A growing number of broadcasters, independent filmmakers, educators and AV integrators are using virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) in innovative ways, such as for behind-the-scenes tours, storytelling for stand-alone segments or for improving learning in educational settings.

Yes, technology is powering this new entity. But keep in mind that the real engine propelling it all remains storytelling. These free sessions will tell you more.

You can get a glimpse of the power of immersive storytelling during the session “Story First: A Toolkit for Every Platform” on Wednesday from 11:20 a.m.–12 p.m. The head of the production firm ModernEpic will showcase the educational and health features it has created such as the vignette “The Boy Inside,” a profile of a young man with Tourette’s Syndrome, as well the use of virtual reality for creating music and experiencing extreme sporting events. The recipe that ModernEpic CEO Aaron Lewis will discuss combines modern storytelling insights with interdisciplinary production tools like animation and VR.

[Read: Tom Foreman: Tech Must Always Serve Storytelling]

Hold up — first of all, do you know the actual difference between virtual and augmented reality? In the session “Augmented Reality: The Basics, Case Studies and How the Market is Expanding” on Wednesday at 3 p.m., the CEO of custom AR development company BundlAR CEO and co-founder John Martin will take a deep dive into the mechanics of the growing augmented reality market and learn how video is being used to enhance user experiences.

Martin will talk about the ways that AR is already being used for real estate, for advertising, on trade show floors and for tours. He will also touch on real-world examples for industries like education, which can use AR for everything from campus tours to in-class educational enhancements.

The message on Thursday will be all about the messaging.

On Thursday, Nov. 29, a creator of digital interactive experiences explores how VR and AR are revolutionizing the ways in which consumers absorb information.

In the session “How Virtual and Augmented Reality Are Quickly Becoming the Most Effective Mediums of Communication” on Thursday at 1:40, the CEO of the technology company Brightline Interactive will look at the ways in which virtual and augmented reality are being used to effectively communicate and increase brand awareness with consumers. Erik Muendel, CEO and CCO of Brightline, will discuss the key differences between virtual and augmented reality and how government entities are taking advantage of these new tools.

[Read: Low-Cost VR/360 Headsets Are a Game-Changer, Director Says]

Immediately following Muendel’s keynote, a need-to know session titled “Welcome to the World of VR/360!” on Thursday at 2:20 will give GV Expo attendees an overview of the latest developments in VR. As director and VFX supervisor for the technology firm VArtisans, Mark Lambert has created 360 video and VR experiences on endangered species and for tourism sites by filming in a mix of monoscopic and stereo 360 video.

One of the firm’s more compelling projects is the VR Bus, a 360 video production that takes viewers on locations as diverse as a rickshaw ride in Asia to the base of the coliseum in Rome to the streets of Washington, D.C., to create a series of family-friend VR experiences. Riders hop on a modified tour bus, sit in specialized rumbling seats, and place on a VR headset to take a guided VR tour of famous cities and sites.

Lambert will also discuss the VR Zoo, a virtual exhibit that tells the stories of African elephants, cheetahs, sea lions and more at the Dubai Aquarium. Visitors enter custom pods, select animals on a touch screen and then watch a three-minute VR experience for each animal. Directed by Lambert, the project filmed 360 video on land and underwater in Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa, Maldives and Australia.

The complete schedule for the 2018 GV Expo can be found here.

Who knew that videos of cops singing — or more accurately pretending to sing — could be so popular?

A fun featured session at Government Video Expo will dig into the phenomenon and how it played out at one local police department.

Chief Kevin Lands and Sgt. Jeff Shaver of the Haymarket Police Department in Virginia will talk about the production of their video and how it has enhanced the department's outreach to and engagement with the community. They’ll be joined by videographer Frank Rutigliano of Bangin' Gears.

The session is called “Lip Sync Challenge — Law Enforcement Video Creates Fun Community Outreach” and is held Thursday, Nov. 29, at 11:20 a.m.

Government Video Expo is later this month; it features 32 live free presentations and a free exhibit floor, as well as additional training opportunities. Register here.

You've seen him on CNN stalking around a virtual environment and interacting with graphical representations of the SCOTUS process, North Korean missiles or Royal Thai Navy SEAL divers. Tom Foreman has established much of the network's work beyond video, playing a key role in the development and use of an immersive, 3D virtual studio that takes viewers to space to study satellites, onto distant battlefields to promote understanding of dangerous conflicts and down deep into the data of presidential elections.

Foreman will be a keynote speaker at Government Video Expo 2018. He spoke with Managing Director of Content Paul McLane for Government Video.

Government Video: You've done a lot of work in broadcast news with technology you've described as "going beyond video." What exactly does that mean?

Tom Foreman: We now have tools that allow us to visualize concepts that previously were not visual. We can turn data, we can turn ideas, we can turn trends, into interactive, touchable graphics, with which we can tell a story that adds clarity to our understanding of an increasingly complex world.

Previously, there were economic trends, crime trends, security trends that were difficult to visualize. But if you can turn it into an environment that you can stand next to, it helps people, who are visual creatures, to see what we're talking about.

GV: How did you become involved with the virtual studio?

Foreman: Hurricane Katrina was the birth of a lot of this. I had a deep and long understanding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from having worked there in traditional journalism — doing beautiful pictures, explanatory pictures and reports. And yet Katrina brought such a scope of disaster that no one picture could do it justice. Even a collection of pictures could not do it justice. You needed the giant view that we could bring through a graphic treatment. What we were using at the time was a giant wall-based projection of Google Earth, which I was controlling with a mouse in my hand, I was controlling it on set and we were flying in and out.

The real value, though, came from the combination of traditional on-the-ground reporting and photography video that supported it, then using this as a high-tech frame that let us add the meaning that said, "Okay, I just showed you a picture of a church halfway underwater. That matters because this is where that church is; and down the street is this school, and down the street is this government building, and over here is the streetcar line." It gave a context.

We did the same thing after the earthquake in Haiti. We were able to show, not only where the damage was, but by widening out and using some of these tools to show satellite images before and after, we were able to analyze road blockages and say why it was so hard for aid to get to people. The Army asked if they could get copies of our images, because they were having trouble figuring out how to get things to people, and our analysis with the satellite images worked for them.

GV: Why aren't more people doing this in such a visual world? Is it cost?

Foreman: I don't think it's cost, it's understanding. This is a very high-tech tool for a very traditional and old-fashioned process: storytelling. A lot of people mistakenly think that this is whiz-bang, it's all about amazing graphics and immersive graphics; that is not the case at all.

Almost everything we produce begins as simple paper-and-pen drawings on my desk, where our team gathers around, and we draw it; and as we draw it, we're saying, “What is the story? What is it we're trying to convey?”

I think one of the reasons people don't do it — or do it effectively — is they compartmentalize it. "Well, the graphics department will create this; and the show production team will create this; and we'll bring in a reporter at the last minute and plug them in." That absolutely does not work. You have to have the full team involved from beginning to end.

GV: Is there a risk that these tools could come to be used in place of live reporting, rather than to complement it?

Foreman: I don't think so, because everything we do is grounded in traditional journalism. Everything we do is grounded in finding actual facts. In fact, we steer away from doing it when we can get access that shows us what we want.

GV: You've used this technology for so many interesting projects. Are there two or three that particularly stand out?

Foreman: This has been tremendously helpful in giving a sense of scale, when we've dealt with natural disasters; in giving a sense of proximity, when we've dealt with war situations; and in helping us peek into places where we can't readily look.

As we've analyzed the North Korean missile and nuclear program, it's been tremendously useful to show exactly how much progress they're making — and what they still have not yet accomplished. Missiles involve almost incomprehensible distances and speed and force; this allows us to depict that.

In the search for the missing Malaysian airplane, this was an enormously useful tool. When you say to somebody "five thousand square miles of ocean," most people have no idea what that looks like. If somebody talks about something being 1,500 feet underwater, they don't really understand what that means either. We're able to depict that in ways that make sense.

GV: Look ahead five years, how is our experience of watching content going to change further?

Foreman: You see sports embracing this a little bit. Sports can do that in part because you're always talking about a very defined situation. The football field is this size, and there are two teams, and they play this long. Basketball, field hockey, arena, whatever.

We're going to see a lot more of this embraced, not just by news organizations but by anyone who's in the business of trying to tell a story. Because frankly the world we live in today is endlessly complex compared to the world we lived in 50 years ago. You can wake up in the morning and get an email from a friend in Indonesia, respond to a phone call from your office down the street, see photographs from a family member who's three time zones away, and search back 20 years for records of information that you might need that day. You are traveling time and space every minute, much more than we used to. That requires a new kind of understanding of that information.

We can't make our brains evolve that quickly, so what we have to do is have tools that allow our brains, as they are, to connect with this new reality.

GV: What about artificial intelligence, 4K, other technical areas?

Foreman: Willa Cather once wrote that art should simplify, that it's about simplifying ideas and making them understandable. All these technological things—the quality of video; the immersive nature of some of these systems—I think that's going to continue. The real secret here, for those who want to thrive in this environment, is to recognize them for just what they are: These are tools for a simple process of understanding. If you let it become about the tools, then it becomes more noise, more clutter that doesn't help you understand the world.

This world that we're going into is not for the faint of heart. There are huge challenges to making sure this technology serves us. But the rewards for doing that are absolutely immense.

Many years ago, when I was a very young person, I did a big, a big magic show with flying doves and floating ladies and fireballs and the whole thing. That has been enormously useful to me. The whole purpose of a magic show is knowing what's really going on, which can be incredibly complex. And yet remembering what the audience sees — and knowing you have to let them come along in the story, in a way that works for them — that's what we're doing here.

When I'm in the virtual environment, there is rarely a gesture or a step or a turn that is not carefully constrained by the technology that I'm surrounded by. Only if you do that properly does it appear real, in a virtual sense; and only then can the technology disappear and the understanding come through.

Key Takeaways

Who? Tom Foreman of CNN is a featured keynoter at Government Video Expo on Wednesday, Nov. 28, in the session "From the 'Situation Room' to the Thailand Caves — Today's Evolving Journalism”

Why? New technology is helping media professionals tell stories more effectively by leveraging "the one thing humans are really good at: visual interpretation."

Now What? Register now to meet and learn from CNN's Tom Foreman and other top speakers from PBS, The DC Visionaries, BundlAR, Creative Media Matters and more.

Do you wonder what it takes to create compelling video content that engages your social media audience and keeps them coming back for more? Master Sergeant Nicholas Kurtz, lead video skills instructor at the Defense Information School, understands very well the importance of social media’s reach and the need for “snackable” video content to tell the story in today’s media environment.

“‘Snackable’ content is media designed to be easy for a viewer to consume and share,” said Kurtz. It’s shorter and optimized for smaller screens to be as engaging as possible and to encourage viewers to share the video with others.

As for why, Kurtz said, “Many large government agencies are still operating from a legacy ‘broadcast’ mindset, unwilling to adapt to the realities and endless possibilities of social media.”

Kurtz has joined the featured speaker lineup of Government Video Expo, scheduled for Nov. 27–29 in Washington. In the session “‘Snackable’ Video Content: Engaging Viewers Through Social Media” he will share his knowledge of the need for short, attention-grabbing videos and how to forge an ongoing connection with your audience and community through “snackable” bites of visual content.

“If you feel like you’re stuck producing the same kind of videos that aren’t really moving the needle, you can definitely get some inspiration from this session,” Kurtz said.

Facebook and other social media algorithms prioritize video content over other types of posts, and live video is even more effective for ensuring engagement on those platforms. “By simply pulling out a phone and going live, the notification that your organization is currently streaming goes out to every follower you have who's online at that time,” Kurtz explained.

“Print and radio certainly have their place in the communication landscape, but video can augment and complement both, while standing on its own as well,” he continued. “A lot of radio shows are simulcasting with live video on social media and television. More and more, print journalism is incorporating video content to enhance coverage and give the audience another way to interact with and comprehend the information.”

MSgt. Kurtz has served as a video skills instructor at the Defense Information School’s Broadcast Operations and Maintenance Department since July, 2015. His career includes positions at civilian radio stations and the American Forces Network.

Kurtz says Sept. 11, 2001, was his first “real” day on the job as an airman at Aviano Air Base in Italy. Shortly after he received his dorm key, the second plane hit the World Trade Center in New York City, and he was tasked with “relaying information about school closings and how to adjust to increased security postures on base,” Kurtz remembers. He credits his own DINFOS training and ‘a couple years’ experience in civilian radio” with enabling him to not “let my team or the listening members of my new community down” during that critical event.

“That was the day I knew I’d be doing this job as long as they’d let me,” Kurtz remembered. “Seventeen years later, I’m still in uniform, and I’ve come full circle. I now get to teach at DINFOS and share the lessons of that day and my love for this job with the next generation of service members joining the public affairs career field.”

Flash forward to 2018, and Kurtz said his mission is “to train and sustain professional communicators for the Department of Defense and its partners.” He said, “The U.S. military, like any organization, has internal and external communication needs. In fact, we’re required by law to document and communicate the actions of our Armed Forces. The Defense Information School provides world-class training to the people responsible for making sure those communication needs are met for the DoD.”

Kurtz encourages producers to get creative with ideas and tools and to overcome risk aversion, which is natural when trying new things. “Not every video needs to be the talking head shot of your leader in their office; and you don’t need to wait for a big budget approval to go through before you can begin using video to your advantage. Most of us have all the tools we need right in our mobile devices.” After all, he added, “Now we live in an age where just about anyone is able to live-broadcast full HD video to a global audience.”

He cited the DINFOS Cares campaign as an example of how to create this type of snackable, engaging content. “Under the hashtag #DINFOSCares, we highlight some of the cool things that go on outside of the classroom … Short videos show that our instructors and staff are making positive impacts in their community, and that we’re just regular people who happen to wear a military uniform. Not every video you put out needs a ton of planning behind it. Real moments of genuine human interaction have a big impact on your audience.”

Key Takeaways

Who?Defense Information School Lead Instructor for Video Skills MSgt. Nicholas Kurtz will deliver a presentation on “‘Snackable Video’ Content: Engaging Viewers Through Social Media” at the2018 Government Video Expo.

Why?MSgt. Kurtz will discuss different ways to incorporate short, creative, engaging videos into your strategic communication plan. To inspire attendees, he will share examples from how the Department of Defense and other federal agencies do this effectively.

Now What?Sign upto meet and learn from Kurtz and other top speakers from “PBS NewsHour,” DC Visionaries, BundlAR, Creative Media Matters and more.

The media has come under fire from politicians, analysts and, sometimes, the American public in recent years for bias, fake news and sensationalism. So how are broadcast journalists overcoming some of these perceptions in today’s media climate?

One of the most important components of the job for Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of “PBS NewsHour,” is staying “acutely aware of how important it is every day, every hour, to make the right judgment calls on what we cover and how we cover it. Have we chosen the right stories to highlight? Have we gotten everything we’ve reported correct? Are we making assumptions we shouldn’t? Are we being fair to those we cover? Have we done our best to keep the interests of the American people in mind, and not just those of the journalists in the room when we make these judgment calls? These questions are constantly in my mind.”

Judy Woodruff will discuss the media climate of 2018 and her role in it during a keynote conversation with Future’s Paul McLane on Nov. 28 at Government Video Expo.

The results of a Pew Research Center survey conducted earlier this year show that almost “seven in 10 Americans (68%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days, compared with only three in 10 who say they like the amount of news they get.” So how are newscasters keeping their viewers engaged?

“We not only live in a news-infused time, with information flying at us from every direction — our smartphone, our social media accounts, television, radio and newspapers, just to name a few,” said Woodruff, “but at this moment our president is literally a news-making machine.

“The result is a hurricane of news every day, unpredictable, often conflict-driven, that understandably exhausts news consumers.”

Woodruff doesn’t blame Americans for feeling overwhelmed, but feels the answer isn’t to eliminate any of this news. Instead, she said, stories should be prioritized with a focus on those that are of greatest consequence while making sure news reports are as clear, understandable and compelling as possible.

