Hugh Waters - Digital Television Specialist

Case Study – Asset Valuation Post Purchase

Hugh Waters — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:18:05 +0000

Brief – To Compile an Urgent and Detailled Valuation of a Broadcast Post Production Company’s Technical Assets

Waters Technical Services were approached by the official reciever to prepare a valuation of the assets of a post production business that had gone into recievership.

The valuation was complicated by the wide range of types and ages of equipment present, the lack of up an to date asset register and the number of lease arrangements that existed on groups of equipment.

Waters Technical Services flew over to the company premises and spent two days preparing a detailled list of the equipment present across some 15 operational rooms, using our specialist knowledge to identify individual items and cross check them with the company’s sketchy asset register, and leasing schedules.

The highly detailled list was then processed over a period of 4 days to prepare a detailled estimate of current resale value of each item against a number of scenaria, including individual sale of each item, sale of whole to a dealer or sale in situ as a working facility.

The process was completed within two weeks from the initial enquiry and enabled the official reciever to enter negotiations with a clear picture of the break up value of this highly specialised set of assets and as a going concern.

Waters Technical Services undertakes asset valuation on behalf of financiers both pre-purchase and post-purchase to help financiers make lending decisions in the specialised area of broadcast and post production equipment.

Waters Technical Services
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IBC 2009 – is there time for it?

Hugh Waters — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:05:56 +0000

Once again the rush to prepare for IBC 2009 is upon me again. Quite why something I knew I’d be attending for an entire year should be a rush is a mystery. It’s been a mystery now for almost 25 years.

During this year’s IBC I’ll be taking in a lot of information before the show about new technologies, software updates etc etc and studying technology and techniques that have been around for a long time. The special focus for me this year is studio design, lighting, camera systems, etc etc.

For a consultant like me it can be a tad confusing, knowing what to focus on. After all my work spans such a wide range.

Currently I’m working with Skillset on helping to create and update National Occupational Standards for the Post Production sector.

This year I have written reports on the future requirements for broadcast engineering, facilitated a major seminar between UK VFX industry and UK educators, provided valuation services to an official reciever dealing with the disposal of a post house, created specifications for training studios, video and radio, created system proposal documents for broadcast playout facilities for a major football team etc etc.

Whilst all that is happening I’m also in the early stages of developing a training course for broadcast technicians and, completely removed from the TV world, developing short courses for helping small businesses understand the power of online marketing and what it can do for them.

Holographic Television – a step nearer?

Hugh Waters — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:40:59 +0000

I recently came across this report on CNN about holographic displays being developed for TV displays:

“The reason for renewed optimism in three-dimensional technology is a breakthrough
in rewritable and erasable holographic systems made earlier this year
by researchers at the University of Arizona.
Dr Nasser
Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the university’s
Optical Sciences department, told CNN that scientists have broken a
barrier by making the first updatable three-dimensional displays with
memory.

“This is a prerequisite for any type of moving
holographic technology. The way it works presently is not suitable for
3-D images,” he said.

The researchers produced displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes.”

Looks most interesting; I like the idea of working in 3D for many things besides watching entertainment. I’d like to be able to work on 3D spreadsheets, mind maps etc. I shall be a geek into my old old age!

Digital Signage Weekly: NEC Develops Face Recognition Signage System

Hugh Waters — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:23:22 +0000

From Digital Signage Weekly comes news of a development that means advertising of the (near) future will be looking at you even more intently than you are looking at it!

Face Recognition Signage is here… and it knows what you look like!

NEC Develops Face Recognition Signage System.

According to a release first translated by Nikkei Electronics, NEC Corp. has developed the “Digital Signage Solution,” a digital signage system incorporating biometrics that determine the gender, generation, and other attributes of a person standing in front of a display…

Digital Signage Weekly: NEC Develops Face Recognition Signage System

Tags: NEC, Face, Recognition, Signage , System

Dolby/SIM2 Show Off 46″ HDR LCD-TV

Hugh Waters — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:01:54 +0000

Somehow I missed this announcement back in April.

Display Daily reported that at a press event in New York City they were able to see the latest demonstration of the High Dynamic Range (HDR) LCD-TV developed by Dolby Labs (San Francisco, CA; www.dolby.com) and SIM2 (Pordenone, Italy, www.sim2.it).

