The IBC Awards Ceremony took place last night in Amsterdam. The evening commended the innovative movement of the broadcasting industry with awards for home networking and remote production, fresh ideas, and recognition of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Awards were judged by an international judging panel. IBCs highest award, the International Honour for Excellence, went […]
The IBC Awards Ceremony took place last night in Amsterdam. The evening commended the innovative movement of the broadcasting industry with awards for home networking and remote production, fresh ideas, and recognition of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Awards were judged by an international judging panel.
IBCs highest award, the International Honour for Excellence, went to the Science and Technical Research Laboratories of Japanese national broadcaster NHK. The company started 80 years ago, and from trial broadcasts in 1939 to working on HD from as early as 1964, NHK have been vital in the development of areas such as colour television, HD, satellite broadcasting, and the plasma display.
This award was accepted by Masayuki Matsumoto, the president of NHK, who said: With a firm belief that broadcasting is a form of culture founded on technology, NHK will continue to commit itself to drawing on the latest achievements to create a new broadcasting culture.
The Judges Prize went to FIMS, the Framework for Interoperable Media Systems. In conjunction with AMWA and EBU, this enterprise recognised the need for standardisation in file-based content exchange. It brought together the vendors and many of the worlds leading broadcasters in an initiative that will form a platform for future integration.
This years Innovation Award for Content Creation went to the second screen app for post-apocalyptic horror series The Walking Dead, FX UK. Multi-screening has been a much talked about topic this year, and this iPad app, developed by FX UK with Red Bee Media and Civolution, is synchronised to the television using audio watermarking, allowing the audience to time-shift the programme but still enjoy the added value. Finalists close behind were ESPNs Realtime Grand Slam analysis and graphics, and Vate, a director support for live television from TV Globo, Brazil.
NASCAR was named the winner of the Innovation Award for Content Management, for its video capture and replay for high speed sport. The application, which gives race officials instant replays of incidents and accidents from multiple angles, was developed by Telestream. In line for this prize was Turner Studios for its multi-screen distribution of sports, and brand new television station, Sky News Arabia.
Four finalists contended for the the Innovation Award for Content Delivery; DIRECTV for its Home Media Centre, ITV for its live realtime content replacement, and CBS Sports Network for its remote production over IP. The winning prize, however, was received by British-based Channel 4 for its on-demand service, 4oD on the Xbox.
The Best Conference Paper Award went to a team of researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications Heinrich Hertz Institute for its work entitled, Stereoscopic 3D Content and Display – Developments and Diagnoses, television into multi-channel signals needed for autostereoscopic screens. The team Frederik Zilly, Peter Kauff, Jens Güther, Ralf Schäfer, and Christian Riechert has been working on a set of algorithms, which can be implemented in the sort of low-cost chip which can be incorporated into a mass-market product. Their work will be implemented inside millions of television sets, in due course, to bring glasses-free 3D to the home.
Christian Riechert, who accepted the award on behalf of his colleagues, said: Realtime conversion of stereo content to multi-view for autostereoscopic displays is indeed a hot potato in the 3D community. It is a pleasure for a team of researchers like ours to be able to offer solutions to such a challenging task.
Exhibition awards were given to Marvell Semiconductors (Stand 5.A12) for its graphics and most imaginative use of shell scheme space. Accolade for a smaller free-design stand was awarded to Netgem (Stand 5.B45) with audio companies DPA Microphones and DTS close behind. Vimond Media Solutions just lost out to winner, SES (Stand 1.B51), to be named the best larger free-design stand, with its futuristic and interactive layout.
The audience at the IBC Awards was treated to a special preview of Sir David Attenboroughs latest wildlife production featuring 3D footage, Galapagos. The Olympic Broadcasting Services also compiled a selection of exclusive footage behind the scenes at London 2012 Olympic Games, showing the many technical advances involved in the coverage including the two longest wire cables ever built and a timeslice sequence.
