Friday started with Snell & Wilcox, a company we associate with their advanced motion estimation technology. They lifted the curtain on a new technology, the subject of a session paper, that provides a smart way to change aspect by removing “white space” in the picture. It detect seams between objects, then removes video between seams. That way face don’t get stretched, and important content isn’t cropped. It’s not a product yet, but if it sounds interesting to you, track down the technical paper and have a read.

Next to the impressive Sony booth for a guided tour. Sony announced it is to be a lead technology partner with the UK’s BSkyB in the construction of an all-new broadcast center for 1080P production and broadcast.

Another announcement was that JVC has licensed the EX SxS solid-state record format, a move that will aid the move away from videotape for all but high-end production, where the high bandwidth of HDCAM-SR still offers a video quality that the newer media formats cannot equal — for now!