NAB Highlights
My NAB trip summary follows and because it is very long it has been placed under the .
I arrived in Las Vegas after a marathon drive to LA and then to Las Vegas so I was sleep deprived from the git go, so what else is new. Anyways this precondition of my own making was the biggest cause I think of my feeling like I had been through a meat grinder while at the show and I am sure affected my enjoyment of being there, at least to some degree. Anyways on to the show.
This year Sony announced some new cameras most notably the PMW-320 which is a half inch version of the PMW-350 announced last September that uses the more standard two-thirds inch sensors. See my LJ post for more information. (http://tigerwayne.livejournal.com/10629.html) When released this June it will have an MSRP of $14000 to $14800 or so. They had an engineering version there at the show, serial #0005, that I looked at and I have to say it is a very nice camera. The lens has very little barrel distortion at wide angle and does not breath which is nice. Sony also announced an adapter that allows this camera to be used in a multicam situation with triax as well. The sensitivity of the 320 is F10 @2000lux compared to F12 of the 350 which would be expected with the smaller 1/2" sensors. Overall it is a very nice camera but I would not buy it because I still prefer the PMW-EX3 or to be more precise the updated EX3 that I am hoping Sony will do this year. The EX3 although not an on the shoulder camera is still a 1/2" sensor camera that gives outstanding quality with the provided lens, is less in cost and light enough that I can still use it on the Steadicam when needed and because it can replace the EX1 I would only pay an incremental cost so the overall outlay is much less.
At the Anton Bauer booth (now part of the Vitec group) I was informed the propac nicad battery is no longer being made because Sanyo is no longer making the cells. This battery has been around it seems for ever but with the new lighter LI batteries on the market only the strong diehards will be sad to see it go.
There was a lot of buzz on 3D. Virtually everyone was showing some type of product to help you with your 3D project. I may be cynical but I am not really sure that 3D will catch on except for the theatrical productions like Avatar, the gaming market, and perhaps high end home theaters. I remember when quadraphonic stereo came out and didn't go anywhere so I guess 3D is still an open issue. Time will tell if it will be in wide spread use in the broadcast market. That said there are many stations in the US still broadcasting in SD with no budget to upgrade to HD and now 3D broadcast, with the increased bandwidth requirements I just don't see it happening.
Sony was also showing the under $5000 NXCAM handy-cam type camera recording on SD cards up to 24Mbps using the AVCHD codec. Adding the optionally available 128GB flash memory unit that snaps onto the rear of the camera yields about 11 hours of recording time, more than enough I think.
Sony also has the VCT-SP2BP shoulder mount for the handy-cam family of cameras. This adapter allows for shooting in the hand held position with the weight carried to the shoulder and chest via a chest brace however one can rapidly go from the hand held configuration to sticks as this unit rapidly folds and mounts on a standard Sony tripod plate. One can also go from sticks to hand held very quickly as well. The VCT-SP1BP is a mono-pod for ground based shooting but can also be mounted in a shoulder supported cup located at the waste for better weight distribution to allow for elevated shooting and normal height shooting.
On the very high end of the production spectrum they were demoing the SRW-5800 deck that has a web browser built in. This feature allows you, using a standard browser, to go into the deck via the Ethernet port and select which cuts on the tape you want, and extract them as MXF files in compressed form. You are still playing the tape at real time speed but getting a data file instead of video. Also they were demoing a PCI express card with the HDCAM SR codec on it that will allow you to record HDCAM SR quality video on your pc. This $2000 card will capture via HD-SDI video, encode it using the HDCAM SR codec (hardware based) and all the computer has to do is store the 440Mbps data from the codec. I think this will be a real popular item when it is released. Imagine being able to record HDCAM SR quality video, Sony's top of the line format, with your PC and this card. It blows my mind just to think about the possibilities.
I spent some time looking at switchers and am more confused than ever now. At lease I know what vendors stuff I need to look at later if I get to a point that I really need one.
Stopped at the Tiffen booth to see the lowel lights and Steadicam gear. Garret Brown was there helping folks with trying out the Steadicam units. Two new models were announced, the Zephyr and the Tango. The Zephyr is a compact unit carrying a payload up to 20 lbs. The Tango is a new concept featuring a built in jib arm for light weight cameras permitting floor to ceiling booming. Lowel has a nice light model Fluo-Tec Studio that comes in a 2 to 8 lamp configuration and has DMX control. The 4 lamp model looked nice but I think it is too expensive at about $1800 each.
At the Kino Flo booth I saw two models that interested me. The 4bank system has 4 4' high output lamps in a single fixture, with DMX, with a wide selection of lamps and not too expensive relatively speaking. Also the Diva-Lite was interesting, a nice compact self contained light for small jobs.
At the Western Digital booth they were showing their line of external hard drives. The item that caught my attention was the WD TV Live HD Media player. This media player is on sale using the special code NAB2010 until 4/21 for $119.00. Also on sale is the My Passport Essential SE 750GB portable HD for 119.99.
At the Pro-CYC booth was a transportable green screen corner and floor for doing chroma key shooting. The only thing I don't like about it is that it still requires the plastering of the joints and painting. I am looking for a setup that literally installs in hours and has a seamless wall and floor.
There were many other items that were interesting to numerous to mention. You really have to be there to take it all in. If interested make plans to go in 2011.
