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ONLINE EDUCATION: program of course

DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL BASE OF MODERN TELEVISION
Course for beginners

  1. Television standards and systems.
  2. Basics of video tape recording..
  3. TV broadcasting centres.
  4. Shooting equipment.
  5. Editing studios.
  6. Test and monitoring instruments.
  7. Future development of television.

Television standards and systems.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. Television standards.
Concepts of television standard, radio channel. Basic parameters and classification of TV standards. Characteristics of NTSC, PAL, SECAM colour television systems.
Topic 2. Types of television signals.
Luminance signals Ey, chrominance signals Er, Eg, Eb, colour-difference signals Er-y, Eb-y : generation and conversion. Generation algorithms and specific features of Y, R-Y, B-Y component signals, Y/C video signals, composite video signals, digital video signals. Types of digital interfaces: SDI, SDDI, QSDI, CSDI unidirectional interfaces, IEEE-1394 (Fire Wire) bi-directional interfaces, serial and parallel interfaces. Specific features of digital signal transfer over SDI, SDDI, QSDI, CSDI interfaces.
Topic 3. NTSC, PAL, SECAM colour television systems.
Compatibility of colour TV and black/white TV. Methods of colour signal coding in NTSC system, application of quadrature balance modulation for colour-difference signals. Methods of colour coding in PAL system, reasons of lowering requirements to phase stability of colour sub-carrier. Line interleave of chrominance signals in SECAM system, colour sub-carrier synchronisation signals. Advantages and shortcomings of NTSC, PAL, SECAM systems. Developments of analogue colour TV systems: PALplus, SECAMplus standards.
Topic 4. Standard converters and transcoders.
Procedures of transcoding and conversion of TV signals, types of standard converters. Diversity of functions of transcoders and standard converters. Special converters for telecine. Maintaining of videosignal timebase during analogue and digital conversions. Block diagrams of analogue and digital converters and transcoders. Functions of transcoders and converters manufactured by Vistek and Snell&Wilcox.

Basics of video tape recording.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. Methods of video tape recording, analogue and digital recording formats.
Transverse-scan and helical-scan video recording, segmented and non-segmented recording, concept of video recording format. Main parameters of analogue formats: Q, C, VHS, S-VHS, Betacam SP, Video-8, Hi8, MII. Component and composite formats. Advantages of digital video recording. Main parameters of digital formats: D1, D2, D3, D5, D6, Digital Betacam, Betacam SX, D9 (Digital-S), DV, D7 (DVCPRO, DVCPRO50), DVCAM. Recording formats with and without compression. Pre-Read, ClipLink functions. Compatibility of equipment of different formats.
Topic 2. Classification of video recording formats.
 Optimization of analogue-to-digital format transfer. Classification of digital formats and their purposes: domestic/semi-professional, budget (economy) professional, professional, broadcasting, high-quality, HDTV. System approach to format selection for studio.
Topic 3. Compression of digital signals.
Spacial and temporal redundancy of TV signals, compression ratio. Principles and algorithms of compression according to JPEG, M-JPEG standards; discrete cosine transform (DCT). MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 compression standards, sampling and quantization. Sampling structure for component video signals 4:2:2, 4:1:1, 4:2:0. Intra-frame coding, motion compensated coding, differential frames method for decrease of redundancy. Bi-directional coding, reference I, P-frames with "forward" prediction, Groups Of Pictures (GOP). Profiles and Levels of MPEG-2 standard. Practical use of compression standards in digital recording formats.

