Ten years after the first visit of TV and Video to the NAB show , we wanted to take a look at the changes registered in the most important fair of the industry. This event behaves like a thermometer of the technological evolution of the sector and in ten years we have been able to see very significant changes.
The most important of these has been, of course, the incursion and consolidation of digital in all processes of the industry. It has been ten years of wonder and innovation.
1995
At that time multimedia monopolized all the attention and there was talk of the consequences that the digital era would bring for the industry, whose basis was analog, and the word CD-ROM was a novelty that surprised many. Interestingly, interactive television was already in sight and a battle of cable operators with telephone operators and television signal programmers was predicted. Of course, Latin American producers were compelled to start making the switch to digital.
Specialized equipment for tv traffic and broadcast and news stations were the most sought after during that fair, as well as servers and storage resources. The main advances in graphers were decisively aimed at improving processing speed.
1996
In 1996 the digital trend had prevailed and the offer of multiple products for the creation of animations and editing was registered. The introduction to digital audio and video was among the main conferences, along with those of multimedia, which continued to be the order of the day. They were accompanied by others on television administration and regulation for broadcasters. A single comment was constant: software and hardware prices still made the transition to digital difficult. In addition, there was some suspicion about the advantages of digital and some nostalgia floated in the air for a stage that was closing.
1997
If the previous two fairs had been a window into the future of television and video production, in 1997 we were already in that future. The feeling of abyss before the novelty of the digital began to disappear and, on the contrary, the anxiety to know what would be again on the subject was widespread. The word multimedia was part of the vocabulary involved with the industry and a series of exclusive seminars on it was held for the second consecutive time, which concluded with an exhibition dedicated to hardware and software producers. Doubts about non-linear editing had disappeared and it was not uncommon to find linear editors, nor was the great offer of Sony, Panasonic, JVC or Hitachi, in cameras for digital processing of images, which still included analog features.
1998
In 1998 the digital age had been imposed and what three years earlier was a novelty, at that time emerged as a requirement: the FCC had established that, by 2006, most commercial television transmission operations in the United States should be completely digitized and looked towards Latin America in the same way. Imperious. The NAB show emerged as the stage where the path to that goal was traced. "Analog" was an increasingly less frequent term and emerged as an echo of a remote past.
The furor for multimedia diminished and instead the concept of HDTV and digital video compression took hold, as an option according to the needs of broadcasters forced to implement digital television systems in record time. The own platforms, jealously guarded by some companies, lost strength to the push of standard formats and gave way to integration with equipment from other manufacturers.
Finally, new players entered to compete for the market of television and video production. Companies such as Microsoft and Adobe, linked to other sectors, presented programs for composition and editing of images and for non-linear editing.
1999
On the eve of the new millennium, the goal in the industry was clear: to go digital. However, those who had finally decided to make the change, had to consider HD production as well.
Sony, Avid, Discreet, Snell & Wilcox, Leitch, Panavision and Quantel, among others, were there to present their products, which supported 24 p, the video format for HD digital cinema production. Cameras, non-linear editing systems, systems for graphics and effects, switchers, converters and storage solutions were released, and MPEG2 emerged as the output to handle in memory and to transmit the new format.
However, the concern of previous years persisted: was it worth adopting new technologies and formats when, by then, the majority of consumers said they were happy with their VHS equipment? This question became even stronger when standard definition video could be handled, with increasing ease, on Windows NT-based stations.
By the way, desktop systems threatened to displace the big post-production consoles, and Microsoft with its operating system imposed itself as its de facto platform.
2000
The events of recent years have blurred the boundaries between television and video production and developments related to information and communication technologies. "Convergence" emerges as a way to explain why next to the stand of Sony, a company traditionally linked to the industry, it is not surprising to find that of Adobe, whose roots are in the computer and graphic arts industry. This is why the fair adopted the slogan "The Convergence Marketplace" in 2000 and during the following two versions.
If the question in previous versions revolved around the relevance of adopting new formats and expensive technologies, this time the question was the space that television and video professionals should occupy in the industry, taking into account that, as some claimed, NAB was beginning to look more like a fair about the internet than about broadcast.
But as the show was to continue, the "traditional" themes of the industry also had answers despite the existence of at least 18 different HD streaming formats.
2001
By April 2001 the world economy was in recession, the speculative internet bubble had already burst and its survivors were flocking with industry professionals to a new version of NAB, albeit with less euphoria about the possibilities of ip. While the overall circumstances did not seem favorable, these helped exhibitors and visitors arrive with more defined products and objectives. Yes, 2001 was not the year of great announcements and surprising novelties. It was a calm year, where you could see how realistic the resolutions were about the "immediate" adoption of DTV and HD production; it was then necessary to reach more or less common agreements on formats, encoders, resolutions and others. The introduction of all this was possible and in fact underway, but much less quickly than expected.
2002
Comfortably and ineluctably sitting in the chair of television and digital video, industry professionals already had the tools and distance to analyze, critique and propose where the industry should be headed from now on. The discussions between the FCC and NAB on the migration of the U.S. television system to the ATSC standard for digital television are good proof of this.
On the other hand, the novelties launched at the NAB show that year surprised visitors in a different way than they did in its 1995 version. On this occasion, the amazement was motivated by the knowledge and the need to find, now, products and solutions that would increase their competitive capacity. The blind canes of that not so remote time of 1995, were replaced by the walk of seasoned professionals who knew the products and systems, and wanted to see what new improvements could facilitate their work.
Improvements in solutions for non-linear editing, graphing, storage, exchange of digital material, terrestrial, aerial and satellite transmissions and others were a constant, as well as those developed to streamline news production workflows, in particular. And as a curious fact, among the products presented were systems for the restoration of tapes and films.
Perhaps most relevant was the continuous reduction in the cost of equipment and solutions for each of the industry's processes.
2003
Death to the tape! it seemed to be the motto of the major camera manufacturers during NAB 2003. And it is that in an industry where everything gave way to the step of digitalization, the tape still resisted disappearing. Sony and Panasonic presented alternatives to acquiring tape video that promised to change the workflow of ENG operations.
But cameras weren't the only novelty for news production. The MOS protocol, an initiative of several manufacturers in the industry, was operationally introduced this year. The project sought ways to connect various electronic news systems and media devices of various types. This would set a standard for manufacturers and allow broadcasters to select the news system, file storage devices and editing systems independently.
Evidence of the facts made convergence an assumed attitude and therefore the motto changed to "The largest electronic media fair".
2004
Last year the fair brought for the industry the consolidation of releases made during the 2003 version, such as tapeless cameras and solutions for digital workflows. Before the first, the attendees wondered what would be the image acquisition system that would be imposed optical, solid state or hard drives. And in front of the second, they pointed out the need for standards in workflows in processes such as color correction or compatibility between equipment.
But, without a doubt, the most important thing was the omnipresence of HD. For example, in the field of non-linear editing, all developers incorporated into their products the ability to work HD files. Within this trend, the launch of Apple's Final Cut Pro HD stood out.
2005
For this year, the existence in the market of different devices with the ability to deliver content, will surely question attendees about the evolution that their business model should have. The streaming of video over the Internet, the reception of clips on mobile phones, the transmission of signals through IP networks and others, are facts that surely will not go unnoticed and will be the subject of comments and debates. The situation is not without importance, because hand in hand with these technologies, new players have ventured and compete to win an increasingly juicy market.
It seems that the clearest route for traditional television operations is to become providers of content to broadcast, no matter the medium.
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