Need help to find a topic for my thesis

Simon Höfer

Simon Höfer

Veteran
Hey guys, I need your help. Next semester I have to write my final thesis. I study electrical engingeering, with the field of media-engineering.

I want to write my thesis in a company, so one of the companies I contacted, is a broadcast service provider. For example, they guide, plan and realize broadcast modules or even complete broadcast centers or media archives etc.

Thing is, they want me to come up with a topic for my thesis, but my problem is, that I really don't have an idea what could be possible and what is useful for them and myself. I mean, obviously a broadcast studio is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge and really complex. What could be interesting to plan, develop, research on, in a timeframe of 5 months?

A couple of ideas I had so far:

1. Integration of HD in a television Studio.
For sure they know alot about that already and is already realized, but maybe there could be something possible? Many studios just start to change and technology never stops developing.

2. Same as the first one, but specific to Panasonic P2 and/or Sony XDCAM etc.

3. Ultra HD
Research about possible Ultra HD future, like 4k and even higher resolution footage? I've read about NHK Japan developing a 7k Ultra HD system for example.

If anybody has some thoughts or ideas about this, I would really appreciate to hear them.
 
I like the idea of studying the integration of HD and tapeless into a TV studio. I think with this as a growing trend it should be very useful for them. They'll do it eventually. For a TV studio I just dont see the UltraHD 4k stuff being of interest any time soon (if ever).
 
Thanks for your input Jeff! I think you are right about the UltraHD, was just something I stumbeled over doing some research.

Open for any input guys, so keep it coming.
 
3 sounds interesting to me.

I'm just about starting to write a thesis myself (although on conceptual film scoring/sound design), but it seems that you're picking out specialised subjects/research, which is good, instead of having a subject that is huge, allowing yourself to easily get lost in trying to put too much into the narrative.
 
This is idea #1 and number #3 combined, I guess that would make it #4.
How about the broadcast HD ceiling?
While there is obviously a need for Ultra HD imaging devices for science and medicine, the current broadcast limit of 1080 may satisfy the needs of the consumer for the next 50 years or more. Despite advances in aviation technology the speed of air travel (commercial jets) has remained the same for almost 50 years. One could argue that a similar market cap exists for broadcasting. 1080 is enough. Given the decline of ad revenue because of competition from the other areas such as the internet - it would be difficult to justify the expense of raising the bar to 2k or 4k for the broadcasters.
 
Herman Witkam said:
3 sounds interesting to me.

I'm just about starting to write a thesis myself (although on conceptual film scoring/sound design), but it seems that you're picking out specialised subjects/research, which is good, instead of having a subject that is huge, allowing yourself to easily get lost in trying to put too much into the narrative.
Click to expand...

It definately sounds interesting, I will for sure ask them about such a topic. Thank you Herman and also good luck with your thesis!

I think picking a specialised subject/research is more in the nature of an engineer. But it is also a little bit of a problem right now, because I don't know what exactly is possible in this company and I am quite sure they don't want some bla bla, they want facts.

milksac said:
This is idea #1 and number #3 combined, I guess that would make it #4.
How about the broadcast HD ceiling?
While there is obviously a need for Ultra HD imaging devices for science and medicine, the current broadcast limit of 1080 may satisfy the needs of the consumer for the next 50 years or more. Despite advances in aviation technology the speed of air travel (commercial jets) has remained the same for almost 50 years. One could argue that a similar market cap exists for broadcasting. 1080 is enough. Given the decline of ad revenue because of competition from the other areas such as the internet - it would be difficult to justify the expense of raising the bar to 2k or 4k for the broadcasters.
Click to expand...

Thanks milksac! That also sounds interesting. Even though it might not be a topic that is technical enough. But well, combined with number 3 it is still an option. I will think about that!



Another idea I had today:

5. CCD vs. CMOS (Rolling Shutter)
Influence of these two systems for a broadcast station and how important issues like skew, wobble and partial exposure are for them to NOT buy CMOS cameras with rolling shutter like the Sony XDCAM EX (i.e. for news gathering).

And then the general differences in technology and about new cameras like the RED and about global shutter, resolution drop on a normal waveform and so on.


Keep it coming guys, that is definately the kind of feedback I need. DVXUSER is just awesome, always a great help :) Thanks alot!

Edited to add:
If you have completely new ideas, I would also really like to hear them!
 
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Hey guys, here is a follow up:

Today was not the best day. I knew it this morning. When I went to the mailbox, the neighbors cat waited already and bit into my arm. But I can tell ya, I kicked her ass afterwards, thats for sure.

Afterwards I went to my university to get the results for my last exam that I needed to be able to write my thesis. Unfortunately I fell through, which means I have to write my thesis half a year later.

Actually it is not that bad. Now I've got more time to study more for my other exams, so I can get better grades. And it released a lot of stress from my life :) Got more time for creativity and dvxuser and my girlfriend :D

Thanks again for your help guys and you responses! I went to the company last week btw. The topic I could have worked on would have been quite boring. Embedded audio in an HD-SDI signal. Also no loss :)
 
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Welcome fellow engineer, is this for your undergrad or postgrad?

In any case, have you thought about doing soemthing which is becoming more and more popular, and I think you should be able to do this in 5 months (now that you have a year, its even better)

basically take a look into 3d stereo vision systems, there is a real push for 3d recording / playback systems.

One new novel approach is to use a hacked (Wii) which acts in reverse mode, and uses the LED bar placed on your head to track your head orientation, the software then up dates the perspective video on your TV, this gives the impression of real 3d, BUT the only downside is that this would work perfect for video games, or a realtime interactive 3d move render, however 3d recorded video may not work on such a setup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

If you want more details, eg PC drivers, program code, etc then I can post them

EDIT:: if you see the last part, you will notice that he uses a flat photo and turns it into 3d view, so in theory HD or even 4K would be perfect for this ! this would really make reality the saying "its like looking out of a window!"
 
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Hey Anhar,
I am an undergrad right now and when I finish my thesis I will be a graduated engineer.

Actually I made a typo in my last post. I meant "half a year", so not a full year. And I am 23 years old right now.

That topic definately sounds interesting. I have seen some links for these videos before, here on dvxuser. But I think that is not the direction I will be going to. Especially that I am really bad at programming, therefore some program code would just scare me away :D

Thank you very much for stopping by and for your ideas! I often read your posts with interest. The last I can remember was about a programm you were writing, that will be used to record video from this special camera. Can't remember the name though.
 
Excellent, I wish you all the best, I may even call upon your services, I'm in need of an electronics engineer for a small project :)

P.S the camera was Sumix
 
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