High definition and low resolution were two of the buzzwords that came out of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention held in Las Vegas from April 8-13. Another popular phrase was divergent media. Indeed, many attendees say they found this years NAB a sometimes frustrating and, at times, an almost surreal affair. There were well-received displays of hi-def cameras, telecines, and other equipment, and on the other end of the spectrum, many vendors were pushing low-resolution transmission systems that involved streaming media and broadband.
I personally found it very frustrating, observes Dean Winkler, president of Post Perfect, New York, and COO of the New York Media Company, which is comprised of several New York-based companies, including Crush Digital Video, Cyclotron, and Superdupe. There is a huge discontinuity going on in the [production and postproduction] world, and NAB represented that. We saw incredible, gorgeous high definition pictures, but then everybody was also focusing on streaming at three hundred kilobytes a second.
It seemed to me that there was less of a traditional video emphasis and more an emphasis on content management and delivery, says Dan Rosen, president of Manhattan Transfer, New York. There was more emphasis on servers and streamers.
Nonetheless, many NAB attendees had favorable reactions to the different attempts to improve image quality and image quality correction. Godfrey Pye, president of Sunset Digital, Burbank, Calif., reports that he was very impressed by Hampshire, U.K.-based Snell and Wilcoxs Archangel, a video resolution restoration device which works in real time. Were hearing all the time that content is king, notes Pye. Film libraries are sold for huge amounts of money. There is a proliferation of channels and media to place content. This [device] potentially makes [correcting damaged film] worth while. It becomes cost-effective.
John Dowdell, VP/Spirit Datacine director of The Tape House Advanced Imaging Center, New York, was enthusiastic about the IntelliDeck Hi-def video sweeting master system from MTI, Anaheim, Calif. Theyve come up with a fine way of hiding or correcting dirt, he reports, and then theyre able to edit and finish in high resolution and then output into various formats. Dowdell found the systems features useful: the IntelliDeck is fully integrated, and resolution independent. It includes hi-def and standard-definition video disk recording, image processing, standards conversion, and aspect ratio format conversion. Software modules and a video disk recorder replace the stand-alone hardware products commonly used for image processing and standards and format conversion. With IntelliDeck, the film is scanned as 2K data from a Spirit, and once its on the hard drive, the actual film is no longer needed.
All noise and grain reduction, as well as dirt scratch removal functions, can be completed using IntelliDeck. Selectable filters for noise and grain reduction prevent resolution loss or introduction of artifacts. The original HDTV files reside on a fiber channel drive array, providing instant access and safe storage capacity. Digital Restoration Services (DRS) can be applied prior to down-converting and multiple HDTV output format versions can be generated from the final sweetened HDTV master. IntelliDeck automatically detects and corrects any 3:2 pull-down errors introduced in the editing process, and IntelliDecks Format Conversion module handles any video standard and includes conversions between all of the HDTV formats, plus Cineon, DPX and D16.
John Palestrini, CEO of New York-based Blue Rock Editing, was struck by the latest developments in the Philips Electronics Spirit film-to-tape transfer equipment, which allows transfer to all HDTV broadcast formats, including 1080-interlaced, 720-progressive and 480-progressive. It also supports 1080-progressive/24-frame (24P), the standard from which all HDTV formats can be produced.
There was, in fact, a lot of buzz about high-definition equipment, which was heavily in evidence. This years NAB saw 1080/24P emerge as the hi-def standard, with products being showcased that supported the 24-frame progressive idea. A number of attendees were taken with Sonys HDW-F900 camcorders and the companys HDC-900/950 studio and portable cameras. Significantly, the systems are designed to work in either 24P or in 60/50 interlace. The video on those systems is the best looking Ive ever seen, reports Winkler. And the beauty of it is that, at twenty-four frames per second, you can go back to film. After years, its finally a reality. This is very significant for the post community. The big drawback of hi-def has always been that you havent been working at twenty-four frames per second, so you do not have a one-to-one relationship. If I master in that format, I can make copies across formats, in any delivery standard I want, including film.
Dowdell was equally impressed with the aforementioned Sony cameras, and the 720 Progressive Philips from Panasonic because both can mimic film. It makes video look slightly more like film, softening it and you do not get that harsh video look. If you want to deliver program material to England or Europe in PAL, you can do a conversion out of hi-def standards. Panasonic has a universal format converter.
