JUNE 2013
NAB 2013 - Las Vegas - Part Two Last month, I led with the theme of 4K. Naturally, there were other products and services that weren’t 4K or even needed to be but, nevertheless, were good improvements in technology in their field. I didn’t notice any real “break -through” products but a number that were smaller, faster and cheaper than before. For example, in the “smaller” category, the WEVI and Marshall video transmission systems were highlights; for “faster”, there were the Fusion io and HP’s Z820 while for “cheaper”, Avid MC, helicopters and Atomos recorders were all surprises. In the “I’m not so sure” category, the Adobe Creative Cloud model has yet to convince me that it’s better for me; the plethora of cheap LED lights can’t all be as good as they claim and the increasing buyout by some managed fund companies of small, highly technical manufacturers – sacrifice good technology for immediate profits? We need to keep a watch on good brands going bad because of the new owners’ business model. I think I’m right in commenting that advances in many areas have narrowed the technology spectrum. It’s getting harder and harder to make useful improvements at the “top end” while the bottom is getting pushed up to meet it. A good example is the mobile phone camera. There are segments being broadcast that were shot on mobiles; the GoPro sized camera is being used more and more in combination with high end camera material, and what constitutes a “broadcast” editing programme is no longer a question anyone asks. So, how do you know what’s good? Reading it here is a start; then there’s web research and, most valuable of all, there’s the relationship you have with a supplier that you have shared for a long time and has served you well. I know some people play the game of going around the dealers and saying “X offered me this price, what’s yours?” and good luck to them I say. I prefer to know that I’m being offered a fair price that has an expectation of good service behind it should something go wrong. Maintaining a successful business is finding a good balance between cost and benefit. Anyway, enough of my business model, read on and increase your knowledge of what’s now available to us all. Ed. See if you can guess what the photos are of. Answers on page 3.
Vol 192