At press time, some 115,000 attendees were expected to turn out for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention (4/22-26) in Las Vegas. Per usual, product and partnership announcements will be prevalent. But those developments—particularly for established equipment manufacturers—figure to represent a discernible departure from the norm due to a shifting marketplace.
With traditional revenue streams eroding and faced with unprecedented competition from emerging technology companies, mainstay equipment makers are diversifying into new areas. Additionally, the lack of cohesive standards in delivery formats has opened a new market for products which offer the flexibility to capture and output footage in multiple formats, switching for example, between standard definition, hi-def, and streaming media.
Reflecting the ever changing times, Sony Electronics, with a U.S. base in Park Ridge, N.J., has taken "Anycast, Anywhere, Anytime," as the company’s theme for this year’s confab. Recently addressing a group of journalists at Sony’s Atsugi, Japan, headquarters, Edward Grebow—deputy president, Sony Electronics, and president of its Broadcast and Professional Company—acknowledged that the past two years have marked a period of difficult transition in the broadcast, production and information industries. "Broadcasters have seen the continued erosion of their audiences. The Internet bubble has burst along with its potential for short-term profitability for traditional and new media companies alike. Equipment manufacturers like Sony have seen our traditional product lines become more and more dependent on software—to the point where software is at the core of our new business strategy," related Grebow.
To this end, Sony is moving beyond its core competencies in VTRs, cameras and displays, transforming into a company that provides, said Grebow, "total, networked solutions for managing video, audio and data content from acquisition to distribution." Broadcast will just be one part of the equation.
At NAB, Sony will be highlighting asset management, which includes the acquisition, manipulation, storage and distribution of content. Part of the corporate strategy is to stress that Sony is an "open company" and major partnerships can be expected over the coming week. For example, Sony recently acquired a minority interest in The Bulldog Group, a Toronto-based software company that provides integrated broadcast solutions for asset management.
Sony is also taking another foray into non-linear editing with the launch of a networked system, called XPRI, which comes in standard definition or hi-def. Available for shipping around May, it will retail for between $100,000 and $150,000 depending on configuration. Alec Shapiro, VP, marketing communications for Sony Electronics, Broadcast and Professional Company, said it was fair to say that Sony’s performance in this field hasn’t been too successful in the past, but he believes the company has it right this time: "We are working with a user interface that most editors will be very familiar and comfortable with. I think at this point there isn’t a non-linear on the market for 24P and so this provides that capability. At the outset of NAB, Sony hopes to announce the first commitment by a U.S. shop to XPRI, as well as some significant sales of camera equipment.
Believing that there are positive signs of life in the hi-def arena, Sony is placing bets both ways, and showcasing new switchers and routers that are switchable between hi-def and standard definition formats. Sony has strong expectations that the centerpiece switcher—the NVS8000—will be well received.
The equipment introduced at NAB this year for HD will be priced at virtually the same as digital betacam, according to Shapiro. "Not only has the pricing come down but there are many more interfaces available—both from Sony and other companies—that enable production houses to shoot in HD and dub down to standard definition for distribution," he noted.
Sony is showing a full range of digital cameras and camcorders from the DVCAM series through studio and production cameras for SD and HD production. The 24P hi-def camera system will also be shown. Shapiro said that backorders for these cameras, which have been in short supply, have now been met and the cameras are now readily available either to buy or rent. Sony’s Cine Alta 24P HD camera was recently used to lens a Ford campaign directed by Peter Gilbert of Santa Monica-based nonfiction spots for J. Walter Thompson, Detroit (SHOOT, 4/13, p. 1). The DP was Maryse Alberti.
During NAB, Sony will pre-sent the Media Master Award to filmmaker Spike Lee for his recent accomplishments in movie making using Sony’s digital videotape technology. Sony will additionally host a Cine Alta Festival that will feature the work of major filmmakers such as James Cameron.
PANASONIC
Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company (PBTSC) also didn’t mince words during its annual pre-NAB press conference, held at the Secaucus, N.J. headquarters of parent company Matsushita Electric Corp.
As an introduction, Steve Yuhas, president/COO of Panasonic’s Systems Sales Company, said: "Business is lousy. Sony flew you all the way to Japan to tell you business isn’t good. We are doing the same thing in New Jersey."
Yuhas conceded that the digital revolution has turned the business model upside down. "Panasonic was too old, too heavy, too difficult to move; we have to change and fully accept the responsibility. The old economy is crumbling and technology that once started at the top and moved to the bottom is now being reversed. As a manufacturing company we can no longer assume our customers will buy our products just because we are Panasonic," he observed.
Panasonic’s theme for all global shows this year, including NAB 2001, is: "Digital Networking for Life." "Last year, we said this could be the year of HD, but maybe this was premature, at least in broadcast," said Stuart English, PBTSC’s VP, marketing. "What is undeniable across the industry is that people are taking advantage of falling prices and rising quality to improve their overall image. So, in industrial we are seeing a huge shift away from VHS to DVS. And in broadcast, we are seeing a big shift from DVCPRO 25 to DVCPRO 50. In hi-def there is action but it is on the program and production side of the business," said English. This includes mastering digital copies of programs, which extends their shelf life and allows footage to be repurposed for broadcast, cable and syndication.
Panasonic will showcase variable frame rate hi-def cameras and SXGA resolution non-linear editors and large venue projectors, called DLP Cinema Projectors. "I think the opportunity for commercialmakers and distributors is going to radically change based on these products," predicted English. "By shooting on our variable frame rate camera, you can repurpose content for a standard definition commercial, a hi-def commercial or a digital cinema commercial. This will broaden the agency process beyond what they are currently thinking."
