Archive of the Press Conferences Category

Sunday morning started with a magic bus ride. Rolling down city streets, through underpasses, along Interstate 15 at 70 mph, and finally pulling into an underground casino parking lot, a handful of journalists including yours truly got a preview from Samsung of a proposed enhancement to ATSC that enables perfect mobile reception of digital TV, particularly to handheld devices.

What‘s the big deal? In a word, YouTube. Even the most benighted of computer illiterati grew acquainted with the pleasures of Flash files over the past year. (Thanks in large part to Paris Hilton, but that‘s another story.) The idea that it‘s fun to watch videos in a small window a few inches from your nose instead of from across the living room floor has now entered the public‘s consciousness. Apple‘s video iPod is another manifestation of this shift in TV viewing habits, as will be the larger, sharper iPhone when it debuts in June. more

Nearly five years ago at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival‘s technology gathering, Vince Pace brought a 3D rig that was two Sony F900s–maybe they were F950s–literally taped together…with tape. Since then, Pace and James Cameron have been chasing the 3D dream with a conviction that only deep pockets can enable.

The Sony press conference opened with a far more polished version of Pace/Cameron 3D. It’s called Fusion and it’s had a successful workout by the NBA. So successful that the NBA is considering extending the reach of the All Star games with international 3D broadcasts. The idea that movie theaters could also be used for these types of special presentations has been around since the beginning of digital cinema. Is this progress? Stay tuned, so to speak. more

At its press conference this afternoon, Panasonic unveiled nothing too surprising. Of course, that can be seen as a testament to the prudence of its current direction — namely, nonlinear acquisition via solid-state media in the form of P2 cards. (Not to mention the fact that Panasonic previewed its most prominent NAB product announcements in February.) (Read the press release at The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink) Indeed, Panasonic’s most oft-repeated announcement during its NAB press conference was the new five-year warranty that will be standard for all full-size P2 camcorders and related field equipment.

So what were the specifics? Well, our editors covered two of the big announcements before the show: the HPX500, a full-size 2/3in. 3CCD P2 HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses (for an agressive $14K) and the tiny HSC1U, a 1.1lb. camcorder that shoots long-GOP AVCHD to SD Store memory (not P2; $2,099). more

Avid demo guru Michael Phillips got to show off a marquee feature of Avid‘s new editor release for Xpress pro, Media Composer, and Symphony. Called ScriptSync it‘s an indexing feature that matches dailies to script scenes in…well 15 seconds in the demo, for something that would have taken 2-3 hours, Phillips reminded us. At the Avid booth, you can see more on this shipped release and also see the Media Composer running on the new 8-core Intel-based Mac.

At Avid‘s press conference today CEO David Krall marked the company‘s 20th anniversary with a few dramatic facts, some to do with nearly a billion dollars in revenue, similar sums of R&D, and a furious output of patent applications–I think he said one every 15 days for 20 years. He also looked ahead–or rather looked around–at digital content and its proliferation across multiple devices and channels. It‘s a reality Avid has expected (or has been trying to hasten) for as long as I can remember.

VP of Worldwide Marketing for Avid Video Jeff Stewart picked up the thread in a straightforward presentation that reinforced the idea of Open Avid. Much of Avid‘s historic innovation was made possible–at least initially–by being the opposite of open. But that was then. Now Avid has to work harder than some to make a convincing case for openness, even though that has been the company‘s direction for some time. more