Woodruff didn’t actually plan to go into broadcasting as a career, but a professor asked if she had ever thought of covering politics as a reporter and “the lightbulb went off,” recalled Woodruff. She applied for entry-level newsroom positions in Atlanta and landed at WQXI (later WXIA) as the newsroom secretary.

“Once there, I fell in love with what the reporters did, but my first break came with an offer to be the weekend ‘weather girl,’” said Woodruff. “In my six-months-long ‘Cinderella’ experience — secretary Monday through Friday, ‘weather girl’ on Sunday evenings — I gathered the confidence to keep pushing for the job I wanted. Sure enough, the news director at the CBS affiliate, Bob Brennan, saw my work and offered me the role of reporter, covering the Georgia State Capitol and Atlanta politics. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”

Since that time Woodruff’s career has brought her face to face for interviews with many history makers. Among them, those she feels have been the most compelling have included former President Jimmy Carter, William F. Buckley and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. “I have to add the first responders I interviewed in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center in September, 2001, — because of the horror and stunning nature of the moment,” she said.

“PBS NewsHour” can be seen each evening on the television, on mobile devices, via YouTube or Apple TV and via podcast, and Woodruff sees this as one of the challenges facing the broadcast industry in the coming years.

“More people than ever are streaming video content on their mobile devices or laptop computers,” said Woodruff. “I’m hardly the tech expert, but we’re clearly headed into a new and different world of information and entertainment consumption. Having said that, people have been predicting the demise of broadcast networks for a long time, and they’re still here. Maybe they have new tricks up their sleeve.”

Key Takeaways

Who? Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of “PBS NewHour” will participate in a keynote conversation with Future’s Paul McLane on Nov. 28 at Government Video Expo.

Why? Woodruff will analyze the media climate of 2018 and her role in it.

Now What? Sign upto meet and learn from Woodruff and other top speakers from CNN, The Kennedy Center, DC Visionaries, BundlAR, Creative Media Matters and more.

Woodruff joins a speaker lineup at Government Video Expo that includes Mark Lambert, founder, director and VFX supervisor of VArtisans; Shane Yeager, CEO and Celene DiStasio, COO and creative director of DC Visionaries; John Martin, CEO of BundlAR; and Gail McCabe, executive director of CreativeMediaMatters.

Now that headsets can be purchased for less than $200, virtual reality and 360 video will become much more accessible tools — both for consumers and for enterprises that wish to put high-tech dimensional video to work.

That’s according to director and VFX supervisor Mark Lambert of VArtisans, who cites the launch of Oculus Go as an important development. “It becomes much easier for traditional consumers or companies to buy a bunch of these,” he said. “You’re not setting up complicated pieces of hardware — $800 headsets and $2,000 computers — to watch 360 video. You can buy an all-in-one $200 headset and watch Discovery VR or 360 training content easily.”

Lambert has joined the featured speaker lineup of Government Video Expo, to be held Nov. 27–29 in Washington.

Despite ample news coverage, Lambert said, we are in the early days for formats that are coming to be known under the umbrella term “extended reality” or XR. Whatever you call it, enterprises are just starting to learn how to use the tools. “People are experimenting, finding out what works, using it in training, in medicine — things are being discovered every day. There’s some amazing research being done for pain distraction, for instance. That whole area of medicine is amazing and expanding for VR and 360 video.”

Lambert said that video creators are being challenged to learn new techniques. “There is no ‘behind the camera’ in 360,” he said. “It becomes a strange thing for everybody on set. You’re used to sitting behind the camera, having video villages all on one side of the camera and the subject on the other. That’s no longer the case.” Now, he said, you’re seeing everything, the whole world including cast, crew, lighting, sound, director.

He said the workflows required by 360 video differ from those around traditional video. For one thing, Lambert said, VR and 360 place new demands on a creator’s storage and hardware. “I’m from the day when everyone was starting to film in HD. Well, I’m posting 8K video right now, which is four times 4K and 16 times HD. The strains and the stress on the hardware, your storage needs, are massive.” He said his current system has 128 TB of content for current projects, with another 50 backed up.

“The whole VR medium itself needs the best, fastest, biggest hardware that’s available to accomplish.” It also requires newer approaches such as “proxy” workflows that are becoming more familiar to 4K producers as well.

Lambert will present “Welcome to the World of VR/360!,” which is part of the “Need to Know” session series at GV Expo on Nov. 28. He is founder of VArtisans, a Richmond, Va.-based company that brings together 360 video and VR artists, programmers and cinematographers exploring new ways of immersive storytelling through major projects, art and experimental pieces.

Having led the teams that created Harry Potter’s first Quidditch field and the visual development of “The Polar Express” at Sony Pictures, Lambert has been at the leading edge of visual effects technology. His team’s recent VR projects have taken them to 14 countries over 18 months. VR Bus and VR Balloon are major international, location-based entertainment projects in Dubai’s VRPark. The attractions take visitors to the streets of Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Washington, and the plains of Africa. The team’s VR Zoo undertaking involved the recording of 12 separate endangered species and development of a kiosk app to tell the conservation stories of these animals. The project filmed 360 video on land and underwater in Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, South Africa, Maldives and Australia.

Lambert will give Government Video Expo attendees an overview of developments in the VR field, then share examples and “how he did it” stories from projects such as the VR Bus and VR Zoo; “A Letter Home,” a narrative 360 video for the PBS series “Mercy Street”; “The Killing Pits of Ponar,” an award-winning 360 film exploring a little-known story of the origins of the Nazi genocide, created with Lone Wolf Media and NOVA/PBS; and more. He also will discuss the potential for using 3D animation and VFX in 360 video.

Key Takeaways

Who?Mark Lambert, founder, director and VFX supervisor of VArtisans, will deliver a “Need to Know” session at the 2018 Government Video Expo

Why?Lambert will discuss the state of VR and 360 video and discuss how their workflows differ from those in traditional video.

Now What?Sign up to meet and learn from Lambert and other top speakers from “PBS NewsHour,” DC Visionaries, BundlAR, Creative Media Matters and more.

Lambert joins a speaker lineup at Government Video Expo that includes Judy Woodruff, anchor and managing editor of “PBS NewsHour”; Shane Yeager, CEO and Celene DiStasio, COO and creative director of DC Visionaries; John Martin, CEO of BundlAR; and Gail McCabe, executive director of CreativeMediaMatters.

Reserve your spot at the2018 Government Video Expo.

Terry Scutt contributed to this report.

ALEXANDRIA, VA--NewBay has announced a new event for video, AV and IT professionals, to be held in Washington in late November, called Time2 Show.

It said the Time2 Show will serve professionals focused on “Transforming Information & Media for Entertainment and Enterprise” — hence the “e2”.

The event will comprise four concurrent shows: the 23rd Government Video Expo, the DC Post | Production Conference and two new shows: AV Technology Live and Creative Planet Con. It will be held Nov. 27–29 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

GV Expo 2018 will be the centerpiece of the Time2 Show and will again include the National Drone Show.

NewBay Managing Director of Content Paul McLane said, “from security to communications, video technology is transforming government and enterprise, creating incredible potential for the professionals, manufacturers and service providers serving this expanding market.”

AV Technology Live is for AV and experiential design professionals. The conference is an expansion of NewBay’s 2017 AVIT Summit.

Creative Planet Con will be a free showcase for video creators “at every level of experience and professionalism.”

DC Post | Production Conference is a production/postproduction training and educational event developed in partnership with Future Media Concepts.

NewBay Chief Content Officer Joe Territo said, “Not only are we focusing on the latest technology from the video and AV/IT enterprise marketplaces, but we are also looking at future-facing opportunities and best practices in order to give attendees a multi-dimensional experience they can’t find anywhere else.”

For example, the floor will feature three theaters featuring content about technology, best practices and tutorials, as well as new “Need to Know” segments focused on cybersecurity, blockchain, 5G and AI, as well as a returning Drone Cage.

By collocating the events, NewBay said it expects to double overall attendee traffic from past Government Video Expos and that the DC location provides proximity to many video, AV and IT pros who live within 150 miles of the federal capital.

NewBay is the parent of brands like TV Technology, Government Video, Radio World, Radio magazine, Creative Planet Network, AV Technology and Tech & Learning. It is now part of Future PLC after being acquired earlier this month.

WASHINGTON—The 2017 Government Video Expo & National Drone Show was held Nov. 28-30, with the first day (Nov. 28) set aside exclusively for the DC Post Production Conference. The exhibition opened on Wednesday, Nov. 29, and the content seen across the conference program and show floor reflected broad technical and regulatory trends in video production and distribution.

Bill McKnight gets up close with the C300 Mark II camera from Canon.

While many attendees on the exhibition floor and in the seats at the conference were clearly from local, state or federal government entities, a significant number were from the thriving regional production community or one of the scores of educational institutions or non-profits that dot the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region.

The diversity of attendees was reflected in the conference program and the kit seen on the show floor: Everything from basic production tools such as lighting and lenses and mics on through to more esoteric things from the evolving world of UAVs or VR/AR had a presence.

VR/AR is arguably the newest trend. The University of Maryland Virtual Reality Club—itself only three years old but notably sponsored by VR specialist Oculus VR and Lockheed Martin—had a corner booth that saw attendees lining up for demos and information. The range of interest here was from the merely curious to government and military representatives who had real security and training applications in mind.

The sector is new in the gaming world, and very new for other applications. It seems to be evolving concurrently in the “consumer” and “pro” market.

The merger of the professional and consumer worlds is nothing new in the broader AV and broadcast sectors, and a presentation from Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association, described a future where VR/AR and AI would bring immersive experiences for practical applications beyond the entertainment sector. Koenig described a future where VR could replace face-to-face meetings and help veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder, for example. He stressed that the technology can and will deliver a sense of presence never seen before.

Needless to say, the engineers and production teams designing the VR/AR future are on the cutting edge, and anyone wishing to create virtual experiences needs access to information and training beyond the norm. It’s an arena that people need to learn about if things like ‘virtual trade shows,’ or disaster simulations are to become common.

EDUCATION AND BEYOND

Education was also a central part of Black magic Designs’ GV Expo presence. It sponsored the Production Solutions Pavilion right at the front of the exposition hall, where crowds could learn about collaboration and security in a workflow, simplifying live streaming, and the latest in camera designs and applications.

Jason Druss, product specialist with Blackmagic, said the company’s range of production equipment from cameras to switchers to recording devices, fit the broad range of customers the show attracts.

“We’re happy to be able to educate and exchange ideas with government video professionals about workflows and our products, and we’ve seen a wide range of attendees from all sorts of areas,” said Druss. “We’re here for everybody.”

Blackmagic had a good display of kit available on the floor, including its ATEM Television Studio Pro HD live production switcher, the URSA Mini Pro camera that combines the image quality of the URSA Mini 4.6K with the features and controls of a traditional broadcast camera, and the HyperDeck Studio Mini, a tiny Ultra HD broadcast deck with 10-bit recording and playback, dual SD/UHS-II card recorders and FTP media upload.

Notable for many of those in attendance, the company’s Web Presenter makes any SDI or HDMI video source appear as a USB webcam for higher quality web streaming using software such as Skype or streaming platforms such as YouTube Live, Facebook Live and others.

BACK FOR MORE

One company making its second GV Expo appearance after a 2016 debut was Enco. While the company’s visual radio and automated playout offerings attracted attention, the hot product this year was clearly its enCaption4 hardware/software solution that can automatically generate captioning on live or recorded video.

Ken Frommert, president of ENCO, said that the product was a way that content creators could provide real-time, live captioning without any advance notice and without the cost of live captioners or signers. Frommert said that both ADA and FCC rules were driving the need for this product.

“(enCaption) has been really hot at this show because everyone needs captioning now,” said Frommert. He added that GV Expo 2016 was critical for establishing a presence with government agencies who became customers. This year, the show was all about visiting with the customers established last year and securing new contacts: “In our second year of the show, word of mouth (from established government customers) seems to have helped a lot.”

Securing government business means a lot. A scan of attendee badges revealed an expected strong presence from various federal agencies, defence, state and local governments, police and fire departments.

PRODUCTION HOUSES AND MORE

Jeffrey Kramer of production company Kramer Communications in nearby Prince George’s County, Md., was at GV Expo looking for “new toys in general,” with a more specific need to get a new NLE to replace the company’s FCP software. A firefighter, Kramer has mixed his vocation with his avocation on many occasions—the production company’s “safer” brand of recruitment, retention and training videos is aimed at local fire departments and similar entities.

Basic production needs such as NLEs were on the minds of many local production companies wandering the floor. Bill McKnight of McKnight Creative Media LLC was at the Canon booth looking at cameras and lenses, including the EOS C300 Mark II Digital Cinema Camera, a second-gen Cinema EOS 4K camera system with a wide range of new and improved features including 4K/2K/Full HD internal and external recording (including 4K RAW output) and a new 10-bit Canon Log 2 Gamma.

The Canon booth had equipment pertinent to a range of customers. Also on stand was the C-700 ENG camera, an ME-20 box camera and units mounted to Telemetrics robotics for studio or surveillance use.

The Intel Falcon 8+ Drone is a pro UAV ideal for inspection and close mapping.

The Ross stand also had a range of its equipment on stand suitable for any live production facility. Products included a Graphite switcher with xpression clip play, the Lightning Control System, the Carbonite Black mid-sized switcher and more. “We’ve had a real mix of local production types and federal government representatives on stand,” said a Ross representative.

Beth Nardin of K 5600 Lighting concurred, saying that GV Expo was the show to show its range of mainly daylight balanced lights to government and military customers, along with a few local production companies. New from the company and on show was the Kurve, a focusing parabolic umbrella, and also a sneak peek of the company’s new-in-2018 Joker II HMI.

On the audio side, Sennheiser showed its SL Ceiling Microphone, which features 29 Sennheiser KE 10-237 pre-polarized condenser microphone capsules designed to blend into any conference room infrastructure. It features beamforming technology that automatically focuses on whoever is speaking in the room. On the opposite end of the usage spectrum was the Ambeo VR mic.

A company with a large presence at a dealer’s booth was NewTek, who reported significant interest in both its IP Series live production system and the NDI technology it is based on. NDI is a bi-directional standard that allows users to share video and audio over IP. It also allows them to send and receive multiple input and output signals between devices on a network.

All technologies tend to evolve as seen in the example of the IP production world—the drive is typically toward “smaller, faster, lighter, cheaper, better.” Another trend is for big players to get involved in a technology as it gains acceptance. One example of this is Intel getting in to the drone/UAV business with its Falcon 8+ Drone, which Stampede had flying in the demo cage on a regular basis throughout the show.

When a technology such as UAVs takes off, smaller side businesses also follow. One seen on the floor was a kickstarter project from 2015 called VUFINE, now in its second generation. This is a small monitor that mounts on glasses, making it ideal for drone monitoring—a user can keep an eye on the drone and the video the drone is capturing simultaneously, staying in compliance with direct line of sight requirements.

WASHINGTON—Social media has changed how communications professionals operate in all spheres and the new platforms offer their own challenges and opportunities for those working for the federal government.

At Government Video Expo 2017, attendees learned how the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior are able to take advantage of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media to spread their agencies’ messages.

“Visual First—Smart Use of Video in Social Media and Beyond” was moderated by Defense Information School Commandant Col. Martin Downie. The panel was composed of DINFOS Video Skills Instructor MSgt. Nicholas C. Kurtz; EPA Office of Multimedia Assistant Director Jini Ryan; Department of Health and Human Services Director of Broadcast Communications Michael Wilker; and Department of the Interior Deputy Director of Digital Strategy Larry Gillick.

Downie came to DINFOS two years ago, and in that time his goal has been to transition the school to a 21st century learning environment. That means the schoolhouse (as Downie calls it) now has Wi-Fi and they have plans to soon distribute iPads to their students. Also important: Downie wants instructors to move from the “sage on the stage” mentality to “the guide on the side” to promote an active learning environment with lots of student engagement. And they engage with industry and academia to learn current best practices.

