I have about 50 years experience in this industry. Engineering, sales and designing systems.
I graduated from Voorhees Technical Institute which is now a part of Hunter College and continued my education at New York Institute of Technology.
G&G Technologies has been in business for over 34 years. If you go to G&G Technologies website www.ggvideo.com you will find that we are an authorized dealer for over 100 manufacturers.
The Eastern Video Expo 2022 brought a welcome end to a two+ year drought of local, in-person trade shows and other industry events, giving participating vendors the opportunity for face-to-face engagement with valued customers once again. It was great to say goodbye to endless Hollywood Squares-like Zoom meetings and welcome back the kind of meaningful conversations and collaborative-based discussions that generate important feedback, crucial for product development.
My name is Aime Alonzo. I am the newly appointed Station Manager of Old Bridge Television or as we call it, OBTV. I was pleased to learn about JAG and to meet many of its supportive members on the phone and at this year’s Eastern Video Expo. Let me tell you a little about myself and the station.
I am an actor and a member of SAG/AFTRA. In college I majored in Theater and Film Production, but life’s twists and turns took me to Law School. After earning my Juris Doctorate Degree, I worked traditional jobs, but the yearning to be creative kept nagging at me. I went back to acting. I acted in award winning independent projects, produced some independent films and directed an independent series. I also worked as a background actor on TV shows like “Law & Order”, “The Equalizer”, “FBI” and movies like “Players”, and “Your Place or Mine” which will be out soon on Netflix. I am very happy to have joined OBTV. My duties also include overseeing the township website and serving as the Business Administrator’s executive assistant.
As the community media hub serving the City of Midland, Michigan, Midland Community Television (MCTV Network) enables residents to create original content to inform, entertain, and educate. Operating four cable access TV channels on Charter Spectrum and AT&T U-verse, MCTV expanded its reach last year to include Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and mobile devices as well as enhancing its streaming offerings.
A couple weeks ago, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that millions of American households have signed up for broadband internet credits through a provision in the bipartisan infrastructure bill called the Affordable Connectivity Program. This bill passed in November of 2021 and White House officials are calling it an example of the administration’s efforts to lower costs for Americans amid the high inflation that has swept our nation.
I think the title of my article tells my feelings about summer, it is a great time of the year, but way too short. In summer, you find ways to cram a whole bunch of things to be done in a short time both on the personal and business side. From a production standpoint at the stations I am involved with, summer is a very busy time. There are events throughout the summer we are covering, along with meetings and concerts. I find myself covering three concerts a week at times! Then there are the graduation parties, summer BBQs and most importantly …. VACATION!
Local municipal television channels have come a long way since their portrayal in Wayne’s World. Plastic potted plants and silly content have given way to serious programs that inform, educate, and entertain the citizens they serve. In addition to the importance of open government through meeting coverage, Public, Educational and Government (PEG) channels carry various general interest programing for everyone from kids to seniors, with subjects that range from high school sports to cooking shows.
There aren’t any ‘terrible’ video cameras these days. In fact, there are a myriad of tiny cameras with pinhole-sized lenses – often referred to as “cell phones” – that incorporate the latest technology and are available from many manufacturers.
With any current generation camera you can record (and stream) excellent HD video with minimal lighting. Overhead fluorescents provide adequate ‘soft light’ for any meeting venue. So just turn on the camera, frame your shot, and press Record.
These days, more and more people are buying HD televisions, so naturally access channels want to switch to HD to accommodate it. Therefore, if you run a local access channel, where do you start? What exactly do you need to accomplish the switch to HD? What should you buy first?
If your municipality uses a statewide franchise agreement, you should be able to have them provide an HD channel.
My local access channel, OPTV, bought HD cameras first. This was a major decision to make, and a moderately expensive one – with inherent budget considerations and cases to be made for it.
Currently, many cameras have dual outputs – both HD and analog – so they can easily make the switchover without too much additional cost. If that isn’t possible, as is the case with some PTZ cameras that only have a digital output, most likely you will need to buy converters to accommodate digital-to-analog temporarily, so that your channel is able to stay on the air in the meantime.
The next item would be the switcher. There are many switchers out there, ranging in cost from a couple of thousand dollars to many thousands of dollars. The size and scope of local access facilities vary, so you will need to do your homework as to what you will need, both now and in the future. Some switchers can handle analog, SD digital, and HD digital. Of course, these will have a bigger price tag.
Another way to go is to buy a switcher that is solely digital, with the use of converters. If you have analog equipment that you want to use, but also want a new switcher, you can still buy converters that will take an analog source and output as serial digital.
Additionally, another consideration to make is that for HD broadcasting you will need to change cabling. Your choice will be either to make the cables you need, or you can buy them separately.
After the switcher, the next item to consider is the video server that feeds the cable station and OTT streaming service (if you have one). Again, all the new servers handle digital signals, both SD and HD. In the case of my station, we have Altice which requires an analog signal, so we need to use a digital-to-analog converter for broadcast to Altice customers. Verizon, however, allows for an HD signal; in our case, we also have an HD channel, which is no problem for us.
After making these decisions, over time you can consider various upgrades as needed. Most don’t require very much cost, but they all do involve time and effort to install.
Finally, as a member of JAG, you have the ability to connect with other local access facilities as to what they have done in their switchover to HD and what they plan to do. “Picking the brains” of other members is an invaluable benefit of membership.
In the end, you will be very happy with the difference in picture quality with HD!
To continue our discussion into the possibility of having OTT providers such as Hulu and Netflix pay franchise fees in exchange for their use of the public rights-of-way, along comes a couple of stories from Reuters news about this very issue.
Posted: September 22, 2022 by bduthaler
PTZ cameras: NDI, HDBaseT, SDI and HDMI
I have about 50 years experience in this industry. Engineering, sales and designing systems.
