Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
DCP Directory
MillimeterNAB Vets
Mar 1, 2004 12:00 PM, Cynthia Wisehart, Editorial Director
There will be people at this year's NAB who are attending for the first time. To these folks I say welcome, and the bathrooms are on both floors, just off the long hallway that rings the main building in the North and South halls. (I still don't know where they are in the New South Hall).
I'm on my tenth NAB myself. But since I'm not yet on the level of the grizzled veterans who are tackling their 45th (and remember tube television), I won't try to affect a veteran's point of view. There's another reason for that. I have, every year, believed that HD was “really real.” I believed it literally 10 years ago when the first demos wowed me with their pictures of colorful stuffed clowns and fruit. I'm susceptible to bright colors.
So you could say I never quite developed a veteran's skepticism. Although I was suspicious of the dotcom flurry (really, I was), I had no such perspective on HD. I knew about the artificially concocted way it was taking shape on a regulatory and business level. I knew about the poor comparisons to film, and the breathtaking expense. And, with a journalist's level of knowledge (which is rarely that of an engineer's), there was a lot I didn't know. None of that stopped my enthusiasm. I started going to NAB when Avid was five years old, and in the subsequent years digital technology, especially HD, seemed so rich with potential, even as our industry's economy steadily worsened. I was hooked.
With that in mind, I feel a little silly once again heading off to NAB with HD dreams. But I'm going to give it one more shot. I figure the emergence of HDV at the consumer level is enough bait to make me wonder if HD can move from exotic to everyday now — or perhaps before I retire. At least I can look forward to camera demos again and not just the plush blue pony variety. I'll also be looking for the rest of the HD infrastructure and digital infrastructure in general. Last year, I was gratified to see the orderliness that Aja Io brought to Final Cut Pro users. What else might we see this year that will similarly enhance the professional potential of digital video?
For those of you who also still retain a core of enthusiasm for this NAB marathon, we've provided some breadcrumbs to help you find your way. In addition to our NAB preview, check Bob Turner's column on page 37 for a useful guide to the litany of acronyms that will greet you on the show floor. Also check page 109 for our recurring guide — NAB Compressed. If you're shopping for a specific category of gear, it provides you with a geographically sequential list of related companies. Our senior associate editor Andrea Harden spends a good deal of time staring at the teeny little booth numbers on the NAB website in order to map out these walking tours for maximum efficiency.
As well as the usual adventures on the show floor, this year's NAB will also feature the first Post¦Production World training conference. For more on this multi-day event and its instructors, see page 77 of this issue. NAB has needed this kind of event for some time, to acknowledge a growing percentage of postproduction attendees who mingle among the broadcasters during this important convention. This year the organizers — Future Media Concepts and NAB themselves — will have a chance to provide tangible value to the post constituency beyond the show floor. This conference — along with a conference on Worship Technology and a keynote address by HP's Carly Fiorina — helps demonstrate how NAB has changed while I was waiting for HD to “arrive.” If it does in fact arrive this year, it will be coming into a world in which no one is ever quite a veteran, no matter how many times they've been to NAB.
