Vegas baby! The ever-expanding NAB show is upon us once again, with a total of 1789 companies pitching their stands over one million square feet of exhibition space.
In 2016, NAB see debuts for a range of countries including Cape Verde, Somalia and Vanuatu as the three-day event promises its largest offering yet. TVBEurope looks ahead to some of the highlights:
‘Turn your 4K camera into four HD cameras’ is the statement coming from Datavideo, which will showcase its new KMU-100 (see below) , a 4K multi-camera production solution that delivers multiple virtual HD scaled camera angles.
The output of a single 4K camera is connected to KMU-100, which then displays up to four 16×9 user-defined cropped windows that are sent out as four separate HD signals through HD-SDI. These signals could be connected to any HD-SDI switcher, giving the illusion of a multi-camera production.
Phabrix will host two meeting rooms at its stand at NAB this year, showcasing its new Qx platform, targeted at 4K and 8K test and measurement.
Paul Nicholls, marketing director at Phabrix explains, ‘The reason we have invested so much at NAB is because the Qx technology offers unique T&M tools for manufacturers creating products supporting IP interfaces and SDI up to 12Gbps.
“The Qx offers a unique solution for both physical layer analysis and signal compliance and comes as standard with support for 12Gbps and beyond.”
Tedial is showcasing Version Factory, which it claims is the world’s first true media factory workflow. The company is marketing the workflow as a ‘single efficient and cost-effective workflow that supports millions of file input to output configurations. The system can be managed from a single operator screen, and is designed to interface content management, rights management, traffic and work order systems for automated operations.
It will also highlight its newly released Evolution BPM, designed to provide broadcasters and media companies with a cost-effective foundation to operate their businesses practices.
Tedial states that Evolution BPM is ‘the answer when an operation is struggling to manage an ever-growing number of workflows per day, hour or second,’ and claims that the solution can process 50,000 workflows in 2.9 minutes on an average sized platform.
It’s not all about the products. NewTek’s Broadcast Minds panel returns for its seventh year at NAB, providing insight from leading voices in the modern digital landscape on the future of broadcast and video communications.
Held on 18 April, this year’s panel will feature dialogue between experts from companies including Turner Sports, NBA Entertainment, Simplynew and NewTek.
Jim Louderback, editorial director at Vidcon, brand strategist at Wochit, and venture partner at Social Starts, will lead the panel in a dialogue that starts with today’s IP technology and peers into the future of this progressive shift in live production. Also involved will be Tom Sahara, Turner Sports; Steve Hellmuth, NBA Entertainment; Marc Scarpa, Simplynew and Andrew Cross, NewTek.
The Texas-based hardware and software company will showcase a ‘significant’ update to the TriCaster Advanced Edition, a software option available for TriCaster 8000, 860, 400 and Mini series.
With over 100 operator-centric capabilities requiring no additional hardware, TriCaster Advanced Edition now enables advanced IP workflows that help grow audiences, elevate brand standards and save valuable time. The update implements NewTek’s NDI technology, designed to allow users to work with low latency, broadcast-quality video via direct IP integration with other connected devices.
Globecast is exhibiting in the Connected Media arena in Vegas, and will be highlighting its playout and media management services. The company claims that its Media Factory solution leverages the company’s proven expertise in handling both linear and on-demand services through playout and over-the-top solutions. It is designed to take content from anywhere in the world, process it in any way required, and then deliver it anywhere to any device.
Jünger Audio will be focusing its attention on Smart Audio; a new concept aimed at helping broadcasters embrace automated audio production, particularly in live environments.
Peter Poers, Jünger Audio’s CEO, says, “The importance of consistent, stable and coherent audio should never be underestimated because it is so vital when it comes to attracting and retaining viewers.
“People don’t often complain about captions, graphics or subtitles, but give them poor quality sound − in particular, poor quality speech − and they will immediately reach for the remote.”
Amagi will unveil Thunderstorm, a new platform that inserts ads on the server side, designed to simplify the delivery of personalised and targeted ads on live and linear OTT feeds.
Complementing the Amagi stand will be the US debut of broadcast cloud Cumulus, which allows TV networks to prepare, manage, playout, deliver, and monetise their content through a single cloud platform.
India’s largest TV ad network will also debut Cloudport 3.0, which provides multichannel playout of both live and nonlinear feeds. The next-generation platform has transitioned from proprietary hardware to an Intel-based server in the cloud, which the company claims will offer broadcasters better control over their operations.
Screen Systems is to demonstrate its software-defined storage platform, MediaStor, which has been designed to provide flexible options for scalable online, nearline and archive storage built on commodity IT hardware.
Showcased alongside this will be the MediaStor Archive Blade, a 1RU storage chassis providing 128TB of storage as MAID (massive array of independent disks) architecture, utilising SMR (shingled magnetic recording) disks. MediaStor Archive Blade is, according to Screen Systems, transparently integrated as part of a MediaStor clustered storage platform.
SGL will launch its new version of FlashNet with an array of new features and supported formats.
Its new user interface, which will be incrementally rolled out over the next 12 months, is designed to provide customers with an elegant dashboard that further simplifies archive procedures with sophisticated tools for archive and restore functionality, system health, monitoring and analysis.
FlashNet now also supports AXF, Sony CI, Checkum and LTO-7 formats.
Last but not least, Videssence is set to add to the LED Fresnel family by introducing the Vidnel 150.
The addition expands the range of selections available from Videssence for complete studio lighting. The product is designed to offer longer light throw and expanded flood capabilities while still delivering colour at 96+ CRI. Its optic design is additionally intended to provide the single shadow and focusing characteristics essential to Fresnel fixtures while using a fraction of the power of tungsten units.
