynamic work-from- home set-up with the ability to create more diverse content, change the environment and produce more shows on different topics with different looks from the same home office. You also have the ability to embed sponsorships and promotions and secure revenue streams, even in these challenging times. However, this requires the talent to learn some technical aspects of production and learn on the fly how to perform in a green- screen environment. LIAM HAYTER: The pros outweigh the cons with a home studio. With the right technology and planning, you can achieve excellent results, even with a green screen. Just as important, however, is where you’re going to run your production from. The main obstacles are having access to a controllable space in the home, and you need to set up good lighting, sound and cameras at home. Homes will always be noisier than a studio environment. There is also the question of internet connectivity and bandwidth IAN HUDSON: Differing home environments means planning is essential for each virtual remote studio we install. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. If the talent has enough space in their home to easily install several fixed devices, such as cameras and microphones, set up will be simple. But if the talent has limited space, then the installing crew needs to consider how the equipment is packed up after use. Talent with limited space will also need to be trained in how to set equipment up for their next broadcast, factoring in
the lighting and sound requirements depending on time of day and environment. Bandwidth and round-trip time can be a challenge. Internet providers emphasise download speeds, but for a home or office studio, it’s upload speed that is essential. For our talent, we must choose a system with built-in backup, perhaps with an SDI out that can be connected to a bonded cellular modem, so in the event of internet dropout, the show can carry on. Another consideration is the installation itself. Certainly, with the current Covid-19 virus, you do not want a complete crew going into people’s homes, so the installation needs to be a one-person job and ideally take less than an hour, if not a simple DIY task. DANIEL MALONEY: Assuming this is a primary studio that’s going to be used for these productions, the main pro is that the show can go on versus showing reruns. Another benefit is that, once the formula has been figured out, new productions can be conceived that don’t require physical space at the main studio – this means more opportunity for content, maybe delivered to secondary OTT channels. However, the talent need a certain amount of technical and production know- how, which requires training that would be unnecessary if production was in a studio. Also, consumer-level internet connectivity is not equal across the board. When doing live video, it is worst instantaneous bandwidth that will dictate maximum stream quality, not average bit rate. Also, note that at different times of day, available bandwidth can change drastically. Network bandwidth will need to be profiled to ensure it is suitable for desired production.
LIAMHAYTER, SENIOR SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT, NEWTEK Liam Hayter is a senior solutions architect at NewTek, and a creative workflow technologist with over 19 years’ experience in the creative, live, media production and post- production sectors. Hayter currently focuses on end-to-end video/audio- over-IP solutions with NewTek NDI, including hybrid baseband IP and IP interoperability.
IAN HUDSON, FOUNDER AND CEO, AXIMSYSTEMS Ian Hudson is founder and CEO of Axim Studio Systems. Axim offers home and office studio systems with over 150 programmes and programme contributions a week being streamed from talents’ homes and offices for Fox News, CNBC, CBSNews, Bloomberg and more.
DANIELMALONEY, TECHNICAL MARKETINGMANAGER, MATROX Daniel Maloney has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and the product development of digital video solutions. Maloney is responsible for defining the infrastructure strategy for Matrox end user product lines, including webcasting, video transport and signal converter products.
HOMES WILL ALWAYS BE NOISIER THAN A STUDIO ENVIRONMENT
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