The EBU Technical Assembly 2011 this year was held in Tromsø (Norway), hosted by Members of Nordic countries. Tromsø is a city located at 69 degrees latitude. The choice for this location can certainly be called 'strategic'. So far north, in this period of the year the midnight sun makes nights into virtual day, allowing participants to discuss around the clock, at least in theory.
On the first day of the two-day event, the focus was on production technology. Topics addressed included the use of shared storage, combined SD/HD worfklows, 720p/50 and 1080i/25 studio production, 1080p/50, 4k, higher framerates, the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) and extensive codecs testing.
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Much of this work relates to the themes worked on in the EBU's Technical Groups. Alberto Morello (RAI), chairman of the EBU Technical Committee, updated the participants on the achievements of these groups in the past year (2010-11). A brief summary is available here. With so much technology, it would be easy to forget the human element. That's why the programme also included presentations on the impact of (technical) changes on staff and how to manage these.
EBU Members can download the presentations here.
For more information on this event, contact: Françoise Davies (EBU).