DINFOS offers 32 courses (ranging from five to 124 days long) as part of a curriculum designed with the military in mind.

Effective fiscal year 2020, DINFOS will begin a curriculum that teaches communication, journalism, PA, photo, video and digital/multimedia in the course of 108 days. It’s the standard for all Department of Defense communicators. They also offer 10-day classes in storytelling, CBT photo/video, graphic design and broadcasting.

As a DINFOS video instructor described by Downie as “the go-to-guy,” Kurtz explained the school’s strategy for teaching DoD professionals video in the internet age.

First, the content should be social media-focused; meaning, “snackable,” generating audience engagement, applying the quality over quantity principle and “less broadcast, more Buzzfeed” style.

Second, DINFOS is transitioning away from heavy ENG gear. Instead of shoulder-mount cameras, Kurtz focuses on teaching students how to use DSLRs and smartphones effectively. Additionally, the concept of the edit station is increasingly becoming obsolete; more editing is done on iPads today.

Finally, Kurtz says to keep in mind that the goal is information with an immediate impact.

According to Kurtz, today’s students have an innate understanding of many of these best practices because “social media is their second language.”

Next, Ryan discussed how social media has affected the workflow for sharing EPA announcements. Most announcements are now live streamed via the EPA’s official YouTube channel.

Ryan noted that the platform has made improvements to its backend that are helpful for content producers. For example, the initial stream can be saved, then cleaned up and shared in its entirety or cut into subclips that are ideal for sharing on Facebook or Twitter.

The EPA is still tethered to the building for live streaming, but they are in the process of testing out smartphones that are compatible with DSLRs. Ryan explained they would use cell towers for connectivity and would also have the advantage of being smaller and lighter—ideal for visiting a remote location.

Wilker explained that the Department of Health and Human Services primarily streams advisory committee meetings to interested audiences.

Keeping with the theme, he joked that “Captioning is a human service,” and an important element of sharing information with the public. In the spirit of going above and beyond, Wilker doesn’t trust live captioning’s accuracy (despite claims that it is highly accurate, it isn’t good enough). Instead, he sends the MP3 file to NCC for full transcription. Wilker says he likes to give people more than they expect.

Continuing that theme was self-confessed contrarian Gillick. After playing Interior’s most popular video (featuring proposals and weddings at National Parks for Valentine’s Day), he reminded audiences that, as a federal agency employee, it is not his “job to create pretty things.” Rather, he is furthering a larger goal.

But that doesn’t mean he and his employees can’t be “nice.” In fact, there DOI.gov website offers a button that will switch all the text to a Dyslexic-friendly font (How’s that for 508-compliance?).

Gillick also voiced a bit of a surprising opinion for a social media-focused panel. He believes that U.S. citizens should not have to go to an outside platform (like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) to get information from the government. That’s why he focuses the majority of his energy on his agency’s website.

He advised the audience that there is no magic formula for audience engagement or higher traffic. But if what you’re doing is working, he said, embrace it—but only for as long as it works—and be smart enough to know when it isn’t.

The 2017 Government Video Expo and National Drone Show kicked off in D.C. on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Here are a set of videos that provide an overview of the first day of the conference, some of the exhibitors on site and a number of the drones features from the exhibit floor.

WASHINGTON—While the Government Video Expo & National Drone Show is ostensibly the place government entities from federal to local levels attend to seek technologies and information to help them do more with audio and video, the show also taps attendees of all sizes from the metro Washington, D.C., region and beyond.

Robert Suslowitz of Port Communications tries on a VR headset at the Television Internet & Video Association. (Credit Ross Stansfield www.rsprod.com)

The AV needs of big players like FEMA, DoD or the IRS are of a different magnitude than a small production house, but some common themes exist. One is data: Everybody is producing more of it and trying to figure out the best way to effectively manage it.

Quantum was on the show floor to take storage and workflow queries from a variety of potential clients, said Keith Lissa, senior director, M&E Solutions Marketing. He noted that while Quantum has a significant amount of ‘federal’ business, the exhibition also attracted representatives from the many educational institutions located in the D.C. area, as well a lot of small and mid-sized regional production companies.

“Producers of all sizes are having to shoot more and more in higher resolution, producing bigger files,” said Lissa. “Add in evolving collaborative workflows and the need for better, smarter storage is only increasing.

Lissa said that Quantum’s recently-introduced Xcellis Foundation product was on display and perfect for many smaller to mid-sized needs. It’s billed as an affordable, easy-to-use scalable NAS storage appliance, and like established offerings, it benefits from Quantum’s StorNext platform in workflow and collaboration terms.

CUTTING EDGE

Storage and workflow improvement is one of the critical needs of every modern, digital media enterprise. On day two of GV Expo, a bit of technology that in many cases is more potentially interesting had a show floor presence: The nearby University of Maryland’s Virtual Reality Club had a multi-station demo that drew attention from people with more curiosity than real plans and also a few attendees who really saw VR/AR applications in the near future.

Harrison Linowes, UMD VR Club president, said that the computer science department at UMD was working on a variety of VR/AR projects across navigation, medical training, virtual manufacturing, immersive education and more.

“Gaming is of course the low hanging fruit here,” said Linowes. “But there are all sorts of developing applications in many industries.”

One example he has recently been involved with was a disaster training exercise at the nearby National Institutes of Health.

Galen Stetsyuk, founder of MPLEX Game Developer Studio and the founder of the UMD VR Club, said it was still early days for the technology: “It’s pretty new in gaming and very new in applications outside gaming … but almost everyone is interested and we’ve had attention from people interested in training and defence applications.” 

One example of an attendee seeing a real application for VR/AR was Robert Suslowitz, president of Port Communications, a metro-DC production company that also sets up remotely operated and portable video streaming systems for a large religious institution. Notably, the company develops training programs for volunteer streamers.

While Suslowitz attended GV Expo to look at a variety of traditional hardware, including cameras and switchers, and was determining the best way to add UAV to his portfolio in the flight-restricted area around Washington, D.C. He saw a potential VR business after seeing both the UMD demo and strapping on a headset at the Television Internet & Video Association.

“After seeing these demos, I want to develop some training tapes for firemen and paramedics. I can see that as being a real benefit,” Suslowitz said

 See also:

GV Expo: CTA Offers Look Into Virtual Future

GV Expo: Breaking Down Virtual reality Barriers

GV Expo: Saving Our Audiovisual History for Future Generations

WASHINGTON—The promise of a future of virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence is not just a pipedream but is here and now and is revolutionizing our daily activities.

That was the word from Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association, in his presentation to the 2017 GV Expo. Koenig described a future where VR/AR and AI will bring immersive experiences that could alter how consumers define “reality.” These technologies have practical applications beyond the gaming and entertainment sectors, as Koenig described a virtual future where VR could replace face to face meetings and help veterans overcome post traumatic stress disorder, for example.

“Presence—remember that word,” Koenig said. “VR delivers a sense of presence with this experience that we've never seen before.”

Koenig noted that falling prices will soon kickstart VR, citing Facebook’s recent introduction of Oculus Go, a self-contained unit that retails for less than $200. “They want to get VR in a billion peoples' hands, which seems a big number but is actually quite modest when you think about how many users Facebook has globally,” he said.

BEYOND ENTERTAINMENT

Health care is another area where VR will be a tremendous asset, Koenig said. Project Bravemind, a project developed by researchers at USC, allows counselors and physicians to use VR to help victims of PTSD recreate traumatic experiences to cope and eventually recover. “[Project Bravemind] is an application that I think is really meaningful when it comes to serving our veterans and doing right by them,” Koenig said.

Over the past decade, numerous historical sites and materials have been destroyed by religious extremists in the Middle East and VR can help archaeologists develop virtual environments that recreate what has been lost. “Those sites are gone forever, but thanks to VR we can record and render what they actually would have looked like,” Koenig said. “You can virtually tour them, and we can virtually document them in an immersive way, but we can also render what they would have looked like way back when.”

Virtual meetings are also beginning to replace face to face interactions, Koenig noted. “This is going to start to happen more and more either in more of a casual sense, but also for business reasons,” he said. The concept of virtual trade shows has been around for more than a decade but VR could greatly alter and accelerate the move to virtual meetings in the near future. “In five years there will be an opportunity to have a virtual element of [trade shows], so people who couldn't attend could actually virtually attend the same trade show using VR,” Koenig said.

AI AND IOT

Koenig also touched on artificial intelligence, a technology that stirs both optimism and concern among consumers as well as businesses, and for varying reasons. He described the differences between “narrow AI,” characterized by popular consumer products like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, which use algorithms to determine such things as recommendations and give weather forecasts and “general AI” that is more complex, using machine learning to do tasks in real time, such as operating autonomous vehicles. Koenig used the HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey” to illustrate what general AI is, adding “we’re a decade away from that, and the good news is that by the time we get there, I think we’ll figure out how to incorporate those systems into our society and our economies.”

All of these technologies are being connected via the Internet of Things, which is the concept of using IP to allow connected devices to communicate with each other. Keonig warned attendees to not think of IoT as a “trend,” but as a technology that is here and now, using the “smart home” concept as an example. Koenig noted that sales of smart home devices such as Alexa and Google Home have surpassed $1 billion in revenue so far this year.

“IoT is a connected revolution, the likes of which we have not seen this kind of change in our culture, to our society, to our economy, our whole way of life, since the industrial revolution,” Koenig said. 

WASHINGTON—Virtual reality has been around for a while, but between its association with video games and how goofy people can look wearing a headset and reacting to something only they can see, people pegged it as a niche technology. However, as the panelists on the “From Research to (Virtual) Reality” panel explained during the 2017 Government Video Expo, that stereotype is being broken down bit by bit.

(L to R) Session moderator Cristina Clapp, Barrinton Baynes, Dr. Jackie Huband, Dr. Denise Krch, and Harrison Linowes

The last few years have seen significant progress in the capabilities of virtual and augmented reality applications, but the medium is still a relatively new. However, a number of institutions have begun using VR headsets and programs for practical uses. Barrinton Baynes, a multimedia project manager for the Gelardin New Media Center at Georgetown University, has helped students and teachers develop programs that serve as education tools that provide immersive experience students may not otherwise receive.

The medical profession has also begun to accept the technology, as Dr. Jackie Huband, a computational research consultant for the Virtual Reality Lab at the University of Virginia, and Dr. Denise Krch, a research scientist for the Kessler Foundation, explained. VR has proven to be an effective treatment for burn victims and those going through physical therapy. Dr. Krch has used the technology to develop VR programs that help people with cognitive difficulties train to handle multitasking and other work requirements.

But just because there are compelling and effective methods out there, doesn’t mean the stigma surrounding VR will immediately go away. Often, people will still need help with taking that first step.

“We’re going to have to figure out what is the easiest way that we can develop these applications so people can easily interact,” said Harrison Linowes, a University of Maryland computer sciences major and president of the school’s VR club. “The easier it is for these applications to have people interact with them, the more adoption we’re going to see.”

How to do that can vary on the institution, or the audience. For Dr. Huband, stressing that these programs are simulations rather than games and to find programs that are less cartoonish has opened up the possibilities for how people she works with see VR. Dr. Krch, however, thinks that the game like mentality of some of these programs is very helpful, especially with patients and removing some of the repetitiveness of treatment.

“The idea of doing something gamified is more fun and motivating,” said Dr. Krch. “Because people find it fun they want to play it and they want to get better at it.”

Dr. Krch also feels that as more institutions begin utilizing the technology, it will open the door for greater collaboration between those who may not traditionally work together. “The opportunities are going to be pretty great just by virtue of the fact that all these people who maybe wouldn’t have used this before are going to be looking at it as a way to do research.”

The development of the technology might also help with eliminating some of the technological barriers that currently exist with the necessity of headsets. “In the next few years, your phone will definitely be able to be as powerful as the computers we’re using now,” said Baynes.

And for the younger generation who will be entering the workforce and have the chance to implement VR technology, like Linowes, in the next few years, their familiarity with it will also help accelerate its overall adoption. “I hope that in my industry, and across the board, everyone has a headset next to them at their desk,” said Linowes.

“We’re just at the very beginning of looking at how virtual reality and augmented reality can enhance our day to day existence,” said Huband. “And we’re really excited about that, and we’re looking forward to what we can do in the future with all of this.”

WASHINGTON—It was harder than it looks to create the most-watched video in the history of the National Park Service—currently with more than 1.6 million views—Mathew John, the audiovisual production specialist for the National Park Service, told the 2017 Government Video Expo crowd. Given no budget for the project, John was able to piece together a beautiful depiction of America’s parks in time for the National Park Service’s centennial in 2016, which even got the attention of then-President Obama.

To achieve this, John told the GV Expo audience, he employed four key methods for creating impactful videos: Trust your vision; take it all in; be creative; and give sincere credit.

Chief among these, according to John, is the vision. “If you don’t have that vision, you’re not going to be able to do all the things that you have to do to make a video; especially if it’s low budget,” he said.

For this important project, he followed his second point of taking it all in by finding content all over the place. This included old audio and video clippings that he found among the materials left behind by his predecessor; public domain content he discovered on Google or YouTube; created content from himself and other National Park Service employees; and, what made up most of the centennial video, original content from individuals or companies.

As he told attendees, “it’s not hard to find content; it’s just kind of difficult to try and obtain content.”

“I watched at least 20 hours worth of footage, and I would find one or two seconds of video that I wanted to use,” he said. Ultimately, it required a lot of creativity to sort through all this footage and audio clips to create what he described as a more seamless video. In total, John says he took materials from about 24 people and companies for the video, whom he acknowledged with “sincere credit.”

“I make sure to give everyone credit, because it may look like it’s my video, but without these people there’s no way I’d be able to finish,” John said.

The success of the video has made some in the government sector think it’s not so difficult to create a video on no or low budget, says John, but others are witnessing the power of the video and are more willing to provide funding for future endeavors. Even if the budget doesn’t increase for future projects, John trusts in his methodology and believes it can serve as an example for others.

“I hope I kind of motivated people that you are able to go out, and you can make videos on a low budget, too,” he said. “And, hopefully, you can make something beautiful.”

WASHINGTON—Calrec is heading to our nation’s capital to demonstrate some of its latest products at the 2017 Government Video Expo. Among the products set to be shown during the conference are the Brio compact digital audio consoles and the RP1 remote production unit.

RP1

The Brio is the smallest digital broadcast audio console in Calrec’s Bluefin2 family of products. It offers a dual-layer, 36-fade surface that measures in at 892mm wide. The system provides access to a large number of audio paths, while its 15.6-inch HD touchscreen user interface gives quick access to more in-depth control. The Brio comes with analog and digital I/O and GPIO built into the surface. Expansion I/O slots are available for further I/O integration. The unit can also fit a Hydra2 module to connect and share audio over Calrec’s Hydra2 network.

Calrec also plans to highlight new features for its RP1 remote production unit. Among the added features are a two-band filter and four-band EQ, expander and gate facilities, compressor and sidechain EQ facilities, direct output for all remote faders (up to 5.1) and remote auxes via Calrec Assist. The new software also provides VCA master control from the host console and pairing of transmission and remote faders. In addition, a new “blocking” mode prevents the RP1 unit from affecting the paired transmission faders, while the “independent” mode allows the RP1 to operate independently of the host when required.

Calrec will showcase these products at booth 403 during the 2017 Government Video Expo.

WASHINGTON—Six films that demonstrate creative potential for aerial cinematography will be on display at 2017 DC Drone Film Festival, held November 29-30 at National Drone Show.

Now in its second year, the DC Drone Film Festival brought in entries from across the globe, with the winning six projects selected by a panel of judges. The winning entries will be screened throughout the 2017 National Drone Show Nov. 29-30 in Washington D.C., held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, alongside Government Video Expo.

