PITTSBURGH —NEP says Chief Technology Officer George Hoover and co-author Jim Boston have published the second edition of their acclaimed book, “TV on Wheels: The Story of Remote Television Production.” First published in 2002, the book covers the history, planning logistics, operations and technology that define the current remote broadcasting industry.
“Our intent with the updated book is to provide a detailed tour through a segment of the broadcast industry that is at the forefront of how media will operate in the future, said Hoover. “Many of today's most important technologies, such as HD, 4K and virtual graphics, grew to critical mass as a result of the pioneering efforts of on-location television producers."
“TV on Wheels” has been redesigned with a more academic focus and an expanded glossary and index. The first order for this new edition was from a college in Australia, where the book will be used as a textbook. With more than 1,000 photos and graphics, the 2013 edition is twice as long as the first, reflecting the advances in technology during the years since the book was first published.
“Although the creative aspects of remote production are essentially the same, the technology has made quantum leaps in the past 11 years,” Hoover said. “One of the biggest changes we've seen is the invasion of microprocessors and embedded computers that have replaced the built-for-purpose, dedicated hardware that was prevalent in 2002. Everything is bigger and more sophisticated — a 144 x 144 router was considered big then, but today it's common to see routers that are 10 times larger.”
“In addition to its academic use, we designed the book to be more of a teaching tool for broadcasting professionals at large and also to appeal to a broad universe of potential readers,” said Boston. “Since the majority of locally produced TV is news, we’ve devoted a fairly large section to DENG and DSNG. We can also see the book’s value as a resource manual in the field, especially with the e-book version that engineers can easily access on their tablets, to learn about a specific technology.”
It is also now available as an e-book.
A percentage of the proceeds from sales will go to the Sports Video Group’s Sports Broadcasting Fund, which offers financial assistance to those in the sports broadcast production community and their families who face illness, death, or disaster.
