NAB 2011 in Review: Part 2

It is easy to get lost in the week of chaos that is the NAB Show. In an effort to help those who may have missed the show’s biggest news items or just want to go back and reminisce about the event, here is part two of SVG’s three-part series, dubbed NAB 2011 in Review, which chronicles all the product announcements, deals, and personalities that made the biggest splashes in Las Vegas this year.

Fresh off the announcement of the new Cameron-Pace Media Group, 3D-production pioneers James Cameron and Vince Pace sat down for a one-on-one conversation with SVG to discuss the state of 3D sports production.

SVG once again had a sizable presence at the NAB Show, producing multiple sessions throughout the week. Among these sessions was an inside look at the new-look NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament from production leaders at CBS Sports and Turner Sports.

In addition, SVG’s Women’s Sports Media Initiative gathered 40 women at the Las Vegas Convention Center to hear an address by legendary sports director Sue Stratton.

The 2011 NAB Show also marked the debut of SVG’s “NAB Perspectives,” which offered fresh insights from industry leaders in the trenches:

  • Harris Broadcast President Harris Morris sees “content fueling technology change” in 2011 and beyond. With that in mind, Harris unveiled the Selenio Media Convergence Platform, a new product category serving multiplatform delivery.
  • The Sony booth was dominated by new camcorders, 3D gear, and advances in 4K and HDCAM-SR recording options, but it was the thinnest products, reference-grade OLED monitors, that Sony Professional Solutions of America SVP Alec Shapiro saw as the biggest game changer.
  • Panasonic’s Steve Cooperman highlighted the developments related to the AVC-Intra and Ultra flavors of the format as well as the company’s latest 3D offerings.
  • Tektronix unveiled the world’s smallest full-feature waveform monitor and rasterizer at the show. According to Richard Duvall of Tektronix, customers can customize the WFM/WVR 5200 with software to meet the specific needs of a given application and increase its feature set in the process.
  • Viewcast’s Jeff Kopang spoke of the migration to low-cost, single-operator flypacks to serve today’s multiplatform delivery needs. To help serve that market now, ViewCast has assembled a bundled encoder/switcher.
  • Ross Video chief David Ross expressed his reservations on 3D graphics: “There is simply a lack of people who are willing to pay the money to develop the necessary technology for mapping 3D graphics.”
  • The new TriCaster 850 Extreme was unveiled at the show, and, according to Newtek’s Philip Nelson, many of the upgrades are a direct result of feedback from the NBA and NBA Development League.
  • Kevin Ancelin of Adtec Digital has seen a major acceleration in the move toward MPEG-4 transmission over the past two years.
  • Rimage had an extremely busy show, inking deals with the Tennessee Titans and XOS Digital on the floor. Rimage’s Jason Evans also reported interest from the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Adobe unveiled the highly anticipated Creative Suite 5.5, and Senior Product Manager Ellen Wixted said the newest version of Production Premium caters to operations with file-based workflows and tight budgets.
  • Telecast Fiber’s Jim Hurwitz has been watching a fight brew in sports broadcasting between those moving to fiber cabling and those standing by triax. “In the stadium, some of them provide fiber, and some of them don’t,” he said. “So we have to be able to provide tools for both of them.”
  • With business development now relying on tapeless workflows and IT solutions, Dalet Digital Media Systems CEO Stephane Schlayen believes that media companies must start “thinking asset-centric and not program driven.”

Among other highlights from the show floor:

Part 3 of SVG’s NAB 2011 in Review will be posted on Friday. CLICK HERE to view Part 1.

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