By CAROLYN GIARDINA
With about a month and a half to go before the 1999 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention commences in Las Vegas, preparations are well underway.
Here is some of the early talk coming out of the post community: AICE is arranging its annual meeting and party, which will be held at the Monte Carlo this year. (The prior site at the Hard Rock Hotel is under renovation.). Avid Technology chairman/CEO Bill Miller is scheduled to attend the annual meeting for some Q&A.
ITS has scheduled a board meeting and several judging sessions for the 1999 International Monitor Awards.
NAB housing is filling up fast. Anyone who has not yet sent in his or her housing request should do so ASAP. Bellagio is completed and open, and may be one of this years hot spots.
The expansion at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which was under construction during last years show, is completed and attendees can expect moreayes, moreaexhibit space. The Sands Convention Center, of course, will also be in use. Exhibits open April 19. The opening ceremony is also April 19, during which Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corp. of America, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address, followed by NAB president/ CEO Edward O. Fritts with a State of the Industry address.
The exhibitors are in full swing with NAB plans. For trade journalists, one sure indicator is the annual pilgrimage to Panasonics Secaucus, N.J. offices for the companys pre-NAB press briefing.
As this years briefing began, newly named VP of marketing Stuart English unveiled the companys NAB 99 show theme, Your Vision. He explained that the theme was selected because DTV means different things to different people. The critical thing is that the industry adopts digital, English emphasized. A significant and growing portion will invest in HDTV. Panasonics arsenal of technologies for NAB A99 is largely aimed at broadcasters. Emphasis was placed on Panasonics DVCPRO lines, including its latest DVCPRO HD.
Among the most notable announcements for the post community is Panasonics development plans for a switchable 1080I/P, 720P VTR, which the company expects to ship by NAB 2000 for not more than $100,000. Director of product marketing Rick Albert said the VTR was actually in response to a request from the Hollywood community, primarily for use during the high-end telecine process.
English addressed the talk of 1080P/24 as a postproduction format, saying the company is supportive of the process.
But English said Panasonic views the 1080P/24 debate as a year 2000 issue, not a 1999 issue. At present, Panasonic sees the format primarily for post, as evidenced by the VTR announcement. English said 1080P has potential as an acquisition format in the future, but we are not hearing demand for it at this point in time. Aside from the VTR, Albert said there were presently no other 1080P products in development.
Among Panasonics postproduction offerings this year is Postbox 2000, its latest nonlinear editing system ($39,900). With this version, the company appears to be testing new markets. During the press conference, Panasonic showed a Postbox 2000 video, comparing it to Avid Technologys flagship Media Composer nonlinear editing system. The short video included a splitscreen comparison of Avids AVR77 resolution and Postboxs image resolution.
At its press conference, Panasonic announced that its first AV-HS3100 MilleniuM high definition switcher with integrated DVEs was delivered to The Tape House, New York. The switcher is installed at Tape Houses linear online HD suite, which is also equipped with three D-5 HD VTRs for machine to machine editing with Accoms Axial 3000 edit controller; a Panasonic AT-H3015W 30-inch, 16:9 HD monitor; three Panasonic DT-M3050W 30-inch multiformat monitors; and two Sierra digital disk recorders. The room had previously been equipped with a prototype of the Panasonic switcher.
Panasonic reported additional switcher orders from Complete Post and Post Logic, both in Hollywood.
Alias|Wavefront
Maya will again be the focal point of SGI subsidiary Alias| Wavefront, Toronto, at NAB, explained Mark Sylvester, ambassador at Alias|Wavefront. Central in this years message is Maya Complete 2-D/3-D software, which is based on the basic Maya package and integrates many of the effects and tools available in the advanced modules.
Maya Complete also includes a new feature, interactive photorealistic rendering (IPR), which allows users to process color and lighting effects in real time. You are rendering your images on the screen as you are making the changes. … This is a huge change in the way we have done things in the past.
Maya Complete lists for $7,500 and is available for SGIs UNIX-based workstations. An NT version is scheduled for a June release. Alias|Wavefront is no longer selling the base Maya with add-on modules. We felt a better strategy is to get away from the module concept and think about complete solutions, Sylvester commented.
At NAB the company is also launching Maya Infinity; this includes Maya Complete and modules Maya Live, Fur and Cloth (These advanced modules are not included in Maya Complete.) It is scheduled to ship for UNIX and NT platforms before SIGGRAPH and lists for $16,000.
For Road to NAB editorial consideration, submit all information to Carolyn Giardina, senior editor, postproduction, SHOOT, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Phone (212) 536-1427, fax (212) 536-5321 or e-mail to cgiardina@shootonline.com.
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