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NAB 2004 Pick Hit Awards

Jun 1, 2004 11:00 AM, By Trevor Boyer

With higher attendance figures and a noticeably upbeat vibe, the Las Vegas Convention Center was teeming with breakthrough technology during NAB 2004.

At NAB 2004, attendance took a turn for the better. Las Vegas Convention Center booths were packed; buyers were buying, and HD seemed to be in every booth. For those of us who have been waiting for years for HD to be “real,” this year was about as real as it gets. It should be no surprise that our Pick Hits judges had dozens of different products in their initial lists of contenders for the awards, and that many of these products allow video professionals to work in high-def in an easier, cheaper manner. But HD was not the only story, as our list of winners makes clear.

Pick Hits are awarded to real products — not demos — that are set to ship in the calendar year. This stipulation has traditionally shut out a few otherwise deserving products. This year, all of the winners are set to ship by the end of the summer. (For our complete judging criteria, please check out the rules at videosystems.com.) Our judges expended considerable effort picking 15 deserving products that will have positive effects on the way Video Systems readers do their jobs. For this we thank each of our judges and offer congratulations to the 15 Pick Hit winners.

Panasonic AJ-SPX800

Shown as a technology demo at last year's NAB, Panasonic's solid-state recording camcorders had to wait until this year, when the product is actually shipping, to win a Pick Hit. The wait works in Panasonic's favor: PC cards are projected to reach dozens of gigabytes of storage within the next couple of years, so the case for Panasonic's P2 format grows stronger with time. Judge Barry Braverman celebrates its advent: “Gone will be the head clogs, the dropouts, the inevitable deterioration, and the ridiculously short shelf life of videotape. No moving parts in a camcorder; how sweet that sounds!” As for the AJ-SPX800 itself, the “camputer” is a 2/3in., three-CCD unit with 24fps and 30fps progressive as well as 60i recording. Based on the SDX900, it's switchable between 16:9 and 4:3. With 4GB card media, the five P2 slots can record 80 minutes of DVCPRO or 40 minutes of DVCPRO50. Shipping this summer. Price: $19,500 (Secaucus, N.J.; (800) 528-8601; www.panasonic.com/broadcast)

Avid Xpress Studio Complete

For NAB 2004 Avid put together a new suite of software and married it with some powerful hardware to bring us Xpress Studio Complete. As for software, the suite offers an NLE (Xpress Pro 4.5), an animation program designed by Softimage specifically for video editors (Avid 3D), a DVD-authoring program based on Sonic Producer (Avid DVD), a digital audio workstation (Pro Tools LE), and a suite of compositing, effects, and titling plug-ins based on Boris Red (Avid FX). All this, in one box with a single install. On the hardware side, Mojo allows realtime performance and facilitates analog input and workgroup operations. And, putting a smile on judge Bob Turner's face after he'd requested such a device at nine straight Avid press conferences, Digi 002 has eight flying faders for tactile control of Xpress Pro and Pro Tools LE. The surface also functions as a mixer for ingest. Available in Q2. Price: $6,995 (Tewksbury, Mass.; (978) 640-3202; www.avid.com)

Serious Magic DV Rack

DV Rack is designed to replace thousands of dollars worth of monitoring equipment typically found in a production truck. For DV producers, the program could allow for a new way to work: with the included digital video recorder, shooters can record to a laptop directly, without tape, and view exactly what has been captured. And with DV Rack's direct software monitoring of just-captured footage, producers will know instantly whether or not they'll need another take. Components include a digital video recorder, a field monitor with direct DV input, a DV waveform monitor and vectorscope, an audio spectrum analyzer, and an automated quality monitor. Available this summer. Price: $495 (Rancho Cordova, Calif.; (916) 859-0100; www.seriousmagic.com)