TV broadcasting centres.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. Structure of TV broadcasting centre.
 Purposes of TV broadcasting centre, principles and classification criteria. Main structure components of TV broadcasting centre. Structure of TV studio complex. Influence of local conditions on TV centre structure.
Topic 2. Basics of TV program production.
 Concepts of TV program and TV production. Stages of TV program production: preparation, recording, editing, play-out. Studio and outside broadcasting facilities. Main requirements to Outside Broadcast (OB) stations and Electronic News Gathering (ENG) stations. Classification of OB stations. Requirements to video channels and audio channels. Intercom systems.
Topic 3. Basic technologies for news program production.
 Specific of news program production, forms of news presentation, production steps. Management principles and structure of news service. Design of newsroom TV studio complex for regional broadcasting company. Automated news production systems.
Topic 4. Automation of play-out.
 Purposes of broadcast automation system. Video server based technologies, requirements to video server. Main components of automation system: local area network (LAN) for preparation and monitoring of on-air program, control equipment for play-out studio, play-out studio equipment, software.
Topic 5. Basic principles of virtual studio.
 Purpose and concept of virtual studio. "Blue room", chroma-keying technology. Basic design of real-time virtual studio: matching of virtual background with actor, realization of camera panning, methods of detection of camera position, generation of virtual images on foreground, alpha-channel technology, virtual characters. Specific of artist's behaviour inside virtual media. 2D and 3D virtual studios, their advantages and shortcomings. Virtual studio technology with advance calculations developed by ERA company.

Shooting equipment.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. Television cameras and camcorders.
Concepts of TV camera and camcorder; main components and units. Types of CCD matrixes. Advantages of digital signal processing. Specification and functional parameters of TV cameras. Classification of TV cameras: studio cameras, professional cameras, semi-professional cameras, domestic cameras. Configurations of electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment.
Topic 2. Objective lenses.
Purpose and main parameters of lenses. Zoom lenses and their functions, zooming ratio, lens extender. Long focal, short focal and wide-angle lenses. Application of optical extenders. Macro shooting mode.
Topic 3. Lighting equipment.
Types of lighting devices: "hot" light, "cold" light. Specification of lighting devices. Colour temperature. Halogen and gas discharge light sources. Methods of studio lighting.
Topic 4. Auxiliary equipment.
Camera pedestals, pedestal heads, tripods. Types of pedestals. Parameters of pedestal heads. Carrying cases and covers. Camera microphones. Wireless microphones, intercom systems.

Editing studios.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. Video equipment for editing studios.
Professional and semi-professional editing studios. Main components of edit station: editing VCRs, video players, video mixers, edit controllers, audio mixer, signal monitoring devices, switching of video signals. Purposes and functions of the equipment. Modes of editing: sequence and insert. Structure of linear edit station.
Topic 2. Non-linear editing systems.
Specific features of non-linear editing. Differences between linear and non-linear editing. Requirements to video recorder for non-linear editing. Real-time non-linear editing, editing with advance calculations. Hybrid editing systems. Specific of digital video recorder application in non-linear editing systems. Problem of serial compression/expansion. QuickCutter non-linear editing system by Panasonic, MW-S1000E editing system by JVC, ES-7 editing system by Sony.

Test and monitoring instruments.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. General requirements for TV measurements.
Main types of measuring instruments: oscilloscopes, wave form monitors, vectorscopes and secamscopes, TV test signal generators. Parameters of composite colour TV signal to be monitored. Monitoring methods for TV chain by means of frame test signal.
Topic 2. Instruments by Videotek and Leader.
Product range and specifications of test and measuring instruments by Leader and Videotek.

Future development of television.

 Annotation  (Course topics)
Topic 1. High-definition television (HDTV).
Scanning parameters of HDTV: interleaved and progressive scanning, wide screen formats. HDTV recording formats: HDCAM, DVCPRO HD, D9 HD. HDTV product ranges from Sony, Ikegami, Panasonic, JVC, Snell&Wilcox.
Topic 2. ATSC digital broadcasting standard.
Digital format versions licensed for ATSC; standards for HDTV and regular definition TV. Requirements to TV receivers. Four parts of the ATSC standard. Parameters of scanning, coding and compression. Packetized structure of data transportation.
Topic 3. DVB standard for digital broadcasting.
Main tasks of DVB standard and it's differences to ATSC standard. Parameters of coding and digital data transfer. Container principle of data transfer. Interactivity and versions of peripheral equipment.
Topic 4. Interactive television.
Concept of interactivity, levels of interactivity. Equipment used for realisation of return interaction path. Services offered by interactive television.
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