NAB

"You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." – Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), Sunset Blvd., Paramount (1950)

If it weren't for James Cameron's (Avatar + fame) session at NAB, you would swear you were at a mash up CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and an IT (information technology) conference.

Most of the sessions and discussions focused on:

• social media and mobile delivery
• how Tellywood was going to optimize their network/content assets
• cloud computing/storage (we’ll look closely at this in a few weeks)
• how the old guard was going to protect their stuff/squeeze out kids who seemed more interested in viewers than profits.

Joe Gilles looked over the proceedings and said, "You don't yell at a sleepwalker - he may fall and break his neck."

Cameron loves technology almost as much as he loves movies. He took his shots at the broadcast folks saying it was their fault we still don't have a lot of 3D on our entertainment devices. Read more

Creative Production is in the Cloud

This year's NAB gave us two "Ah Ha" moments.

First, there are no real centralizing movie, TV show production enclaves anymore.

The industry may make its money on good ideas creatively executed, but the industry's spirits rest in huge – and we mean huge – storage libraries spread around the country, around the globe.

But before we discuss what was new, better, ready for use tomorrow, we need to do a little clean-up from the first two days.

The Other Tools

Previews – Like showing the previews of an upcoming movie, Apple showed off the very best features of the newest version of Final Cut Pro which will be available later this summer. Source - Apple

Apple, in their typical fashion, showed without showing the next generation of Final Cut Pro.

They called it a sneak peek because even though it has been rebuilt from the ground up, it shows that the fruit company is going to continue to be a big player in professional content production. Read more

The Usual Suspects, a Few Surprises, the New Frontier

At the U.S.'s premium broadcast event, you'd expect the usual array of "interested parties" to attend … and they have.

Senior folks from Microsoft, Apple, Google, Netflix, Facebook, Zynga, EA, Hulu, Roku, Verizon, AT&T, Akamai, Level 3, Intel, AMD and Nvidia; you name it, they were there.

Miss someone?

Oh yes, the growing array of content production/post production houses who are putting together content for the rapidly expanding outlet opportunities.

Sure, there were cable, network, station and Hollywood folks who built the association.

Last year, DreamWorks' Jeff Katzenberg beat the drum for 3D and the studios and a few network operations (ESPN, Discovery) listened and delivered.

This year, tech tinkerer, filmmaking powerhouse James Cameron made an even stronger case for everyone, everything, everywhere to practice 3D production, distribution and viewing.

Cameron prodded the broadcast industry to get onboard or get left behind by the new distribution channels/opportunities. Read more

Company to Display New Professional 3D HD Imaging Solutions, XF Series Professional Camcorders, HD Broadcast Lenses, EOS Digital SLR Cameras and High-Resolution REALiS Projectors

April 11, 2011 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, is exhibiting a wide range of products for broadcast HD television production, HD video content creation, and high-resolution image display at the 2011 NAB Show, booth # C-4325, April 11th to 14th, in the Las Vegas Convention Center. On display will be the most comprehensive display of the Company’s professional broadcast and HD imaging equipment including special guest presenters talking about the latest developments and techniques in the professional real-world application of Canon equipment. Included in the booth’s exhibit will be Canon’s HD broadcast lenses and robotic pan-tilt HD cameras, the new Canon XA10 professional camcorder, XF300-series and XF100-series professional camcorders, the Company’s popular line of EOS DSLR cameras with full-manual HD video capture, the REALiS WUX4000 Installation LCOS projector, and large-format imagePROGRAF printers.

Also on display during the show will be the new Technicolor CineStyle for the Canon 5D Mark II, a custom picture style which provides cinematographers with the image latitude for digital intermediate color-grading and delivery. Read more

"I think I must have one of those faces you can't help believing." -- Norman Bates, Psycho, Paramount Pictures (1960)

This year's NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show had written/unwritten themes:

• bigger, faster, cheaper.
• close enough is good enough.
• what happens when the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) "steals" the broadcasters' spectrum

Dr. Richmond explained the NAB attendee's dilemma, "You see, when the mind houses two personalities, there's always a conflict, a battle."

