Broadcast Tech & Engineering – Dell helps VFS transition to remote learning

Dell Technologies is helping Vancouver Film School (VFS) transition to remote learning for 1,500 students. VFS was in the process of deploying hundreds of Dell Precision 5820 workstations and displays for its on-campus teaching labs when it had to quickly pivot to a remote learning environment. The VFS IT department’s primary obstacle was how to offer students access to the latest technology to create content in 6k, 4k and AR/VR. VFS deployed 900 Dell Precision workstations with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs in their labs in a week and a half. By week two, it had combined the workstations with Teradici PCoIP remote protocol solutions, giving most students remote access to their workstations and virtual access to the curriculum. Loaner PCs and monitors were shipped to students who lacked the technology to complete their coursework from home. VFS students can now use creative applications like Maxon Redshift, Autodesk Arnold, Unreal Engine, Unity and Avid Media Composer from home. Combined with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs that provide accelerated ray tracing and AI, the Precision 5820 workstations cut render times by 60% and have allowed students to easily apply special effects techniques.

Matrix has announced its Media Ad Sales Summit Candid Conversation Series, a spin-off of its annual Matrix Media Ad Sales Summit. The Summit brings together media industry executives to discuss and advance how media advertising is bought and sold. In lieu of an in-person event this coming January, the company has decided to shift the content and discussions that would have been presented to a virtual platform, making each topic available in a monthly webinar that kicks off Sept. 22 at 2 p.m. ET. Each monthly conversation will be 30-40 minutes, with the opening “Addressable Advertising,” to be moderated by Matrix CRO Brenda Hetrick with panelists Kim Kelleher (President, Advertising Sales & Partnerships, AMC Networks), Gina Mingioni (SVP Strategy & Operations, Comcast), and Kelly Abcarian (General Manager, Nielsen Advanced Video Advertising Group). Learn more, here.

TVU Networks has added an audio mixing panel as a feature to its cloud-based TVU Producer multi-camera, cloud production solution. TVU Producer allows video producers to remotely produce multi-camera live events with zero latency, even when using smartphones as production cameras. Its Audio Mixer Panel feature adds audio mixing capabilities allowing operators to have full control of all audio signals from their home. With TVU’s patented time synchronization technology, the solution provides zero latency execution of production commands, as well as audio/video synchronization, while crews operate remotely and safely from their own locations. TVU Producer can accept any standard IP video sources (HTTP, HLS, RTMP, RTP, RTSP, UDP, etc.), as well SDI signal via any IP encoder, or TVU transmitter. It can use any mobile device as a camera via the TVU Anywhere app. Integrated within TVU Producer is TVU Partyline, which enables production personnel, talent and tools to collaborate remotely in real time as though they were in the same physical location while producing live and pre-recorded programming.

Dielectric’s latest case study dives into an eight-station Master FM installation in Lima, Peru, undertaken in 2018, and the unique design that came out of the challenges presented without any of the stations in the chain suffering traditional loss and group delay characteristics. Read more here.

IP Oktoberfest 2020 has issued a call for presentations. Running Sept. 29–Oct. 1, the virtual event will highlight progress made toward an all-IP ecosystem that supports today’s real-world media productions. Live presentations throughout the event will demonstrate how the SMPTE ST 2110 suite of standards and the AMWA NMOS technology stack are improving media workflows for large and small deployments. The newly-proposed IPMX set of open standards and specifications will also be a featured topic. The call for presentations is open to end users, industry associations, solutions providers, and technology developers. All submissions should support the AIMS roadmap. The deadline for proposals is Aug. 31.