NAB Floor Report by Patrick Gregston This year’s NAB was so big that an extra floor of display space was created for it at the Sands Expo Center, along with an additional half day of time for attendees to explore it. But despite the inducement of a pub on the new floor, traffic was relatively light in the convention’s aisles – maybe because of the state of the economy. Also absent from this year’s NAB were the flashing bouncing balls, bubble pens, and other swag usually used to draw crowds to booths. Still there was plenty to see, and some interesting new applications showed that digital technology continues to change production and post-production. While no technology offered revolutionary change, several companies exhibited products that offered advances. Panasonic showed an HD camera that can shoot all of the HD formats and switch between interlace and progressive at the touch of a switch. Watching the same image shot through the same optics but displayed in different formats was an interesting exercise. To this viewer, at least, 480i appeared as detailed and clean as 720i. Sony presented so much hardware that in addition to having the largest single stand on the floor, they filled a side hall as well. Their most intriguing offering was the XPRI, a standalone system capable of editing uncompressed 1080-24P video (with up to five hours of media) or HDCam (up to 55 hours), with real-time effects, titling and multiple layer capability. The compact package features one of the most attractive editing interfaces ever offered by a major supplier, including soft knobs that change function depending on which task is being done, and dedicated consoles for motion control and effects creation (see From the Publisher). Avid focused on its Unity-based broadcast solutions and emphasized the ability to have workgroups in both local networks and remote locations. Send and Review, a net-based technology for viewing and commenting on edited sequences, became available this year. Avid also announced a new low-priced DV Xpress, available for under $6000, as well as a software-only version for $1700. Apple displayed Final Cut Pro workstations that were networked using Transoft hardware. In addition to Apple’s own display, Final Cut Pro applications were all over NAB. Pinnacle showed the CineWave card, which uses FCP to edit uncompressed 24P, and Aurora had a FCP system that works in real-time at 24-fps with 3/2 removal and restoration. The biggest news, however, was that Apple had purchased Focal Point Systems, makers of the FilmLogic software plug-in that produces film cut lists. No announcement or plans were forthcoming from Apple, but the action spoke for itself. Lightworks demonstrated the upcoming Vox in networked form. With many enhancements, the familiar interface now supports plug-in applications for titling and effects. With beta testing expected during summer, Lightworks hopes to be taking orders at IBC next September. Other interesting developments were a number of storage solutions targeted at DV editing systems such as Final Cut Pro. Among those were Medea, La Cie and in a new addition to their line of audio networking devices, Glyph. There were also a slew of new editing appliances – black-box, turnkey nonlinear editing systems with prices starting as low as $1200 for the latest entry from DraCo, whose Casablanca appliance has gained tremendous acceptance among educational and industrial users. As usual, unexpected jewels could be found among the pocket-sized booths around the edges. This year’s diamond in the rough was definitely Picture PipeLine. Funded and engineered by TRW, and designed in collaboration with producers at Warner Brothers, Picture PipeLine gives users a secure way to stream digital dailies to production personnel at remote locations. Because Picture Pipeline images can be played back only on the application, the system protects productions against the theft of physical files, as well as theft during online transmission. Perfect synchronization among multiple locations, along with integrated video conferencing support, means you can see the faces of your producers while they watch your cut, even if they are on a different continent. Picture quality was very impressive in the demos.   Patrick Gregston is a Guild Board Member. He can be reached via email   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Magazine Vol. 22, No. 3 - July/August 2001   Guild Home | Magazine Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 2001, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700