Here are the winners:

Architecture: “Beverley Minister Fly Through” – Cy Chadwick

Corporate/Industrial/Business: “Aqua” – Nick Lang

Narrative: “Drift” - Frank Dewaele

Nature: “Moablastr” – Jonny Durst

Shorts: “Giant’s Dronie” – Victor Chu

Sports: “East Coast Bash” – Pablo Barrera

“The group of winners for this year’s Drone Film Festival provide a great example of what is possible with drone filmmaking, reaching incredible technical and creative heights,” said DCDFF Festival Manager Michael Balderston. “We are excited to share these videos with all of our National Drone Show attendees.”

The D.C. Drone Festival is just one of the events that will take place during the National Drone Show, an event that includes informational sessions, training, hands-on demos, panel discussions, intensive workshops, and a drone flying cage, provided by educational partner Stampede. To register, visit www.gvexpo.com/register.

For more information on the D.C. Drone Film Festival, contact festival manager Michael Balderston at mbalderston@nbmedia.com.

WASHINGTON—It’s an exciting and challenging time to be a video professional! Government Video Expo returns to Washington, D.C., this November, and we are inviting potential speakers to submit presentation proposals.

We seek presentations targeting:

Corporate and enterprise video production
Live and event streaming for the government and public sector
Best business practices for creative professionals
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality
Aerial/UAV videography
Nonfiction filmmaking and documentary techniques
Visual radio – video for radio broadcasters
Video security
Distance learning
Video over IP
Sound production and post

Email a description of your proposed presentation, 300 words or less, to cclapp@nbmedia.com. Also include a brief description of your experience, background or qualifications.

Presentations are 30 to 45 minutes. Speakers receive free event registration. Speaker proposals are due by Sept. 22.

Government Video Expo, the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Premier Event, is designed for video, broadcast and AV professionals. The 22nd annual Government Video Expo will feature a full exhibit floor with numerous training options, free seminars, keynotes, networking opportunities, and five new educational pavilions.

This three-day event features a broad range of production, post production, streaming, display and delivery technologies on the exhibit floor, providing valuable information to media professionals working across multiple platforms for federal, state and local government, law enforcement, education, non-profits, and publicly funded institutions.

WASHINGTON—The 2016 Government Video Expo & National Drone Show was held Dec. 6-8, with the first day (Dec. 6) set aside exclusively for the DC Post Production Conference, a series of training in various video specialties. The exhibition floor opened up on Wednesday, Dec. 7, and the show did not disappoint.

Attendees quickly filled the exhibition hall once the show opened.

With attendee registrations up some 20 percent this year, the exhibition floor quickly filled with people from inside and outside government looking for ideas and a first-hand look at popular industry products.

One such looker was Amy Carter from the St. Mary’s County (Md.) Government Video Channel, who stopped at the Panasonic booth to examine the cameras. Although she said that St. Mary’s County is not ready to commit to an all 4K studio, she is expected to know what’s out there and be ready to move on new gear when funds become available.

“I’m here to look around and see what to dream about,” she said. “We’re a taxpayer-funded organization, so funds are always scarce, but you always have to be ready to think about the future.”

After being at the Expo for only a short time, Carter looked around with some surprise.

“I’m a little overwhelmed,” she said.

INDUSTRY TRAINING

Industry training was a draw for some in the area. One who found it worthwhile was Kelsey Brannan, a video specialist with the U.S. State Department.

“I was here for the Post Production Conference,” she said, “as well as seeing some of the vendors here at the Expo. I’m also interested in the drones because I want to get one for myself to get some nice aerial shots.”

Brannan attended the “Mastering Adobe Premiere Pro” session during the DC Post Production Conference, which was spread over all three days of the Expo. She also visited the Ikan and DeWolfe Music booths, and said she was looking at a variety of disk drive solutions on the show floor.

The National Drone Show is major part of the Expo, and it drew attentive crowds at both the drone flying cage and the Drone Show Theater. Presentations were given at both locations, and the Drone Show Theater also featured the winning films in the DC Drone Film Festival.

GV Expo partners with the Federal Government Distance Learning Association, which gives out its annual awards for excellence at the event. Among several awards handed out, the FGDLA gave its Hall of Fame Award to Kenneth Pisel, satellite program manager for the Joint Forces Staff College at National Defense University.

David Brigham (center) and Michael Polizzi (right) from Epsilon Systems, take a closer look at the Blackmagic Design Studio Camera.

A long list of vendors showed a wide variety of products on the show floor. Some of the overarching product trends include 4K video, leaps in wireless communications to support emergency video, increased storage density particularly for archiving, and the explosion of video production tools enabled by both smaller cameras and LED lighting devices.

Major camera vendors such as Panasonic, Blackmagic Design, JVC and Canon had their own busy booths, where they showed the latest in 4K cameras. Sony and Hitachi also had a presence within the large CEI booth.

David Brigham, a videographer with Epsilon Systems, researched cameras at Blackmagic Design’s booth. His company works on a variety of projects, including training videos for the U.S. Navy, and he described his specific needs for cameras—some of which buck the trend in ever-greater connectivity options.

“We need something that does not have Wi-Fi,” Brigham said, noting that signal security is a top priority on Navy jobs.

360-DEGREE CAMERA

There were other companies with interesting cameras, too. Teradek showed off its new “Sphere” 2D 360-degree live camera streaming system, which is controlled by a tablet or touchscreen, allowing the user to pan and tilt the camera completely around to give the ultimate panorama view. Jon Landman, Teradek’s sales vice president, said that three 4K versions of the system will be used at the upcoming presidential inauguration, giving viewers multiple 360-degree views of the proceedings.

Brian Slanger from Zoom It Films checks out a camera fitted with Teradek’s Cube and Beam TX wireless video system.

Amazing versatility in camera-support equipment is a recent industry trend displayed at the show. For example, Alzo Video showed its “Smoothy,” a camera slider that can be oriented in either a straight line or in a radius curve. New for the Smoothy is a motor that moves along the track and reverses automatically when it encounters a movable magnet.

Most people in the video industry will tell you that getting good audio can be harder than getting good video. Advancements in audio, such as the Sennheiser SpeechLine Ceiling Microphone Array, drew interested visitors to the Sennheiser booth. Consisting of 29 microphone elements and advanced aural processing in a 24x24-inch panel, the SL Ceiling Mic uses beamforming technology to focus the sound on a speaker in a room up to 600 square feet in size.

Another trend in technology is wireless systems to transport video from the street to command centers and studios. (One of these was discussed at length in the keynote talk delivered by Timothy Herlocker, director of the New York City Fire Departmentʼs Emergency Operations Center.) Vendors such as JVC and Teradek showed their solutions for wireless connectivity, including JVC’s system to provide temporary high-speed Wi-Fi at the scene of an emergency.

CROWD-DRAWING KEYNOTES

The GV Expo and the National Drone show both had an interesting slate of speakers that addressed sometimes overflow crowds in the Government Video Theater. Presentations kicked off with the always-popular TIVA (Television, Internet & Video Association of DC) offering, whose session this year discussed the “Rise of the Drones.” It was a perfect way to start the show.

The podium in the Government Video Theater stayed busy for the next two days with interesting presentations from Renard Jenkins, vice president of operations for PBS; Robert Kennedy, president and co-CEO of C-SPAN; Gail McCabe, war correspondent and executive director of CreativeMediaMatters; Herlocker; Rodney Grubbs, imaging expert for NASA; and Lisa Ellman, drone law expert with Hogan Lovells. Interspersed between these presentations were talks on drones from a variety of experts, notably Fred Bivetto, dean of the School of Unmanned Technology.

POSITIVE REACTION

Reaction to the show from attendees and exhibitors was overwhelmingly positive.

“We get a lot of good visitors here at the show,” said Drew Henderson, CEO of Alzo Video, a Bethel, Conn.-based manufacturer of camera support equipment.

Laurence Means (left) of Citimarketing Group gets product information from Brendan Kilroy of Erector Sets.

One attendee raved about how he looked forward to the show so that he could see and touch the equipment, something that was happening a lot on the floor.

There was plenty to see and do during the two days that the GV Expo exhibition floor was open. With a new president being inaugurated in a few weeks, there is some uncertainty in the air in Washington. However, the Government Video Expo & National Drone show was about as close to a sure thing for the attendees and exhibitors.

Note that next year, the Government Video Expo & National Drone Show will be a little earlier than usual. Although it has traditionally been held during the first week in December, in 2017 the show will be at the very end of November.

WASHINGTON–Drone technology “has moved forward so quickly that what used to be considered toys are now tools,” said Lisa Ellman, a partner in the law firm of Hogan Lovells, and recognized as one of the "world's foremost authorities on drones and law." She addressed attendees on day two of the National Drone Show about the rise of drones in media production.

“[Drones] can film movies, provide security, respond to disasters and even entertain a crowd. I was actually just down in Orlando where Disney just launched its fireworks drone show.”

For journalists and newsgatherers in small markets, drones can provide aerial coverage for stations that otherwise can’t afford a helicopter. For larger markets they provide huge public safety benefits. And it’s the consumer who wins through better information, received more quickly with incredible, engaging images, she said.

What has really caught the attention of policy makers is the economic potential for the drone industry and its ability to bring jobs here to the United States. Estimates vary on total drone use, Ellman said, but a lot of big numbers are being tossed around. “A recent Pricewaterhouse Coopers report estimated that the global value of drone-powered solutions would be over $127 billion.”

Even given all the economic benefits to the use of drones, policy makers are focused on the safety, privacy and security implications for drones.

EDUCATING POLICY MAKERS

“It’s been a very exciting time for this industry, but it’s also been a time of education and educating policy makers. The technology can move right along, but if we don’t have the right policies in place we’re not going to be able to properly enable it," Ellman said. “The U.S. has, frankly, struggled a little bit responding to this growth in the emergence of this technology. Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and China are way ahead of us in terms of allowances and regulations. But we’ve made substantial progress and [educating policy makers] is where we need to play a critical role.”

In 2012 Congress mandated that we incorporate drones into our national airspace. The FAA had been working on this for many years, but the rest of the federal government began to pay attention at that point.

“How do we balance the economic opportunities of this amazing emerging technology with national security and safe airspace operations? How can we do that safely and securely?”

There’s been a lot of activity, not just at the FAA, but across the federal government concentrated on moving drone innovation forward. On August 2, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) hosted a symposium centered on policy on drones, bringing public agencies and private industry to the table to discuss drone innovation and how they can tackle policy issues together. While there is uncertainty ahead, it is hoped that the Trump administration will keep this momentum moving forward.

THE PUBLIC'S UNDERSTANDING OF POLICY 

Along with federal regulations, drone users must pay attention to state and local ordinances as well. State laws generally focus on privacy issues because drones have captured the imagination of the American public. Over the last few years there have been hundreds of state and local bills implemented that would limit drone use in communities. In 2015, 45 states considered 168 pieces of drone regulatory legislation. In 2016, those numbers so far are 38 states and 100 pieces of legislation.

A recent poll asked Americans whether they were concerned with privacy or safety with the use of drones. The poll showed that 59 percent were concerned about privacy issues, while safety was an issue for 40 percent of the participants.

The FAA is just now becoming educated about drone technology. Under federal aviation regulations, drones are considered aircraft so all aviation regulations apply, which has created a lot of bureaucratic hoops to jump through in order to be able to operate.

Drone users fall into three categories: the hobbyist (flying only for recreational purposes), the public agency or entity and the civil user, which includes commercial use. The regulations you have to follow depend on which category you fall under. If you are a civil/commercial user who plans to sell or make money on your drone footage you must follow FAA regulation Part 107, which governs civil use of drones with regards to registration, licensing and drone usage. (See www.faa.gov for more information.)

A number of broadcasters have asked Ellman about whether or not it is legal to use photos or footage in their news broadcasts that originated from a hobbyist. A ruling by the FAA is based on the “original intent” of the hobbyist. If he or she took the footage without the intent to make money on it, then the usage is permitted.

While hobbyists do have a number of rules to follow, the rules for commercial users get more complicated. The new Small UAS Rule went into effect on Aug. 29. See the Summary of Small Unmanned Aircraft Rule (Part 107).

Just before the new rules went into effect the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the White House, OSTP and Office of Management and Budget heard from stakeholders that they want the opportunity to prove the safety case. They want the ability to fly beyond the visual line of sight and fly over people if they can prove they have an effective level of safety. The case was made to the FAA and in the final release of the rule a Part 107 Waiver process was included. Operating from a moving vehicle or flying over people would be an example for a waiver request, and many requests for waivers have involved night-time flying.

An obvious concern for many in the media production community is having the ability to fly over people, which is not permitted even if the people have consented to the operation. This limits flying over urban areas, directly affecting newsgatherers.

SOME GRAY AREAS 

A new ruling that was recently issued concerning the Section 333 exemption will be news to most drone users. Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 grants the Secretary of Transportation the authority to determine whether an airworthiness certificate is required for a UAS to operate safely in the National Airspace System. About 5,000 Section 333 exemptions have been granted since September of 2014, some for closed-set filming. In a closed-set environment all participants (actors, extras, film crew, etc.) have already signed consent forms to be filmed.

According to Ellman, with no announcement, the FAA just revoked that exemption ability. On Nov. 14 the FAA posted a blanket amendment that essentially applies to all 333 exemptions already approved. Most exemptions can be implemented now through Part 107. “The only people really concerned about the 333 exemption at this point are those operating under closed-set situations,” said Ellman. “This appears to be, symbolically, a step backwards.”

Ellman touched on privacy issues with respect to private property and surveillance. A recent University of Oklahoma study came up with some interesting results. Drone cameras seem to garner a higher percentage of opposition over ground cameras when it comes to surveillance. When monitoring streets and businesses, 24 percent opposed ground cameras while 46 percent opposed drone usage. When asked about enforcing traffic laws, 34 percent opposed ground cameras, compared to 53 percent opposed to drones.

The last issue concerning privacy that Ellman discussed was related to airspace ownership. Airspace ownership is currently being considered down in Kentucky. The case of a citizen who shot a drone out of the sky over his property is raising some interesting points.

“[An important way] we can help move this industry forward is related to the issue of who owns the airspace over private property.” The precedent set was the 1946 case of the United States Government v. Causby, where the government flew a variety of aircraft as low as 83 feet over a family’s chicken farm, killing the chickens. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the aircraft was trespassing since it was flying within the immediate reaches of the soil.

In closing Ellman noted that the FAA does not have the resources to enforce all the regulations in place, but they will with respect to safety. For the most part they rely on the state and local governments enforce local regulations.

WASHINGTON--Here is a quick look at the 2016 Government Video Expo & National Drone Show, which was held Dec. 7-8 at the Washington D.C. Convention Center.

WASHINGTON—By 2030, NASA wants films like “The Martian” to not be science fiction, but science fact (though probably without leaving Matt Damon stranded). In the build up to landing on the Red Planet, the public agency is continuing to test imagery equipment so that it can effectively record data and share it with the public, as mandated through its charter.

Rodney Grubbs

On day two of the 2016 Government Video Expo and National Drone Show, Rodney Grubbs, program manager of NASA’s Imagery Experts Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center, didn’t have to look too far to find some stuff that could be useful for NASA when he gave his presentation, “More and Better Pixels: How NASA Plans to Use HDR, 4K, VR and Other Technologies to Take Everyone Along for the Ride to Mars.”

“There are technologies that are on the floor here that solve problems for us,” Grubbs said. “And with a few tweaks we can make them useful for us to go on the ride to deep space and take all the rest of us who don’t get to fly along for the ride.”

So much of the technology that is at the forefront of the industry right now—VR, HDR, UHD, HEVC—has potential applications for current and future NASA missions. HTC headsets are being used to train astronauts for situations on the International Space Station. 360-degree cameras are replacing older, more expensive pan-tilt systems. HDR is replacing film for getting as much detail as possible in videos from things like rocket plumes. HEVC helps send higher resolution videos and images in smaller bit-rates.

