Archive of the Broadcast Category

Monday’s dharma at NAB was about bigness and smallness, and I’m still thinking about it.

Yesterday Tim Robbins gave the keynote speech. Ever since FCC Chairman Newton Minow gave his famous “vast wasteland” speech at NAB in 1961, it seems NAB has played it safe. Past keynotes I’ve attended have featured Ronald Reagan (attacked on stage by an ice sculpture-wielding assailant, yards from where I was sitting), Barry Diller, Richard Parsons of Time-Warner, James Cameron and the like. Safe Republican choices, not likely to get former NAB CEO and good ol’ boy Eddie Fritts in any Washington hot water.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Convention Center this year.

How Tim Robbins got invited to give the keynote is anyone’s guess. But there he was, on stage, facing a large morning audience of radio and TV broadcasters, cable owners and mixed-media types. more

Back from the show. I like taking a day or so after my last postings to look through everything I’ve collected, selecting some last items to include in a final wrapup. While that’s not a lot of time for deep reflection, I am at least far enough away from the hype of the moment to enable a bit of perspective.

At the NAB press office earlier this week I overheard an NAB official talk to the editor of one of the leading trade mags. He was asked about what he thought would be among the most exciting developments of the show. Instead, he begged off answering, stating that as far as he was concerned it was all just a rehash. He could find nothing new or interesting worth commenting on. more

FOR-A Corporation, a leading manufacturer of video and audio systems for the broadcast and professional video industries, will introduce expanded input/output options for its VPS series of digital switchers, including the VPS-700 GINGA and the all-new VPS-715 GINGA 1.5 M/E switcher at NAB 2008 in Las Vegas from April 14-17, 2008 (Booth #SU5220). Read on at The Briefing Room

More 2008 NAB Show news from The Briefing Room

When a company with a product line as big and deep as Autodesk makes its NAB presentation, you’ll forgive them for thinking like an auto company and describing the updated apps as their 2009 product lineup.

Trevor Boyer has already posted notes about Autodesk’s Sunday press conference. While each of the major products announced have plenty of notable and usable improvements, I’ll vote for lower price points and ability to work with compressed media as the most significant moves that herald future trends. Smoke 2009’s $64,000 tab for a turnkey hardware/software finishing machine–storage included–is a great breakthrough. For the first time, (fiscal) hope is offered to those many mid-level shops which blanch when faced with six-figure offerings from Autodesk, Quantel, et.al. (At present, this was described as an introductory price available through July 21, 2008. It’s a little unclear what happens after that; maybe if enough new buyers are attracted, the price will hold.) more

Harris had its press conference on Sunday. This news is coming a bit late, of course, but that’s probably because the conference was aimed more at broadcasters than content producers, so it’s a bit outside our usual area of coverage. Still, you’ll want to pay attention to this news, as it has implications for the new ways the public will be accessing and viewing video in the next few years.

Among the news about its various broadcast systems (servers, routers, DTV transmitters), Harris also discussed its MPH initiative that it’s undertaking with display manufacturers Zenith and LG. MPH, which stands for “mobile/pedestrian/handheld,” aims to send video to mobile devices via “in-band” transmission — over the air, within the existing digital spectrum available to broadcasters. more

My first post-lunch meeting yesterday was with NewTek, where I saw a demonstration of TriCaster, the company’s portable live production system. I was in that post-lunch lull, but the capabilities of the system (and booming, piercing voice of the demonstrator) perked me right up.

Let me say up front that I’m continually amazed at the functionality NewTek builds into their little boxes. Seems like I’m not the only one, as the NewTek rep rolled off customer after customer, like NBA, Fox Sports and the NHL.

Here are some rough impressions. The new slow motion control is a real winner for sports and other live shows. It’s a separate piece of hardware that costs $995, and during live playback, you mark the in point then the outpoint, then send the clip to the DVR where you can play it back at will at any speed. Very nice. more

One of the coolest products I saw at the show came to me by chance as I was hurrying across the North Hall, that almost always deserted-as-a-ghost-town hall. Maybe it’s not something a journalist would, or should, admit to, but when walking across such halls I sometimes feel sorry for the companies that have booths there. The booth employees make longing glances at your press badge as you hurry by. I usually find myself mumbling something like “Oh boy, really late again…” as I shuffle past looking for the exit.

(Hey, it just struck me–it might be helpful to someone who has never been to the show that one way to get a sense of it is to begin by thinking of a really huge amount of enclosed space. Okay? Divide that up into three big spaces/buildings, but not evenly: have each one gaining on the next. Good. Now think of these as having personalities. Maybe something from Goldilocks and the three bears could work. For example, North Hall seems a little too quiet at times, but it really is the smallest of the three in floor space, so that fits. Next, move on to Central Hall–yes, it’s laid out right in the middle of the three halls. Central Hall usually seems just about right; whether it’s crowd size, said crowds attendant caffeine levels, or amount of shouting needed to make yourself heard in the hallways, everything comes out about average. But now walk into the last of the three, the very oversubscribed South Hall. Here, just think of those over-crowded, sweaty fairgrounds you’ve encountered, or maybe a dangerously over-packed subway platform, something you might not want to navigate on a regular basis, but with everyone running. Yes, even in Las Vegas too much, it turns out, is really sometimes too much.) more

There was something of a Yogi Berra moment at the Hard Rock Cafe on Sunday when Avid’s new executive VP and then the new CEO took the stage to pledge that this time we’re going to get it right.

Oh no, I thought, not another set of promises about working well with others and thinking outside the box. Well, we got those promises again. And yes there were some snickers around the floor of Hard Rock’s music venue (Avid’s traditional space over their years at NAB) at inappropriate times from the hundreds in the audience of users along with a smattering of press.

After all, neither CEO Gary Greenfield nor Kirk Arnold, executive vp and gm of Avid Video, have any video industry experience. (Give Avid’s board credit though–both of these very recent hires have solid reps for turning around high tech companies.) more

I just came from the extremely amusing “Trusting Talent: My Damn Channel” panel presentation at the Content Theater in the Central Hall. And besides being rather chuckle inducing (you should really check out “You Suck at Photoshop” and other programming at www.mydamnchannel.com ), it was actually rather thought provoking.

The entertainment site’s president/CEO, Rob Barnett, showed up with two stars/programmers of two of the eight channels on My Damn Channel–internet/cable TV oddball Andy Milonakis and legendary comedian/satirist/author/actor Harry Shearer, and in between clips and jokes, they proffered their theory that My Damn Channel and certain other entertainment sites finally have a chance at success now that “the bandwidth is finally there,” in Barnett’s words. He laid out a business model that doesn’t attempt to craft a new paradigm so much as combine old and new paradigms together. more

Broadcast Pix is growing - financially, yes, but also physically. The manufacturers of all-in-one video production systems recently moved into new, bigger office space in Billerica, Mass.

That follows the company’s growing presence in church control rooms, universities, corporate video departments, as well as traditional over-the-air stations. When I visited the Broadcast Pix booth on Monday, company president Ken Swanton had just met with reps from a major sports broadcaster (can’t say who, of course) who have decided to buy several systems. Swanton says that his integrated production systems have been so popular because his competitors in the space can’t match the low latency of the Broadcast Pix systems’ hardware switching, crucial for live broadcast and even IMAG situations. more