My last day at the show, Thursday, was more relaxed without back-to-back prearranged meetings, so I had a chance to wander round, seeing new products. Most impressive was the new video monitor from Barco. Although still in the design stage, the pictures were stunning. Both Barco and Sony have shown that LCDs can be used to assess picture quality without distortions added by the display. Although we may mourn the passing of the CRT, the reality is that the broadcast sector represents such a small proportion of display device that it is no longer economic to manufacture the tubes.
The Barco and Sony displays are not those you would buy in the local computer store. For a start they have a 10-bit drive, rather than the eight- or even six-bit displays in consumer gear. Without this, reproduction of blacks is poor, and certainly inadequate for grading. The other differences are LED backlights rather than cold cathode for controlled color gamuts, and 120Hz refresh to minimize the motion artefacts caused by the sample and hold of LCDs.
Apple and Avid did not have booths, but I had the opportunity for a briefing on Final Cut Server. Digital asset management has been a special interest to me since the turn of the century. Back then you needed deep pockets to set up a system, $5M was not uncommon for the software, servers and an enterprise database. Add to that the running costs, on-site database administrators, support licenses.
Apple’s offering starts at a thousand bucks. OK it’s for 10 concurrent seats, but for a local station that is just what they need to manage P2 or XDCAM media. It will be interesting to watch the takeup of this product, and whether we will see competition. It’s long been my view that file-based production demands DAM, but for many it has been unaffordable. Such products make clear the advantages of file-based production over tape. It won’t be long before young folks entering the business will understand “tape” to be data tape, and videotape will join the audio cassette as a historical curiosity.
When it comes to “hot” mobile TV products on the show floor this year, the focus seems to be mostly on exciters and multiplexers. This makes sense, since many broadcasters already have the transmission infrastructure in place to run a mobile TV service: They just need to integrate mobile TV-compatible exciters and multiplexers into their transmission networks in order to get services up and running.
Still, I’d feel remiss if I did not mention how some of the transmitter, antenna and power amplifier manufacturers are playing a role in mobile TV deployment. Thus far, I’ve met with a few companies in each of these spaces at NAB, and all have something to offer with regards to mobile TV. more
By far my favorite session of the day was “Grow Your Online Audience With Hyper Local Content,” part of the NABEF Career Development Program. The presenter was Rob Curley, vice president of product development for the Washington Post Newsweek Interactive. Some of the work he and his team are doing is inspiring and helped open my eyes to what could possibly be great options for stations online. more
Saturday 12, the round of press conferences kicked off. The first sessions made many mentions of file-based workflows. Nothing new here, but what the IT infrastructure does enable is outsourcing of “broadcast” functions like asset management, content distribution and multi-format delivery to enterprise service providers.
This got me to thinking, what is a broadcaster, and what do they do? If they do outsource many of their traditional operations from newsgathering to playout, then what is left? In playout, the word is branding, specifically channel branding. But following this through, the television network now becomes a brand, not a broadcaster, with the in-house functions left as program commissioning and scheduling, plus the revenue provider, the sales arm. more
On Tuesday at 9 a.m., one of the RTNDA sessions is going to be on “Going Local…in a new direction.” The focus, according to the RTNDA Web site, is to “redefine what is news online and leverage technology to draw in new audiences and revenue.”
One of the panelists, Cory Bergman, is director of digital media for KING5.com and NWCN.com in Seattle. He’s also a Lost Remote blogger who I’ve been following for the last year.
One of the big things he’s going to be discussing is local aggregated blogs. He’s created one for Seattle called Citizen Rain. Local aggregated blog sites pull in the feeds from blogs done by people in the community who are writing about event and happenings within their communities. more
Broadcast Engineering and Telephony are teaming up with NAB to highlight the latest developments in IPTV technology and applications. At NAB there will be a new conference series and super session aimed at telecommunications and wireless industry professionals, along with a new IPTV Pavilion that will showcase new IPTV products and services.
As the official media sponsors of the event, Broadcast Engineering and Telephony have put together three handy resources:
1. IPTV Pavilion Web site
For all things related to IPTV, click here. The site is dedicated to offering complete coverage of IPTV events and a wide range of editorial content about the IPTV sector.
2. IPTV Pavilion e-newsletters
Get the scoop on what’s going on in the IPTV Pavilion plus news and product announcements. Visit the NAB Pavilion microsite to read the past newsletters and check back for new issues this Thursday and then the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during NAB.
3. NAB Show IPTV Directory
The comprehensive guide will be distributed at the IPTV Pavilion and feature profiles of NAB Show exhibitors that serve the IPTV market, product descriptions and additional content and insight on the IPTV sector from the editors of Telephony and Broadcast Engineering. We hope the directory will provide attendees with a complete overview of the IPTV-focused exhibits and programs.
Convention time is when many companies vie for headline space by announcing partnerships, outright company buys, acquisitions, key trade deals, personnel changes and other business arrangements. Given the number deals that seem to occur around NAB, one might consider the convention as “Let‘s Make a Deal” time.
Think about some of the recent deals in our industry. Thomson buys Grass Valley and everyone begins speaking French. Press releases are now issued with values in euros, not dollars. more
The BE-Roll is a collection of industry blogs gathered up by Broadcast Engineering and put in one spot for your convenience. On the BE-Roll, we’ve got news directors, photogs, editors and critics talking about their jobs, challenges in the industry and their lives.
Right now, one topic coming up a lot is NAB. For example:
It‘s Monday night and, besides plowing through Neil Young‘s exhaustive biography, I ain‘t doin‘ a whole lot. But in six short days, all signs of stagnation will evaporate as … I touch down in sunny Las Vegas. No, we‘re not going to count cards under the tutelage of Kevin Spacey (based on a great book, by the way); we‘re gonna rip the lid off NAB! more
Inside, outside and all around the NAB Show, Broadcast Engineering writers and editors will cover the show.
The Broadcast Engineering staff will be positing daily about the 2008 NAB Show. Come here to check out our pre-show postings for tips and not-to-miss happenings. Need help in planning your schedule? Need to know the what, when and where about that special party or NAB event? Here at BE@NAB, we‘ll have the answers. more
The editors and writers of Broadcast Engineering post live from the 2008 NAB Show in Las Vegas as the news happens. Check back throughout the day for the latest in industry news, reports from press conferences and product introductions.