Grubbs even shared during his presentation news that Japan was going to launch a cargo vehicle from the U.S. to the space station carrying a new RED camera with a REDCAST device delivering live 4K video, as well as an HEVC encoder to speed up the process. “It will allow us, hopefully if everything comes together and works right, to do the first live UHD downlink from a spacecraft,” said Grubbs.

Back in the 60s and 70s, developing this type of technology fell almost entirely on the shoulders of NASA. But as the commercial industry has grown NASA is doing a lot more collaboration outside of its own walls. “We’re not creating from scratch a lot of imaging and visual technologies so much any more,” explained Grubbs. “It’s mostly taking commercial products and figuring out other ways to use it or tweak it.”

Getting to Mars is going to be a massive effort, and as Grubbs knowingly admits, there is no such thing as a perfect system. So NASA is open and willing to work with anyone that can help with creating the ideal imagery equipment to bring the journey to Mars to the world.

WASHINGTON—The second and last day of the Government Video Expo & National Drone Show saw attendees return to the hall for a slate of presentations, product demos and the Expo’s highly anticipated free raffle. At the NewBay booth, Valerie Smith guarded the drum of raffle entries to be sure there was no “ballot stuffing” incidents.

Rodney Grubbs, an imagery specialist with NASA, gives a keynote talk on the role of 4K video in upcoming Mars missions.

Close by was the Government Video Theater, where there were two interesting keynotes this day from Timothy Herlocker and Rodney Grubbs. Herlocker, the director of New York City’s emergency operations center, discussed how live video fits into the City’s tactical operations, making it safer for both first responders and citizens. Grubbs, an imaging expert with NASA, gave a presentation on how 4K video and developing technologies such as high dynamic range will be an important feature of upcoming Mars missions.

Across the hall at the Drone Show Theater were presentations on using drones to generate revenue, as well as a talk on emerging applications and opportunities for drones. Between sessions at the Drone Show Theater was a continuous showing of award-winning drone films—some pretty amazing stuff.

Of course, many attendees were drawn to vendors’ booths to examine and silently lust for the latest gear. David Brigham, a videographer with Epsilon Systems, spent time researching cameras at Blackmagic Design’s booth. His company works on a variety of projects, including training videos for the U.S. Navy, and he described his specific needs for cameras.

Valerie Smith slides an attendee’s raffle entry into the drum at the NewBay Media booth.

“We need something that does not have Wi-Fi,” Brigham said, noting that signal security is a top priority on Navy jobs.

The ability to work quickly is also paramount.

“We have to have a small footprint to get in and get out fast,” he said.

A couple aisles away, Teradek showed off its new 2D 360-degree live streaming system, called Sphere. Jon Landman, Teradek’s sales vice president, said that three 4K versions of the system will be used at the upcoming presidential inauguration, giving viewers multiple 360-degree views of the proceedings.

There was plenty of action at the drone cage, where presenters discussed a variety of techniques to improve and manage drone video. One presentation was by Lou Siracusano of VideoBank, which makes software to archive and process real-time drone video streams. John Riehl, VideoBank’s executive vice president, said that the company’s Virtual Meeting Room software is in the process of being certified by the Criminal Justice Information System so that it can be used to store and process evidence for legal proceedings.

WASHINGTON--War correspondent Gail McCabe took the stage at Wednesday’s Government Video Expo to share her personal stories and challenges operating as a one-woman band. As a videographer, reporter, editor and producer, she spent time with our armed forces over three decades. McCabe said her experiences fell under what she called “the three Cs: combat, culture and communication.”

McCabe opened her session, coincidently on Pearl Harbor Day, with a statistic that put things into perspective. Only one half of 1 percent of Americans served in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was important to her to be able to tell the stories, to help others see war “up close and personal.” She has traveled around the world to cover war zones, humanitarian crises and peace-keeping efforts.

Overall, McCabe took 13 trips to Iraq and 17 to Afghanistan. She said that, while many of the situations she experienced might be similar, the circumstances were all unique. She described arriving in Baghdad in April 2003 under cover of darkness, with tired troops who had been traveling much longer than her that day. It was a hot landing on a Boeing C-17. A "hot landing" means landing where the enemy may be operating, so no lights, staying out of the way of possible attack until the last moment, then straight in and out again as quickly as possible. When the occupation was beginning in Iraq, there were still enemies taking pot shots. The airport was seen as a potential attack zone at the time. McCabe had her backpack filled with tapes, batteries, microphones, battery charger, power cords, adapters, lenses, Sony DVCAM camcorder, tripod and other miscellaneous items. Welcome to Baghdad Airport.

Hitching a ride into downtown Baghdad the next day, McCabe happened upon a job fair where Americans were hiring locals as translators if they could read and speak English. To the disbelief of the Iraqis, the Americans handling the interviews were asking those who qualified to understand that payment wouldn’t be for several weeks. Trust in a foreign government was difficult for a struggling people. And unfortunately, the large amounts of cash American troops discovered hidden by Saddam Hussein had to go through the proper channels and couldn’t be used to pay the translators.

McCabe talked about her time with Task Force 51 in Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where some 800,000 people had been executed. Camps had been set up to provide shelter, but lacked food and water and the unsanitary conditions caused a cholera epidemic. Her mission was to cover the soldiers as they installed water purification units. There were a number of organizations providing aid, non-governmental as well as multinational military, and technically, while history says there was someone giving orders, from McCabe’s perspective it didn't seem like anyone was in charge.

She was taking pictures when a man approached her shaking his finger. He was upset and expected her to pay him for his picture. Sensing his anger, McCabe was quickly surrounded and protected by military police armed with M16s. It is customary in some parts of Africa to expect to be paid when someone takes your picture, which McCabe didn't know at the time. When she offered to interview him about the plight of his people, his anger seemed to dissolve. She said she learned a valuable lesson in respecting cultural differences."

McCabe was injured twice. The first time was in January 2004, when during an ambush she was shot in the back. Her vest stopped the bullet from penetrating. The second injury occurred in March 2014 at a clinic outside Kandahar Air Field during a military medical mission to treat locals. The combat medics, who were female, had to be culturally sensitive in treating injured Afghan men. A truck rammed into the clinic carrying what she later found out was the equivalent of a 4,000-pound TNT bomb. The adrenaline kicked in and she was able to get footage and document those who were saved and those who didn’t make it, all while sporting an injury to her arm from flying debris that exposed bone. McCabe said every journalist wonders “when that moment comes, ‘What will I do?’ This was my moment. I had to capture the moment,” she said.

In the course of her career, McCabe went from working with two-piece tube equipment to Betacam and finally, high-definition and digital, and from tape to solid-state memory cards to making use of the internet to transmit her stories.

At the end of the session McCabe was asked what her most difficult challenge was. She replied that it was contacting family to let them know she’d been injured. She wanted them to hear from her personally that she was okay. While being treated for her gunshot wound in Iraq, it took four connections on a borrowed satellite phone to reach her husband, who was traveling on the Metro to a meeting in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON—William Anthony, director of television and motion pictures for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, cited a Nobel winning poet of his generation during the “How Augmented & Virtual Reality Expand Your Reach” panel on Thursday during the Government Video Expo and National Drone Show to emphasize why his agency is eager to get in on the technology. “Your old world is rapidly aging; get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand, because the times they are a changing.”

Early on in the panel Anthony stressed that Customs and Border Protection is eager to be a group that lends a hand, saying that they want to the first government agency to have a virtually reality show. “As virtual reality becomes bigger and bigger, we want to be part of it,” Anthony stated. “We want to be part of every technology.”

But as session moderator Brian Savoie, director of technology education and outreach at NAB, said in his introduction of the session, “it’s not simply about one technology.”

There are a number of technologies that fit into the spectrum of what is called “immersive.” Virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, gestural interfaces, and haptic interfaces all help create immersive elements for users. “So as a creator and as someone that is building a piece of media to communication with someone else, you just have a huge number of new things in your tool kit,” explained Caitlin Burns, vice chair of the Producer’s Guild of America’s New Media Council.

The real question though is how people in the industry will use these new tools beyond some of the more general entertainment elements that we’ve seen from developers like PlayStation and Oculus, Burns emphasized.

Anthony’s desire to have a VR show for his agency is one such example, and something that he and his colleagues have described as “edutainment.” Other areas that the panelists used as examples including training and data analysis; the panelists also brought up being able to organizing and better understanding taxes as a potential use.

“If you have a really good concept that fits the technology, there’s a moment right now where you could be first to market, or your organization will be the one leading the charge,” said Burns. “And that’s very exciting.”

Moving forward, the industry expects these technologies to go nowhere but up. “2015 was the year of experimentation. This year is the year of introduction. And what we are doing is setting up 2017 to really be, I think, a key inflection point,” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at the CTA. “Not only in consumer adoption, but in development of content.”

“This is a technology that delivers a sense of presence like we’ve never had before,” Koenig claimed. “No matter what the application is.… it’s amazing and it’s going to change our society, mark my words.”

WASHINGTON-The “commercial tsunami of drones is underway, as we all know,”says Fred Bivetto, Dean of the School of Unmanned Technology, who spoke at the Government Video Expo on how law enforcement and public safety agencies could implement UAVs to do their jobs.

The military has for a while been the primary users of UAVs, but now that the technology has trickled down into the commercial sector it's only a matter of time until law enforcement and emergency response personnel begin to implement them, says Bivetto.

According to Bivetto, an agency can justify using a UAV if it is able to save “time, lives and money” or if the job the drone would be used for, is either “dull, dirty, or dangerous.”

“Is it a stakeout? For instance, if you put a drone over that house with change detection software, the operator could be sleeping and can be alerted to an activity,”Bivetto theorized.

Another possible scenario could be for inspection purposes, for situations where hazardous materials are in play and even for police personnel responding to a potentially deadly circumstance, like an armed standoff.

If a user is past the “needs more convincing stage,” Bivetto says he tells his clients to consider these four points when figuring out what type of gear is needed:

1.What are you trying to shoot or measure? This point determines what camera or sensors are needed.

2.How is the data going to get from the drone to the user? This point determines the type of signal to be used and what equipment is needed, like antennas and transmitters. Range, weather, resolution and what is needed to perform the mission needs to be thought about during this bullet point.

3.What will be the user’s Ground Control Segment? These are things like a user’s cell phone or iPad to see the video be transmitted from the drone or on a bigger scale, a command and control station.

4.The drone. A UAV that is capable of performing to the standards set in the previous three bullet points.

“I look at it this way. The sensor or the payload is the gladiator and the drone is the chariot. The only reason for the chariot is to get the gladiator to the fight,” Bivetto concludes.

Bivetto noted that commercial drone technology has increasingly been producing infrared cameras at a smaller and more affordable price-a tool allowing drones to work in night environments. The UAV types have grown as well, ranging from micro UAVs, where some models take the form of a mosquito and are mainly used for data collection purposes. Then there is the ultra large, Medium and High-Altitude Long Endurance Drones, where the vehicles can stay airborne for long periods of time at an altitude above where typical air traffic operates and serve as a satellite. The technology even now exists, Bivetto says, for airplanes to be converted into totally auto-piloted vehicles, known as Optionally Piloted Aircraft.

Fred Bivetto will be speaking in two more sessions at the Government Video Expo. For more information about the School of Unmanned Technology, click here.

WASHINGTON—“Efficient doesn’t mean second-rate or standing still.” This quote summed up much of Robert G. Kennedy’s1 p.m. address to the 2016 Government Video Express and National Drone Show Wednesday.

Robert Kennedy

His subject was “The C-SPAN Perspective: Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Era” — however, his message was more timeless than tied to 2016.

Kennedy, who is president and co-CEO of C-SPAN, joined the public access network in 1987 as its top financial officer. But C-SPAN was born in 1979, dreamed up by founding Chairman Brian Lamb, and enabled by the House of Representatives’ decision to allow TV coverage of their sessions. At its launch, C-SPAN became the sixth national satellite network to go on air; HBO was the first.

C-SPAN gets its funding from affiliates who choose to carry it. They pay a 6 cents per household per month licensing fee to broadcast the programming. That comes out to about $68.8 million per year, with an additional $300,000 in additional revenue coming in from other licensing fees, like video sales. In contrast, CNN and Fox both have annual budgets of around $900 million annually. C-SPAN’s operating cost per hour ranges from $2,300 to $3,000, with the peak spending during presidential election years.

Today, C-SPAN’s platforms have prolierated. “We’ve come a long way from using geosynchronous satellites,” Kennedy remarked.

Over its three main TV channels, the network broadcasts 7,000 hours per year to about 96 million homes, all of which can receive it in HD. In the 1990s, C-SPAN also added a radio station in Washington, D.C., now WCPS(FM), which is now available on the C-SPAN Radio app, which also features podcasts that were converted from existing video content.

C-SPAN.org features both live and archival video content—everything that’s aired on the network since 1987 (when its broadcasts were first recorded on SVHS) is available on the website. All of this content is searchable, and C-SPAN also offers a tool which viewers can use to create their own clips and/or share videos on social media platforms. The process of adding archival video content is highly automated.

The initial digitization began in the early 2000s, with the bulk of it being finished by 2010, and the official, full launch was in 2013. C-SPAN uses Amazon Web Services to stream its gavel-to-gavel coverage online and to storage backups of the files.

C-SPAN’s field productions are an instance in which the network maximizes efficiency. In 2016, C-SPAN can do as much with three cases and a small Sony switcher as they could do with a whole room full of equipment 20 years prior.

But the next frontier, Kennedy says, is informational efficiency. C-SPAN is currently partnering with Dalet to create a unified, automated system that is tied to both its closed captioning and website and the electronic programming guides that cable providers supply. The latter is especially important because C-SPAN is constantly updating its schedule on the fly, due to the unpredictability of Congressional sessions. Because the majority party, not C-SPAN, controls the cameras on the House and Senate floors, this kind of flexibility is especially important.

C-SPAN has also been experimenting with Facebook Live for about six months. One of its most famous uses was the June 23 House sit-in, in which Democrats protested the blocking of a gun control measure.

Another popular and ongoing recent social media initiative is #ElevatorCam, which broadcasts from the press pool camera that is set up in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York.

What’s next? Drones and 360-degree cameras are on the horizon. Both have applications in use for establishing shots outside, as well as educational programming. However, Kennedy notes, it is difficult to make concrete predictions about the future.

C-SPAN has also created a few Snapchat filters, and the network is also looking ahead to potential applications for virtual or augmented reality, both of which may have educational value.

Ultimately, Kennedy says, “We always evaluate things as to how they support our mission.” 

WASHINGTON—The 2016 Government Video Expo & National Drone Show flung open the doors to its exhibition floor at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and attendees streamed in to see the goodies. As expected, the Drone Show’s flying cage was a hot spot, as were the presentations at the Government Video Theater.

In particular, the kick-off session called “The Rise of the Drones” was standing-room only.

Miguel Enongene of the Costar Group tries on the Brother AirScouter, a head-worn video display for video shooting and drone operation.

Through the hall, people stopped at booths to learn more about and see a variety of products. One that stopped me in my tracks was the Brother AirScouter, a head-worn eyepiece reminiscent of a “Star Trek” Borg character. The AirScouter is a high-resolution monitor that you can connect to the HDMI port on a camera to allow you to hold the camera at unusual angles and still see the image. It can also be used to view live video from a drone… er, UAV.

Another head turner was the Alzo Smoothy Radius and Linear curved camera slider, an affordable product that quickly converts from a straight to a curved slider. If that’s not eye-catching enough, the Alzo Smoothy now has an available drive motor that moves a camera silently between two magnets that can be positioned anywhere on the slider. To call it all affordable is an understatement—five years ago, it would have been hard to imagine such a product at three times the price.

Stewart Lamb of Panasonic describes the features of the company’s AK-UC3000 4K camera to Amy Carter of St. Mary’s County Government Video.

There were lots of exhibitors with interested attendees at their booths. Amy Carter, a video specialist for St. Mary’s County in Maryland, spent several minutes at the Panasonic booth examining the AK-UC3000 4K camera. Although she said that St. Mary’s County is not ready to commit to an all 4K studio (Do you know any county that is?), it’s great to see what’s available, kick the tires and learn more.

