NEAL ROMANEK: Do you see your customers as willing to rethink how they are doing live broadcast?
JOHN WILLIAMS: We are here to facilitate productions, large or small – on the moon or in a desert – it doesn’t matter. We will try and make sure you can tell your story anywhere. Long-standing partnerships are part of really trying to sustain a production relationship, where you can discuss new and emerging technologies and make choices around them. It also comes back to the HR part of it. We don’t necessarily need to fly someone across the world now, because technology allows them to sit in their bedroom and configure a switch or set up workflows. But we have to also reassure the client that they’re getting the same level of service that they used to when moving that person around. TIM FELSTEAD: From a supply perspective, we’re trying to support all of those demands – ie, the need for agility and flexibility – with respect to asset redeployment and operational efficiency. At the same time as delivering SDI products, where people do still want something that is plug and play, we’re also developing cloud solutions – and everything in-between. But the most critical part seems to be the management layer, to enable the flexibility and operational models that seem to change daily. John and Craig get clients walking in the door with different demands on a day-to-day basis. And as technology vendors, we’re trying to enable any business or operational model that can facilitate this.
of challenge to hardware and software manufacturers like Sony and say, ‘What can you guys provide to get us to the next level’? For example, I would love to be able to do a simple two-camera shoot. Now, for us to do that with a laptop is possible, but not easy. It would be great to have a two camera PTZ from Sony, that isn’t a cost-effective, almost-throwaway range, that I can set up and remotely control. But the real challenge is that we’re moving away from broadcast production budgets and values, to a streaming production value. And that’s the tension and challenge put to Sony and other manufacturers. TIM FELSTEAD: We’ve been writing cloud software for years, for different reasons. Sometimes it’s file-based asset management and editing – and sometimes it’s stream based. But at the same time, we’re trying to service the different compromises that are available. In some circumstances, there is no compromise possible on certain aspects of a production, like synchronous signal processing, for instance, or the quality of the image. On top of that, you’ve got to make sure that the operational facilities, the control surfaces and the deployment model that people want to use are also enabled. From putting the people in a different location, to the processing, to the event itself, all of those things have to be enabled. But, at the same time, being a sort of broad-church manufacturer means we are using cloud solutions, where different compromises are enabled. Covering all of these possibilities is what Sony is trying to do with both
software and hardware. It’s definitely a transition. Even if someone is planning an HDR UHD production for a very prestigious event, with lots of rights to be sold, they still want to use OTT delivery technology to get that signal to people’s mobile phones. This is why I say our industries are clashing, headlong. JOHN WILLIAMS: Part of this derives from emerging out of Covid-19. People are more open to new things, and more accepting of different levels of quality. CRAIG MOEHL: From a practical point of view, with Covid-19 still hanging over our heads; if you do remote production, you don’t have to do venue records. You don’t need the venue clearances. You don’t need to do logistics. There are all these things you no longer need to do. Therefore, the benefits to having remote facilities are definitely there. Nobody’s mentioned the ‘H word’ yet – hybrid. Human beings need to be with other human beings to do quality business. But practically, some people just won’t be able to join. If your lead speaker has got Covid-19, it would be irresponsible for them to join that event. So, bringing them on stage on a 4K screen, and making that part of the original plan, is the only thing you can do. That’s where we’re heading – it’s about having that flexibility to live in a hybrid world. We need to make sure that you can offer your clients a price point that provides a compromise between the production values and that agility – otherwise the event won’t happen.
CRAIG MOEHL: We tend to look at our ecosystem as a sort
“FROM A SUPPLY PERSPECTIVE, WE’RE TRYINGTO SUPPORT THE NEED FOR AGILITY AND FLEXIBILITY”
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TIM FELSTEAD, SONY
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