Panasonic AJ-HD1200A

This VTR earns its Pick Hit for the remarkable feat of sending 100Mbps of data — enough bandwidth to handle DVCPRO100 HD material — over IEEE 1394. NLEs like Final Cut Pro HD and Pinnacle Liquid HD gain easy access to this footage directly from the desktop. The deck is a compact 1/2 RU wide and also plays DVCPRO50, DVCPRO, DVCAM, and DV tapes. There's an optional SDI I/O board ($6,000) for recording of 1080i and 720p formats. The AJ-HD1200A has a built-in HD/SD converter to allow easy viewing of HD images on an NTSC monitor. All told, it's a key component in an affordable HD workflow. Says judge Jeff Sauer, “HD over FireWire to the desktop — that's the real story of the democratization of HD.” Currently available. Price: $21,000; $4,000 for IEEE 1394 interface. (Secaucus, N.J.; (800) 528-8601; www.panasonic.com/broadcast)

Apple Final Cut Pro HD

Just a few years ago, how many of us would have expected a software-only NLE to be able to play back up to four native streams of an HD format? Or that an application could capture and output HD video over a single FireWire cable? Apple Final Cut Pro does all of this, working with Panasonic and its DVCPRO HD format. The company has made a clear commitment to the democratization of HD, offering the new version as a free upgrade to current users of version 4.0. The program was not the only affordable HD system with realtime performance at NAB, but overall our judges found it to be the most compelling, with software and hardware in a complete package for less than $5,000 (excluding storage). Judge D.W. Leitner calls FCP HD “a triumph of Apple's OS X and G5 architecture.” Currently available. Price: $999; free upgrade from version 4. (Cupertino, Calif.; (408) 996-1010; www.apple.com)

JVC DLA-HD2K

JVC's latest home theater projector is also a great choice for video projection at any professional level. Museums and other venues showing HD content have needed something to fill the gap between existing XGA projectors and digital cinema projectors. The DLA-HD2K does this with three of JVC's newest D-ILA chips, each with a native 1920×1080 resolution for true pixel match-up with 1080i material. D-ILA's LCOS-based technology is well known for its high-resolution support, but this projector wins points for its low profile, too. At only 13.2lbs., the HD2K is smaller and lighter than any other full HD projectors, according to JVC. Judge Jeff Sauer lauds the projector for its advanced video processing from Faroudja, contrast ratio of 2000:1, native 16:9 aspect ratio, and deep, rich blacks. Available this month. Price: $29,995 (Wayne, N.J.; (800) 582-5825; www.jvc.com/pro)

Apple Motion

Leave it to Apple to simplify motion graphics creation. Motion makes it easy for video professionals who aren't necessarily motion graphics artists to integrate 3D characters, graphic effects, particle effects, and procedural animation into projects. Motion's Behaviors use procedural animation techniques to simulate natural phenomena like gravity and wind — or to make multiple objects follow rules like attraction and repulsion. Almost as impressive as the toolset is Motion's pen-and-tablet interface tied with a “Discreet Flame-like” gestural interface. Drag-and-drop operation and realtime interactivity allow for creative experimentation, and Motion's large library of templates and filters is a head start for difficult jobs. Available this summer. Price: $299 (Cupertino, Calif.; (408) 996-1010; www.apple.com)

Zootech DVD-Extra Studio

This new DVD authoring suite is aimed at serious DVD professionals only, but these power authors will rejoice at the level of interactivity they can now build into their complex DVD-Video titles. DVD-Extra Studio is designed to allow developers to create titles that resemble multimedia CD-ROMs — with interactive games and media libraries, for example — but that play on standard DVD players. Traditionally, the problem with creating games and other interactive content for DVDs is the vast number of links authors need to create to connect the assets in almost innumerable combinations. DVD-Extra defines these links globally in the structure of the DVD itself, enabling a high degree of automation in the preparation of assets. Currently available. Price: One-off license fee of $6,995 plus a per-DVD royalty. Support is $1,395 per year per copy. (Sheffield, England; +44 (0) 114 241 3700; www.zoo-tech.com)

