In an exclusive interview for The Road to NAB, Steve Russell, marketing manager of film imaging products at Philips, Salt Lake City, showed Philips NAB hand for the first time. Separately, Tektronix, headquartered in Wilsonville, Ore., made some early announcements regarding its myriad of NAB technology.
Philips booth will include new technologiesaincluding a 1080P/24 digital VTR utilizing the D6 formatawhen the NAB kicks off its annual convention in Las Vegas this coming April. The VTR is the cornerstone of a complete solution Philips intends to suggest to the post community for creating and delivering programs and commercials to DTV-ready stations.
As is D1 in the analog world, 1080P/24 is the highest image quality offered in the Advanced Television Systems Committees DTV standards table (Table 3). Many in post consider this format to be the holy grail of digital formats. To date there is little 1080P/24 equipment available, but that is expected to change. Numerous postproduction pundits predicted as early as last fall that 1080P/24 technology would be the talk of NAB 99. Panasonic and Sony are among the manufacturers promising to show such equipment.
Standards, of course, remain a gray area. CBS and NBC support 1080I; ABC chose 720P; and FOX announced that it would broadcast 480P (widely viewed in the U.S. as standard definition) and experiment with progressive-scan HDTV formats.
If you look at the way the industry is going, there are lots of requirements for content de-livery, Russell said, noting that in post, this could amount to big problems to re-edit and re-transfer. He explained that there exists a need to define a common, single postproduction format. 1080P is the highest common denomination, Russell commented. Since its 24, it fits nicely into the realm of film and [eliminates the need for] 3:2 pulldown.
Russell suggests this: Master in 1080P/24, then transfer that master to the various other standards for delivery. In order to accomplish this, Philips will unveil at NAB a new digital VTR, the DCR 6024, which is a joint development between Philips and Toshiba. It will be marketed, branded and supported by Philips. The DCR 6024 is scheduled to enter beta in June and ship in September. (Beta sites have been secured and will be revealed at a later date.)
As the market transitions toward HDTV format 1080P/24, there is a need for a high-end uncompressed HDTV recorder, Russell said. They [digital VTRs] are offered by Panasonic and Sony. Although adequate, they do use compression. We think for postproduction … you need an uncompressed recording format.
The new DCR 6024 is built to accommodate D-6, an uncompressed digital HDTV format developed six years ago to support 1125/1250I. (Neither is included in Table 3.) Russell emphasized that Philips expects D-6 to coexist with Panasonics HD D-5 and Sonys HDCAM formats. He suggested D-6 as the common postproduction mastering format and HD D-5 and HDCAM as the delivery formats.
The DCR 6024 supports multiple formats, among them are 1080P/24 and 1080I/60. The VTR is also designed to cross play (i.e. record at 24P and play at 25P) in order to accommodate multiple requirements without external conversion.
The DCR 6024 is designed to support up to 12 channels of audio with the uncompressed video. Russell pointed out that currently formats on the market provide four channels, but the ATSC audio standards require a minimum of six channels. The VTR records YUV and lists for $190,000. Russell recommended the VTR for telecine as well as online situations.
Russell said Philips wishes to add functions to branch the machine into different markets. At NAB 2000, Philips intends to unveil an option to record RGB on the same machine, which he said suits the needs of the graphics market. At the 2000 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), the company expects to show a data interface, enabling the VTR to record data as well as video.
At NAB 99, Russell said Philips would also unveil a 1080P/24-output option for its Spirit Datacine, which will be available at the show. (Incidentally, Philips expects to celebrate the sale of its 100th Spirit at NAB.)
In a related announcement, Philips will also launch Specter, a virtual Datacine whose de-velopment was announced last September at IBC. Russell said Specter is in beta and Philips will be taking orders at NAB.
With the Specter, Philips introduced a new way of handling film-to-tape transfer and secondary color correction while util-izing the telecine resources more cost-effectively. Russell explained that post houses could 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.
Referring to Specter as a Spirit in a box, Russell commented that one Spirit could essentially accommodate multiple Specters. At NAB, Philips will unveil a new feature for the Specter, conformance editing, which Russell said allows users to auto conform an Avid EDL into 2K data. He added that Specter could handle basic transition effects including wipes and dissolves. The efficiency should go up, he enthused of commercialmaking.
Tek
At NAB this year, Tektronixs Ray Baldock, direct of product marketing, explained, Its our intention to roll out cost-effective production [technology] from standard to high definition.
Advanced technology manager Peter Symes explained that customers are making non-traditional choices [due to the HD transition], repurposing products in different roles. Thus, Tektronix will show a wide range of products this year.
The Profile digital disk recorder product line will shift upmarket and downmarket at this NAB. Tektronix will launch the Pro series, a lower-cost, feature-limited version scheduled for availability shortly after NAB. It also intends to announce the development of a Profile server to accommodate HD images, and commit to delivery in time for the FCC-mandated deadline for broadcasters to be sending a digital signal. Prices will be announced at NAB.
Further, Tektronix will announce up to 50% cost reductions on Profile products through the availability of a new 18-gigabyte disk drive.
Tektronixs Grass Valley unit will return to its audio roots this year with a key development. The company believes that the advent of DTV, with its multichannel digital audio, has increased audio routing requirements. Thus, it will unveil the SMS-7500, a synchronous AES/ EBU digital audio router. May availability is anticipated. The SMS-7500 targets both broadcast and postproduction applications.
Post houses may also be interested in checking out Grass Valleys model 110-HD production switcher ($64,950), whose new chroma keyer option ($8,200) is scheduled to begin shipping later this month.
Looking ahead, Symes said Tektronix is preparing to announce support of the 1080P standard. Pointing out that technical requirements are not yet determined, he said it is premature to make firm development announcements.
When asked what advice Tektronix would offer post houses during the transition to digital broadcasting, Symes suggested they find their own niche. No one can be everything to everybody. Not everyone is going to change from an SD to HD house. … We see people being more creative with their dollars … as it makes sense for their business plan.
Absent from this years booth with be Lightworks editing systems, which Tek began phasing out during 1998. Symes emphasized that although the company is no longer promoting the product line, it would deliver on its commitments.
The Road to NAB will run each week in SHOOT through April 2. For editorial consideration, please submit all convention information to Carolyn Giardina, senior editor, postproduction, at SHOOTs New York office or e-mail cgiardina@shootonline.com.
