JVC (C4315) is unveiling a new compact shoulder professional camcorder developed for electronic newsgathering. The new GY-HM700 camera records directly to SDHC memory cards in the QuickTime (.MOV) format and optionally to SxS media as well. 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…

It’s for conferencing

Dave Walton showed me a technology demo that JVC (C4315) has assembled for a potential teleconference customer. It’s a 4K camera. Yep, 4K for teleconference.

Since the camera could cost $200K, I’ll only assume the potential customer has more money than most broadcasters. With this camera, the image quality is so good you could see the frown lines on your CEO’s face from 10,000 miles away!

Calrec and 360 Systems

Every vendor at the NAB Show has a niche – a specific customer market it’s aiming for – and yesterday I had the privilege of meeting with two companies that are going for quite different markets.

First I met with Kevin Emmott, marketing manager at Calrec. What they had to offer were some serious, high-end digital audio consoles, most notably the new Apollo console. Despite the shaky economic climate, Emmott had the utmost confidence in Calrec’s client base and equipment. And when asked if the economy had led to any changes as to the company’s presence at the NAB Show he responded casually that if anything their presence had grown – upward, that is, with the addition of a taller, more prominent branded marquis. 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…

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…

Recent advances in LDMOS device power density and performance have contributed to significant improvements in UHF power amplifier linearity, efficiency and reliability. Based on this technology, Harris has developed a solid-state transmitter that allows OTA broadcasters to transmit an array of local, over-the-air broadcast services at various power levels. The transmitter’s architecture leverages new advances in LDMOS technology and other design initiatives to provide a range of benefits including more efficient and cost-effective operation at any power level. The new transmitter design is available in both liquid and air-cooled versions. more…

Fairlight (SL1910) is demonstrating the Xynergi controller, Constellation XCS console and Pyxis MT during the NAB Show.

The Xynergi media production center is a desktop editor that features an implementation of self-labeling key switches that can display full-color images, animated icons or text. John Lancken, CEO, showed me how the system can seamlessly edit together, back-to-back formats of almost any format in real time without stopping. more…