Tektronix WFMNLE

Now Avid editors can have a software-only waveform monitor — a Tektronix waveform monitor — built right into their NLE. WFMNLE is an AVX plug-in for Symphony, Xpress Pro, Media Composer, and Media Composer Adrenaline. The application monitors the content in the Record window, with displays that include waveform, parade (YCbCr and RGB), field, Y-only, and vector. WFMNLE offers the ability to select one line, all lines, or a variable number of consecutive lines to be displayed. The plug-in features the Tektronix-exclusive Diamond and Arrowhead gamut displays. Also unique to WFMNLE are an at-a-glance alarm screen, picture screen with gamut error bright-ups, and error logging. “As the unfortunate trend away from hardware monitoring appears to be continuing,” says judge Bob Turner, “this offers an alternative that offers much of the timeline test-monitoring needs.” Currently available. Price: $1,250 (Beaverton, Ore.; (800) 835-9433; www.tektronix.com)

Adobe Video Collection 2.5

Featuring Premiere Pro 1.5, After Effects 6.5, Audition 1.5, and Encore DVD 1.5, the latest version of Adobe's Video Collection brings a deeply integrated, end-to-end video toolset and workflow to a higher market segment than Adobe has traditionally targeted. Leading the way is the recently revamped Premiere Pro 1.5, which now displays After Effects 6.5 effects when both programs are installed. The programs share not only Adobe interfaces, but also full project files. Says judge Jeff Sauer, “Round-tripping means audio changes made in Audition automatically update back in Premiere Pro, as do motion graphics or character animation changes from After Effects.” Audition 1.5, incidentally, has some powerful new features in its latest version, such as automatic pitch correction and frequency space editing. If that's not enough, the Video Collection also ships with Photoshop CS. Currently available. Price: $1,499 for Professional edition. (San Jose, Calif.; (408) 536-6000; www.adobe.com)

Nvidia Quadro FX 4000 SDI

It's the latest and best from leading graphics card manufacturer Nvidia. But beyond its raw processing speed, the Quadro FX 4000 SDI stands out for offering the first SDI option on a graphics accelerator card. Nvidia calls it a “graphics-to-video-out solution.” On the graphics processing side, the Quadro FX 4000 SDI performs realtime rendering, color conversion, and gamma correction. A boon for post houses and broadcasters, the dedicated video back end can output (with 10-bit, 4:4:4:4 sampling) SDI video to broadcast monitors for preview and to switchers for on-air broadcast. “This makes the Quadro FX 4000 SDI a player in the broadcast market for news, weather, and sports simulation,” says judge S.D. Katz, “as well as for virtual set realtime display, a completely new option for broadcasters and postproduction facilities.” Available in July. Price: $5,995 (Santa Clara, Calif.; (408) 486-2000; www.nvidia.com)

Sony HDC-X300

This POV camera is more than just a high-grade box with high-def CCDs. The HDC-X300 represents a possible entry point into HD acquisition for many studios and facilities. “Add lens, LCD viewing screen, power [less than 20W], recording device, and even a shoulder pad, and you've got yourself a small, sophisticated HD camera system from Sony,” says judge D.W. Leitner. The core of such a system costs less than $20,000, our judges noted. The HDC-X300 introduces three new 1.5Mpixel, 1/2in. CCDs and provides frame rates of 60i, 50i, 30p, 25p, and 24p with 3:2 pulldown. The camera outputs full HD SDI, analog HD, and RGB. Stripped-down and light (less than 3lbs.), the HDC-X300 is extremely flexible. Sony slots it for applications like point-of-view acquisition, 24p cinematography, and studio automation. Available in July. Price: Less than $20,000 (camera only). (Park Ridge, N.J.; (800) 686-SONY; www.sony.com/professional)

