Credit given where it's due: EVS and the RTBF (and DALET) won the IBC 2009 Innovation Award, Content Management category, on Sunday September 13^th in Amsterdam. We noted their presence in the competition (see www.twist-cluster.com/cms/fr/actu/actualite/298-numerisation-un-aboutissement-a-libc-) and we are happy to salute their performance! It really shows that in our region several companies and players are capable of bridging the gap to digital successfully! Other TWIST member companies surfed the movement during IBC 2009, be it in digital cinema, virtual tools or high-end screens. We also saw several novelties which will certainly interest more than one company in the region.

Innovations by the RTBF

In 2008, the RTBF launched a programme to install a new system,100% without tapes, with completely integrated production, content management, meta-data management and media substances for a multi-platform distribution.

The RTBF opted for a combination solution, including the EVS Instant Tapeless technology and the DALET media management system. Notably thanks to these 2 solutions among others, the company managed to reach a high integration level which allows data exchange and referencing. More, the solutions have been interfaced with the RTBF production Intranet, the in-house media management system.

This system, both flexible and progressive, is used for information, sports and television programmes, but it is also capable of meeting the demands of other RTBF media and platforms.

For the RTBF, it is a first achievement in a long-term programme. The narrow collaboration between the different actors (EVS, DALET, ORACLE, AVID, EUROMEDIA) really enabled this success.

IBCTV with the EVS tools

Even if the event is important for EVS, the IBC was not limited to the Innovation Award. Drawing up a list of contacts and contracts is not our aim, but we would like to highlight the work EVS did for IBC TV. The conference's internal programme, which gives participants, at the conference itself, in dozens of hotels in Amsterdam and on the website, information, coverage, presentations, market and product analysis, was partially developed by EVS. Combined with the video files from the JVC cameras (a first for EVS), all the editing and post-production management was done with EVS servers. The company met the organiser's demands in barely a few weeks (during a holiday period and while preparing their own stand at IBC!)

Trends and tomorrow's future's destiny!!!

First observation of IBC 2009: reduce costs! The buying fever present in the nineties and early 2000 is now over. The exhilaration of digital novelty has worn off in favour of real pragmatism. This tendency was already present the past few years. With hindsight and some experience, everyone knew that the “big digital machines” were not the ideal solution without any negative traits.

This year, with the economical and financial crisis, the Leitmotiv has been to reduce costs. This starts during the investment phase (no need to buy everything immediately) and continues with a very pushed profit analysis in terms of productivity and economies of scale (especially at a time when several media have to be supplied at once).

Other favourite subject: 3D relief cinema. The IBC programme gave us several showings of animated films in relief. A real treat for the participants. But most of all, every service provider, every manufacturer highlights their capacity to respond to this ever increasing demand. Our specialists in this domain will give you more details on the subject in the next few days.

Don't forget mobile! If the IPTV and Mobile zone were relatively small this year, it is among other reasons because mobile is nowadays fully part of all services covered by the conference's participants. In this domain the Belgian and Walloon companies will certainly play a major role and we will devote an entire article to this subject.

And finally, the work presented during the New Technology Campus IBC 2009 let us see some astonishing solutions for 2020 and after! Hang in there, the future is near and we will soon know more about what the engineers in our universities and research centres prepare!

Benoît RENSONNET