The ABU in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) held the 5th Regional Workshop on Engineering Fundamentals for Broadcasters on 3-7 December 2018 at IPPTAR Technology Building in Kuala Lumpur. The workshop provided basic engineering fundamentals to broadcast engineers and technicians who are at the beginning of their careers. It provided the underlying theory of how audio and video systems have developed and shared knowledge of the basic building blocks of TV and radio engineering.
The workshop started with a session on Audio and Video Engineering Principles by Dr Mohieddin Moradi from IRIB. He covered the details of Sound and Vision Basics, Analogue to Digital Conversion with Compression Algorithms, and different MPEG Video Schemes and Standards. In separate sessions, he discussed concepts of Serial Digital Interface for SDTV, HDTV, UHDTV Production and Distribution systems. On the third day, Dr Moradi briefed the participants about the latest media trends such as 360-degree video, Virtual reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), 3D Audio Video, Ultra High Definition TV (UHD) phases and High Dynamic Range (HDR) Delivery.
A session on On-Air Chain was presented by Mr Shree Bhadra Wagle from ABU with the concept of workflow of audio and video signals throughout the broadcast path from microphone and camera via console and transmitters into the screen and speakers.
On the second day, some details on analogue transmission along with digital transmission systems including prevailing standards and modulation technics were discussed by Mr Matt Ashe from Benchmark Broadcast Systems. Another interesting session was delivered on Immersive Sound and Audio Processing by Mr Geoffrey Low from Dolby Singapore. Before demonstrating the Surround Sound experience, he gave the details of 5.1 surround sound understandings, its production, post production and planning.
Another important topic on radio studio and system design for the future, on the third day, included the types of radio consoles and central routers, their features, and other source components connected into it. Mr Bala M Subramaney from Astro Radio delivered the topic with other planning considerations that must be planned by Radio Broadcasters to survive in the future. IT Basics and Computer Networking with such details as the computer network and its topology, OSI Model, network components and cabling types were covered in the session that followed. The session also included an introduction on the SAN and NAS technologies with their architecture and use for broadcasters.
The fourth day began with the session on Spectrum for Broadcasting Services with details about frequency bands, ITU frequency allocation and radio regulations, VHF and UHF channels for TV broadcasting. Mr Utpal Mandal from AIBD also talked about other issues such as TV broadcast planning methods, propagation mechanism, protection ratios and interference issues. The session on File based Workflow and Automation demonstrated different audio and video file conversion examples with A/V setup specifically noting the importance of file based workflow for the media industry and broadcasters.
In the afternoon, the participants visited Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) facilities including the Transmission Operation Centre and Production & Control facilities of several RTM FM Radio channels. They met the engineers and production staff and learned about the different equipment and process workflow.
On the last day, Mr Noel Teng from myIAN Sdn Bhd gave a talk on Cloud Computing, explaining its role and necessity with technical details such as cloud computing stack and components required for its management. He spoke about the Microsoft Azure Cloud service and its components, with video clips. The last technical session was on New Media Platforms, Online Delivery, Cybersecurity and the use of Big Data within broadcast and media organisations. The presentation explained the use of cloud for on-demand media such as AVOD, SVOD, TVOD before highlighting media platforms like IPTV, OTT, HBB and social media with audio-visual clips. The presentation also looked at some cyber-attacks on media and introduced two recent WBU recommendations which provide guidance on how to address and safeguard media networks from cyber threats. The session concluded with the introduction of Big Data and how the big players like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and the like have been dealing with huge chunks of data for attracting Internet savvy consumers. This was followed by the presentation of certificates, with participants sharing their views on the workshop.