On display was the first unveiling of a 46″ demonstrator, but both companies were clear that no commercialization plans have yet been set. Instead, the demo is designed to show what the technology can do and to gather feedback on commercialization prospects for the display.

Display Daily » Blog Archive » Dolby/SIM2 Show Off 46″ HDR LCD-TV

I’d like to have seen the display and will certainly be looking out for the next opportunity to assess the progress on this technology.

Tags: LCD-TV, HD, HDR, Dolby, Sim2, Displays, Technology

BBC begins UK DVB-T2 test transmissions

Hugh Waters — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:46:40 +0000

BBC begins UK DVB-T2 test transmissions

Interesting snippet from the IBE’s online magazine. The BBC has begun testing HD on Freeview using the latest implementation of the DVB-T standard, DVB-T2.

DVB-T2 offers far greater capacity than its 10 year old predecessor and is an enabling factor for HD services to commence during 2009.

I will be taking a look at DVB’s showcase at IBC this year.

Tags: DVB-T2, DVB-T, DVB, HD, HDTV, DTT, 2009, BBC, Freeview

How do LCD Displays Work?

Hugh Waters — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:12:55 +0000

I came across this very clear tutorial from 3M on how LCD displays work and what the various component parts do.

Whilst it is aimed at introducing their Vikuity product line, the detail and graphics certainly makes this a useful tutorial to view.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Vikuiti1/BrandProducts/secondary/optics101/

Was the tutorial helpful to you?
What do you want to know about LCD displays?

Tags: 3m, vikuity, lcd, displays

My Hotel In Las Vegas

Hugh Waters — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:01:37 +0000

It has everything… including the kitchen sink:

Ridiculous!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: NAB, 2008, Hotel

The Myth of De-Skilling

Hugh Waters — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:15:45 +0000

In years past the operational staff involved in making television programmes were, largely, qualified engineers. Nowadays sophisticated, low cost technology has almost eliminated the need for the traditional engineer, almost, but not completely.

So is the workforce becoming de-skilled?

In one sense, perhaps it is. It is certainly true that complete novices are able to undertake many of the preparatory functions with minimal on-the-job training. It is also true that almost anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can become familiar with many of the software tools used in facilities. And as demonstrated in a number of initiatives to introduce a wider range of the UK’s community to programme making, exposure to even a few days hands-on training from the right instructors can result in the ability to produce a passable piece of work.

That, however, is not a recipe for producing a world-class industry.

Whilst the Facilities workforce of today and tomorrow may often get by without developed skills in fundamental subjects, such as mathematics, electronics or mechanics that once were prolific, the tasks the workforce has to perform, and the range of variables it is expected to master to perform those tasks, is much greater than in the past. To produce world quality work, on time and on budget, needs people of the highest calibre at every stage, who are able to work flexibly, under pressure, in teams and often with little supervision.

So, whilst it is possible to operate a business using semi-skilled or untrained staff, the results will not move the industry forward to prosperity nor win the UK recognition for its talent or encourage global business to use our services.

The ‘operational engineer’ of today is probably better described as a ‘technologist’. The sector is very short of skilled technologists with a thorough grounding in both TV production needs and TV specific IT technology.

Some of the companies interviewed are addressing the skills gap by selecting people with IT skills and putting them through a mixture of in-house and third party training to apply the TV knowledge they need. However it is a costly and time consuming method that is clearly not an option for all businesses.

LCD vs Plasma continued

Hugh Waters — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:49:44 +0000

I came across an excellent website/blog by Carlton Bale which covers a wide range of digital television topics in detail.

I was interested to see his take on the LCD/Plasma discussion. Carlton’s observations:

LCD is better if there are windows or lights in
the room because of the matte screen finish. New models, especially the
120Hz models released in mid-2007, have much fewer problems with
blurring when viewing sports or video games. If you want to connect to
a computer, an LCD with direct pixel mapping is your best bet (search
AVSforum for details.)

Plasma offers amazing black levels and, in
general, a slightly better picture than LCD. If you are in a completely
dark room with no potential for screen reflections, plasma is a great
choice. Burn-in is not really a problem anymore unless you watch Home
Shopping Network (with a single-color bar across the bottom) 100% of
the time. (Most network icons in the lower corner are semi-transparent
and don’t cause burn-in.)

I have to agree, in fact the plasma screens I’ve seen are very irritating to look at because of the reflections, oh and the immense amount of heat they throw out too.