Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
Blogcast
MillimeterNAB 2005
Mar 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By S. D. Katz, David Leitner, Dan Ochiva, and Bob Turner
 With today's rapid changes in media technology, NAB 2005 attendees will add broadband, IPTV, and other convergence technologies to the latest trends in DI, 2K, HD, and 24p. |
For every new DI, HD, and HDV product garnering attention, just as many manufacturers will emphasize upgrades, add-ons, or partnerships to deliver more value from their established products.
Either way, this NAB will not be spoon-fed to attendees — many companies have been closed-mouth leading up to the show, and if there is an over-arching marketing spin, it's not in evidence, at least not yet. Many of the new products will be at their most interesting when fit together with other products in that oft-cited quest for “workflow.”
A few examples: While the concept of workflow improvements regularly turned up in company brochures over the past few shows, companies including Grass Valley will now offer specifics. GV's new dMAX initiative, for example, calls for maximizing digital media assets by becoming a single-source integrator, delivering software, products, system integration, and support services, all in an effort to create that nirvana of optimized, end-to-end workflow.
FilmLight also has a plan. The UK-based company promises to demo a series of toolsets that address various workflows that incorporate “all formats from SD video to 4K film.” Discreet will push its data-centric approach to post at its booth by interconnecting its entire product line via Gigabit Ethernet, while debuting new tools and a new network architecture designed to optimize facility workflows, according to the company.
Look for the fruits of an HD collaboration among HP, Intel, Adobe, Microsoft, Matrox, and Blackmagic, and expect to see the once-pricey and still-quality Teranex format-conversion technology show up in an unexpected way.
If you want to take a break from the product mania, consider a couple of educational opportunities among many:
The Global Society of Asset Management's 3rd Annual DAM Pavilion can help you wade through MXF, AAF, and other acronym-prone metadata concepts. Discreet will offer training sessions for Smoke, Flame, and 3ds Max users and newbies. Da Vinci will take the curious on a tour of the Colorist Toolbox for one hour each day of the show. This year's NAB Post|Production World Conference will feature more than 230 training sessions covering the latest tools and techniques for video/film editing, special effects, audio/sound editing, web design, 3D animation, and DVD authoring. (See the insert on page 67 of this issue for more.) So expect to dig in and look for the technology and combinations that will make you more competitive, creative, or productive.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.