3-D is everywhere at NAB this year. Panasonic’s 3-D camera was being shown on the floor. It was outputting two HD-SDI signals to feed the monitors, and the picture looked great. Panasonic also was showing a compact 3-D production switcher to go with the camera.

I attended a session on broadcast media file exchange by Todd Roth. In it he talked about how to choose between the different file types as well as the good and bad about the various storage systems out there.

There was another session about how to make ATSC M/H work financialy and the shift in revenue flow in other media sectors. Did you know that the music biz actually made more money last year, it just didn’t go to the record companies. We could see a simular shift in broadcast TV, including mobile.

Maybe you couldn’t make it to Las Vegas this year, or maybe you were stuck minding the booth. In either case, if you missed Panasonic’s press conference, you’re in luck. Panasonic has video of its conference, and you can watch it on the company’s Video Showcase page.

Panasonic Solutions Company showcased its new AG-3DA1, a professional-quality, fully integrated full-HD 3-D camcorder offering SD media card recording.

Panasonic booth (#C3712) visitors will be able to view 3-D video content shot with the 3DA1 during show hours. Also on display will be Panasonic’s recently announced BT-3DL2550, a 25in professional-quality 3-D LCD monitor for field use, and the AG-HMX100, a professional HD digital AV mixer for live 3-D event production. more

Over at the Shotoku Broadcast Systems booth, company president Naoki Ebimoto showed me their two new robotic control systems — The TR-T and the TR-S.

The TR-T touch control system controls both Shotoky and third-party robotic camera systems. A single operator can control up to 16 cameras. The panel style uses multicolored illuminated keys to communicate system status and control settings, with the same high-precision joystick for smooth on-air control. The system is compatible with all Shotoku heads as well as third-party systems. more

Sony have released an HDCAM-SR camcorder, the SRW-9000. This will be a winner for steadicam shots, where the F23/35 have limitations due to their size and weight. This is the first Sony camcorder that permits 10-bit acquisition in HD.

Over at Panasonic, good news for those who find P2 cards too expensive. They have released an economy line, the E-series in 16, 32 and 64GB. The 64GB card will sell for $998.

Harmonic announced that they are integrating Google’s Content ID into the Rhozet Carbon Coder. When content is transcoded to a distribution format the Content ID can be generated on the fly (typically at 10X realtime). The ID is submitted to Google with usage tags. If that content is uploaded to YouTube, when it is processed to the web format, a fingerprint is generated and checked against their database. Unauthorized content is then automatically blocked. This is an easy way to control piracy from YouTube, and can be built right into a post workflow.

As stations add sub-channels after the digital transition, providing EAS to many outputs becomes expensive with discrete channel systems. Many Public stations cover a state, and may want to target one area with an EAS alert. Trilithic released at the show a way to insert EAS into an ASI transport stream. An announcement can be inserted into chosen program streams, with optional graphics insertion for snipes and logs. The system uses RGB Networks BNP for the transport stream processing.

There are many new product announcements at the Ikegami booth. Among them are several additions to the company’s GFSeries of tapeless HD Flash memory production tools. On display at NAB 2009 are the GFCam HDS-V10 tapeless camcorder, which Bob Molczan, Ikegami engineering specialist tapeless products, pointed out features Bluetooth this year for instant export of thumbnail clips directly to a laptop application for fast logging, metadata insertion, and other workflow advantages. Also on show are the GFStation GFS-V10 Flash memory studio deck and the rugged high-capacity GFPak HD Flash-memory media. more

On display at the Canon booth is the BU-50H, a turnkey HD lens-camera system intended to address a wide range of applications. “It builds on the success of the BU-45H,” said Alan Lewis, Canon marketing manager. It features an indoor pan/tilt head, a built-in 20X zoom lens and a 3 CCD HD. The system offers extensive control of the pan-tilt head, lens operational functions and key video adjustments of the camera.

The BU-50H control protocol is non-proprietary and is open to public. This full access will facilitate any third-party provider, system integrator or end-user’s development of customized control systems.

The BU-50H can output an uncompressed HD-SDI (or SD-SDI) signal. Each SD (VBS) signal and HD-SDI signal can be output simultaneously, enabling the HD-SDI signal to be recorded while the SD signal is used for monitoring. In addition, the BU-50H features a genlock function for video system synchronization.

Canon introduced its HJ14ex4.2 portable HD lens. Alan Lewis, Canon marketing manager, said that the lens “is the product of the show for us.” The lens features a focal length of 4.3mm and angular field of view of 96.3° (2/3, 16:9) at wide end. It also offers a 14X zoom ratio reaching to 60mm (120mm with extender), which greatly expands the video expression.

The lens uses the latest 3-D design technology and large aspherical elements, which creates a unique optical layout. It maintains high resolution from the center to each corner of the picture. Moreover, by adopting a new coating technology and the new simulation system, the focus breathing has been diminished and the light quantity of the picture corners has been maintained. The HJ14ex4.2 also features an ultimately minimized color aberration, ghosting and picture distortion.

Several companies have launched 3D stereoscopic products, or have stated that they will develop 3D products for release in the future. Although the movie industry is producing blockbuster movies in 3D, for live sport, 3D television is a compelling proposition.

Panasonic is one company which has embarked on a development project for an end-to-end system. This includes a twin-lens P2 camcorder, all the way through to consumer equipment including a 3D blu-ray and 3D displays.

Miranda is showing a 3D multiviewer aimed at the truck market, for monitoring live 3D sport and events. As Michel Proulx of Miranda pointed out, you need a 3Gb/s infrastructure to support the L/R signals. With their new product releases supporting 3G/b, 1.5-only products look set to follow 270Mb/s-only products into history.

I have seen experimental transmissions from Sky in the UK, and they show great promise. There are some issues to resolve about camera work, and how best to shoot, but the rest of the processing chain can be built with adapted 3Gb/s infrastructure. The Sky system even uses their regular HD PVR.

There is no doubt that the CE vendors will push 3D, with games being a big draw, but the availability of 3D movies means that the repository of content is growing rapidly. Whether this is the right year to invest is another matter, but these developments have long lead times—just look how long it took HD to become mainstream.

Harris is showing a different way forward with their mobile TV products. With trials and rollouts starting, it has finally become a reality, and offers new business opportunities to hard-pushed stations. Although it can be received on handsets, it can be used to delivery over-the-air TV to a multitude of devices: signage in public transportation, netbooks—anything that isn’t harnessed to a roof-top antenna.

The Grass Valley booth is filled with new solutions and products.

The Thomson Grass Valley (SL106) press conference, seemed to have fewer news people than in previous years. Do you suppose even some of the news types couldn’t make the show? more