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At the U.S.’s premium broadcast event you’d expect the usual array of “interested parties” to attend and …they have. Senior folks from Microsoft, Apple, Google, Netflix, Facebook, Zynga, EA, Hulu, Roku, Verizon, AT&T, Akamai, Level 3, Intel, AMD, Nvidia, you name it. Miss someone? Oh yes the growing array of content production/post production houses who are putting together content for the rapidly expanding outlet opportunities. Sure there were cable, network, station and Hollywood folks who built the association.

Last year DreamWorks’ Jeff Katzenberg beat the drum for 3D and the studios and a few network operations (ESPN, Discovery) listened and delivered. This year tech tinkerer, filmmaking powerhouse James Cameron made an even stronger case for everyone, everything, everywhere to practice 3D production, distribution, viewing. Cameron prodded the broadcast industry to get onboard or get left behind by the new distribution channels/opportunities.

Speed It Up
At the same time he felt the studios/theaters had to move beyond old-fashioned 24 fps (frames per second) productions and deliver a smoother entertainment experience with 48 and 60 fps. Since all of the newer projectors can be updated with a software fix to support the higher, smoother, more natural entertainment experience he feels “everyone” will be delivering/enjoying the more natural experience…soon.

Director Peter Jackson who is working on “The Hobbits” down in New Zealand said he had moved to 48fps production as a way of future proofing his work. To prove he was serious about the next generation of 3D, HD production; Cameron had cinematographer Vince Price with him on stage to announce, explain the role of their new venture, Cameron-Price Group (CPG). Simply stated their charter is to develop/advance 3D technologies, practices, and creative tools. Cameron, Price unveiled their “gold standard” for 3D, the prototype of the new Alexa M 120fps stereo 3D camera. The Alexa M (modular) is similar to the existing Alexa units but the head is connected to the camera body by fiber to make it more compact for stereo 3D rigs, action photography and shooting in tight spaces. Pre-production units will be out in September and customer shipments will begin Q1, 2012. No one mentioned price but it’s probably, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” Sony’s , Panasonic’s Red Digital Camera’s 3D, HD camcorders were all refreshed – and they’re good – but the Alexa M just looks…very promising. Cameron, Katzberg, Jackson, the HW, SW have said 3D content will be coming to the home on a very regular basis in two years.

TV Set Boost
While some believe passive 3D glasses will be needed, most say viewing will be glasses-free. Regardless, it’s great news for TV set producers whose web-enabled/3D TV set sales have stalled. At the same time, LG has demonstrated glasses free smartphone 3D viewing and all of the major smartphone producers including HTC, Samsung, Motorola are developing 3D viewing phones. No one is certain – obviously – what neat new features/capabilities will be designed into this Fall’s iPhone 5.

This year’s NAB’s more than 92,000 attendees seem to be paying more attention to the delivery pipes and content – profitable content – on every size screen imaginable. Yesterday’s big iron production systems/tools drew much less attention.

Issue Announcements
What’s a major trade event without some “gottcha” announcements?

Such as:
– Level 3 is buying slightly smaller Global Crossings to take market share away from Akamai Technologies. The combined company will be roughly the size and capacity of Akamai and will be a serious competitor for the growing streaming video content market
– Verizon announced their ready to begin delivery of video content to any device (AT&T in the midst of trying to hang onto T-Mobile said “me to”). Cablevision and Times Warner already offer iPad apps which stirring the mud with broadcasters. Problem with the Verizon and/or AT&T offerings at present require a separate video data plan for each device so your iMac, iPad, iPhone or alternatives will each have their own neat little plan. That’s going to cost more than your shirt!
– The House of Representatives struck down the Net Neutrality (we’re wary of words like this after Digital Rights Management – DRM) initiative which puts Internet regulation up for grabs until it works its way through the legal system.
– FCC Commissioner Meredith Atwell-Baker walked a careful line when it came to spectrum reallocation (taking “some” from the TV folks and giving – ok selling – it to the wireless folks). Feels like a really bad Robin Hood movie – take from the rich, give to the rich. Just how much video do people need on their smartphones anyway? Turns out lots!
– Google’s Five-year-old YouTube has finally decided (or convinced by its bosses) that playtime is over and it’s time to make money and be a real content producer. YouTube Live will be rolling out over the next six months with partners to stream video content through their “channels.” You can probably expect TV networks/stations to jump onboard as YouTube and its parent figure out how to give you a viewing guide so you can figure out exactly what video content is where.
– Since Google stumbled with Hollywood, broadcast content owners – refusing to pay the “normal” retransmission fees, they’ve decided to invest $100 M to develop original content in the arts, sports, entertainment, etc.

Economic Solutions
Production solution interest has shifted because with a decently powered $2-3,000 computer, some good post production software, couple of decent HD camcorders any indie can break into movie production (and they have been). The package may cost $10K but that’s equivalent to a quarter-of-a-million starter system just a few years ago. So what was hot this year?

Adobe’s new Creative Suite 5.5 has had some significant enhancements for both Indies who are tight on cash as well as other serious creative pros who are on a tight budget. Users finally get image stabilization, improved audio editing and RED, HDSLR support. The new package is a welcome (economic) change from final Cut and Avid systems which are “slightly more expensive” because it includes cool stuff like key-mapping tools, simplified customization and a playback engine that is supported by 30+ Nvidia cards. That kind of GPU-acceleration speeds post work. People who are a whole lot better than we are will be able to – and probably will – tell you a lot more.

Autodesk either forgot to check the calendar when they came to this year’s NAB or are working in the future getting prepared for the 3D/HD everywhere people to catch up. The 2012 Autodesk Entertainment Creative suites give production and post production people the software and middleware they’re going to need to turn even marginal raw video footage into super movies, video streams for any delivery format. You could spend a day plus in the booth (or on their website) learning about the new stuff that provide single-step interoperability and a consistent user interfaces. They’ve made improvements in practically every product including:
– 3DS Max 2012 with a new accelerated graphics core, mRigids and new sculpting and painting enhancements
– Maya 2012 with viewpoint enhancements, full-screen effects, editable motion trails and simulation options
– . Softimage 2012 with new procedural ICE modeling, Syflex cloth simulation, multiple core development kit additions and stereoscopic capabilities
– Total refresh of Mudbox 2012, MotionBuilder 2012 and enhancements across the board.

There’s a whale of a lot of very good, very economic power-driven software solutions being released and some neat but very useful hardware tools. But what interests us most will be the next two days’ focus on workflow and virtual/cloud post production, storage and downstream on-demand delivery. Right now it smells like a lot of storage issues, problems, opportunities…we’ll see.