Previewing NAB 2010

Very few, if any, people working in the motion picture industry today continue to believe that stereoscopic 3D is a fad that will soon run its course. The recent successes of the live-action blockbusters Avatar and Alice in Wonderland have shown that audience understand that 3D offers a more exciting visual experience and they’ve so far been quite willing to pay extra movie for the privilege. The challenge for filmmakers now is to learn the techniques and technology that make stereoscopic 3D possible and a good place to start is the upcoming National Association of Broadcasters convention that is being held April 10-15 in Las Vegas.

The pre-show buzz about the conference would suggest that 3D will seemingly be the entire focus of the event but, realistically and whether you like it or not, it is still largely a 2D world and advancements in 2D technology will also be shown. Look for the 2K-4K discussion to continue as will the trend toward ever smaller and more powerful tools. And, as always, there will be surprises.

Here are some highlights of what to expect at the show.

Production

Band Pro will be showing a wide range of new technology as well as some standbys like the Sony F35. Since it was introduced the F35 has been used on a number of high-visibility projects and another one is in the works. George Lucas apparently felt that the F35 camera package was a perfect fit for Lucas his upcoming WWII epic, Red Tails, the fictional story inspired by the historic and heroic exploits of America’s first all-black aerial combat unit.

While still in pre-production, producer Rick McCallum and director Anthony Hemingway knew that Lucas wanted to shoot digitally and that cinematographer John Aronson wanted to use the film-style tools he was comfortable with and the F35 satisfied everyone.

Gerhard Baier, managing director of Band Pro Munich worked with rental company, FGV Schmidle in Germany to secure four F35 cameras and Band Pro’s Jeff Cree, traveled to Prague to help the crew transition to the F35 package.

“Jeff was great,” says McCallum. “He made the F35 technology and SRW/Codex capabilities easy to understand. He also introduced us to the Sony Fiber system, which was paired with Telecast’s fiber power, a unit attached between camera and deck. This way, John didn’t have to worry about batteries in the camera, allowing for more freedom of movement and longer takes which were so important to tell this epic story. The service we got from FGV Schmidle was simply outstanding – the best we have ever had, and all the guys at Band Pro worked really hard to make sure the crew got all the help they needed. It was a truly great experience for all of us.”

Sony will feature its SRW-9000 camcorder, which combines the HDCam SR format’s image quality with the versatility of a one-piece camcorder. Designed for television, commercial and motion picture production, the full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution camcorder uses 2/3-inch CCDs with a 14-bit A/D converter and digital signal processing to capture up to 1080/60P images with a high level of detail.

A range of option cards are available to add performance and features, including: dual-link HD-SDI outputs and an extra AUX input; ability to capture and record images with variable speed (SR Motion capability) from 1 to 60 fps; and full-bandwidth digital 4:4:4 high-definition RGB recording and output capability.

Sony will also feature the next generation of HDCam SR production technology, with new products and planned upgrades ranging from acquisition and storage to archive and production efficiency, including the SRW-9000 camcorder with an upgrade path to 35mm imaging and file-based production; the planned delivery of new SR memory solid-state media; and more cost-effective BCT-SR series tape pricing.

JVC will showcase its ProHD line of camcorders. According to JVC, the latest models in the series not only deliver outstanding image quality, but also use affordable, non-proprietary SDHC media and offer Apple Final Cut Pro native file recording.

JVC will also showcase its new Vérité G Series of professional LCD monitors, which feature 3G and dual-link HD/SD-SDI (1080p/60 4:4:4) inputs. The 17-inch DT-V17G1Z and the 24-inch DT-V24G1Z are designed for broadcast, studio, mobile, and field applications that demand accurate color reproduction for critical image evaluation.

G Series monitors feature a built-in waveform monitor with over-level function, vectorscope with selectable size and position, advanced audio level meter, and LTC/VITC time code support. A new, non-glossy LCD panel provides improved picture quality and maintains accurate color reproduction at wide viewing angles, while JVC's 10-bit 1080p processing ensures the highest picture quality with less than one frame of latency.

