NAB Recap, Part Three: The Show Rolls On

While much of the attention at the NAB Show focused on next-generation technologies like 3D, 4K, and improved second-screen publishing and content creation, EVS focused on a complete tapeless solution. The company has taken steps in that direction with advances for its XT3 server line, including more storage and the addition of automatic low-res–proxy creation, a feature expected to be available in the near future.

Another big headline from last week’s show was the release of Adobe Creative Suite 6. The latest version of Adobe’s production software, which will hit the market at some point during this quarter, includes major updates for Adobe CS6 Premiere Pro and promises “blazingly fast performance” and “streamlined workflows.”

Calrec demonstrated how its Hydra2 audio-routing system can interact with third-party control- and production-automation equipment, using a Ross switcher emulator in conjunction with Ross Overdrive technology, which allows visibility into and control over a number of settings.

Grass Valley was at the show with its usual wealth of hardware, software, and workflow options for broadcast professionals. CEO/President Alain Andreoli and his company tackle the challenge of refining product offerings to better serve existing customers and bring in new ones.

Sony Creative Software quietly showed an interesting new system that sports-audio post producers will find very useful. Spectral Layers displays audio in a frequency-spectrum format and allows the user to target a very specific part of it, isolate it, and flip the phase, essentially canceling it out without disturbing the audio frequencies around the target spectrum.

Telestream hit Las Vegas with what it believes to be the next great leap ahead in video processing: LightSpeed. Incorporated into the company’s two new Vantage transcoding products, Vantage 4 and Vantage Transcode HE Server, LightSpeed delivers five times greater performance to the Vantage product lines, according to Telestream.

At the forefront of Gepco’s offerings for the sports-broadcast market is a new line of ruggedized fiber-optic cables designed for portable applications in harsh environments. TactiFlex fiber-optic cables are both tough and lightweight, standing up to the rigors of mobile production while offering the flexibility of fiber.

Over the past three-plus years, Adtec Digital has gradually carved out a place in the sports contribution and distribution market. Last week at the NAB Show, the company showed off the results of those efforts with a series of next-generation product introductions, including a 1080p encoder and an adaptive-bitrate encoding option, and by teasing a series of 4K transmission tests set to take place this summer.

For outside-broadcast companies requiring rapid deployment of communication systems over long distances, Telecast Fiber is shipping the TR6442i CommLink fiber-optic transceiver system. Introduced at IBC last year, it is designed to carry two intercom channels over a single strand of fiber spanning distances of more than 40 km.

In live sports production, an integrated workflow from image capture to playback can mean the difference between getting the replay at the right moment and missing it. AbelCine is addressing this need for a seamless plug-and-play solution with its Live Sports System, shown for the first time at the NAB Show last week. Vision Research’s latest ultra-slo-mo Phantom camera, the v642, anchors the Live Sports System and was on display at the company’s booth.

The Mira instant-replay server has been on the market and in OB trucks across the country for more than three years, but, at the NAB Show, Abekas introduced a control surface for the device that promises to make life better for the person it affects most: the operator. With a specialized control panel and complementary graphical user interface (GUI), the Mira control surface simplifies operations and improves convenience and comfort for live–instant-replay operators.

At Storage Vision 2012, which coincided with CES, in January, Active Storage unveiled its mMedia Platform, an end-to-end workflow-storage platform for post and broadcast production. The system, which has begun shipping over the past couple of months, was available for demonstration at Active Storage’s booth.

Geir Skaaden, SVP of products and platforms at DTS, spoke about his company’s acquisition of SRS Labs. The two companies announced at the show that they had entered into a definitive agreement under which DTS will acquire all outstanding shares of SRS Labs in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $9.50 per share, or approximately $148 million in aggregate equity value, including acquired net cash of approximately $38 million as of Dec. 31, 2011.

Since being launched half a decade ago, Civolution has largely been known for its content-identification and -protection services. However, over the past year, the company has used its watermarking and fingerprinting technology to become a pioneer in the synchronous-screen world with its SyncNow media-interaction technology. Last week, Civolution followed up with a new dual-screen video-ad platform based on its SyncNow technology.

At last year’s NAB Show, the big news for Dalet was the introduction of Dalet Sports Factory, a media-asset–management platform that also served as a logging, clipping, and replay tool for live event and postgame coverage. This year, the company showcased the latest version of Dalet Sports Factory.

Bob Boster, president of intercom manufacturer Clear-Com, spoke with SVG about how the transition to wireless and IP-based communications isn’t as simple as it might seem. He noted that sports is looking for simplicity and ease of use in communications systems. That, he believes, will be fostered by greater use of wireless-intercom capability. That was underscored by the introduction of Seamless Roaming capability for Clear-Com’s Tempest2400 digital wireless system