Panasonic, Sony and ClearStory Among Those Expected To Make News At Vegas Confab
By Carolyn Giardina
LAS VEGAS --In the pre-show frenzy that each year dominates the months lending up to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention–which begins Saturday in Las Vegas and concludes April 21–the need for a complete workflow has never been more evident. That need is driven by fundamental changes occurring in the industry, including new formats, changing distribution requirements, and a shift toward higher resolution product.
These new distribution channels are viewed as a key to Grass Valley’s growth in the coming years, according to Marc Valentin, president of Thomson’s Grass Valley business.
One way that Grass Valley is addressing this issue is with its new dMAX inititative (Digital Media Asset Maximization), essentially a new system integration and support service aimed at offering this complex task under one roof.
“The industry has become about getting any content, any time, any place,” said Jeff Rosica, VP of strategic marketing, Grass Valley. He added that this is also about delivering to any type of device, including HDTV broadcast stations, cable and satellite, and even mobile devices–in fact, expect much talk as well as some demos to address the move toward delivering content on mobile devices from the likes of the DVB and Harris.
“Our customers face disparate requirements for effective workflow,” continued Rosica. “dMAX offers a single integration partner.” More specifically, under the Grass Valley umbrella, a company can find a single integration partner that will deploy Grass Valley and third-party technologies. Grass Valley’s services would include software and middleware frameworks, applications such as asset management, system integration and support services to create an end-to-end workflow. Integration includes a new Grass Valley OnCall service agreement
As well, research and development continues, and Grass Valley reported that later this year it would introduce a new software-based workflow management application for managing digital audio and video clips.
ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
- Panasonic will introduce an HD 24p camcorder for less than $10,000. The prototype is under development, but a company spokesperson did report the handheld unit will handle DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 and DVCPROHD recording, and should be available later this year. Further, the CCDs being developed for the camcorder will be native 16:9, and footage will be recorded on P2 flash memory.
A reliable source told SHOOT that the camera would have variable frame rate capabilities; Panasonic declined to comment.
- Sony’s Monday evening Cine Alta night will include clips from the upcoming Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, which was among the first productions to use the Cine Alta F950 camera system that records a 4:4:4 RGB image to HDCAM SR videotapes, as well as several additional feature and television projects. These images will be screened in 2k from Sony’s new 4k-capable digital cinema projector; the 4k projector will be used to demo 4k imagery in the Sony booth on the show floor, according to a Sony exec.
- ClearStory Systems, Westborough, Mass., will be in the NAB Digital Asset Management (DAM) Pavilion, demonstrating its Radiant Enterprise Media Server content management tools–which could be used standalone or as part of a system for managing content creation through distribution, and includes collaborative postproduction features.
Ad agencies, advertisers, and the post community are among the targets for this company.
The Java-based system can be offered as a full service product, or as technology to enable customers to build their own applications. A pre-release version of the Radiant technology is already in use as part of Ascent Media Group’s new Hub asset management system for the advertising community. (Hub was covered in last week’s SHOOT). Ascent Media Group is the Santa Monica-based parent of such companies as R!OT and Company 3. In Hub the ClearStory technology is used for DAM functions such as security and version control, reported ClearStory VP of marketing Susan Worthy.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More