NAB 2009年亮点

To handle enterprise-grade cloud computing scenarios often requires a cloud storage solution, like those offered by Amazon and other players in the cloud computing space. I had a brief conversation with a company called Parascale that seeks to bring cloud storage to the enterprise, with some interesting implications for broadcast automation and streaming. This is one to watch as they've just emerged from stealth mode to start marketing under the Parascale name.

But while the trend toward cloud services was clear at NAB, there's still plenty of debate over which approach is the most cost-effective. 新发布的云转码服务HD cloud, headed up by former MTVi and Sonicnet head Nicholas Butterworth and (contrary to its moniker) not at all limited to HD content, came out at NAB to tout an ROI it claimed to be three times more efficient than in-house transcoding over the life of the hardware or software.

At the other extreme was AmberFin, which spun off from Snell & 威尔科克斯 in April 2008 and has long been a major player in broadcast image processing. AmberFin was at NAB pushing its iCR software, which starts in the $20,000 range. 不足为奇的是, 首席技术官布鲁斯·德夫林, who worked on the MXF file format specification that iCR employs, 认为,, 从长远来看, the up-front investment in iCR would pay off for publishers of massive amounts of content. The top-of-the-line iCR product, iCR 5000, also features advanced quality control functionality.

即使是像斯内尔这样的传统公司 & 威尔科克斯, 最近和Pro-Bell合并的公司, and Sony are showing off broadcast automation systems that will impact the networks' ability to easily stream content. 索尼展示了它的ELC-MVS01, a software package for integration of standard- and high-definition news control room systems, with the ability to handle live production automation as well as queuing of rebroadcasts for the web and other "near live" events, when tied together with video servers and master video switchers, 例如索尼的MVS-8000A和MVS-8000G型号.

元数据
This topic continues to dominate a variety of discussions surrounding automation, 获取和交付. Adobe made several announcements during the week regarding its intent to drive Flash to set-top boxes, and stressed in meetings the ability to move metadata throughout the workflow.

One particular area of interest is the linkage of speech transcripts to various parts of a video clip, as well as collaborative tools such as online scriptwriting tools that also tie to the editing and production workflow, but can also be embedded in the stream on a frame-accurate basis. While Adobe acknowledges they are not the first to provide script-linking to the editing timeline—Avid did this several years ago—the company thinks its holistic approach to metadata will make it the competitor to beat.

"Some of our customers have requested the ability to fit their own speech-to-text solutions in to our workflow,Adobe的西蒙·海赫斯特说, "and our production and delivery tools are extensible enough to allow just that type of flexibility. 我们不想拖慢收购进程, 生产及交付流程, but we do want to be a vital partner in all aspects of content creation and delivery."

HD
就高清内容发表意见, Sony's Alec Shapiro noted that many cameras are now moving from 10-bit A/D (analog-to-digital conversion) to a much more robust color space of 14-bit A/D conversion.

“高质量的产品仍然非常受欢迎,夏皮罗说, senior vice president of Sony Electronics’ Broadcast and Production Systems Division, ，高清转换在广播中继续进行, 还有教育, 礼拜场所, 政府与体育."

Sony is acutely aware of the impending transition to digital over-the-air television transmission (DTV), which was originally set to occur in February but will now occur in June. While many have touted this transition as an HD transition, 由美国政府补贴的转换盒.S. 政府没有能力传递高清信号. 这个事实, coupled with the fact that many broadcasters have had to spend money to move to digital transmission may mean that the HD transition occurs faster on the web than it does in television.

仍然, Shapiro appears optimistic the transition to HD content will be driven top down rather than from the web upwards.

“索尼高清(设备)帮助了电视生产商, 技术董事, 电影摄影师, news crews and others bring new and exciting HD content to their audiences and viewers,夏皮罗说.

在光谱的另一端, Digital Rapids showed off a second-round prototype of its TouchStream portable HD encoding solution. While the units won't be shipping until later this year, they will be on display at 流媒体 East in New York from May 12-13, 2009. 这种小型便携式设备的特点是坚固耐用的外壳, 触摸屏界面, and the ability to buy a unit with one set of live encoding options, but turn on other options via after-sale software key options.

Also occupying the other end of the spectrum was HaiVision, which was showing off its MAKO-HD H.264，编码1080p60，售价8,995美元. 根据海视高级副总裁Peter Maag的说法, 目前正在部署中, 以及该公司的视频炉5软件, 在一系列医疗和数字标牌应用中.