• Blogs
• Forums
• Tradeshows
• Partners
• White Papers
• Podcast Show Notes
• Events

NAB Show 2009 Through My Ears, Eyes, and Sore Feet, Part 1

May 11, 2009 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer

           

I spent four days at NAB last month, and this month I’ll describe what I learned in the key areas that I follow. In the first installment, I’ll describe camcorders and the editing market; in the second batch encoding, disc reproduction, and that all-important “other” category. Note that I didn’t meet with every company in every space, so my goal isn’t to be comprehensive. Rather, I’ll pass along what I learned and saw, and when appropriate, direct you to other resources to complete the picture. (Check out my blog posts from the show.)

Adobe Story

The NLE Market

Let’s work in alphabetical order here, starting with Adobe, which previewed a collaborative scriptwriting program called Adobe Story that will debut in “CSNext,” no date announced or implied during my interview.

Why a screenwriting program? Because most serious productions have a screenplay that contains the dialog and descriptive information about scene location and the associated action. Scripts in Adobe Story get converted to metadata that Adobe can use all the way through to the Flash Player to help content owners make their videos more accessible to viewers and to help monetize the content.

Once it's in the Adobe Story, Adobe can also export a shot list into Adobe OnLocation, which you can then use to capture your clips. No word on whether the CSNext version of OnLocation will let you print a shot list, but the feature definitely has my vote. For more on Adobe Story, check out Craig Erpelding’s interview with Adobe’s Marc Randall.

Also at the show, Adobe announced version 4.1 of Adobe Premiere Pro, a free update available this month. The update improves compatibility with Red Digital Cinema cameras, including control over RAW settings when used with an updated Red plug-in, which also should be available this month from red.com. Also new is the ability to import Avid Media Composer projects without recapturing media files, and improved compatibility with AJA, Blackmagic, and Matrox video cards.