Major manufacturers were unleashing final pre-NAB announcements as SHOOT went to press this week. The National Association of Broadcasters convention will be held April 17-22 in Las Vegas.
At press time, Sony Electronics, Park Ridge, N.J., and Discreet, a Montreal-based division of Autodesk, were slated to announce a collaborative effort to deliver integrated HDTV production tools by combining Discreet’s resolution and format-independent editing and effects software with Sony’s HD equipment, including the HDCAM family of products and the recently announced 24P HDTV mastering systems. Exclusively to SHOOT, the companies revealed that they are developing software that would enable input/output, storage and manipulation of compressed HDCAM format HDTV images over SDI interfaces (See separate story, p. 50).
Earlier, Tewksbury, Mass.-based Avid Technology unveiled its DTV/HDTV strategy, which entails 24P support for current and future technologies, including Symphony, Media Composer and Softimage|DS. It also announced plans to develop a HD conforming and finishing system, code-named Avid HD, which will be previewed in a technology demonstration at NAB. Meanwhile, Quantel, Newbury, U.K., was expected to make DTV-related announcements during a press conference scheduled to take place as SHOOT went to press.
Heavy emphasis will again fall on DTV and HDTV at NAB this year. In particular, expect increasing support from the post community for 1080/24P as a postproduction mastering standard, and a growing list of manufacturers with plans to support the format. (DTV/HDTV topics will be detailed next week in SHOOT.)
But there are many and varying buzzes about NAB in the spot community this year. While impossible to detail all, here are some highlights: DTV, HDTV, 24P, SynaPix, Avid, Discreet, Quantel, Cintel, Philips, Sands, Spago, Sony, Bellagio, E-commerce, E-cinema, networking, storage, NT, I/O, ITK, ITS, AICE-and golf.
The challenge this year, pointed out Tom Angell, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Interface Group, is that "we have to make moves for the immediate future and be prepared for the long term." To that end, he suggested that NAB attendees will be looking at HDTV and the relationship between video and the Internet. "Both of these play an important part in our future," he said. "These are areas of monstrous change that will define the products and services of the next 20 years."
So with an eye toward the future, the post industry will be looking at a broad range of products in areas that include nonlinear editing and telecine. It will also be looking at storage, networking and "glue" type products to make working environments more efficient. "To me there is always a lot of dramatic change [at NAB]," said bicoastal Mad River Post principal/editor Michael Elliot. "[The issue becomes:] Can you actually afford to jump in and utilize it?"
Many believe NAB ’99 will be a show about process, not products. But if there will be showstopper product, pre-show buzz points to SynaPix, the Lowell, Mass.-based startup that seems to have generated an almost cult-like following since showing a technology demonstration of developing software at NAB ’98.
SynaFlex is an analysis, choreography and compositing software that converts 2-D film and video into 3-D, and provides a 3-D workspace to combine CG and real images. It allows the artist to work in a 3-D structure with camera movement, reducing or eliminating the need for rotoscoping, matting and layering.
Many see this developing technology as a whole new paradigm for working. New York-based beta sites Splash and Click 3X (with additional offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco) expressed optimism over prospects for SynaFlex. 525 Studios, with locations in Hollywood and Santa Monica, is also scheduled to become a SynaFlex test site, and 525 president Eric Bonniot enthused, "I think it could bring 3-D and compositing together."
One of SynaPix’s most vocal enthusiasts is Larry Bridges, owner/editor of bicoastal Red Car with offices in Chicago and Dallas. "It’s getting closer to being a real product," Bridges said following a recent demo. "It continues to challenge the production paradigm … The desktop now allows for [the creation of a progressive] mise-en-scene.
"One room editing for commercials is closer to becoming a reality," he continued. "It brings directing and cinematography into the editing room. It’s turning into a desktop camera."
Transfer
Michael Taylor, managing director of Santa Monica-based Riot (formerly Encore Santa Monica), is also seeking something new. "We are looking at concepts," he said. "We’re interested in looking at technology and techniques that would change my business paradigm." To truly address this, Riot is sending its artists to NAB this year.
Riot’s plan of attack includes checking out Philips’ Specter, a "virtual Datacine" currently in beta. With the Specter, Philips introduced a new way of handling film-to-tape transfer and secondary color correction while utilizing the telecine resources more cost-effectively. With Specter, a post house can digitize film in the Spirit and store the data files in Specter, which could work directly with a Pandora or da Vinci control for color correction, freeing up the Spirit for additional transfer work.
On transfer capabilities, 525 is exploring other options. It recently took delivery of Cintel’s C-Reality telecine. At NAB, Bonniot intends to additionally check out U.K.-based ITK’s HD upgrade for the URSA Diamond.
In general, Bonniot’s goal this year is to "look for more cost-effective ways to do the work we do now [and make it] transparent to our clients." In fact, throughput, networking and storage are key on many agendas this year.
Editorial
Like most of the editorial community, Elliot will be taking a hard look at the uncompressed, nonlinear editing options offered by Avid Technology. "There’s a legacy there," Angell commented. "[Editors] do have a desire to stay with Avid."
Elliot has high hopes for Symphony and the not yet released Mac-based uncompressed Media Composer-code-named Swirl, according to reliable sources. "It’s their strength. It always has been," he said.
Alan Miller, VP of postproduction at New York-based Moving Pictures, already has Symphony, and expects that it will generate attention as this year it will sport an improved feature set, including color correction tools, as well as the just announced 24P capabilities. "People are starting to jump on the bandwagon," he said. "I think editors really like it. I have yet to hear from someone working on it that doesn’t like it."
Every year just prior to NAB, rumored product announcements emerge. Avid is typically a part of the chatter, and this year is no different. Elliot heard a rumbling that Avid will unveil a "true" Media Composer on the NT platform. Avid would not confirm or deny this rumor.
