Montreal's Modus FX recently delivered all of the visual effects for Anton Corbijn’s The American. The thriller, which stars George Clooney, tells the story of a man who makes weapons for assassins trying to escape from his past. Set in Italy, where the protagonist has come for his final assignment, the film features lush landscapes and evocative small-town settings. In all, Modus completed 125 shots for the film, many of which were technically and artistically demanding.

Reference monitors have a straightforward, yet complex mission: to ensure that “what you see is really what you get”. To function as a real reference, they have to deliver images with an accurate, reliable color balance. In the early 1970s, VRT, the public broadcaster for the Flemishspeaking part of Belgium (6 million people), used Barco reference monitors to guarantee the seamless transition from black and white to color TV production.

More than 1.2 million meters of Belden® high performance cables were used for the new headquarters of SKY Italia during the world’s largest new installation in broadcasting, where the key focus is on High Definition (HD).

French TV station TV Rennes 35, local TV station TyTélé and systems integrator PAD are at the forefront of a technological revolution. Starting with a creative concept, they have developed a fully mobile TV station in the form of an OB van using professional, yet affordable and simple to use equipment. “This is a new concept,” describes Jean-Luc Nelle, General Manager of TV Rennes 35. “The entire TV station is run from within the van.”

“This was a massive project, which required a rigorous examination of many different systems, so when the new channel finally went on air, I knew immediately that all the effort we had made was starting to pay off”
Bevan Gibson, Deputy Head of Technology at SkyNews

CAMPUS TV is the first digital HD TV channel in Honduras and Central America. They broadcast from Sula's Valley and their signal spreads across all national and international cable systems and via satellite. Their central studios are located in the new and modern University Tower 'Jorge Emilio Jaar'.

For the second time since 1978 Garmisch-Partenkirchen was the “heart of alpine skiing” for two weeks. The host broadcasting operation for this year’s most spectacular winter event was in the hands of GAP TV2011, a joint venture of ARD and ZDF. Under the leadership of ZDF the host broadcaster took care of the production of the international signals of all the competitions (Super-G, Downhill, Super Combined, Nations Team Event, Giant Slalom, Slalom), and the services to unilateral broadcasters from 8th to 20th February.

Antena 3, the Spanish TV channel, is revolutionising newcasting with its brand new studio and original broadcasting style. The new set for the Antena 3 Noticias news programme, in preparation since the summer, debuted on January 10th with a primetime interview with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of the Spanish Government. The new studio is spread over an area of 1,200m2 and is equipped with groundbreaking technological resources including a production system unprecedented in Spain.

Stereoscopyis a great example of an old technology that went through a few misguidedresurrections before its current incarnation as an important entertainmentmedium. But, as with any technology,before making an investment, it’s vital to cut through the hype andmisinformation and go back to the fundamentals, theory and foundations.

New television station Bulgaria On Air hascommissioned a major Christie MicroTiles installation at its newly-renovatedfacility near Sofia Airport. This is the first use of the revolutionary videowall in Bulgaria.BOA is located near to SofiaAirport (Brussels 1 blvd, Sofia, Bulgaria) in completely renovated facilitiesowned by the holding.ThestatioTOwned by MSAT Cable, a subsidiary of Holding Varna, the priority of thisbroadcaster is to deliver top quality business and financial information tolocal audiences and international investors, advising them on the opportunitiesthat exist in Bulgaria. Their development strategy is to generate leads byattracting the right audience.

3D TV has generated a tremendous amount of interest in the industry following the latest enormous success in the movie theatre. Compared to the “3D crazes” of the past, advances in camera, delivery and display technologies make it possible to effectively deploy 3D TV to the home. Over the past year, a number of broadcasters have announced the launch of dedicated 3D channels and many more will inevitably follow. In addition to providing dedicated linear and on-demand channels of 3D content from Hollywood, broadcasters are differentiating themselves by their ability to provide coverage of live sporting and cultural events in 3D.

For some time now, audio loudness has been a hot topic for the broadcast industry and one of the key issues faced by engineers in control of audio output. Significant differences in volume have led to many complaints from viewers who don’t like having to reach for the remote every time they change channel or are faced with a deafening commercial break. These differences in loudness are most common between television programming and advertisements, but they can also exist across the same channel and even within the same programme, for example with live sports feeds or during a movie or talk shows.

An investment in expensive HD and 3D equipment can be optimized by dint of a well-conceived, flexible system architecture, paired with a fiber optic camera switch solution.

The Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR), Denmark’s national broadcasting corporation, has just consolidated all its television, radio and media programming into one mega-facility. The newly-built DR Byen complex in Cophenhagen is made up of four buildings spread over 133,000 square meters.

TVN is ThoroughVisioN Pty Ltd, a premium sports and interactive rights management company that specialises in horse racing. To date it manages the thoroughbred horse racing rights for all racing in Victoria and metropolitan Sydney, and seeks to manage other racing rights throughout Australia and globally.