I still have Sunday on my mind. So much innovation to absorb. From Samsung, Apple, Panasonic, Sony… for instance Sony‘s sensational F23 digital cinema camera, or XDCAM EX flash memory Handycam (at right, promised this fall), or the replacement to their outstanding BVM-A series of HD CRT monitors, the sure-to-be-award-winning 22.5-inch, 1920 x 1080, LED-backlit LCD BVM-L230 — 1080/60p and digital cinema 2K (plus every lesser format) with waveform and audio level displays!

(When it comes to flash memory recording and professional LCD monitors with waveforms, it‘s only fair to credit Panasonic with starting these balls rolling at previous NABs.)

It was only yesterday that HD itself was precious and exotic. But Sony‘s NAB mantra this year is “HD for All.” Apple, in turn, boasts of its ongoing effort to “democratize” professional video and HD. (Popularization and professionalization are wildly clashing ideals Apple seems to enjoy juggling like a watermelon and an egg.) Both echo JVC‘s proletarian 2003 NAB motto, “HD for the Masses.” This got me to thinking about the roles of language and marketing at NAB.

Brash upstart RED has generated more impromptu conversations at the show than anyone this year. One-and-a-half hour lines snake around their circus tent cum booth (photo at right), driving off folks like me who refuse to sacrifice precious NAB floor time. But even those skeptical of RED‘s aggrandizements seem to agree that RED has delivered the goods, or at least on its promise of breakthrough image quality. Their not-quite-ready-for-prime-time “alpha cameras” have, in the hands of director Peter Jackson, captured scenes of World War I aerial dogfights between Fokkers and Sopwiths and trench warfare with a primitive WWI tank (life-size war toys courtesy Jackson‘s personal collection). I‘m told the images are simply stunning by those who‘ve seen them, including an effusive New York DP at a bar tonight, Jendra Jarnagan, who said she‘d spent four hours this afternoon at RED‘s booth. She also said–at least three times–that RED‘s images were everything she‘d hoped for “and more.” I don‘t think it was only the cocktail–or the Kool-Aid–talking this time.

I’ll have more to say when I see the RED demo myself. (4k and beyond is almost religion here–photo right.) But I‘m not at all surprised at RED‘s impact at NAB. The number of industry notables who have quietly consulted with RED has grown beyond those on the payroll such as Ted Schilowitz (formerly Aja), Stuart English (formerly Panasonic), and plug-in/codec maven Graham Nattress. Obviously I can‘t break confidences. But you can safely add David Macintosh of Accuscene, which was recently acquired by RED. Accuscene, you may remember, introduced a prototype color 1280 x 720 LCoS HD viewfinder on a Panavised Sony F900 as far back as NAB 2002. The word then was that Accuscene had struck an exclusive deal with Panavision to provide color HD viewfinders. I seem to remember that the Accuscene alone at that time was something like $12,000. Now it‘s a $2,950 RED accessory.

From Panavision to RED–doesn‘t that tell a story! (Amazing what you can learn late-night in a bar.)

As Apple has demonstrated in the eight years since Final Cut was introduced at NAB, splashy marketing can be fun and exciting (if not to your competitors), however at the end of the day products must be delivered that live up to aggressive hyperbole. (According to market researcher SCRI International‘s latest Broadcast & Professional Video/Audio Research Reports, Final Cut‘s share of the total 2006 NLE market is 47% compared to Avid‘s 22%–a reversal of 2002 market shares.) Salesmanship, after all, is the American way. Remember “Shock and Awe”?

It‘s worth noting that the other 4K camera manufacturer at NAB, Dalsa, has taken the opposite tack. Since introducing Origin at NAB 2003, Dalsa has quietly honed its underlying technology while relocating its camera operation from Ontario to L.A., acquiring a camera rental business down the road from Panavision to learn how the business really works, and consulting a host of prominent A.S.C. cinematographers. One result is a new, smaller Evolution camera, unveiled at the show. Available next year, it features the same wide 2:1 aspect ratio CCD as Origin, and like Origin, has two buttons only: on/off and start/stop. Particularly intriguing is a new compact T 1.4, 50 mm anamorphic prime, the first in a series Dalsa will design and produce for its cameras. (If you know anything about anamorphic lenses, you know that T 1.4 is extraordinarily fast.) Since Dalsa‘s CCD is already 2:1 in aspect ratio (OK, 1.961:1 to be exact), all that‘s needed to create a 2.35 image is a gentle squeeze of 1.2. If you look at the front of the lens, you can hardly see the cylindrical element prominent in conventional anamorphics.

Speaking of industry notables, it was none other than Dalsa Digital Cinema‘s new president, Rob Hummel–formerly of Technicolor, Douglas Trumbull‘s EFX shop, Sony, Dreamworks, Disney, and editor of the latest ASC Manual–who came up with the idea of an anamorphic lens series for Dalsa. On his second day at the job, he told me.

Isn‘t it great to have a formidable 4K camera staking out the high end of Digital Cinematography… and a formidable 4K camera carving out the low-cost end?

A classic flanking maneuver, or what?

Revisiting the topic of language and marketing, the NAB ‘07 Mind-Numbing Empty Jargon Award has been announced early at NAB this year (by me), and it goes to an editing systems company whose name begins with an A, not named after a fruit. During a presentation to the press yesterday, a company spokesman said without irony, “Our business is the business of business transformation.” About five people sitting in nearby rows turned and looked at each other in disbelief, two mouthing the words to see if they‘d heard them straight.

It‘s only Monday, folks. If I get a buck for each time in the next three days I‘ll hear further corporate-speak about interoperability, infrastructure, or improving workflow, why, I‘ll have enough to beat the blackjack odds downstairs in the casino.