Blackmagic Design HDLink

This device facilitates an HD display solution with a significant cost advantage over full-fledged HD test monitors. HDLink translates HD SDI so it can be displayed on any DVI-D-based LCD computer display with 1920×1200 resolution, such as Apple's Cinema HD or Sony's SDM-P232W/B. The device supports input of SD and HD SDI as well as dual-link HD SDI 4:4:4 for full-resolution color monitoring. It comes with software color look-up tables so you see appropriate colors for the specific intended method of delivery. These RGB gamma tables are adjustable via the USB 2.0 connection to the host computer. Color precision is 10-bit in HD and SD formats and up to 12-bit RGB or YUV in dual-link 4:4:4 modes. Currently available. Price: $1,295 (South Melbourne, Australia; +61 (2) 9682 4770; www.blackmagic-design.com)

AJA Kona 2

Final Cut Pro editors working with HD material that is not DVCPRO still need help inputting and outputting their footage. AJA's Kona 2 is a dual-rate HD/SD PCI-X capture card that supports uncompressed 10-bit SDI, HD SDI, and dual-link 4:4:4 HD at 10 and 12 bits. With version 2 of the card, our judges were particularly impressed by Kona's new level of price/performance. The board handles not just digital material: there's also output of HD/SD component analog video. As for audio capabilities, Kona 2 features I/O of eight-channel AES via XLR, BNC, or embedded SDI. Additionally, there's extensive up/downconversion: Kona 2 features hardware-based conversion to and from HD and SD. The downconverter features a separate SDI output that's always active. Analog output can be switched to the downconverter, allowing mastering or monitoring in SD component or composite. Currently available. Price: $2,490. (Grass Valley, Calif.; (530) 274-2048; www.aja.com)

Zaxcom Stereoline

With the rollout of DTV, the band space for RF mic users is shrinking, leading to the growth of interference. At NAB 2004 Zaxcom, pioneers in the development of digital wireless microphones, showed the Stereoline system for complete digital wireless audio transmission for ENG applications, sidestepping the FM band altogether. The receiver, battery-powered and designed to mount on videocameras, is available in mono and two-channel configurations. The transmitter, powered by AA batteries or external 12V DC power, has two mic inputs. This means that in some configurations, a single Stereoline transmitter will take the place of two separate transmitters and receivers. “Another neat capability,” says judge Dan Ochiva, “is that Zaxcom's transmitters can be remote-controlled via software the user can install in any standard Windows CE-based PDA.” Currently available. Price: $3,595 per channel (includes one transmitter and one ENG receiver). (Pompton Plains, N.J.; (973) 835-6633; www.zaxcom.com)

The Judges

Dan Ochiva, senior technology editor, Video Systems
Trevor Boyer, video technology editor, Video Systems
Bob Turner, NLE system consultant and editor, Scituate, Mass.
S.D. Katz, animator and author of Shot by Shot and Cinematic Motion, New York
Barry Braverman, Los Angeles-based director of photography
Steve Mullen, owner, Digital Video Consulting, New York
D.W. Leitner, filmmaker, New York
Jeff Sauer, director, Desktop Video Group, Cambridge, Mass.

The Rules

Video Systems Pick Hit judges operate anonymously. Each year they look for new products that meet the following criteria:

• Products must be new, and not shown at a previous NAB convention. In some cases, distinguishing a new product from a modified, older one is difficult. For Pick Hits purposes, a new product is one with a new model number or designation.

• Products must have some positive impact on the intended user's everyday work. Judges are asked to search for equipment to be used on a regular basis. Products should provide new solutions to common problems.

• Products must offer substantial improvement over previous technology. Unique circuit architecture need not apply. Some new approach or application must be involved in the product's design.

• Products' prices must be within reach of their intended users. We're looking for products appropriate to a wide range of facilities.

• The products must be available for purchase within the calendar year 2004. Equipment must be on display (literally) on the show floor and currently (or imminently) in production. Of course, we must take the exhibitor's word on availability dates in some cases, but we confirm intended ship dates in all cases. Products demonstrated in private showings do not qualify.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.