One highlight of Panasonic’s booth will be what it says is the world’s first professional, fully integrated full HD 3D camcorder. The company showed engineering samples of the camera at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and will begin taking orders in April. The camera is scheduled to ship in the fall.

In the new 3D camcorder, the lenses, camera head, and a dual memory card recorder are integrated into a single body.  The camcorder also incorporates stereoscopic adjustment controls, which Panasonic says makes it easier to use and operate.

The twin-lens system adopted in the camcorder’s optical section allows the convergence point to be adjusted. Functions for automatically correcting horizontal and vertical displacement are also provided.  Conventional 3D camera systems require these adjustments to be made by means of a PC or an external video processor. Panasonic claims that its new camcorder, however, will automatically recalibrate without any need for external equipment, allowing immediate 3D image capture.

The company says its 3D camcorder will be offered at a much lower price than traditional 3D rigs.
Panasonic also plans to offer a professional-quality 3D HD LCD monitor for field use as well as a professional HD digital AV mixer for live event production.

The cameras will be made to order and are expected to cost $21,000 for the main unit.

Arri will feature the Alexa, its new digital camera system. The company says the Alexa is the first model in a new generation of digital cameras, designed for features, television dramas, commercials and pop-promos.

The Alexa is based on the Arri designed CMOS sensor, which offers a base sensitivity equivalent to 800 ASA, low noise and unsurpassed latitude that exceeds 13 stops. Nevertheless the main advantage of Alexa will be an easy workflow, which will be announced at NAB.

Cooke Optics Ltd and Thales Angenieux will announce a new working partnership.


Fujinon will unveil the HA14x4.5BE RM/RD, a new high-end, ENG-Style wide angle HD production lens designed for 2/3-inch cameras. It features an exclusive 2.2x extender that extends the focal length from 9.9 to 138mm.  Without the extender, the lens has a focal length of 4.5 up to a maximum of 63mm. The lens has a 14x zoom range and full remote control via an RS-232 serial data port (RD version), and a maximum relative aperture at 1:1.8 from 4.5mm to 41mm and 1:2.8 at 63mm.



Enhancements to the HA14x4.5BE RM/RD include minimized geometric distortion and improved corner resolution and contrast. It is well suited for the production of commercials, music videos, sporting events, digital cinema applications and other productions requiring the highest image quality.
 
Fujinon will also show its series of PL Mount Lenses featuring the fastest T speeds available in a family of zooms, with unprecedented color matched 4K optical performance. Fujinon will also roll out its latest products related to 3D sports production.

Post-Production

Dolby plans to publicly unveil what it believes is a ground-break imaging product for the post-production community.  

DVS will showcase the newest additions to the Fuze, Atomix, and SpycerBox Ultra and what the company is calling significant advancements that have been made to Clipster and Venice.

Grass Valley will unveil the latest version of its MediaEdge digital signage and on-demand content delivery platform. is now more versatile and useful than ever. The IPTV-based platform now features new file management and distribution capabilities for the system’s server software, set-top box decoders, and live MPEG-4 encoder.

Grass Valley will also unveil the latest updated version of its Edius PC-based nonlinear editing software, which now includes real time, full resolution AVCHD editing.

“Edius has proven to be particularly successful in news editing and professional production, but is also being used for independent filmmaking, commercial production, creation of video exhibits for court, and other applications,” says Jeff Rosica, senior vice president of Grass Valley. “The new features in Edius help streamline the AVCHD workflow for potentially thousands of EDIUS users who are working with the new generation of smaller, lightweight camcorders that capture images with this format.”

Marquise Technologies will introduce its RAIN color-grading system, which is powered by Nvidia’s Quadro Digital Video Pipeline. RAIN stands for Radically Advanced Imaging N-gine.