Archive of the Digital Content Creation Category

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

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

With the increasing use of capable high-end digital cameras, the ability to manipulate data as soon as possible looks to yield great benefits in speeding production as well as ensuring delivery of the directors vision. UK-based FilmLight made a move in this increasingly competitive space–Arri, da Vinci, and LaserPacific are just a few of the companies working on products and proposed solutions–with the introduction of Truelight On-Set at the show.

The company has made a name for itself as one as the leaders in color management technology in post. On-Set takes that capability to the earlier stages of a production, enabling the director and DP to set a look during the shoot that will serve as the foundation for color correction in post. more

Cine-tal Systems, a leading manufacturer of image processing, display and collaboration solutions used in digital cinema and video production, has reached an agreement with Rising Sun Research (RSR) to wholly acquire its cineSpace color management technology and product line. Read on at The Briefing Room

More 2008 NAB Show news from The Briefing Room

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

For those Mental Ray users out there with questions about what will happen with the Mental Images line, I don’t have answers, yet. Officially, neither does Nvidia’s Dominck Spina. Yet. But as you can imagine, it’s sort of an embarrassment of rendering riches at Nvidia now; work is underway to design the best future for both Gelato and the Mental Images products. It seems inevitable that those futures will change, given Nvidia’s opportunity to deploy both. Since Nvidia acquired Mental Images in December, the focus, Spina says has been analyzing the very different roadmaps and build new roadmaps. Juxtapaosing IP, inevitably changes both roadmaps, especially since the two companies were pursuing very different rendering technologies. Complementary, Spina seems to think, but different enough to suggest there is a new best way to go forward for both Gelato and Mental Ray. Both…being the operative word.

Spina himself is only about a year into advancing Nvidia’s goals for GPU rendering for Gelato among other things. So the opportunity to put these two great graphics leaders together is I am sure a big job. Not only do the Mental Images IP, technology, and team have to be integrated with the Nvidia, but the Mental Images OEMs must also factor in the merge. As a reporter I wish I knew more.

You may not be familiar with the term, the product, or maybe even the concept, but iVDR (Information Versatile Disk for Removable Storage) is big…in Japan. There, the compact, ruggedized storage is turning up in devices such as Hitachi’s plasma TV, which features a slot to hold these hot swappable HDDs. The consumer version of the drive contains—don’t be surprised—content protection firmware, in this case from the SAFIA group that can be triggered by content owners (TV stations, studios) to control who can record a TV show or movie.

The iVDR Consortium itself began in 2002 by companies including Canon, Fujitsu, Hitachi, SANYO, and Victor Company of Japan, joined later by the likes of Seagate and Maxell. However, the concept of creating a removable hard disk drive industry standard, one compatible with a broad range of devices from AV to PC’s, never really caught on with U.S. consumers. more

Most know EDIROL, Roland’s line of audio production gear, for its portable handheld (and larger) audio recorders and mixers. At the Roland booth, we got a look at the company’s latest in an expanding line-up: the EDIROL F-1 Video Field Recorder, which combines video capture with multi-channel audio.

This small black box with LCD screen fits onto a camcorder via a standard brick battery attachment; the battery then attaches to the F-1. While it adds a bit of weight and length, it seemed to balance well with longer beaked camcorders from Canon and JVC.

In addition to capturing HDV or DV video (there’s no 2GB or 4GB file size limitation as with some other products) the F-1 offers two additional balanced audio inputs for capture of uncompressed linear broadcast WAV (these channels are in addition to the two channels that are already part of the video stream). The two add-on channels offer improved 16-bit/48Hz audio quality over that of compressed HDV audio. more

My taxi from McCarran Airport makes a beeline down Paradise Road–a corridor of clutter and billboards hawking spent acts like Bill Bixby, Jamie Farr, and “comedian of the year” Rita Rudner–to the Las Vegas Convention Center and NAB 2008. It’s good to be back.

At LVCC I encounter the weekend calm before the storm. The show floor is being readied for the thick, swarming crowds that will arrive on cue Monday. True to form, incongruities are in place too. At the LVCC’s entrance sits parked a cube truck dressed as a giant tube TV with eight-foot rabbit ears. Ohhh-kay…

What catches my eye is the message displayed on the big mock screen. “What is the digital television (DTV) transition?”, it asks the unassuming passerby. more

Digital Rapids is showcasing its complete range of market-leading solutions for media capture, encoding, transcoding, protection, streaming, delivery and playout at the NAB Show in booth SL8724. Digital Rapids solutions enable content and rights owners to effectively repurpose their content for new platforms, devices and distribution opportunities, from IPTV and VOD to mobile phones and the Web. Continuing to set new standards in quality, productivity, flexibility and workflow efficiency, Digital Rapids is featuring new enhancements to the solutions that helped earn the company two prestigious 2008 Frost & Sullivan Awards in the World Video Encoders and Transcoders market. Read on at The Briefing Room

More 2008 NAB Show news from The Briefing Room