Ivan Poznik - Videopro Business Solutions: Broadcast & Production

Blackmagic Design has taken the Broadcast & Post Production market by storm and have made the dark art of signal management easy. Whether you need to convert, capture, output, monitor, route, switch, compress or test a signal, it would appear that Blackmagic will have a product for you!

VIDEOPRO stocks and sells Blackmagic Design’s entire suite of products including:

To explore the Blackmagic Design Product Family click here.

To discuss any requirements you may have, contact me on (07) 3250 0016 or via email at i.poznik@videopro.com.au.

Graham Bennett - Videopro Business Solutions: Broadcast & Production

It’s 2012!

Being the first newsletter for the year, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Production Team, to wish all our customers a very prosperous 2012 .Whilst we see this new year being just as challenging, we’re positive that the year will bring new opportunities to grow our businesses, with a good start already being reported by some of our clients.

Did you know?

This year VIDEOPRO has a cooperative service agreement with Telefix for priority maintenance on a wide range of Broadcast & Professional equipment. Sam Chau ,the broadcast technical guru has just recently completed accredited service training on the Sony PDW700/F800 in addition to other Sony HD products. Telefix is located at 9/19 Lensworth Street, Coopers Plains QLD. Please contact Telefix on (07) 3323 2700 for your priority customer service.

If you have any questions regarding product servicing, please don’t hesitate in contacting us or Telefix.

We look forward to assisting you with your Broadcast & Production needs in 2012.

Wayne Newton- Videopro Business Solutions: Broadcast & Production

There is something to be said for having sand between your toes and being on holidays. Of course for a dedicated sales person, even on holidays you’re still across the requirements of your customers. So there is nothing like sitting on the beach watching the sun go down, beer in hand tapping a couple of quotes out on the laptop. Well, at least that’s what I did for the first few days of my holidays.

For those of you that did receive phone calls and quotes they came from my campsite on Moreton island. Having four weeks off was absolutely fantastic! Even better when the weather is great as well. This year was my fourth year at Moreton Island, a big sand island seventy-five minutes barge ride from the port of Brisbane.

With the 4WD equipped and loaded to the hilt and the off road camper in tow, we set off from the barge landing point to find a great spot to get bogged, which I am pleased to say we achieved halfway into our journey. This gave me a great chance to use the max tracks and winch to the full.

We camped up at Comboyuro point campground on the western side of the island and settled in for two weeks of sun, surf, and way too much sand. There are way too many stories to tell of exploring the island, needless to say it was very relaxing.

So that’s it from me, I’ll have some great product reviews up next month so stay tuned!

Robert Dew - Videopro Business Centre: Broadcast & Production

We are pleased to announce a new promotion for the Sony NEX-FS100PK camera! Purchase a NEX-FS100PK through January 2012 and receive a bonus pack including:

1 X FMU128 Flash Memory Unit and 2NP-F970 Dual Battery Pack.

That’s a bonus with total suggested retail value of $1,320 !

The HXR-FMU128 allows a minimum of 10 hours of recording, while one NP-F970 battery allows a continuous shooting time of around 8.5 hours.

Terms and conditions apply, please contact me for further details on 07 3250 0000 or at r.dew@videopro.com.au.

Graham Bennett - Videopro Business Solutions: Broadcast & Production

Hello All,

We have just received fantastic news…the Panasonic AG-HPX250 P2HD handheld camcorder has been approved by the BBC for use for both BBC and non-BBC HD productions!


The AG-HPX250 becomes the fifth camera in the handheld category to be approved and is only the third handheld camera on the BBCs approved list to be authorized for on-board capture, rather than depending on an external recorder. I think this is a real testament to the strength of the P2 system and the 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC-Intra codec in the AG-HPX250, which means you can be confident to recommend the AG-HPX250 for use in the highest quality productions.

By the way, as well as the AG-HPX370, AJ-HPX2700 and AJ-HPX3100 P2HD AVC-Intra shoulder mount camcorders on the BBC approved list, the AG-AF102 (in Australia) and AG-HCK10/AG-HMR10 POV camera system are also approved when used with an external 50Mbps recorder such as the AG-HPD24 or similar. As always the camera that is chosen for a production should be chosen in consultation with the DOP and post production facility. Panasonic has one of the widest choices for your job!

For any further details on the AG-HPX250 or any of the Panasonic broadcast cameras contact your account manager at Videopro.

In closing, and on behalf of the Videopro Production Team, I would like to wish all our customers a very happy Christmas, and thank-you for your support through out the year.

David Thompson - Videopro Business Solutions: Broadcast & Production

Hi All,

Well the silly season is well and truly upon us and I thought I’d take this time to wish all our Videopro customers a very Merry Christmas and fabulous New Year!

My 2011 has flown by, I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of the year. I’ve been talking to some of our key clients over the past couple of weeks and they’re all singing from the same hymnbook. Most clients are experiencing a late run of jobs that need to be completed by Christmas (which is only two weeks away!!), while others have plenty of bookings for the beginning of next year.

