Despite the lower attendance at this year’s NAB show (the NAB announced that there were about 83,000 attendees compared with last year’s 105,000), the show was still successful for many exhibitors I talked with.

Though the economy affected the number of people at NAB 2009, the quality of those people was good. And I must say, it made the convention halls a little more easy to navigate!

NAB is all about innovation and technology, so I want to share with you some of the new products I saw at the show. more

With 1 billion MPEG-2 set-top boxes still in play, MPEG-2 technology isn’t going anywhere soon, and TANDBERG Television has a solution.

At NAB 2009, the company showed me its new EN8100 MPEG-2 SD encoder. The system has been designed to deliver revolutionary encoding performance in a high density, low power (six channels in 1RU) chassis. It cuts MPEG-2 SD bandwidth requirements by at least 15 percent, even in legacy set-top box operations, and delivers a step change in performance.

According to Screen Digest research from March 2009, there are close to 1 billion MPEG-2 SD STBs and integrated digital TVs expected to be deployed worldwide by the end of 2009. The EN8100 opens up new opportunities for legacy service providers. It enables operators to achieve higher picture quality in the same bit rate, which is ideal for making SD MPEG-2 look acceptable on large flat-panel TVs, and to profit from additional revenue from their existing infrastructure. more

On March 6 Snell & Wilcox and Pro-Bel announced they would be merging to form one company. And just recently they debuted the new company name — Snell.

Representatives from both companies formed a unified front at NAB 2009 under the new name, and there were plenty of new products to see, including Pro-Bel’s 800 series. more

I met with Shawn Maynard, vice president and general manager of Florical, to see a demonstration of the company’s InventoryBrowser.

InventoryBrowser is an optional module within Florical’s S.M.A.R.T. Central product that allows the user to browse the database and view low-resolution copies of their inventory (i.e. on-air content). more

Avid is back at NAB, and I visited with them in the South Hall today where we shot demonstration video of the company’s Deko 5.2 graphics solution.

Version 5.2 of Deko 3000, an on-air graphics package that supports the industry-standard FBX and Collada formats, enables users to easily import and play back a broader range of 3-D models and animations from applications such as Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Softimage 7.5 and MAXON CINEMA 4D. Now, users can leverage existing skills and toolsets without having to burden staff with learning new 3-D tools. more

This morning, as a member of the press, I was treated to a special, live demonstration of holographic technology.

If you recall, this technology was used during the 2008 presidential election, when CNN transported images of reporters off-location onto the CNN set.

What I saw today was amazing. Just across the aisle of the convention center from one another, Vizrt and STATS transported one person in the STATS booth onto the virtual set of the Vizrt booth. more

At NAB 2009 Sony Electronics introduced a new line of HD studio cameras designed to provide broadcasters a high-quality, yet more accessible entry into HD production.

The new HSC-300 camera is compatible with Sony’s existing large lens adaptors and can be used with triax cable runs of up to 1300m.

It features a 2/3in Power HAD FX CCD with 2.2 million pixels, and is switchable between 1080i and 720P 50/60Hz, with 525i and 625 SD modes available from the camera head and CCU. The camera offers image controls with wide dynamic range and a 14-bit A/D.

The HSC-300 offers a range of automatic features designed to minimize the adjustments necessary during production, including auto iris with multi-zone weighting, auto skin tone detail, auto knee, electronic color correction, focus assist function and hyper gamma. more

Marshall Electronics wowed NAB attendees with its new V-OL761-HDA OLED portable field/camera-top monitor. The unit is being touted as the world’s first OLED camera-top monitor. more

Communications Specialties featured its all-digital Scan Do HD scan converter. The unit converts DVI input, at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080, to HD or SD-SDI output, providing broadcast-quality video images. It supports SMPTE HD-SDI output resolutions up to 1080i, and SD-SDI resolutions (NTSC and PAL).

Genlock with full phasing control locks HD/SD-SDI output to tri-level sync or black burst. Ethernet port enables control via facilities’ LAN or via the Internet. It includes fiber-optic output (SMPTE 292 and 297) and two coaxial outputs (SMPTE 292 and 259).

Other features include image processing controls for brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and sharpness; variable flicker reduction; Zoom & Shrink horizontally and vertically while maintaining the aspect ratio or set each independently; internal color bar generator; the ability to precisely position an image horizontally and vertically; and the ability to quickly store and recall favorite configurations through the remote control ports.

When you’re at NAB and you visit a booth like Panasonic, you’re almost overwhelmed because of the size of the booth and number of attendees packed inside, hoping to get a peek at the new technology. One of those technologies that had NAB 2009 attendees excited was the new the AG-HPX300 camcorder, of which I received a private demonstration.

This 10-bit, 4:2:2 professional HD camcorder features independent frame AVC-Intra recording and variable frame rates. Incorporating a low profile shoulder mounted design, it offers the flexibility of interchangeable lens but comes standard with a Fujinon 17x HD lens.

The HPX300 incorporates advanced 1/3in 2.2-megapixel 3-MOS imagers to acquire full native resolution HD images. These advanced 3-MOS imagers provide image quality while minimizing noise or sacrificing dynamic range. A new 20-bit digital signal processor (DSP) enhances the HPX300’s image performance. more