Christie Digital arrived in Las Vegas for the NAB Show with the next step in the evolution of rear-projection DLP cubes –removal of the spinning red, green and blue color wheel.

In its place, the company is using three separate red, green and blue LEDs –something Christie says is a first in the professional DLP display market. Making its debut in two new rear projection cubes, the substitution offers a variety of advantages, including longer life, a wider color gamut and less maintenance.

For those who are unfamiliar with conventional DLP designs, a spinning red, green and blue color wheel exposes the on and off micro-pixels of the DLP to the correctly red, green and blue light sequentially. more

At the NAB Show, Audio-Technica is unveiling the BP896 subminiature lavalier mic which is designed to provide high-quality audio pickup with an unobtrusive profile.

The mic, a subminiature omnidirectional condenser lavalier, is enclosed in a low-profile housing designed to minimize noise and comes in three colors: white, black and flesh tone. The BP896 mic capsule measures 2.5mm in diameter. It will ship in June.

Audio-Technica also is featuring the new BP4071L shotgun mic. Initially custom built for use covering last summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, the mic is now available to the industry at large. It is about 6in longer than the company’s BP4071. more

LARCAN sees a strong interest on the part of broadcasters in rolling out mobile DTV service and is approaching the market with an integrated solution to make it easy to deploy, according to Scott Barella, the company’s VP technology and business development.

The company is building a mobile DTV ecosystem consisting of partners like Envivio, Triveni Digital and UDcast to offer an integrated solution. The last piece in the puzzle is the mobile DTV modulator, and LARCAN anticipates the availability that piece later in the year. more

The idea behind AJA Video Systems’ new KI Pro digital video recorder/converter is to allow producers to move straight from the camera lens to post production, said company product marketing manager Bryce Button.

Introduced at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, the KI Pro can be used with a wide variety of cameras, accepting HD-SDI, SD-SDI, component, HDMI 1.3a and after performing the necessary up, down or cross conversion records to a 250GB hard drive, which comes as part of the standard configuration, or optionally to larger and even solid state drives, as Apple ProRes HQ files or in other standard file formats. more

Next week, the Community Broadcasters Association will meet with eight members of Congress to make the case that Class A and LPTV stations surpass the expectations the government has for broadcasters to promote station ownership by women and minorities.

The association will present a newly released report to members of Congress making the case that Class A and LPTV stations are democratizing the airwaves. Based on the results of a Web-based survey conducted between Nov. 17 and December 16, 2008, the report should open the eyes of lawmakers and regulators, who regularly advocate for new laws and rules to increase ownership of broadcast stations by women and minorities, to a broadcast service that’s often overlooked or minimized. more

Walking into the Ross Video’s booth at the NAB Show April 21, I was a bit surprised to see the company was in the character generator business.

The company was enjoying a sizable crowd of people looking at its new XPression character generator. The CG’s introduction into the Ross Video family of products is the result of Ross’s March acquisition of Media Refinery. Well-known in Europe, the character generator is new to the Americas and the rest of the world.

I spoke with David Ross, CEO and owner of Ross Video about the character generator and the company’s other new NAB introductions. That interview is presented as a podcast.

Mobile DTV is one of the biggest buzzes at the NAB Show, and Rohde & Schwarz is hoping to capitalize on that with a full line of transmission-related products aimed at getting broadcasters on the air with a mobile signal and making it easier for them to monetize that effort.

Following the Open Mobile Video Coalition breakfast April 20, which in itself was filled with significant mobile DTV announcements, including the selection of Washington, D.C., as a product showcase market for mobile DTV technology, establishment of Atlanta and Seattle as technical mobile DVT research and development markets and the unveiling of a mobile DTV-enabled Dell Netbook computer, Rohde & Schwarz got in on the mobile DTV action at its press conference. more

The best is yet to come for broadcasters thanks to the DTV transition.

That’s the view of Jim Goodman, president and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting, owner of DTV pioneer WRAL-TV in Raleigh-Durham, NC. Goodmon made an appearance at Harris Broadcast’s 2009 NAB Show press conference to explain how the station is on the air today demonstrating the viability of mobile DTV, both technically and economically. more

By Phil Kurz

Cloud computing and software as a service offer broadcasters the solutions they need to transform their business from one of high fixed costs to that of low variable costs, which will allow them to compete more effectively with the onslaught of new media entrants. At least those are the prescriptions Chyron executives outlined April 19 during their press conference the day before the NAB Show opens in Las Vegas.

To kick off the press event, Chyron CEO and president Michael Wellesley-Wesley said the days of broadcasters accepting –and in some cases even embracing- high fixed costs as a cost of doing business and a way to limit competition are over. New competitors can leverage software tools and new distribution platforms, like the Internet, to sidestep the high fixed costs of traditional media distribution and compete with a lower cost structure with stations.

To stay competitive broadcasters must change the way they create content, said Wellesley-Wesley. “Chyron must help them (broadcasters) navigate this change, and we have the tools at hand to help them do that,” he said. more

By Phil Kurz, Broadcast Engineering contributing writer

Omneon is healthy, prosperous and delivering product aimed at tapping into more than simply the market for playout servers.

That was the message Omneon CEO Suresh Vasudevan and Geoff Stedman, senior VP, products and markets, conveyed April 18 to members of the media attending its NAB Show press conference at the Palms Casino Resort.

While many companies struggled last year, Omneon grew 2008 revenues 43 percent, up from its 2007 revenue of $89 million, said Stedman. Perhaps insulating it to a degree from regions with shaky economies, the company reported its revenue is fairly well distributed geographically with the Americas accounting for 42 percent, EMEA 41 percent and APJ 17 percent.

Capping off his description of the company’s financial health, Stedman reported Omneon has a cash position of $34 million with no debt. The proof points seemed intended to emphasize that despite significant challenges in the broadcast industry, Omneon is financially sound and in a position to take the steps necessary to assure continued growth.

To that end, Omneon announced some new products and partnerships aimed at accelerating its growth despite economic uncertainty this year. more