Tech Notes from the Field

Back from the NAB convention. It is always great to see people and see what is going on. Here are four observations from a list of many. What did you see, hear, or ignored?

1.  Radio was slow. Lots of elbow room on the floor. No real “wow” factor items on the floor. I did see stuff to improve the plant, but with no money one can only wish. Seems once the subject of money came up no one wanted to deal with you. That is a shame as I am always looking to integrate items into capital projects.

2.  Manufacturers selling analog only transmitters. I found it quite interesting the number of smaller market folks were looking at transmitters. They were not looking at HD, either. This was quite evident at the Nautel booth where they were showing the NV LT, an analog only version of the NV transmitter. I even stopped by and saw John Bisset at the Elenos Booth. Seems it is too expensive too license from iBiquity, both for manufacturers and end users.

3.  GoPro booth was hopping. I could not miss this Booth as it was right next to the radio section. Oh, and I have a friend that works for them. I own a Hero 2. It is fun. The buzz around their booth escalated around 3pm at their drawings. The NAB decibel police even monitored what was going on.

4.  Way cool interactive signage by Cisco and Verizon. Wandering the South Hall was interesting. We started at the upper level which seemed slow. I was looking at data delivery options, so I here’s up there. Maybe it was early, thus the lack of activity. Once downstairs we hit more crowds and happened on the Verizon booth. We talked to a Cisco Rep who showed us a great interactive display with a media player. What we saw is great for large office buildings and campuses, but we saw potential for clients. JR has medical clients so he immediately saw a unused there. Coupled with Verizon’s 4G LTE we saw potential display possibilitiiies for radio station lobbies showing live shots from remotes or a guest in studio.

I enjoyed meeting with everyone there. I can see how another day for me would have been worth it. I did not have time to talk with Orban or Omnia. Maybe next year I will take a different approach to the madness.

Cheers!