Recently Rondomondo, Eircom's digital publishing arm, tried to show how a conventional studio can be used for unconventional means. In October, the company's broadband studio was showcased at the Internet World Show in Dublin's RDS, when a live broadband Internet TV channel featuring news programming, content and interviews was transmitted from it specially erected virtual studio.
Already Rondomondo's new lifestyle and pop-cultural magazine, Pushie (available at www.pushie.com) is working towards adding some video content to the site sometime this month. A Net-based magazine, or "zine", aimed at students and young adults, Pushie will introduce supported video content over the next two months. Rondomondo chief executive Barry O'Neill says such content will be unique to the site.
In theory existing brand names, such as magazines, could launch not only online versions of their magazine, but InternetTV versions too, using technology used by Rondomondo, which means that digital video effects can be added behind the presenters of a programme.
The studio boasts a range of unusual and up-to-date equipment, including Discreets 'Combustion', Apple Media 100 and an mpeg encoding system. Based around a digital vision mixer, the system uses JVC broadcast cameras to shoot images while the mixer separates the camera signal and adds it to a background generated by computer graphics.
The broadband studio technology being deployed by Rondomondo looks set to be the future of Internet TV. The broadband studios will mainly be used to generate content for broadband networks, something that hasn't quite hit Ireland yet.
According to studio manager Aine Healy, Rondomondo decided to install a full digital studio even though VHS is currently the standard on the Internet. This, she explains, is because with the advent of broadband, VHS will no longer be good enough for Internet-TV viewers. "People will want digital quality standard," she said.
Starting out with the top of the range was the best option: it is easier to come down to a lower standard rather than climb from nowhere to high-quality output.
According to O'Neill, 100 per cent of the work that Rondomondo will do over the next few years will be Internet-based. But first, Ireland needs to have increased bandwidth and by utilising a high speed Internet connection, and with that comes quality of picture. O'Neill believes that there will be a "convergence and the coming together of Internet and television".
As well as providing content for the Internet, Rondomondo is also involved in bringing content to mobile phones, interactive television and new digital media devices.
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