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NAB Show 2014 Recap
Coming up on a month out and I have not even done a recap of the NAB Show! Well, that’s because most of the wanderings I did had to do with actual business this year. Odd, but true. I really could have used a third day this year as I did not even make it to the South Hall!!! Nor did I visit my friends at GoPro or DJi. Now that is what I call busy.
What I did see was the cool stuff that you probably already know about through trades or hearsay. I like the new Nautel GV series transmitters. Harris is also looking good and stepping up a bit. This time I was actually talking STL equipment with them. The Alliance had their share of stuff, and all they need to do now is make transmitters since they seem to do everything else. As you can tell if you have read this far, nothing really jumped out at me at this point. I did have a nice demonstration of the Tieline offering: the Codec Lounge. A very good concept and we discussed possible ways of making it even better. Maybe I’ll get a demo/beta version to try out. I also heard about the SAS Virtual Console of which I will get to see shortly. I have some ideas for this.
Of course on the Radio side of life is talk of HD Radio. HD this, HD that. As we progress with this technology I see more and more use of it as a data transport more so than audio. Traffic, weather, album art, artist and title. Wonder what else we can squeeze into 96kb, or 128kB? Did I get to see any demos? No. I saw a couple of cars out front, though. The one thing that stood out to me is that different manufacturers are offering different radios that do different things. My new Mazda6 has HD, but it does not do album art; it does everything else. A hand full of aftermarket have displays for everything, but there are many that do not. Will there ever be a “standard?”
Along the lines of STL’s (that’s Studio to Transmitter Links for the acronym challenged) I’m seeing more in the IP transport arena. We are actually researching upgrading our aural STLs to an IP based system for two reasons, flexibility and flexibility. Audio over IP on a private network is just fine these days and for a backup to anything else it is great. With all the data we push around with IP based remote controls and addressable transmitter equipment, the added flexibility of IP makes life much more simple. For audio I was looking a the Tieline and Worldcast gear. As for a system we are looking into the licensed 8, 11, etc. Gig radios and broadband data. Let’s see how that pans out over the year.
As we move forward what did you see that excited you at the show? Overall, not too much jumped out at me. Yet, on the face-to-face time, it was a very good show. Maybe next year I can get an extra day to see the other world of cool stuff in the South Hall.
My NAB Round-up
If you were looking for something new and cool, you may have been dissapointed. For me it was refreshing to not be bombarded with” it’s new and fresh” sales pitches. I saw more to my liking the” we have improved this or made this” better in our product. When you purchase products that are meaant to last several years you cannot purchase the latest and greatest, so you look for the improvements.
Sierra Automated Systems showed me the improvements to their routers. IP audio and redundant MCU capability. Nautel previewed a bit of the AUI and I was unable to return for some in-depth insight to a couple of NV questions I have, so a phone call is going to be made. Harris will be providing me another software/firmware update to the Flexstar as I continue to have issues. At least theyare responsive to my needs.
There was one item that I thought was cooland innovative. It belongs to Pelican, the road case guys. It was an LED light that packs within a case. Bright, battery operated, it was exactly what I need for them dark morning show remotes outside. Shoot even in dark venues pop one of them out. The batteries last 8-10hrs. I saw two and four light versions. Switches file each light. Very handy and in its own case. Nice job. That gets my cool stuff vote!
These are the 9400 series remote area lighting systems. I really liked the 9470 package, but may be overkill.
I made my customary stops and expressed my opinions, be that what it may. Some vendors are quite receptive and others think I’m a freak. In either case it was a good show for me this year. Till next time!
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NAB Day 2: On the Floor
As I labeled my arrival at Day 1, this must be Day 2!
I would say it was busy on the floor, not like I’ve seen in the past, but definitely busy. One social thing that stood out is the number of people that I have not seen in years popping out of nowhere. Around every corner it was, “Hey! Long time! What’s up?” Then it ran into conversations about things: catching up. While talking with someone, another would show and next thing you have is a reunion. Social networking at its best.
When we first walked in the door we stumbled right into the Tieline booth. What a coincidence. It is interesting to see people look at your badge and recognize you; then you get to meet people who you talk with on the phone. Very cool. We spent a little bit looking at Tieline’s new iPhone app. Now this was pretty darn cool. Makes news gathering amazingly simple. You can feed real time to your G3 over WiFi or 3G networks, or record and send later. Talk about handy little gadget.
We looked at a couple of logger solutions, again. This seems to be an ongoing thing with us. For intuitive operations from an end user standpoint, I still like the OMT iMedia Logger. Where the intuitive part comes is the front-end Websecure+ storage and distribution device. As we have a number of “users” needing access to our skimmed/logged content, it keeps taking our logger down. With a device like this, we would be able create user access and store the audio on a device designed to handle high traffic volumes without needing a separate software package to install on a user’s computer.
But, we did see, actually talk with others. The Telos, or Axia, iProfiler shows promise, too. Now this one does require a software “plug-in” on user computers to access the audio, but it would make for an easy transition for some users. The iProfiler is fed using an Axia node, while the Profiler is a stand-alone box requiring sound cards. We need anywhere from 12-15 mono sources at any one time and 3 stereo feeds along with that. Crazy, eh?
I dropped by many of my normal contacts to meet and greet. SAS, Econco/CPI, and DaySequerra. We had a good meeting with Harris. From what I get is iBiquity stuff is really not designed for real-world networks in terms of transmitter sites. Network capabilities at sites vary greatly and in many cases is quite limited. We did come out of the meet with a game plan to narrow even further any potential causes of trouble. It will be fun to do this double and triple checking while building a new studio.
For Day 3, I plan on doing a bit more nuts and bolts digging. Of course that is subject to more run-ins with people! It is a shame I cannot stay an extra day to see the “toys” and technology that does not pertain to radio specifically, but does contain potential future applications. Maybe I will sneak over to the south hall early. Ha ha ha.
Enjoy!
NAB Show
Looks like I will be headed to NAB this year. Most of it will be on my own dime as I am flying when it was agreed we would drive. I have to leave from L.A. Oh well.
I already have a meeting at 2pm on Monday. I am looking to setup other meetings.
In addition to meets, I think I will concentrate on remote controls and how they have progressed through the years. In particular I am going to look at Davicom, Burk, and Audemat. As our system is an old Burk ARC-16, I will closely look at the possibility of using and adding to our system. They others would be a complete overhaul which we have NO money.
Anyways, if you are going, hope to connect with any readers on the floor!
PS- Normal booths I hit are SAS, Nautel, Econco, and Tieline.
Tech Notes from the Field 