Definitely, those who attended the fair took into account two fundamental qualities when looking for new equipment and services: speed and quality, or what in other words is qualified as efficiency. And precisely the digital system provides such benefits.
The storage and processing of digital audio and digital video by components, are methods that facilitate the production of high quality audio and video, with a very high level of response in terms of execution time.
For most speakers invited to NAB 95, it is an imminent necessity for stations and production centers to make the format change. Disk-based production systems make the process easier, faster and therefore more efficient. But the decision cannot be delayed, since there is talk of a new technology whose sophistication doubles every 12 to 18 months.
In the case of the specific requirements with which Latin American visitors arrived at the fair, it could be perceived that our industry is still deeply rooted in the analog format, which led to a preference for hybrid systems. However, the television, audio and video activity of Latin America is a fertile ground for the growing development of the digital format.
Innovative equipment
Specialized equipment for television traffic and broadcasting and news stations were the most sought after during the fair. In the same way it happened with servers and storage resources, such as the camera that records directly on hard disk developed by Avid and Ikegami.
As for non-linear editing systems, there were numerous high- and low-profile options. This is the case of Quantel's Edit-Box, Avid's Media Composer, Grass Valley's VideoDesktop or Imix's Turbo Cube. One of the outstanding features of these equipment is that they are open platforms that allow the continuous renewal of technology. A basic equipment that provides the opportunity to optimize it is undoubtedly very beneficial for those producers with limited investment capacity.
All the great advances in terms of graphers, whether independent or integrated into editing systems, were aimed at improving the processing speed, in accordance with the trend of computing. Freedom of choice, that was the key word for graphics and animation this year at NAB, where the introduction of multiple products was clear. The unions of large companies paid off. Examples include Avid Technology, Parallax Software Group, known for its graphics and composition technology, and Elastic Reality, a leader in the development of special effects software. Other important unions were Silicon Graphics and Alias, and of course, the acquisition of Microsoft, Soft Images.
News production
Apparently many suppliers understood in time that news production represents a tempting market because of its immense equipment requirement. Consequently, one of the trends followed by numerous exhibiting companies at NAB was to offer efficient solutions for the development and transmission of informative content.
Avid began to be interested in news production launching its OMF (Open Media Framework) more than a year ago and at NAB 95 Sony offered a set of programs (software) and technological developments (hardware) that will allow to achieve and maintain high levels of productivity. The focal point of its Digital Station of the Future, was concentrated in the Newsroom, created in conjunction with the computer company Oracle. Some of the new equipment and systems presented by Sony are: a series of digital mobile units for outdoor production, a new series of studio cameras with digital processing (DSP) and hybrid PC workstations.
The possibilities for news production open up with this trend is endless. Today it is already possible for the journalist, from a computer terminal, to build the note, edit the image and sound, title, obtain complementary information from a central network and even take it to the air.
The world of multimedia
The definition of multimedia is still emerging from the dense convergence of the industry; this could be perceived in a parallel event to NAB 95, Multimedia World.
Multimedia is a combination of text, graphics and animation, audio and motion video creation, all interacting on personal computers or workstations. Its distribution is done through magnetic discs, video discs, CD-ROM or local stations.
The spectacular growth in the commercialization of the home personal computer, the sales of CD-ROM and the proliferation of requests to integrate into online services, suggest that multimedia will be the platform for many of the services offered interactively.
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