I graduated from Voorhees Technical Institute which is now a part of Hunter College and continued my education at New York Institute of Technology.
G&G Technologies has been in business for over 34 years. If you go to G&G Technologies website www.ggvideo.com you will find that we are an authorized dealer for over 100 manufacturers.
Posted: August 18, 2022 by bduthaler
Glad to be Back
by Jesse Lerman, President/CEO, TelVue
The Eastern Video Expo 2022 brought a welcome end to a two+ year drought of local, in-person trade shows and other industry events, giving participating vendors the opportunity for face-to-face engagement with valued customers once again. It was great to say goodbye to endless Hollywood Squares-like Zoom meetings and welcome back the kind of meaningful conversations and collaborative-based discussions that generate important feedback, crucial for product development.
Posted: August 18, 2022 by bduthaler
Old Bridge Television
by Aime Alonzo Station Manager
My name is Aime Alonzo. I am the newly appointed Station Manager of Old Bridge Television or as we call it, OBTV. I was pleased to learn about JAG and to meet many of its supportive members on the phone and at this year’s Eastern Video Expo. Let me tell you a little about myself and the station.
I am an actor and a member of SAG/AFTRA. In college I majored in Theater and Film Production, but life’s twists and turns took me to Law School. After earning my Juris Doctorate Degree, I worked traditional jobs, but the yearning to be creative kept nagging at me. I went back to acting. I acted in award winning independent projects, produced some independent films and directed an independent series. I also worked as a background actor on TV shows like “Law & Order”, “The Equalizer”, “FBI” and movies like “Players”, and “Your Place or Mine” which will be out soon on Netflix. I am very happy to have joined OBTV. My duties also include overseeing the township website and serving as the Business Administrator’s executive assistant.
Posted: August 18, 2022 by bduthaler
Cablecast OTT Spotlight: MCTV Network
by Dana Healy, VP Cablecast Community Media
As the community media hub serving the City of Midland, Michigan, Midland Community Television (MCTV Network) enables residents to create original content to inform, entertain, and educate. Operating four cable access TV channels on Charter Spectrum and AT&T U-verse, MCTV expanded its reach last year to include Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and mobile devices as well as enhancing its streaming offerings.
Posted: August 18, 2022 by bduthaler
The Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act
by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
A couple weeks ago, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that millions of American households have signed up for broadband internet credits through a provision in the bipartisan infrastructure bill called the Affordable Connectivity Program. This bill passed in November of 2021 and White House officials are calling it an example of the administration’s efforts to lower costs for Americans amid the high inflation that has swept our nation.
Posted: July 12, 2022 by bduthaler
The most difficult challenge when recording meeting video: Recording Good Meeting Audio
by Rush Beesley, President, RUSHWORKS
Video is Easy.
There aren’t any ‘terrible’ video cameras these days. In fact, there are a myriad of tiny cameras with pinhole-sized lenses – often referred to as “cell phones” – that incorporate the latest technology and are available from many manufacturers.
With any current generation camera you can record (and stream) excellent HD video with minimal lighting. Overhead fluorescents provide adequate ‘soft light’ for any meeting venue. So just turn on the camera, frame your shot, and press Record.
Posted: July 12, 2022 by bduthaler
Switching Your Access Facility to HD
by Nick Besink, Engineer, Oradell TV
These days, more and more people are buying HD televisions, so naturally access channels want to switch to HD to accommodate it. Therefore, if you run a local access channel, where do you start? What exactly do you need to accomplish the switch to HD? What should you buy first?
If your municipality uses a statewide franchise agreement, you should be able to have them provide an HD channel.
My local access channel, OPTV, bought HD cameras first. This was a major decision to make, and a moderately expensive one – with inherent budget considerations and cases to be made for it.
Currently, many cameras have dual outputs – both HD and analog – so they can easily make the switchover without too much additional cost. If that isn’t possible, as is the case with some PTZ cameras that only have a digital output, most likely you will need to buy converters to accommodate digital-to-analog temporarily, so that your channel is able to stay on the air in the meantime.
The next item would be the switcher. There are many switchers out there, ranging in cost from a couple of thousand dollars to many thousands of dollars. The size and scope of local access facilities vary, so you will need to do your homework as to what you will need, both now and in the future. Some switchers can handle analog, SD digital, and HD digital. Of course, these will have a bigger price tag.
Another way to go is to buy a switcher that is solely digital, with the use of converters. If you have analog equipment that you want to use, but also want a new switcher, you can still buy converters that will take an analog source and output as serial digital.
Additionally, another consideration to make is that for HD broadcasting you will need to change cabling. Your choice will be either to make the cables you need, or you can buy them separately.
After the switcher, the next item to consider is the video server that feeds the cable station and OTT streaming service (if you have one). Again, all the new servers handle digital signals, both SD and HD. In the case of my station, we have Altice which requires an analog signal, so we need to use a digital-to-analog converter for broadcast to Altice customers. Verizon, however, allows for an HD signal; in our case, we also have an HD channel, which is no problem for us.
After making these decisions, over time you can consider various upgrades as needed. Most don’t require very much cost, but they all do involve time and effort to install.
Finally, as a member of JAG, you have the ability to connect with other local access facilities as to what they have done in their switchover to HD and what they plan to do. “Picking the brains” of other members is an invaluable benefit of membership.
In the end, you will be very happy with the difference in picture quality with HD!
Posted: July 12, 2022 by bduthaler
Could Hulu and Netflix pay franchise fees?
by Dave Garb, Legislative Committee Chair
To continue our discussion into the possibility of having OTT providers such as Hulu and Netflix pay franchise fees in exchange for their use of the public rights-of-way, along comes a couple of stories from Reuters news about this very issue.