The eye candy was there – stereoscopic 3D, eye-popping/bank account-sucking cameras, consolidation/outsourcing, mix and match, NLEs (non-linear editors), MPEG-4 solutions and online/mobile DTV solutions.Read more

Company to Display New Professional HD Camcorder, HD Broadcast Lenses, EOS Digital SLR Cameras and High-Resolution REALis Projectors

April 12, 2010 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, is exhibiting a wide range of products for broadcast HD television production, HD video content creation, and high-resolution image display at the 2010 NAB Show, April 12th to 15th, in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Included in the Canon U.S.A. exhibit (Central Hall, booth no. C4325) are HD broadcast lenses and robotic HD cameras, the new Canon XF305 and XF300 professional tapeless HD camcorders, the popular EOS 5D Mark II with 24p HD video capture, the REALiS SX7 Mark II multimedia LCOS projector, a large-format imagePROGRAF printer, and other Canon imaging products.Read more

Television production used to be pretty straight forward. You had huge, heavy cameras three people pushed around. In the control room you had sliders, and magically the signal went over the air.

At home you turned on the set. Had dinner (families ate together then) and a half-hour later the tube was lit and you watched the Sid Caesar or Lone Ranger show. It was so cool. For years we all went to the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show and the behemoths of the industry dominated the floor. Big, sexy, expensive cameras. Big, gorgeous, expensive control panels. TV sets, big/bigger, gorgeous, expensive.

Then the cable and satellite folks emerged with "a better TV experience." Once you got tired of over-the-air only shows then they "offered" you 50-100 fantastic channels for $100 a month. Suddenly our wife could watch HGTV, daughter could watch the gut-buster infomercial, and son could watch Telemundo (he's practicing Spanish and the skirts are short).

According to Nielsen we started watching more TV -- 4 hours, 34 minutes a day in 2006-07. Not bad for the producers, network, cable operators, advertisers. Read more

April 20, 2009 -- Today at the 2009 NAB Show, Adobe Systems Incorporated is highlighting advances in video and dynamic media software technologies that improve the creation and delivery of content across personal computers, televisions and mobile devices. The show sees the company debut Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home, an optimized implementation of Flash technology that brings HD video, interactive applications and services, new user interfaces and online content to Internet-connected televisions, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and other devices (see separate press release).

Adobe also unveiled a software framework, code-named Strobe, that will help establish an open industry standard for media players and accelerate the creation and delivery of high-quality video and interactive experiences for Web audiences (see separate press release).

In addition, NAB 2009 sees the company preview Adobe Story, a new online and offline software application for collaborative scriptwriting, aimed at the film and broadcast markets. Currently in the early stages of development, Adobe Story ties into the pre-production phase of video workflows and will be integrated with other Adobe products, as part of the Creative Suite product family. Read more

"Strobe" to Simplify Delivery of Custom Online Media Players for Content Owners

April 20, 2009 — Today at the 2009 NAB Show, Adobe Systems Incorporated announced a new software framework for building media players that extends the capabilities of the Adobe Flash Platform. Code-named "Strobe," the framework will help establish an open industry standard for media players and offer production-ready software components to streamline the development of custom media players, reducing the time content publishers spend creating their own playback technologies. The framework will enable developers using Flash technologies to quickly and easily add rich functionality—such as advertising, user measurement and tracking, and social network integration—into new custom players that can be branded for individual content owners.

"With Strobe, we're delivering an open framework that enables media companies to focus on their core competency, creating great content that people want to see, instead of developing their own video players from scratch," said Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager of Dynamic Media at Adobe. "Adobe is committed to driving Web innovation and now with Strobe, we are helping to create an open framework for media players, enabling developers and media companies to focus on developing, delivering, and monetizing content so they can extend their online media efforts."Read more

April 20, 2009 — At the 2009 NAB Show, Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the extension of the Adobe Flash Platform to connected digital home devices with an optimized implementation of Flash technology that delivers high definition (HD) video and rich applications to Internet-connected televisions, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and other devices in the digital living room. Major System on Chips (SoC) vendors, OEMs, cable operators and content providers including Atlantic Records, Broadcom, Comcast, Disney Interactive Media Group, Intel, Netflix, STMicroelectronics, The New York Times Company, NXP Semiconductors, Sigma Designs, and others announced support for the optimized Flash technology today. The Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home is available immediately to OEMs and the first devices and SoC platforms with support for the optimized Flash technology are expected to ship in the second half of 2009.

The Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home now enables the delivery of HD Web videos to digital home devices via the Flash Video (FLV) file format. Consumers will be able to enjoy rich, interactive viewing experiences and amazing new ways to engage with HD content on televisions. Flash technology-based applications will allow users to quickly switch between television programming and Web content outside the Web browser. With the optimized implementation of Flash technology, content providers are able to extend their reach to millions of connected digital home devices, and cable operators and device manufacturers are able to develop new services and powerful user interfaces that deliver immersive experiences. A preview of Adobe Flash technology for digital home devices is being shown in the Adobe booth (SL3320, South Hall) and during Adobe's NAB Super Session today.Read more