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MillimeterNAB 2006
Jun 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Barry Braverman, S. D. Katz, D. W. Leitner, Steve Mullen, Dan Ochiva, Jan Ozer, and Jeff Sauer
Perspectives from the show floor
Echolab’s Studio Network Ensemble integrates gear from 360 Systems, Avitech, Compix Media, and Echolab.
Not Just Production Switchers
By Dan Ochiva
A surge in new gear and excitement in the small production switcher market, as well as related ancillary products, turned out as one surprise at the show. Of course, that's only surprising if you haven't been keeping up with the nonstop growth of increasingly lavish production in the worship markets. For the first time, NAB dedicated an exhibit area to tech and other electronics companies that now cater to churches, while conference sessions such as “Worship Software to Expand Your Media Presentation” pulled in the crowds.
Sony devoted part of its traditional massive Sunday press conference to a larger-than-life visitation by Pastor Joel Osteen, the media-savvy minister of the Houston-based Lakewood Church, which notches a weekly attendance of about 30,000. Appearing in a medium shot on a towering 40ft.-tall screen — projected in 4K via Sony's SXRD projector — he detailed his church's use of multimedia as an integral part of its services.
That media-savvy attitude is one reason why the former Compaq Center basketball arena makes such a spectacular church. Already fit for high-powered media making, Lakewood plans to move the facility to full HDTV production. According to Sony, the church recently bought eight of its HD cameras.
Of course, even the smaller churches benefit from the continuous price drops for ever-better technology, gear that even a few years ago would have been expensive, hard-to-budget items.
Broadcast Pix Slate100, for example, does away with most of the expensive hardware by working a modest production switcher with a computer workstation. At around $10,000, Slate 100 points up the trend that even hardware-heavy live production is trending toward software solutions. (Years ago, pioneering Play introduced its software-centric Trinity “production studio in a box.” However, relying on expensive custom chips and not off-the-shelf hardware, the small company soon folded.)
The heart of the system is the Broadcast Pix Slate board, a “professional switcher on a computer card,” according to the company. It's coupled to clip stores, still stores, and an Inscriber character generator. Because the board is controlled from a mouse or touchscreen, users have both a soft-panel replica of a traditional physical control panel and a PixPanel, which creates a VGA screen monitor-wall layout, with full-motion windows for program, preview, and four-camera monitors, plus thumbnails for keys and content.
Joining forces — and ad budgets, as well — makes sense when you are a smaller manufacturer trying to make your way in these challenging times transitioning to a fully digital infrastructure. One matchup comes from Echolab, 360 Systems, Avitech, and Compix Media. Together, the companies introduced Studio Ensemble, an integrated, turnkey studio solution that includes the Echolab Opera 3408 dual format (digital/analog) production switcher; a 360 Systems ImageServer 2000; Compix Media Aria 2000 character generator; and an Avitech MCC-8004dE multi-image display processor.
Echolab developed a software protocol to integrate its switchers with each of the Studio Ensemble components, something made much easier by its system-on-chip technology. It's a smart move for the small but innovative company: Create a re-configurable platform based on single-chip FPGA technology to create an entirely re-programmable video switching system. Echolab's system-on-chip architecture takes advantage of two 32-bit PowerPCs running at 270MHz, embedded directly in the fabric of the Xilinx FPGA. Hundreds of embedded high-speed multipliers within the FPGA fabric allow a variety of video effects such as wipes, mixes, DVEs, and keys. Any changes are just a firmware-upgrade away.
For-A introduced its latest Hanabi series switcher, the HVS-500HS 1 M/E Hanabi Portable. Entry-level priced, it's a compact and self-contained switcher that offers 10-bit, 4:2:2 internal processing. The standard switcher has four HD/SD SDI inputs, two PGM outputs, and three aux outputs. Optional input and output devices include additional four HD/SD-SDI inputs, four HD/SD analog with VGA inputs, and one HDV/DV. It can connect to HDV cameras or PCs, switches from NTSC to PAL, and offers 1080/60i, 50i, and 720/60p.
Ross Video garnered kudos for openGear, a 2RU rackframe standard based on a modular backplane that can house up to 10 modules of any type. Following a similar strategy that large companies used to better the chances of their new products, Ross and its openGear partners allow customers to mix and match among the various companies' products. Founding openGear partners include Cobalt Digital and Ward-Beck. During the show, digital video fiber-optic converter vendor Claratech announced that it was joining the consortium.