That's all for now.
I arrived in Las Vegas after a marathon drive to LA and then to Las Vegas so I was sleep deprived from the git go, so what else is new. Anyways this precondition of my own making was the biggest cause I think of my feeling like I had been through a meat grinder while at the show and I am sure affected my enjoyment of being there, at least to some degree. Anyways on to the show.
This year Sony announced some new cameras most notably the PMW-320 which is a half inch version of the PMW-350 announced last September that uses the more standard two-thirds inch sensors. See my LJ post for more information. (http://tigerwayne.livejournal.com/10629.html) When released this June it will have an MSRP of $14000 to $14800 or so. They had an engineering version there at the show, serial #0005, that I looked at and I have to say it is a very nice camera. The lens has very little barrel distortion at wide angle and does not breath which is nice. Sony also announced an adapter that allows this camera to be used in a multicam situation with triax as well. The sensitivity of the 320 is F10 @2000lux compared to F12 of the 350 which would be expected with the smaller 1/2" sensors. Overall it is a very nice camera but I would not buy it because I still prefer the PMW-EX3 or to be more precise the updated EX3 that I am hoping Sony will do this year. The EX3 although not an on the shoulder camera is still a 1/2" sensor camera that gives outstanding quality with the provided lens, is less in cost and light enough that I can still use it on the Steadicam when needed and because it can replace the EX1 I would only pay an incremental cost so the overall outlay is much less.
At the Anton Bauer booth (now part of the Vitec group) I was informed the propac nicad battery is no longer being made because Sanyo is no longer making the cells. This battery has been around it seems for ever but with the new lighter LI batteries on the market only the strong diehards will be sad to see it go.
There was a lot of buzz on 3D. Virtually everyone was showing some type of product to help you with your 3D project. I may be cynical but I am not really sure that 3D will catch on except for the theatrical productions like Avatar, the gaming market, and perhaps high end home theaters. I remember when quadraphonic stereo came out and didn't go anywhere so I guess 3D is still an open issue. Time will tell if it will be in wide spread use in the broadcast market. That said there are many stations in the US still broadcasting in SD with no budget to upgrade to HD and now 3D broadcast, with the increased bandwidth requirements I just don't see it happening.
Sony was also showing the under $5000 NXCAM handy-cam type camera recording on SD cards up to 24Mbps using the AVCHD codec. Adding the optionally available 128GB flash memory unit that snaps onto the rear of the camera yields about 11 hours of recording time, more than enough I think.
Sony also has the VCT-SP2BP shoulder mount for the handy-cam family of cameras. This adapter allows for shooting in the hand held position with the weight carried to the shoulder and chest via a chest brace however one can rapidly go from the hand held configuration to sticks as this unit rapidly folds and mounts on a standard Sony tripod plate. One can also go from sticks to hand held very quickly as well. The VCT-SP1BP is a mono-pod for ground based shooting but can also be mounted in a shoulder supported cup located at the waste for better weight distribution to allow for elevated shooting and normal height shooting.
On the very high end of the production spectrum they were demoing the SRW-5800 deck that has a web browser built in. This feature allows you, using a standard browser, to go into the deck via the Ethernet port and select which cuts on the tape you want, and extract them as MXF files in compressed form. You are still playing the tape at real time speed but getting a data file instead of video. Also they were demoing a PCI express card with the HDCAM SR codec on it that will allow you to record HDCAM SR quality video on your pc. This $2000 card will capture via HD-SDI video, encode it using the HDCAM SR codec (hardware based) and all the computer has to do is store the 440Mbps data from the codec. I think this will be a real popular item when it is released. Imagine being able to record HDCAM SR quality video, Sony's top of the line format, with your PC and this card. It blows my mind just to think about the possibilities.
I spent some time looking at switchers and am more confused than ever now. At lease I know what vendors stuff I need to look at later if I get to a point that I really need one.
Stopped at the Tiffen booth to see the lowel lights and Steadicam gear. Garret Brown was there helping folks with trying out the Steadicam units. Two new models were announced, the Zephyr and the Tango. The Zephyr is a compact unit carrying a payload up to 20 lbs. The Tango is a new concept featuring a built in jib arm for light weight cameras permitting floor to ceiling booming. Lowel has a nice light model Fluo-Tec Studio that comes in a 2 to 8 lamp configuration and has DMX control. The 4 lamp model looked nice but I think it is too expensive at about $1800 each.
At the Kino Flo booth I saw two models that interested me. The 4bank system has 4 4' high output lamps in a single fixture, with DMX, with a wide selection of lamps and not too expensive relatively speaking. Also the Diva-Lite was interesting, a nice compact self contained light for small jobs.
At the Western Digital booth they were showing their line of external hard drives. The item that caught my attention was the WD TV Live HD Media player. This media player is on sale using the special code NAB2010 until 4/21 for $119.00. Also on sale is the My Passport Essential SE 750GB portable HD for 119.99.
At the Pro-CYC booth was a transportable green screen corner and floor for doing chroma key shooting. The only thing I don't like about it is that it still requires the plastering of the joints and painting. I am looking for a setup that literally installs in hours and has a seamless wall and floor.
There were many other items that were interesting to numerous to mention. You really have to be there to take it all in. If interested make plans to go in 2011.
That's all for now.