We asked Guild members who went to NAB to comment on what they felt were the most important issues, products, and working trends they saw this year. Here's what we heard:

Lewis Goldstein, Supervising Sound Editor, Technical System Integrator, C5, New York: This was my first year attending NAB. I primarily went to see what was on the horizon for high-definition video and how it could be utilized in audio and film post production.

But first I checked out Digidesign, to see what Pro Tools was up to. The HD system has 128 voices, and that's something that I could really use. Now that we are laying out our tracks in a 5.1 pre-dub manner, having enough voices is always a problem.

I then stopped at Doremi Labs and saw their new V1 Server HD system -- talk about a great looking and functioning box. Imagine having a high-def image in the cutting room instead of the awful looking digital images we use now. It wasn't cheap --but a hell of a lot cheaper than a D-5 or HDCAM system.

HD projection was amazing. Panasonic had a projector (the PT-D9610U) that looked great in a fully lit room. Pretty soon that's what we'll be using on the dubbing stages. I've been very interested recently in using HD systems for both dailies and previews. Here, film projection has only a few years left, if that.

J. Paul Huntsman, Supervising Sound Editor, Warner Brothers and Editors Guild Board Member: Practically everything designed for what we do is becoming portable, from the laptop version of Final Cut Pro to the latest audio workstations. That concerns me in terms of the decentralization of the work that we've traditionally done in the Los Angeles community. While that may have implications over the long term regarding where the work is done, I believe the determining factor of who will be doing the work is still the experience and sensibilities of the people involved. Portable or not, the fact remains that tools are only tools.

However, I did take a look at what some toolmakers were up to. I saw a demo of Fairlight's V motion system and the DREAM (Digital Recording Editing and Mixing) DAWs. The V motion hard-disk video player/recorder provides instant video access through a server or stands alone, with ingenious touch-screen controls and fingertip scrolling. Frame-accurate Locator Tiles (screen images) allow navigation to programmable points. It is nimble and quick and definitely worth looking at.

Rob Nokes, President, Sounddogs: For sound editors, the single most important idea at the show was that Steinberg Nuendo is a software-only product that meets industry editing standards, and the cost is substantially lower because Nuendo does not require an expensive DSP hardware set. This will help editors and facilities stay cash-flow positive as equipment rental rates decline.

For picture editors and assistants, Final Cut Pro is feature-capable, and the price makes it possible to have numerous systems in the cutting room. Personally, I found the FCP hardware and software setup to be extremely easy, and this should translate to less need for technical support. If Apple and Steinberg were to join forces, they would have the two best price-to-performance products in the business, and editors would have a better workflow and a healthier bottom line.

John B. Rotondi, Chief Engineer, Enterprise Post, Burbank: I thought the DrivelineNet redundant hard-disk array was interesting. It was designed specifically for post production, as opposed to the general-purpose computer disc arrays that the manufacturers have, unfortunately, expected us to use in the past.

Corey Bailey, General Manager, NT Audio Video Film Labs: I spent an inordinate amount of time gathering information on digital video projectors for our studio screening rooms, only to find out that most of the stuff I was looking at will be obsolete in six months, supplanted by new models. For the most part, video projectors have been reduced to the size of a lunch box and still cost as much as a good used car.

While in the Pioneer booth, I noticed their Pro DVD-Video Recorder (PRV-9000). This is a standalone device that works like a VCR and accepts composite and S-Video inputs, as well as i.LINK (Firewire) for DV. Panasonic also makes one (DMR-E20), and though Pioneer's appears more professionally oriented, both work very much like video decks and could easily replace the now unsupported 3/4" video format.

While I gave a look at the various dubbing consoles at the show, I have to say that if I were a console manufacturer, I would be looking over my shoulder at Digidesign. From the looks of things, one could replace the console and the entire machine room with a Pro Tools/HD system driven by their ProControl system for about 10 cents on the dollar of the price of today's digital dubbing consoles alone! OK, OK, that's an overstatement. The fact is that the ProControl tops out at 48 faders and doesn't have anywhere near the control depth of today's two million dollar consoles...yet.

Mackie has come out with their own digital audio workstation called Soundscape 32, which is quite an impressive package in all. One of their claims is stability, because the system is not an interface to a PC or Mac. It's a dedicated, standalone system that, according to Mackie, is crash proof. (Mackie claims that it avoids "spontaneous profanity in front of clients.") The system looked to be very user friendly and already has plug-ins from Aphex, Dolby, TC/Works, Cedar and others.

One little pearl of a find was from Adrienne Electronics: Among other things, they make PCI Bus cards that will lock your computer clock to any number of references generated by the card, or externally. The most expensive model, which generates/reads/translates everything, is only $645 -- very handy for all of the CPU-based equipment these days.

Bill Johnston, Vice President of Engineering, Liberty Livewire Audio, L.A. and N.Y.: One of the things our team looked at was the Nuendo system by Steinberg. No comment yet, except to say that we're always looking at new options, and we're watching Nuendo's development closely. We are also always actively pursuing WAN and server-based networking tools, which were abundant at NAB. Generally speaking, professional audio is utilizing more "prosumer" audio tools than ever, and the support of the professional feature film industry is diminishing rapidly. It has become a difficult business for manufacturers to support. It's a small industry, and designing digital gear requires specialized, task-specific R&D. These digital tools are currently far harder to build and modify than the analog gear of the past. And since manufacturers are forced to reach a wider market, we're not necessarily their primary target. So the professional film sound market is becoming more about the talent and creative interfacing, and less about the specific tools.

NAB 2002 Video | Digital Cinema Summit