Attendees can expect a major announcement from Panasonic in the digital cinema arena. "We see opportunities for advertisers to put commercials into large venue applications in addition to television," said English. "With these new tools, the cost of editing is going to drop dramatically, the cost of acquisition is going to fall quite substantially and with digital projection the opportunity to put adverts in new venues such as at a digital cinema screening suddenly becomes a possibility."
A highlight from Panasonic is expected to be the AJ-HDC27V HD Cinema Camera, a multi-frame rate progressive-scan digital hi-def camera designed for commercials, music videos, documentaries, episodic television and theatrical release film production. The camera shoots at 24 frames progressively (24P) and offers numerous other frame speed choices. Because the 1280×720 pixel resolution of this camera is equal to SXGA, it is compatible with a wide range of computer graphics applications and desktop non-linear editing solutions. Panasonic also released a range of DVCPRO products, such as the AJ-HDR150, a Video Server offering multi-resolution recording and playback in the DVCPRO compression format.
Something to keep an eye on in the future is the development of plasma display technology, which offers a contrast rate of 3000:1. Panasonic has made a multi-million investment in building a new plasma factory in Osaka, Japan. English conjectured that there may be opportunities to provide advertorial-style promotions about products within a retail environment. "The trick is to put hi-def on plasmas to really give the footage a tremendous visual impact that you can’t get from standard-definition," he said.
QUANTEL
Following a successful management buy-out last year (SHOOT, 7/28/00, p. 6), U.K.-based Quantel will be highlighting new capabilities for its iQ range and additions to its Editbox feature set. Previewed last July at the company’s Newbury headquarters and formally launched at the International Broadcasters Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam last September, this will be the first time iQ has been shown to a wide U.S. audience. Dubbed the first workstation to support resolution co-existence, iQ offers the ability to work simultaneously on material of different resolutions within the same job. It combines the flexibility of a standard PC with the power of Quantel’s hardware to allow work in real-time on hi-definition material.
At NAB, Quantel will announce support for 2K resolution and color correction, moving iQ into film in addition to HD and standard-definition—all on the same system. While Quantel was tightlipped leading up to the confab, a spokesperson for the company said that there will be several major announcements regarding capabilities in film and HD editing, and in compositing by Quantel and other third parties.
DISCREET
Montreal-headquartered Discreet, a division of Autodesk, has adopted the theme, "Workflow–Integration" for NAB2001.
According to Terry Ragan, industry marketing director for Discreet, despite the generally gloomy economic outlook, Discreet is performing well with strong financial results for the year ending Jan. 31.
"The hot issue right now in the broadcast and entertainment space centers around increasing productivity either at the application level or across the facility and so we have been treating productivity, efficiency and cross-product integration as a feature across engineering," she stated. "Every team internally—whether they are on an editing, effects or animation product—is char-ged with continuing to improve the integration among our products and to make our own applications as efficient, lightweight and fluid as possible."
Expect announcements in the infrastructure space during NAB. Products to be highlighted include Backdraft 4.6, Smoke/ Fire 4.5, Edit 6 and 3Ds Max 4.
Backdraft 4.6 provides background I/O (input/output) capabilities, captures and outputs video and audio to/from the VTR, supports EDL capture and assembly, and uses VTRs as archiving devices for video resolutions. This eliminates the time-consuming administrative tasks usually completed by Inferno/ Flame/Fire/Smoke operators. "In case studies we are finding operators can save up to 30 percent of their day offloading these tasks through Backdraft’s background capabilities," contended Ragan.
The other issue being addressed by Discreet is the ability to output in multiple formats, such as hi-def, or a DV version for MPEG4. "We have always been resolution-independent and have supported universal mastering, but we are going to introduce some new platforms which will be announced at the show," said Ragan.
Edit 6 comes with new features around Web authoring, coding and publishing, which allow users to work in hi-resolution broadcast quality or to use a module within the unit called Slipstream. The latter enables the editor to output the story format to Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
A new module, Reactor, has been added to 3DS Max 4. Reactor adds hair and cloth and soft body dynamics. This is expected to appeal to animators wanting to create realistic characters with texture.
EVENTS AND
SUPER SESSIONS
On Monday (4/23), Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, will deliver the keynote address for the All Industry Opening; and NAB president and CEO Edward O. Fritts will present his annual "State of the Industry" speech. Additionally, RealNetworks, Seattle, chairman and CEO Rob Glaser will keynote the television luncheon.
This year’s NAB super sessions center around streaming media, interactive television (iTV) and further developments in technology. "The Programming Edge: Over-the-Air or Internet" will be the subject of a super session on Monday. "Interactive Lifestyles—Personalizing the Net" will be held on Tuesday, as will "Interactive Television: Technology in Search of a Market?"
And on Wednesday, the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) will present a content-focused HDTV panel entitled "Where the HD are We Going? The Status of HD Programming." The scheduled line-up of speakers includes Debbie Elbin, co-executive producer of 100 Centre Street; George NeJame, VP of operations and production for Tribune Entertainment; Deborah Stewart, VP, programming, Discovery Digital Networks; and Barry Zegel, West Coast VP of technical operations for CBS Studios.
The Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) is holding its annual national general membership meeting during NAB. A national AICE party will take place at the Canaletto Restaurant in the Venetian Hotel on Monday (4/23).
