Professionals of broadcast, film and multimedia industries from all over the city converged at the Y B Chavan auditorium to participate in the 11th Broadcast India 2001 Technical Symposium that culminated on Wednesday evening.

The penultimate talk of the two-day symposium centered on media asset management, a topic that offers vast potential in the burgeoning broadcasting industry in India. Dinesh Sawhney, the Hong Kong based manager with Sony Corporation, dwelt on the company‘s product offerings, which help convert analog video archives into digital tapes that are easily catalogued, accessible and secure.

According to Sawhney, CNN has already used Sony software in a two-year-old project to convert 50,000 hours of video archives in this fashion. Analog tapes, the conventional method of storing data, suffer from quality deterioration as well as outmoded methods of searching for particular files. The Peta site mass storage system and the Peta serve HSM system, patented by Sony, allows search and re-purposing of content, enables news broadcasters to provide comprehensive information, as well as allows them to prepare for video on demand (VOD) services that may enter India in the near future.

Archive migration in digital mode thus allows organizations to create a multi media repository, which will allow local as well as remote access using web browsers to trawl for data. Sony‘s HSM system also enables partial retrieval of files, making broadcasting newsrooms more efficient while searching archives, Sawhney said.

Citing another example, Sawhney said that HBO too has used the Peta serve system for video archive storage, and uses its automated facility for pre-programming up to 48 hours of its promos, so that no manual intervention is necessary to play them on the channel during that period.

The symposium‘s other sessions focused on interactive TV, routing technology, content management, digital cinema, screen writing and film editing, among other topics. The symposium will be followed by a three-day exhibition on broadcasting equipment at the World Trade Centre, Mumbai.

Sony and Panasonic are to exhibit the equipment and technology used by George Lucas to digitally shoot the latest episode of Star Wars. Brand names like JVC, SGI, Discreet, Thomson Broadcast and Seagate will present their wares at the exhibition, covering the trades of TV, radio, video, film, cable, satellite, multimedia, transmission, computer graphics, animation and broadband.

For the first time the annual trade event will present the Seagate Technical awards for excellence in digital technology for films and television. The awards will be presented on 2 November 2, in conjunction with the Radio Advertisers and TV Practitioners Association of India and the Federation of Western India Cine Employees.

The Internet is constantly redifining the medium of entertainment. The popular gaming site contests2win.com which claims to have 700,000 registered users is bringing the concept of the serial to the Internet. The sit.com ‘Ghar Ek Mandir- Mera Baap Bhagwan‘ (Home is a temple and My Dad Is God!) will be unveiled on the site from today.

The serial consisting of 48 episodes will be in the comic strip format with illustrations and text blurbs. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday a new episode will be shown. According to Amar Tidke who has written and directed the serial, each episode consists of five frames which constitute the scenes for the plot.

Elaborating further on this new development Tidke said that the show will be held entirely online. Viewing will take about four minutes and then there is a question pertaining to the end. The viewer has to select one of three possible options on that day itself and three winners will be announced on the next episode. They take home a cash prize of Rs 501. The grand prizes of Indica cars will be announced after four months. Needless to say the smooth drive goes to the people who have the most number of correct selections.

According to Tidke, the company was initially thinking of shooting with a handycam with sound. But the idea was dropped as it would have occupied a lot of space and become too cumbersome. The advantage of this serial is that even people with low end PC‘s can view the show.

The company is viewing this as an experiment and depending on the results the other serials which are already in production will proceed. They are genre specific and cater to people of all tastes - be it comedy, drama or thrillers.

Tidke also said that the serial is completely different from the wishy washy soaps that are hogging the TRP‘s on the tube. ‘Ghar Ek...‘ straddles a variety of genres so that viewers get a feel of what it is like to view a story in front of the computer. The episodes will be stored on the site so that people who have missed earlier episodes can catch up.

Tidke pointed out that on the television once you miss an episode it is gone forever unless you have recorded it on the VCR. With ‘Ghar Ek...‘ there is no time bar as all the epsodes will be stored on the site.

Though the couch potato won‘t give up the tube this new initiative promises to be a shot in the arm for Internet companies struggling with the tech dowturn and a recessionary market.

The budget for the serial is naturally lower than what television companies lavishly spend. Contests2win has taken out banners and has also planted story insertions in newspapers. However it has refrained from spending on the television having learnt from the experience of dotcoms which bled their funds without commensurate revenues flowing in.

The official sponsor is Colgate. The FMCG major is charged up because it has been looking for an innovative and fresh concept that could be associated with its Fresh Energy Gel. Contests2win has had a happy relationship with the FMCG major. Earlier they had ‘Colgate Gel Bhol Talk to me‘ which was a phone in contest.