“I’m here to look around and see what to dream about,” she said. “We’re a taxpayer-funded organization, so funds are always scarce, but you always have to be ready to think about the future.”

As for the GV Expo, Carter had been there only a short time but it had made an impression.

“I’m a little overwhelmed,” she said.

WASHINGTON-The first educational session of the Government Video Expo and National Drone Show kicked off with a panel discussion on the current state of the drone industry.

Titled, "Rise of the Drones" and sponsored by the Television, Internet &Video Association of DC, each of the speakers on the panel have witnessed first-hand the beginnings of the commercial use of drones. Taking all of that into account, panel moderator Todd Clark, TIVA’s vice president, asked each speaker to talk about their experiences with drones and what advice they would give to other drone users.

Here's what the panel speakers had to say:

Brian Kelly from Single Malt Media is formerly a production executive at the Discovery Channel and began using single-prop helicopter drones for video production in 2007. After leaving the Discovery Channel in 2009 to start his own production company, Kelly began dabbling in drones for his own projects but eventually found that there were many potential clients looking for drone video production hire-outs.

"As a production company, a for-hire freelancer wasn't really in our business plan. But back then since no one was using drones our phone rang-off the hook for the next four years," Kelly further explained.

Mike Sobola, a private pilot and drone operator, as well as a lead producer for the Food and Drug Administration, suggests to anyone buying a drone to make sure they know who the manufacturer is and how reliable they are in the case any fixes to the drone are needed.

"Drones have lots of moving parts, so service is number one,"Sobola concluded.

Terry and Belinda Kilby, husband-wife owners of the production company Elevated Element, started using drones for aerial photography when they first attached a camera of their own to an RC helicopter.

"The birds-eye perspective is an important perspective throughout art history, so as soon as I saw that shot I knew we had to carry a better camera somehow," says Belinda Kirby. Some advice from the couple: "do not rely on flight simulators and GPS, learn how to fly because those things can fail."

Two other panelists have capitalized on providing drone video hire-outs, similar to what Brian Kelly found his business being hired to do. Nathanael and Stuart Showalter stressed that providing legal aerial imaging involves extra costs like insurance and the constant threat that your drone could either crash due to malfunction or user error. Advice from the brothers for those seeking to do the job themselves: "practice, practice, practice and be aware of the laws."

WASHINGTON—Back in September, PBS conducted its first end-to-end test of next-gen video content of a recorded musical performance. Hosted by PBS’ Advanced Format Center at NPR, the transmission combined the UHD format with HLG10 HDR and DTS:X immersive audio. Renard Jenkins, vice president of PBS Operations, Production & Media Distribution, oversaw the test and labeled it a success.

“It took us a couple of days to get what we considered to be a success,” Jenkins told the audience at the 2016 Government Video Expo and National Drone Show during his Q&A session with TV Technology Editor-in-Chief Tom Butts. But once they got all the nuts and bolts right they were able to push the video out to two stations—in Jackson, Miss., and St. Paul, Minn.—and see the same signal on both ends.

Though Jenkins was not able to confirm when another test may take place, he acknowledged that more would occur as PBS will test a number of different technologies to determine how to cover all of PBS’ affiliate stations.

“Our stations cover the gamut. We have stations that are really leading edge and then we have stations that are still doing the standard HD,” Jenkins explained. “So we have to make sure that the current solution that we’re looking at will cover all of our stations.” He said that the decision to go with HLG10 and DTS:X for this particular test was more about timing than making a statement of where things are progressing.

However, Jenkins has bold plans for some of these future tests. “Right now the big hurdle for [the industry] is to try and do this HDR, HLG and all the other alphabets, to do this actually live. It will be a great benefit for those of us who actually do enjoy sports and it’s a place for the highest-quality and high-frame rate and all those wonderful things.”

There are a number of other elements that Jenkins discussed in his conversation on how PBS is preparing for next-generation technology. PBS’ headquarters in D.C. will be making a push to further explore what ATSC 3.0 could potentially offer, as Jenkins described the next-gen broadcast standard as “a new highway… a new way we that we can do a lot of things.” While Jenkins said that PBS has been bold in its ATSC 3.0 discussions, its individual stations will still determine when it adopts the standard.

PBS also is looking into what is the best way to do utilize HDR. The September test combined HDR with UHD, but there is talk that a higher resolution isn’t necessarily the most important thing. “UHD is a bigger screen, more pixels, but better pixels is what the real goal is,” Jenkins stated. Whether that goal can be reached using HD or UHD is what PBS will attempt to find out.

At the end of the day PBS is a public service that puts education as one of its top goals. These tests and evaluations of the new technology is a means to an end for providing more education to PBS viewers. “When I think about ATSC 3.0, immersive sound, VR, what all of these different things… what we are doing now is going to help us grow the education process,” said Jenkins.

HUNTSVILLE, ALA.—PESA will roll into this year’s GV Expo ready to demonstrate a new software update to its XStream C22 dual-channel H.264 encoder/decoder. The update for the Reflex transmission technology now delivers high quality transmission of video and audio data via the internet.

XStream C22

The new Reflex features an advance packet analytic algorithm that allows the receiving device to identify and correct errors between the encoder and decoder without unnecessary retransmission. The software upgrade is designed to provide the C22 with extended range and improved operating efficiencies.

PESA will also showcase its VidBlox HTR extender and Blade System. The VidBlox HTR is the latest addition to the product line and incorporates HDMI technology, supports SD and HD formats, and can be configured as a transmitter or receiver. The Blade system is managed by PESA’s Cattrax control software and can hold up to 10 cards. It supports two dual-channel H.264 encoding and decoding cards for streaming video based on the C22.

GV Expo 2016 is scheduled for Dec. 7-8 in Washington D.C.

ARLINGTON, VA.—PBS recently announced its first end-to-end test of “next-gen” video content, delivering a musical performance in high dynamic range, ultra hi-def video and immersive audio to two Midwestern member stations. The test was hosted by the PBS Advanced Format Center at NPR, a collaboration of both public broadcasters, PBS member stations as well as vendors and manufacturers. The Center is led by Renard Jenkins, vice president of PBS Operations, Production & Media Distribution, who will be a speaker at the upcoming GV Expo in Washington D.C.

The transmission originated with a performance by drummer Dennis Chambers recorded in Herndon, Va.-based Blue Room Music Studios with DPA Microphones, processed into Multidimensional Audio by DTS. PBS said it was the “first known” transmission combining the UHD format with HLG10 HDR and DTS:X audio.

Ericsson did the real-time 4Kp60 HEVC encoding, and SES handled satellite transmission to PBS member stations in St. Paul, Minn, and Jackson, Miss., where it was received using a prototype set-top from ViXS that decoded the payload for HDR-capable consumer displays and a 7.1.4 loudspeaker array, as well as for legacy SDR displays and other audio devices, including a Yamaha YSP-5600 soundbar.

Jenkins spoke with TV Technology to provide some insight about the September test as well as the network’s plan for next-gen content delivery.

TV Technology:Tell us more about the Advanced Format Center and its mission.

Renard Jenkins: The mission of the AFC is to work with our public media member stations as well as vendors and manufactures to explore the possibilities of advanced media formats, processes, workflows and benefits.

PBS is always investigating ways to enhance the viewer experience and to create engagement. The AFC is an extension of that companywide goal.

TVT:PBS said it “successfully” delivered live ultra high-def, high-dynamic range, immersive audio programming to a home reception device in a September trial transmission. How do you define “success” in this case?

Jenkins: For DTS, SES, DPA and PBS, success was really about being able to verify that original BT2100/DTS-X signal was transmitted and delivered intact on both ends of the chain. It took us a few attempts to get everything in place and working correctly. However, with the help of Roy Davis at Mississippi Public and Bruce Jacobs and Don Heppelmann at Twin City Public and their teams, we were able to verify the signal by the end of day two. There is much work to be done and the AFC plans to continue working with organizations like the UHD Forum and its members to do the work needed to refine the process.

TVT:Does PBS plan to distribute this format to member stations?

Renard Jenkins

RJ: There are a lot of options out there, but you have to have [the] full end-to-end path to support them. The purpose of this test was to see what we and the member stations could do today with the existing chain and a few additional parts and pieces.

We are continuing to explore the benefits of distributing this format while keeping our eyes on the ever-agile target that is the next big thing. ATSC 3.0 has the potential to open a number of doors by which we could enhance our deliverables to the member stations. 8K is already gaining steam in the international market, so we plan to be ready. Our content producers are moving quickly to these new formats so we have to figure out the best way to deliver their original vision to the station community.

TVT:What is the concept for using this advanced-format production-distribution chain?

RJ: The concept for using this advanced format production distribution chain is fluid right now. But the technology opens the door for us to work toward being able to bring some of the world’s greatest artists to the home or mobile device in ways that were previously thought to be impossible.

Enhanced and immersive media could change the way media is used for educational purposes. Imagine the feeling of being immersed in the history lesson instead of just reading or watching it. There are so many uses for these solutions but in a way, they are still in their infancy so we have to continue to explore.

TVT:The feed, transmitted via SES satellite, was said to carry “next-gen” content that conformed with ATSC 3.0 “guidelines,” among others. Does this mean we can expect some member stations to adopt ATSC 3.0, perhaps in the near future?

RJ: It is true that we tried to stick very close to the ATSC 3.0 guidelines. They provided a basis from which to work. That said, PBS is heavily involved in the ATSC 3.0 conversation and will continue those conversations.

TVT: Isn’t PBS phasing out satellite distribution? Does this signal a return to it?

RJ: The goal of this test was to see what could be done right now with our current infrastructure. We are still in the midst of an RFP process for public media’s next interconnection platform but I don’t have details to share about that currently since the process is not complete. 

TVT:PBS said that it used HDR10 and DTS:X versus the Dolby HDR and audio specs. Is this primarily a business decision, or does it, say, reflect consumer receiver market?

RJ: This was just the first trial. DTS and DPA were great partners.

The AFC is truly agnostic when it comes to working with vendors. The goal is always discovery and exploration with the intent to bring best of breed to our member stations.

We do plan to work with other audio solutions in the very near future. Thus far, there have been no decisions made regarding which HDR or audio solution PBS will adopt. Our key consideration in all of these decisions is not limiting our content providers.

TVT:Live programming on PBS comprises mostly performances and news, correct? The September trial was a “time-shifted live production and real-time transmission,” meaning the material was recorded in this case in Washington, D.C. and transmitted to PBS member stations in St. Paul, Minn., and Jackson, Miss. Was there a particular reason for using two Midwestern stations, or these two specifically?

RJ: It is correct that the majority of our live national content is comprised of performances and news. However, that may not be the case for the many local and university stations that are a part of the PBS system. The decision to choose MPB and TPT was really simple. Both of the stations have C-Band capabilities, they are innovative and they are members of the AFC. The north/south geographical positioning was a bit of a bonus. In 2014, when the AFC did its first terrestrial trial, we went bi-coastal. We worked with WNET in New York City and KQED in San Francisco to deliver UHD/29.97 at 25 Mbps over IP into Las Vegas for our annual convention. That was an exciting test and quite the nail-biter back then but we pulled it off.

TVT:Is there a need for, and will there be, future trials with non-recorded live content?

RJ: There is definitely a need for truly live delivery of content of this type in the future. That is the next hurdle for us, as well as a number of our vendors and manufactures. As for the AFC, we have a lot more trials in our future.

TVT:Is this just designed for television or are there non-broadcast applications (government, cinematic, etc.)?

RJ: I would say this could definitely be useful for other applications beyond television. Security experts could enhance their current offerings. The cinema could bring the reality of a live premier to your local theater and make you feel as if you are on the red carpet with your favorite movie stars. However, education is the one that always comes to mind for me. Just imagine what an imaginative and innovative educator could do with this type of technology. The uses cases are boundless.

TVT:What did you learn, and what needs to be improved upon?

RJ: Well, I would say that I learned a lot of patience with this one. I also learned that moving the content isn’t the hard part. Its making sure that the delivery is correct. I believe proper decoding will continue to be rabbit that we are all chasing. As chipsets and viewing device continue to mature and improve, this will become less of a challenge for both audio and video. However, for now that was the one that kept us all thinking and on our toes.

For more information, please visit www.gvexpo.com. 

WASHINGTON—At the upcoming 2016 GV Expo, Comrex Corp. will display LiveShot, which delivers live, two-way HD video and audio over IP networks at latencies as low as 200mS. With CrossLock VPN technology, LiveShot can remain stable on challenging 3G/4G, Wi-Fi and satellite networks. LiveShot encodes and decodes video to the H.264 codec standard.

LiveShot delivers full-duplex video and stereo audio between the field portable and studio rackmount systems. In addition, a full-duplex cue channel is available between the systems. On the portable, the return audio/video channel is delivered via output connectors, or streamed to a mobile device via the built-in Wi-Fi access point. The cue channel is accessible on the portable via wired headset or Bluetooth audio to a wireless headset.

With easy remote-management tools and a 3-pound chassis, LiveShot can handle demanding field broadcasts. Used by government organizations and PEG stations for a range of applications, LiveShot is suitable for streaming video and audio from wherever internet is available.

Comrex will be on the show floor in booth 501.

Here are five things Panasonic wants attendees to know about the company before heading to the Government Video Expo. Panasonic will be on the show floor in booth 505.

1. We are Panasonic Broadcast, Cinema and Professional Video Systems, and offer products to acquire, transmit and view high-quality video, over both video and IP networks. Professional products include VariCam cinema cameras, P2 HD camcorders, 4K and HD handheld cameras, Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras, studio and box cameras, switchers and monitors—productsserving customers in cinema, broadcast, professional sports, government, higher education, enterprise and other markets.

2. Making its Government Video Expo debut, the AG-UX180 is the premium model in Panasonic's 4K UX Professional Camcorder Series, featuring a 1-inch (effective size) high-sensitivity MOS sensor and, according to the company, the industry’s widest angle zoom lens (20x to 24mm at the widest angle). With its extensive focus assist features, multiple recording formats in 4K and HD, as well as precise image adjustment functions, the highly-affordable UX180 is an ideal upgrade to professional 4K acquisition.

3. Making its GV Expo debut, the VariCam LT 4K cinema camcorder inherits the same super 35mm sensor and imaging capabilities that distinguish the award-winning VariCam 35, but with significant reductions in size, weight and price.Incorporating this identical imaging “DNA” in a more compact (under six pounds) rendition, the VariCam LT delivers 14+ stops of dynamic range with V-Log, and the esteemed cinematic VariCam image quality and color science, as well as the VariCam 35's breakout innovation, dual native ISOs of 800/5000.

4. Making its GV Expo debut, Panasonic’s new AK-UB300 4K multipurpose camera is suitable for sports, remote studio, weather and traffic reporting, and image magnification applications. The UB300 is equipped with a 1-inch MOS sensor that outputs a UHD signal up to 3840x2160/59.94p and 50p with the ability to simultaneously output HD (up to 1080/59.94p/50p). The camera uses existing 2/3-inch lenses and features high sensitivity (F10/2000lx), low noise (S/N 60dB) and dynamic range measured at 600 percent (–6 dB～36 dB). The UB300 is upwardly compatible with Panasonic's comprehensive line of high-performance indoor/outdoor pan-tilt systems.

5. Also making its GV Expo debut, the AK-UC3000 4K Studio Camera is equipped with a large, full-UHD resolution single MOS sensor that outputs a UHD signal up to 3840/2160/59.94p, while also delivering superior picture quality in HD. The camera’s B4 mount accommodates the gamut of existing 2/3-inch lenses to maximize customers’ return on their investment in existing lenses. The UC3000 enables shooting with high sensitivity (F10/2000lx), low noise (S/N 60dB+), high resolution (1800 TV lines/UHD) and a wide dynamic range of 600%(–6 dB～36 dB).