Did I say two weeks before Christmas? I haven’t started shopping yet and as normal for me I have no idea what to buy… I wonder if the family would like a copy of Media Composer?..

Talking about Media Composer, our friends over at Avid have experienced renewed interest with the launch of Media Composer 6, which is an absolute cracker. It’s faster, can handle more file formats then ever before and the GUI has had a small makeover. Click on this link, which will take you to videos of the new features. Well worth a look.

So in closing thank you to all for your continued support of Videopro and I look forward to catching up with you in the new year.

Regards,

Dave

Amanda Allan - Videopro Retail: Carindale

Some of our Brisbane readers with certain models of TV’s might have had “new service” or “new channel” messages popping up in the last week or so. Or maybe you happened to be channel surfing and found out you had one extra channel added to the mix. The culprit…? Why, it’s 74 or TV4ME of course!

If you’re wondering why this is the first you’ve heard if it, the Seven Network has rolled out the station with a “soft launch” and it’s still in the testing stages. For those of you living in regional areas, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the station, broadcasting on 64 for several months now, through the Prime Network. Seven has now decided to expand the station into metropolitan areas.

An Australian first in the field of “datacasting” TV4ME will essentially offer a variety of programming in the areas of lifestyle, finances, community, education and shopping. Datacasting is not quite the same as a normal broadcast. It’s a layer of data that’s added over the standard TV signal that comes through (in this case) as an additional channel (similar to how Electronic Program Guides are broadcast or even Teletext if you can remember it!). This means that extra channels can be broadcast (yes, it’s true), but don’t expect the picture quality to take full advantage of your HD flat screens! Think YouTube quality without the search functionality…

Having a new station is all well and good, but it’s important to point out that not all Digital Televisions or Set-top boxes will be able to receive the channel. Since Digital TV launched in Australia, a type of compression called MPEG-2 has been used by televisions to convert all those zeros and ones into the pictures we see and the sound we hear. However, TV4ME uses MPEG-4 compression and not all older TV sets are able to decode it.

If you’re seeing a black screen, the case may be that your unit is not capable of receiving the new signal. Before you rush into your closest Videopro store consider if the content is really going to make or break your viewing schedule. Mainly geared towards infomercials and educational programming, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

If you think you should be able to receive 74 and are having difficulties, try doing a rescan of all digital channels on your set. If you are still having trouble, check to see if your set is MPEG-4 compliant in your owner’s manual.

Sam Sechi - Videopro Business Centre: Product Sales

As you may be aware, Mimio have gone through a full design change on their Portable Interactive Whiteboard device. It has had a full face lift and now gleams with its Sleek White duco; the wireless connectivity is also built into the unit. These units are ever so simple to set up so even the basic user can be the expert.

With this in mind the new Mimio Teach is the perfect companion for any classroom.

However, if you ‘re looking to save a bundle of money we still have limited stock of the Mimio Xi (non wireless) which are running out at the incredible price of $650.00 ex GST.

Get in quick as stock is limited!


If you’re interested in purchasing the Mimio Xi or have any other enquiries regarding Mimio products please contact me on (07) 3250 0082 or at s.sechi@videopro.com.au.

Aaron Tracey - Videopro Business Centre: Education

With the ever increasing popularity of the Apple iPad in various walks of life, it’s only natural that its popularity has extended into the classroom. However, the implementation of this ICT into this space has posed some obstacles, particularly when it comes to integrating the iPad into the Department of Education’s Managed Operating Environment (MOE).

With the assistance of your I.T personnel, iPads can now be integrated into the network allowing you to access all of the network based content such as email, internet, apps, iBooks and audiobooks, which the iPad is famous for.

I’m sure most people will be familiar with the power of learning the iPad can bring to the classroom environment. On a recent Apple iPad training session the Videopro Education Team were able to see just how integral this piece of hardware can be to the development of students from Kindergarten to Year 12.

There were apps for math, science, language, geography, history, apps for technical drawing, cooking, 3D modelling, and even apps to make your own app!

As there are thousands of options, and an educational app can be found for just about anything, please take the time to run through them by clicking on this link.

In addition to the many resources provided by Apple, your Videopro Account Manager can guide you through all aspects of integrating this into your new or existing Audio Visual system in the classroom. And being an authorised iPad reseller with GITC certificate (Q145) we can even provide you with your iPads!

Please don’t hesitate in contacting your Videopro Account Manager at any stage of your iPad journey on (07) 3250 0000 or at education@videopro.com.au.

Pat Byrne - Videopro Business Solutions: Education

In this month’s instalment of Pat’s Space I’ll be taking a look at how Microsoft Office can integrate in perfectly with the use of an IWB.

This suite of programs now includes annotation functions that gives the user the ability to draw over their documents with a series of digital pens. This means that the new IWB user doesn’t need to learn a whole new software package before they can start utilising its’ functionality – and they can use the resources that they already have, but in a more engaging and efficient way.

Sounds interesting?… Well make sure you check out the video to learn how!