HD 1, the latest HDTV OB truck from Swiss broadcaster RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse) was parked next to the EBU for visits during the second day of the Production Technology Seminar 2010. In his presentation on the development of the car, Roland Fisher (RTS), emphasised the benefits of using fibre-based interconnects, flexible workspaces and file-based technology. He also shared insights on the file-based post-production obstacles currently encountered when integrating products from different vendors.

Georges Béry of Eurovision explained that for him, interoperability is not a big issue as the Eurovision network is transparent to many different formats. The main issue is that of capacity. Contribution network resources are limited and costly, which means that the bitrates requested by users tend to the limit of what is technically achievable. He argued that savings should not only be sought in better codecs, but also in more intelligent planning. An example would be not to plan transmissions of an SD 4:3, SD 16:9 and HD feed of the same material, but instead to downconvert and aspect ratio change the HD to SD at the receiving sides.

Kill your darlings

Archival planning for deletion was one of the tips Gerhard Stanz (ORF) shared with the audience. The project manager for the Austrian broadcaster's large archive project, argued that to efficiently delete you need people with a 'bird's eye view'. This means the journalists who shot the material are not the right persons to decided on what to delete. According to Stanz, lots of material is deleted every day to make sure the archive stays manageable. The day ended with promises for the future: better interoperability, a growing importance of games for broadcasters and optional 4k and 3D productions. The latter were also demonstrated by the RAI, as was BBC's latest version of the cost-efficient ingest software, Ingex.