WASHINGTON—Robert Kennedy, president and co-CEO for the C-SPAN network, will address the Government Video Expo at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7. In his presentation, “The C-SPAN Perspective: Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Era,” Kennedy, who first spoke at Government Video Expo in 2000, will provide an update on how the network—a non-profit organization primarily financed by the cable industry—has responded to challenges posed by the digital environment and how the network's use of technology has evolved and expanded over the years.

Government Video Editor Tom Butts recently spoke with Kennedy about his upcoming GV Expo address and C-SPAN’s role in providing citizens with access to federal, state and local government and political events.

Government Video: What is your role at C-SPAN?

Robert Kennedy: At C-SPAN, we have co-CEOs, myself and Susan Swain. Susan and I have been in this leadership role together since the late 1980s. We have shared day-to-day operating responsibility for operations at C-SPAN and we've always worked together as a team, but we also each have areas of emphasis. We don't make all decisions together; but we do make the big decisions together. Within our areas of emphasis, we take more of a “hands-on” role: Susan focuses on our content, marketing, communications, and messaging. We joke that Susan is the software side of the company and I'm the hardware side. My areas of emphasis are technology, finance, affiliate relations, and the digital side of the company. Then we work on all strategic issues together.

GV: What are the most significant changes that have occurred at the network since you last spoke GV Expo in 2000?

RK: In 2000, I think we had identified a lot of the trends that were going to shape our business and any network, video network business for that matter. Things like broadband, the internet being a way to distribute video content, the importance of respecting your customers' and your viewers' time, because there was so much choice out there, and the way the internet can be used to distribute video. What I don't think we saw was just how much of a change was going to be affected by the internet and broadband. One thing, in particular—nowhere was it in my notes—did we really respect the degree to which mobile would become such an important part of our lives. I look at my notes from 2000 and we talk about putting video online and making it searchable. We did all that. We've got a good story to tell in that regard, but I think the degree of change brought on by the internet was just not something we could see in 2000.

GV: How important is election coverage to C-SPAN's overall programming?

RK: We start back with our mission, which is basically to bring official Washington and politics to everyone in their living rooms. We start with the coverage of Congress, whenever the House or the Senate is in session. Campaigns are certainly part of that. In the early part of any presidential campaign, we cover a lot of what we call “retail politics” events. These will literally be candidates on street corners, factory gates, or in diners as they test the waters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other states. It's up close and personal coverage. As the primary season goes on, there are a lot of debates, some of which are sponsored by other networks. Then it leads up to the conventions.

The conventions are also very important for us because we show them, as we always have, from beginning to end, with every speech from the podium being delivered to our audience. Once the conventions are over, we get a lot stump speeches by the presidential candidates. We get the debates, which other networks cover as well. During the fall campaign season, we also work with local television affiliates and other organizations across the country to bring debates in from key governor, Senate, and House races. Once the presidential campaign hits the mainstream in the fall, we're able to broaden our coverage beyond just the presidential campaign and include these other key races. It's a very important part of what we do. We realize there are some parts of the campaign where we're doing things that are very unique, and that there are other parts later in the campaign where the coverage is everywhere. We try to be different by adding in these other races.

GV: There was a lot of talk during this campaign season that the media was slanted one way or another, and that it's gotten more intense over the years. Would it be safe to say that that doesn't really affect how C-SPAN has operated over the years? And regardless of how the other media operates, that that's not going to have an effect on how C-SPAN operates?

RK: It's a good question. It's hard for me to speak for the other media, but cable news, broadcast news and all of the internet news outlets have a duty and a motivation to build their viewership and build their brand. They try different things throughout the campaigns and throughout the news cycle to build on their competitive position. We're fortunate in that, as an event-based network, our goal is simply to go in the room [I'm simplifying this], get a camera in the room, or in some cases several cameras, and just let the audience see what's going on in the room. We don't talk over it. We don't edit it. We don't explain it. It's really an effort to make the viewer feel as though they were there. The one place where we do bring in some reaction, interestingly enough, is from our audience through our call-in programs, which has been something that we've done since 1980. It's a very important part of what we do, which is to give our audience a voice.

It’s a daily three-hour program we call “The Washington Journal,” and it's on at 7:00 a.m. ET every morning. On any given day, we'll try to take 60 viewer calls, which averages to 20,000 over the course of the year. It's a great way to hear the American public and what they're thinking and how they're reacting to the candidates. The calls are from all over the country. I like to think of it as a way to really bust out of our bubbles, because we tend to have bubbles that we're in based on where we live, what we watch, or who we listen to. Our callers give us a great perspective on how things look from their vantage point.

GV: How has C-SPAN's relationship with Congress evolved over the years? Has it always been friendly, or have there been issues depending upon who's in power?

A screenshot of C-SPAN's broadcast of a Facebook Live stream during the near 26-hour sit-in in the House of Representatives.

RK: I think it has always been generally beneficial. As you know, the House agreed to go on television first in 1979, then the Senate in 1986. In our productions, we've always tried to show respect for the institutions, the buildings. We work closely with the radio and television galleries on the hill to make sure that our productions are as unobtrusive as possible. Because of our gavel-to-gavel approach— beginning to end, not only of the bodies or chambers, but any congressional committee—I think it has worked to our benefit. Different parties are in the majority and the minority, that switches, but we're always giving both sides equal say because of our gavel-to-gavel approach. I think, generally, it has been good.

GV: How is social media affecting C-SPAN's coverage?

RK: There are so many ways. I think there's a couple things. In general, social media is a great two-way conduit with our audience, that allows us to share information about what's going on on the network.

GV: So you have a very active Facebook presence with your audience?

RK: We do, both Facebook and Twitter. One way is to let people know what is going on. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are also complimentary ways to distribute our content. We've done some Facebook Live and posted quite a bit on YouTube. There's a great audience within the various social media platforms, to the extent we can put some of our content in front of that audience and say, "This is a sample of what you get on C-SPAN. This is the type of thing that C-SPAN puts on and the way we cover the campaign." It's a great way to inform and attract a new audience. It's also just a great way to listen to your audience. It might be a technical or editorial issue, or it could even be a tweet about the music we play during quorum calls. It's an around-the-clock focus group, and we look at it and regularly review what we're hearing. It's a two-way conversation with our customers, and also a distribution platform.

GV: The sit-in, this past summer with Congress, how did that impact C-SPAN and how you possibly plan for future such events?

RK: The sit-in was really a watershed moment for a couple of reasons. As we know, the basic story, the cameras in the House are controlled by the House representatives, and always by the majority. On that particular day, the Republicans shut off the cameras. The Democrats chose to keep going on the House floor. Once the cameras were off, the Democrats chose to stream the event using Periscope and Facebook Live. Our producers were able to find those feeds. We have a producer on Capitol Hill and then we have producers here in the control room, who were able to find those feeds, turn them around, and put them on air.

Our viewpoint was that it was something going on on the House floor. It was something that was being transmitted. Yes, it's being done by one party, but we've covered many different events over the year put on by one party or the other, whether it's their convention, retreat, or other sort of party caucuses. Because of the unusual nature of the sit-in, it was the first time anything like that had happened. It brought us a lot of attention, and became one of our largest events, in terms of viewership and audience reaction, of the year. It increased the visibility of C-SPAN and what we do. I think it was very nimble work by our producers. We're always looking for new ways to bring official—and maybe you could argue this is “unofficial”—Washington into viewers' living rooms and politics and public affairs. It was a breakthrough for us.

GV: Was there any trepidation in the fact that you were giving over control of the coverage to someone who was not associated with C-SPAN?

RK: Not really at that point. We thought this was a public gathering that people could see in the galleries. From a production standpoint, it did have its fits and starts, for lack of a better word. One feed was lost and the other one was picked up. We were still hearing voices of members of Congress, we do that in many other venues throughout. We didn't have an editorial concern about it. It was, perhaps, different technically than what we'd done in the past, but we thought that the public interest was such that to have some technical hiccups was acceptable.

GV: Do you have a system in place now that might make it easier if that occasion arises again?

RK: This is kind of a technical answer, but we have good systems for getting the web to television. The trick on that particular day was finding the various feeds. We were quickly able to get enough people assigned so that we could find them, but one would drop and then another one would come up. I think we're ready for that, generally. I think that it was just a case where some of these live transmissions don't have consistent quality.

GV: Are there any new technologies C-SPAN is looking to enhance its coverage, such as drones, for example?

RK: We're doing some preliminary research into drones. We're learning about the requirements. We're looking at the technology, trying to think about how we might fit that into some of our productions as maybe a means to get a reference shot. It's definitely one thing on our list.

GV: Are you happy with the number of cable systems that are carrying C-SPAN and are you looking at OTT, over the top?

RK: We’re very happy with the number of cable systems that carry C-SPAN. We're essentially in 100 percent of multichannel homes, with cable, satellite, and telco. The numbers there are very good, and they've held up really well compared to other programmers and the industry. What we've done with respect to OTT—at our website C-SPAN.org—we have a video library that contains every piece of video that we have shot since 1987. It's all free, easily searchable, and it can be streamed, you can make clips, and you can share the clips on your favorite social media channel. By the time we launched the video library in 2010—which I sort of talked about during my presentation at GV Expo in 2000—it was much bigger than anything we could have envisioned in 2000. All of that video in the video library is available to be streamed on any device. It works on mobile; it works on desktop. That really is a core of the public service we provide now. So, we have the three linear networks and the video library.

GV: Do you have an app?

RK: We have a radio app where you can listen to the audio of all three C-SPAN television networks and our radio station here in Washington. We have not done a video app. We made our website mobile-friendly, and felt that focusing on the website and the video library was where we should be right now because of our goal to provide public service through access to this content. We have the audio app, which is a live steaming app, we have the website, which is video on-demand and also mobile-friendly. That's where we are right now. We've talked a little about what an app should look like, and whether or not there is a value added, something we can do in an app, that we're not doing right now, either well on the video side or the audio side.

GV: Do you think that C-SPAN has influenced how television covers civic and community events? If so, how?

RK: I think we've shown that a medium shot with basic graphics and a respect for the viewer—without a bunch of bells and whistles that tries to draw them in and try and draw their attention—we've shown that solid production values still matter. We've seen that in coverage, whether it's a state C-SPAN, state public affairs networks modeled on C-SPAN, trying to get started or local communities. I think we've shown that there's an interest in watching civic or community events. We've tried to stay true to our mission and employ production values that don't distract from the activity. I think we're seeing other people who are doing that as well.

To register for Government Video/National Drone Show, Dec. 6-8 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., visitwww.gvexpo.com.

Here are five things Quantum Corp. wants attendees to know about the company before heading to the Government Video Expo. Quantum will be on the show floor in booth 221.

1.In use and continually developed since 1998, the Quantum StorNext file system and data management platform is used in more media and entertainment facilities than any other open system SAN solution.

StorNext is one of the most popular high-performance file systems for a very good reason: Nothing comes close when it comes to predictable and tunable performance. Combine this with built-in tiering and unified namespace management, and you end up with a storage system that serves as the reliable platform on which to deploy today’s technologies and adapt to new ones in the future.

2.StorNext has been successfully tested delivering uncompressed 8K 10-bit DPX image streams.

The same StorNext file system that allows a small post-production house to support a pair of editors collaborating on editorial projects just completed one of the most grueling tests of performance to which any storage system has been subjected. The bit-rate of a single stream of uncompressed 8K is a staggering 24 Gbps. That’s the equivalent of a single-layer Blu-ray Disc every three seconds.

3.Quantum’s StorNext can automatically reduce the cost of storing and managing data by keeping content visible and accessible on disk, object storage, tape and cloud.

With an integrated policy manager and data mover, StorNext can automatically transfer content from high-performance primary storage to lower-cost disk, tape or cloud for archive and delivery. This maximizes available primary storage space without sacrificing visibility and access to content for users and applications.

4.Xcellis with StorNext can be set up with 100-percent NAS client connectivity.

StorNext has long been known as a fibre channel-based system, and recent enhancements to StorNext and to Ethernet infrastructure now allow an entire facility to run via NAS or DLC.

5.Quantum Xcellis scale-out storage powered by StorNext now supports VM-based application deployments through the Dynamic Application Environment.

In the latest advance in StorNext infrastructure, the Xcellis Workflow Director now supports applications running directly on the storage controller. This reduces the need for a separate server and the associated network components when deploying applications that benefit from proximity to storage. There are already more than 10 developers that have applications available on the Xcellis Dynamic Application Environment.

The LTO Program, formed by technology provider companies Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM and Quantum, develops a scalable, adaptable open tape format created to address data protection and archive. The LTO-7 tape storage technology with the innovative Linear Tape File System (LTFS) makes managing your files easier than ever.

At Government Video Expo, The LTO Program will be joined by QStar Technologies, YoYotta and MT-C to show how LTFS can help manage your massive digital video files. Attendees can catch this special presentation on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. in the GV Expo Presentation Theater.

Good to Know: 5 Things About LTO Technology:

1.LTO-7 media offers up to 6 TB per cartridge native (up to 15 TB compressed).

2.LTO-7 drive transfer rate is up to 300 MBps native (up to 750 MBps compressed).

3.LTO media has up to 30 years shelf life, ideal for long-term data archiving.

4.The annual average Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) LTO tape scenario is estimated as a significant 85 percent savings compared with the disk system annual TCO.

5.With LTFS, accessing data on an LTO-7 tape cartridge is as easy and intuitive as using a USB flash drive.

LTO will be on the show floor in booth 138.

WASHINGTON—Rodney Grubbs, NASA Imagery Experts Program Manager, will present “More and Better Pixels, How NASA Plans to use HDR, 4K, VR and Other Technologies to Take Everyone Along for the Ride to Mars” at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Government Video Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Grubbs will discuss how NASA is currently developing plans for human exploration of Mars by the 2030’s.

Government Video recently spoke with Grubbs about his upcoming presentation at GV Expo and NASA’s future plans for virtual reality and other advance imaging technologies.

Government Video: Can you give us some background on what you will be presenting at GV Expo?

Rodney Grubbs: I will share some links to some interesting VR, UHD and Mars content. I will discuss how VR/360, HDR, and UHD technology actually solves technical challenges for acquiring imagery in space.

GV: How is NASA currently using 4K and HDR technology?

RG: A lot of historically significant events are captured in 4K or higher to provide a relevant archive for the future. 4K and higher resolution is also used in situations where the imagery provides analysis of systems, such as rocket engine tests (as a replacement for film). HDR similarly provides a replacement for film. Rocket launches are notoriously hard to capture because the engine plume is so much brighter than the rocket above it.

GV: How did you obtain/develop VR footage from Mars?

RG: Mars VRs are actually stitches of hundreds or sometimes even thousands of individual digital photos. We can’t get “video” from Mars, so this is the next best way to evaluate the rover’s surroundings.

GV: How will motion imaging complement human exploration of space? And will it be a substitute for certain missions?

RG: Motion imaging provides situational awareness for ground controllers, letting them monitor spacecraft operations, determine extent of damage if there is a collision, confirmation of other sensors during rendezvous and docking with other spacecraft, and monitoring conditions when humans are not on board. Motion imaging can also document “near misses”, where other sensors were not tripped but something came close to causing a problem, such as debris strikes. Since a Mars mission will require crew to be away from the Earth and their families for possible two or more years, motion imaging is a way for them to stay connected to life on Earth and their families. We are testing motion imaging as a substitute for crew with robots on board the ISS, so a crew member or ground controller can “see” what the robot sees as it makes its way on the outside of a spacecraft.

GV: What are NASA’s plans to use motion imaging technology to explore the moon and asteroids? Is there a timeline for this?

RG: NASA and its international partners have been working on a plan to use the area around the moon, referred to as “Cislunar space,” as a place to conduct Mars precursor missions, that include rendezvous with near-Earth asteroids and sorties to the Moon. These plans are preliminary and depend on the various space agencies and their governments providing the resources. If approved, these activities would start in the early 2020’s leading to a Mars mission in the middle of the 2030’s. 

