What does the future hold for the broadcast & post production facility of tomorrow?

What does the future hold for the broadcast & post production facility of tomorrow? Article: Adder's Post Production Survey: Results

A survey developed by Adder Technology to gain an insight into the key issues facing the UK post production industry was carried out over the summer. The majority of respondents were from the TV industry, with a smaller percentage from film companies, archives and corporate video.

When respondents were asked to rate the broad challenges they faced in future-proofing their facilities, in house collaboration issues came out on top, followed by security and access control, space and scalability, costs, and finally capital expenditures. In terms of IT procurement the results suggested that the most pressing priorities were “updating specialist broadcast technologies”, as well as making facilities more flexible and centralising assets, building in greater resilience and back-ups, cloud technologies and enabling greater collaboration.

When those surveyed were questioned about managing workflows, almost half said they use solely Standard IP, while only 15% said they use bespoke technologies and the others using a combination of the two. The main concerns cited about switching to standard from bespoke systems were the cost of upgrading their facilities and bandwidth limitations.

The findings give a clear indication that the industry is gearing up towards a more co-operative working environment and we have already seen evidence that collaboration is a key influence in determining the future functionality of post suites. In order to remain competitive and profitable, these facilities have to remain relevant and continue to deliver increased capabilities and efficiencies. The emergence of high performance IP-based technologies, flexible and more effective facilities will be one of the ways in which these aims could be achieved.

The ability of post production houses to easily adjust to the needs of its customers and offer a high level of adaptability will be vital to future success. We believe IP technology offers the most flexible means to do this and will become a key influence in determining the future functionality of post suites. To find out more see page 38 of the December issue of TVBEurope, available online here.