BroadcastAsia2002: A show preview
Under the theme “Beyond Broadcasting … Worldcasting,” BroadcastAsia2002 observes its eighth edition this year by providing insight into Asia’s changing broadcasting landscape. Asia-Pacific’s largest broadcasting event encompasses an exhibition and a conference, both of which will take place for the first time at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center.
The exhibition will run from 18 to 21 June. More than 680 exhibitors have taken stands to demonstrate the latest in interactive TV, broadband transmission technologies, streaming media, digital cameras, converters, switches and more. For a preview of some of the products being shown at BroadcastAsia2002, check out “International Products” on pages 48-51.
International conference
Meanwhile, the international conference will begin a day earlier than the exhibition. Co-organized with the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in association with the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the conference offers five days of sessions addressing issues related to content creation, production and management. Here are the highlights.
The explosive growth of interactive television has led to two sessions being devoted to the topic. Kicking off the conference on Monday is the day-long Interactive TV session. This 3-part session will begin with a discussion of the elements necessary in establishing interactive program services. It then will review established systems, followed by views from experts of their experiences and reactions from the business community.
The second interactivity session takes place on Friday morning. Home Technologies will provide insight into added processing in the set-top box, viewer management of multiple channels and the need to make these services available in more than one room in the home. BKSTS – The Moving Image Society presents the Tuesday morning session, Digital Cinema. This interactive session between suppliers and cinematographers/technicians focuses on the capabilities and facilities of HD production, as well as the technologies available from major camera manufacturers.
Today’s television viewers are on the move, and this trend is the focus of the Tuesday afternoon session, Mobile Images. The session will look at some of the most recent developments via terrestrial networks and analyze the new tools available to broadcasters and content providers that offer new possibilities for the delivery of image content.
What is the legal environment for Internet broadcasters? What can be learned from developments in the music industry? These questions and others will be answered at the all-day Tuesday session on Cyber Piracy. Presented by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development and the French Government, the session will provide an overview of the available and future technologies for content protection, as well as explore how to find the right balance between protection and user friendliness.
DigiTAG presents the Digital Terrestrial Television session on Wednesday morning. Here, European experts on digital terrestrial television will present and share their experiences on the business implications of DTT based on critical success factors. Also on Wednesday morning is the Intellectual Property Rights session. Papers will describe the latest techniques associated with indelible identification of the owners’ rights and ways in which these assets can be fully exploited.
On the digital television front is the Wednesday afternoon session on DTV Delivery. This session will examine aspects of system engineering that are of concern to all faced with the issues relating to the transition to digital broadcasting.
The content has been established, and the digital encoding and multiplexing have been achieved. The next step is delivering the content to the consumer, which is the topic of the all-day Thursday session on Signal Handling. Twelve papers will explore the practice of delivering a high-quality and reliable signal to the user, as well as discuss the aspects of signal distribution within the broadcasters’ own infrastructure.
While image delivery often seems to be the focus of attention, it is important to remember that audio also is an essential part of any TV program. The Audio session, another day-long session on Thursday, will present the enhanced services offered that will provide to listeners audio quality that is truly consistent with the capabilities afforded by digital transmission.
Finally, Thursday’s Production session will focus on the development and progress within the studio. Topics will include a description of newsroom systems through distributed storage networks, production for interactive content and desktop production systems, as well as innovative aspects of HD production.
For more information about this year's conference click on the BroadcastAsia2002 logo.