GV: Are there earthbound applications that can benefit from NASA’s motion imaging technology development?

RG: For the most part we are now in an era where NASA doesn’t create imaging technology from scratch. We use commercial products and modify them for space flight. There are some areas where communications or artificial intelligence capabilities NASA is creating, which happen to add to our imaging technologies, could benefit Earth-bound applications. For example, NASA is helping to create something called “Delay Tolerant Networking,” which is critical for enabling the "Solar System Internet." Because of the distances involved, regular two-way internet protocols are impractical. New protocols that allow links with high latency or breaks in links without disrupting the data flow are maturing and could be practical here on Earth as well. NASA is also testing optical communications links to increase the amount of data (including high resolution imaging) that can be sent from remote spacecraft. Finally, cameras with a 360 degree field-of-view combined with self-aware tracking software could enhance the ability of security systems here on Earth.

GV: How important is virtual reality in space exploration/astronaut training?

RG: I’ve experienced walking in the International Space Station via VR at NASA’s “holodeck” at Johnson Space Center. When combined with some physical characteristics it provides a very realistic experience that augments training with full-scale mock-ups. We are just at the beginning of use of this VR technology for training. I suspect we will see a shift from full-scale mock-ups to VR over the next decade.

GV: Where do you expect we will be a decade from now in terms of imaging technology advances?

RG: I think the use of cameras as sensors, combined with artificial intelligence, tracking, and object recognition, will continue to expand. We’re already seeing it in cars and drones, next will be vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, bicycles, and so on. So many devices will use cameras with embedded intelligence and software to automate much of our lives.

GV: In addition toimages.nasa.govand the NASA UHD channel, what are some of the other ways NASA is promoting/distributing its high res images/video footage to the general public?

RG: We will continue to expand our ability to make content available to the public via as many platforms as possible. We are hoping to integrate these capabilities into services that can be used with smart TV’s and IPTV boxes like Amazon’s Fire, Roku, and Apple TV. As bandwidth to people’s homes and mobile devices expands we can make raw or less compressed content available to viewers.

To register for Government Video Expo, Dec. 6-8, visitwww.gvexpo.com.

Here are five things Artel Video Systems wants attendees to know about the company before heading to the Government Video Expo. Artel will be on the show floor in booth 511.

1.Artel Video Systems Is a Brand You Can Trust

For more than 30 years, Artel has served as a global supplier of mission-critical telecommunications and broadcast equipment. Our equipment can be found in some of the most respected broadcast centers throughout the world. With each technology change, Artel has shown flexibility by navigating the highly dynamic telecommunications sector, moving quickly to develop market-driven solutions and maintaining our leadership role in providing a critical piece of today’s media supply chain.

2.Artel Video Systems Is a Leader Provider of Advanced Solutions

The broadcast industry as a whole is leveraging technological advances in video mobility, networking flexibility, video resolution and quality, and transport of media. These advances could also be used in government-centric applications. Artel has developed IP- and fiber-based media transport solutions addressing these trends. 

3.Artel Understands the Challenges of Government and Military Video Applications

Government-centric broadcast and media applications can benefit from Artel’s proven technological advances found in our broadcast-quality video, audio and data transport solutions leveraging years of knowledge and experience. Engineered with government and military applications in mind, Artel’s products are reliable and easy-to-deploy. Our DigiLink and InfinityLink platforms are rugged and exceed industry standards for testing. Our FiberLink products do not store, in whole or in part, any transmission data in any components or circuitry. 

4.Artel Will Showcase Video-Over-IP, 4K (UHD), and Satellite Scanning.

At Government Video Expo 2016, Artel will demonstrate the versatility of its product lines, from modular DigiLink and InfinityLink solutions for fiber and IP networks to standalone FiberLink fiber-optic transmission products. Solutions highlighted at the show will include new capabilities in video-over-IP, satellite scanning and 4K (UHD) transport.

5.Artel’s GSA Contract Now Includes DigiLink and InfinityLink Product Lines

Artel Video Systems made it easier for government and military organizations to purchase Artel's media transport solutions by extending our GSA Contract to include our InfinityLink and DigiLink media transport platforms along with our FiberLink fiber-transmission products. We work directly with government agencies, contractors and resellers to provide solutions for the most sensitive, mission-critical government and military operations. Also, most of Artel’s portfolio of solutions are made in the United States.

WASHINGTON—PBS is touting the successful live end-to-end test of a unique combination of ultra-high definition (UHD) technologies, including high dynamic range (HDR) and DTS:X next-gen audio.

Renard Jenkins

The real-time transmission test occurred in September, with PBS partnering up with a host of tech companies, including DPA, DTS, Ericsson, SES and ViXS, along with PBS member stations in St. Paul, Minn. and Jackson, Miss. The content itself included performances by drummer and DPA microphone artist Dennis Chambers and other local musicians, recorded in Washington, D.C. and at Blue Room Music Studios in Herndon, Va.

PBS said it's the first real-time trial with this combination of next-gen UHD technologies, and won't be the last, as more and more broadcasters look to distribute next-gen features to owners of 4K TVs.

"This combination of technologies represents what the future of broadcasting may look like," said Steve Corda, VP of business development for SES. "We were pleased to work with PBS and DTS and carry the transmission on our UHD satellite multiplex, which carries the largest bouquet of UHD channels in North America."

The PBS Advanced Format Center at NPR was behind the broadcast, led by Renard Jenkins, vice president of production and media distribution for PBS Operations. The UHD TV tech PBS used is currently being developed by several groups, including the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE).

"Creating this content and successfully completing the transmission test with this unique combination of elements was a true collaboration and an exciting look into the future," Jenkins said. "At PBS, we are committed to working with industry leaders across the nation and around the world to help define the future of media and ultimately bring it to the American public.

"This initiative allowed us to partner with some of the best companies working in this field, along with two outstanding public television stations, to prove this format's feasibility and viability within this production-to-living room workflow test. It's a significant step forward for bringing the next-gen audio-visual broadcast experience of UHD TV closer to reality."

Government Video Expo will take place Dec. 6-8, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Designed for video, broadcast and AV professionals, Government Video Expo features a full exhibit floor, numerous training options, free seminars, keynotes, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and a new educational series of panel discussions.

Register at http://www.gvexpo.com. 

WASHINGTON—Government Video Expo’s three day DC Post | Production Conference will give you the necessary tools to excel in today’s competitive production landscape, with topics ranging from virtual reality to drones to lighting for documentaries and much more.

This conference is designed for intermediate to advanced professionals in TV, video, film, motion graphics and new media who wish to maximize their creativity and efficiency, and improve their technical skills. Three full days in three parallel tracks means registration for the DCPP Pass will allow you to pick and choose which sessions make the most sense for your workflow.

For example, on Tuesday, December 6th, you could pop into the “VR Basics (Stitch and B**ch) Bootcamp,” where instructor Jeff Greenberg will give you an overview of the post process with VR, examine some of the pain points, and leave you with a practical set of steps involved in VR video production.

Also on Tuesday is an almost four-hour in-depth session on how to “Improve Your Aerial Video and Photography Skills.” Find out how to make your drone work stand out from the crowd with techniques to improve composition, tips for post-processing, an overview on safety and more. At the end of this class you will have a better understanding of working with your drone to become a better pilot, photographer and cinematographer.

On Wednesday, you could choose between a session on “In-Depth Shooting, Lighting & Conducting interviews” or one on “Mastering Video Compression for Web and Mobile Devices.” For those looking to bone up on specific software, there are in-depth sessions on Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X, and Adobe After Effects.

All this and much more is included with the three-day DCPP pass. See the full DCPP schedule, along with detailed descriptions of each session, here.

Government Video Expo will take place Dec. 6-8, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Designed for video, broadcast and AV professionals, Government Video Expo features a full exhibit floor, numerous training options, free seminars, keynotes, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and a new educational series of panel discussions.

Register at http://www.gvexpo.com. 

WASHINGTON—For-A is planning to make a stop by the 2016 GV Expo to showcase its new HVS-100 portable video production switcher, which is designed to interface with the real-time graphics system LiveBoard from ClassX. The HVS-100 uses a Thunderbolt card to interface with LiveBoard.

For-A has constructed the HVS-100 switcher to offer audio with graphic wipes as well as 20 multi viewer layouts. It features a built-in web server for operators to change settings from a PC or tablet. In addition, a clip memory feature has been added to the still store to support performances.

By connecting the HVS-100 with ClassX’s LiveBoard via the TB2 Thunderbolt interface, users can send uncompressed, low-latency video, graphics and sound over a single cable. While doing so, it is able to handle up to four I/O full HD videos simultaneously.

The 2016 GV Expo will take place in Washington D.C. from Dec. 7-8. For-A will be located at booth 132.

WASHINGTON—Rodney Grubbs, NASA Imagery Experts Program Manager, will present “More and Better Pixels, How NASA Plans to use HDR, 4K, VR and Other Technologies to Take Everyone Along for the Ride to Mars” at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8, at the Government Video Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. 

Grubbs will discuss how NASA is currently developing plans for human exploration of Mars by the 2030’s. Between now and then, excursions to the Moon and asteroids will provide opportunities to test all the technologies needed for Mars missions. Motion imaging will be crucial to these missions to provide situational awareness, document system performance and share the adventure with the public. The development of High Dynamic Range, cameras with 4K and higher spatial resolution, and Virtual Reality cameras and viewing technologies are all relevant for supporting these NASA missions. Grubbs will present recent VR footage from Mars as well as programming from the NASA’s new UHD Channel and take questions from the audience.

“In the 60’s NASA had to create the technology that took us to the Moon and provided the iconic imagery that allowed us to all experience it live,” Grubbs said. “Our next journeys beyond low Earth orbit will utilize commercial technologies being developed now or on the technology road maps of companies and start-ups.”

Erisa Hines, a driver for the Mars Curiosity rover, based at JPL, talks to participants in "Destination: Mars." (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Microsoft)

As NASA’s Imagery Experts Program Manager, Grubbs is responsible for NASA’s imaging architecture to science, human spaceflight, and public outreach. Grubbs is also chairman of the NASA DTV Working Group and has been a principal investigator for flights of HDTV cameras and related experiments on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, including the first-ever live HDTV program from a spacecraft and first digital cinema camera flown in space. Grubbs chairs the Consultative Committee for Space Data Standards Motion Imagery and Applications Working Group to set standards for video interoperability with other space-faring nations. Grubbs recently led the development of images.nasa.gov, allowing the public to search over 60 NASA imagery collections via a single on-line library.

The Government Video Expo will take place Dec. 6–8, 2016 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Designed for video, broadcast and AV professionals, Government Video Expo features a full exhibit floor, numerous training options, free seminars, keynotes, panel discussions, networking opportunities, and a new educational series of panel discussions.

For more information, visit www.gvexpo.com.

WASHINGTON—Each of these workshops is conducted by Jem Schofield, a production company owner, a consultant to many equipment manufacturers in the film and television industry and a founder of an educational blog on video production, theC47.

“Planning, Crewing and Shooting Corporate and Documentary Projects,” the first intensive production workshop at the GV Expo, is designed for production company owners, operators and independent filmmakers. Taking place Tuesday, December 6, the session will take an in-depth look at the creation of corporate and documentary projects of any size from planning through production. Jem will discuss specific pieces of equipment—cameras, lenses, lights, grip, rigs, audio gear— that are problem-solvers on productions with little to no crew, the process of planning and budgeting, as well as choosing the right crew for a specific project.

Day two of the GV Expo, Wednesday, December 7, features the “4K Camera & HDR Production Workshop” for directors of photography, camera operators and producers. Best practices for shooting 4K with modern digital cinema cameras and the realities of HDR production will be the primary focus of the discussion. Supplementing that talk will be a lecture on understanding log versus raw recording, successfully exposing for log, understanding capture-based and distribution-based color spaces, working with monitor/display LUTs and log and LUT workflows with today's digital cinema cameras.

The “Cinematic Video Lighting Workshop for HD and 4K Productions” will be held on the final day of GV Expo, Thursday, December 8. Intended for camera operators and filmmakers, the workshop will focus on using light to achieve cinematic results in documentary, corporate and narrative productions. Special attentions will be paid to low-key lighting techniques and using small kits that don't require large crews.

How to register as well as more information on each of the intensive production workshops at the Government Video Expo can be accessed here. 

CYPRESS, CALIF.—For-A, partnering with Communications Engineering Inc., has unveiled its slate of products that will be on display at the 2015 Government Video Expo. Among the highlights will be For-A’s portable video switcher, video transmission and signal processing systems.

HVS-100

The HVS-100 is For-A’s portable video switcher that includes a mixed HD/SD input, frame synchronizing, re-sizing engine, 2.5D wipe effects, DVE, Chroma keyer and DSK. The switcher also features a built-in Web browser for remote control and a clip memory feature that supports playback of video or animations. It comes standard with eight HD/SD SDI inputs, four HD/SDI outputs and one HDMI output.

Also on hand will be the Fujitsu video transmission technology. Able to operate at less than 99ms back-to-back latency, this system uses its encoder/decoder technology for HD/SD content delivery. The Fujitsu uses H.264 MPEG-4 AVC technology encoding and features real-time transmission and error correction. For-A is the North American distributor of Fujitsu transmission products.

The multi-channel signal processor that will be showcased is For-A’s FA-505. A five-input, five-output signal processor, it features up/down/cross/aspect ratio conversion capability on each input. Additional features include a synchronizer with frame/line/AVDL modes, video delay line of up to eight frames, full RGB color correction, and 16 channels of embedded audio per channel.

The 2015 GV Expo floor will be open from Dec. 2-3 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. For-A and CEI will be located in booth 301.

NEWARK, N.J.—The 2015 Government Expo gets underway today, Tuesday, Dec. 1, and Panasonic is on hand to show off its slate of 4K cameras. Panasonic will showcase a number of new cameras, including the AG-DVX200PJ 4K handheld camera, the AW-UE70 4K PTZ and the AJ-PX380 P2 AVC-ULTRA shoulder-mount. The company will also have its VariCam 35 4K Super 35mm camera/recorder, AJ-PX270 P2 AVC-ULTRA handheld camcorder, AW-HE40 and AW-HE130 HD PTZs, AW-HEA10 wide-angle PTZ, and AK-HC3800 2.2-megapixel 3CCD HD studio camera on display.

AG-DVX200PJ

Among the new cameras, the DVX200PJ is a large sensor, multi-format professional camcorders that captures 4K/UHD, HD and SD, including DCI 4K 4096x2160. The camera features a 4/3-inch large-format MOS sensor with high sensitivity of F11, offers variable frame rate recording from 2fps to 120fps in 1080p, a newly-designed Leica Dicomar 4K F2.8~F4.5 zoom lens, bokeh effects and a V-Log L curve.

The UE70 PTZ can deliver 3840x2160 resolution images at 29.97p/25p via HDMI, is capable of 4K IP streaming and in-camera 4K recording, and offers genlock, Optical Image Stabilization and remote switchable ND filters. The camera features a 1/2.3-inch MOS sensor with 3G-SDI and HDMI video outputs, as well as direct-from-camera audio/video streaming up to 2160/30p.

Then there is the PX380 1/3-inch 2.2M 3MOS AVC-ULTRA shoulder-mount camcorder with IT/wireless connectivity and dual codec recording. The camcorder’s multi-codec AVC-ULTRA offers master-quality and/or low-bit-rate 10-bit, 4:2:2 recording in full raster HD. Additional features include the ability to record in AVC-LongG, built in support for wired LAN, wireless LAN and 4G/LTE connections. It is available in two versions: the AJ-PX380GF and AJ-PX380G.

In addition, on Wednesday Dec. 2 at 11 a.m., Panasonic’s Senior Product Manager Steve Cooperman will present “Affordable 4K Tools for the Field, Studio and the Meeting Room” in GV Expo’s Session Theater.

The 2015 GV Expo takes place from Dec. 1-3 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The expo floor will be open from Dec. 2-3, with Panasonic at booth 401.