Although pleased with the new hi-def offerings, many expressed frustration at the pace of HDTVs entry into the consumer market. Im tired of seeing all these beautiful pictures on beautiful monitors at NAB, says Winkler. I want to go home and see them on my home screen.
Dowdell, for one, places the blame on pricey consumer equipment and lack of HD programming. One problem is the displays available to the public, he says. Plasma screens are still very expensivearanging from ten thousand dollars to twenty thousand dollars for hi-def, although it is getting better. Panasonic showed a very nice rear-screen projection TV that was eighteen inches thick with a fifty-two-inch screen that used Texas Instruments DLP technology. They expect that to be in stores by November for less than ten thousand dollars. But the biggest difficulty in selling sets is that there isnt enough [hi-def] broadcasting. Even on high-definition programming, none of the commercials are made in hi-def. Youd think the clients would want their material to be made that way. But right now, its too expensive.
Convergent Media
Although Dowdell admits that the pace of adopting hi-def is slow, he also feels that some of the hardware and software in evidence at NAB will speed up the timetable for increased hi-def use in the U.S. He cites a relatively inexpensive Intel-based plug-in software card from BroadLogic, Milpitas, Calif., for a PC that allows the computer to receive enhanced TV signals.
The images looked superb, he observes. If these cards are built into computers for future sale, you will have computers that are HD-ready. It will help solve the Achicken and egg problem. Without a big audience, clients dont want to spend money for HD. And because of that, broadcasters are not sending out as much [HD programming]. But if I have this card, I can watch HD on my computerayou have an instant audience, and thats going to help the business.
Dowdell points to another element that could lead to the merging of television programming with Web browsing techniques. With a hi-def signal, a great deal of data can be transmitted in addition to the picture, and on enhanced TV, the supplier can conceivably create buttons and pull-down menus which a viewer can click on for more information. The Intel technology purports to make it easier to create such enhanced digital television (DTV) programming, which can be received and displayed by specially equipped PCs and other devices. The technology could allow producers of digital television programming to use HTML to easily combine text and graphics with the video portion of a digital television signal. Program guides, sports statistics, and biographical or other descriptive information could be inserted into a digital television program for a viewer to access while watching.
If you happen to be watching a documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright, explains Dowdell, and you want to see blueprints of a house, you can click on the screen and get it. Think about it: you can be watching a sport event and you can click on and get statistics, even as youre watching it. Its exactly like being on a Web page, but with an enhanced picture. Broadcasters can become more like Web servers. Imagine how it can be used for commercials: youre sending out a commercial for a new BMW. By clicking on, the viewer can get examples of accessories, and data. I think this card could get more commercials made in hi-def.
Desktop deals
In addition to the Intel demonstration, computer maker Compaq had technology demonstrations of DTV-enabled computers, and committed to having products later this year. Compaq joins Intel and several other companies in providing the new capability for TV viewers to receive DTV broadcast signals on their PCs. BroadLogic, Creative Labs, and Teralogic are developing PC-DTV receiver solutions. Avid Technologies, Tewksbury, Mass., is developing a new authoring tool that creates interactive DTV content (see separate story, p. 30).
Attendees at NAB also expressed a great deal of interest in desktop computer systems. What was really evident was the high proliferation of these systems, says Jack Schaeffer, president of The Finish Line, Santa Monica. More so this year than last, I can sense the migration on all levels of technology from station playback and automation to postproduction, at a fraction of the cost. Agrees Rosen: I observed that there were a lot more affordable effects equipment available as desktop stuff. This kind of democratization adds to a broader number of people who can do effects or editing in one form or another.
As an example of such a system, Dowdell points to the Apple G4 with Pinnacle interface EditPro hi-def desktop editing software. [Apple demonstrated] how you can do uncompressed hi-def editing on a Macintosh. It looked great, although its 8-bit and I think it needs to be 10-bit, on a G4 Macintosh with plasma screen. And at twenty-five thousand dollars, it is [relatively] cheap.
Schaeffer says he noticed one major trend on display at NAB: Whats dramatically changed is that companies are opening up the architecture of computers to provide software solutions. Half-a-dozen companies might have elegant morphing software that you buy as a plug-in. I see growth in that areaaof having hardware people encouraging software people to do plug-ins, to create open architecture.
But the recurring issue was divergent media in the postproduction world. I left the show feeling Id been challenged with divergent media, Schaeffer notes. As a ser-
