LAS VEGAS—While the 2018 NAB Show may have seemed like a smorgasbord of ATSC 3.0 developments, one of the tastiest broadcast dishes being served up may have been in the Harmonic booth.

There the company gave broadcasters a sample of what can be done today with existing encoding and stat mux technology in support of Next-Gen TV.

Harmonic showed that it is possible to transmit eight Full HD 1080p60 HDR channels with the help of its HEVC encoding and stat mux technology in a 28 Mbps pool, which is well within the data-carrying capacity of one 6MHz channel. The achievement has a twofold benefit.

A TECHNOLOGICAL PATH FORWARD

First, it means broadcasters have a means of delivering more channels in higher quality over the air than they can today. The demo also subtly made the point that it may be in the best interest of broadcasters to target 1080p60 HDR as the high end of their OTA service. Harmonic did so by displaying its 1080p60 HDR HEVC-encoded and stat muxed channels on a commercially available set that up-resed the sources to 4K UHD HDR.

“When you look at it on a 4K TV, full screen, it’s gorgeous,” said Jean Macher, director of market development at Harmonic during an interview at the booth.

This approach will make broadcasters, viewers and CE manufacturers happy –broadcasters because they can preserve OTA bits and don’t have to undertake a forklift upgrade of their production operations to support 4K; consumers because they can see “gorgeous” images; and CE manufacturers because “they still get to sell their 4K TVs with 1080p60 HDR,” said Macher.

Second, the demo showed broadcasters that they have a technological path forward with a 1.0-to-3.0 transition in which channel-sharing, not simulcasting on a separate 6MHz assignment, will be the mechanism that puts Next-Gen TV on air while protecting legacy DTV viewers.

Indeed, Harmonic announced just prior to the opening of the NAB Show that it is supporting the efforts of the Pearl TV-led ATSC 3.0 Model Market project in Phoenix with its encoding and stat mux technology, which will enable such channel sharing.

[Read: Phoenix Model Market Launches Next Gen TV Broadcasts]

But what about the 28 Mbps throughput? Is that realistic for 3.0 service? As has been written about frequently, throughput is a bit of a squishy thing in 3.0 because unlike a 1.0 broadcast, Next-Gen TV gives broadcasters what’s metaphorically referred to as "knobs" to finetune transmitter output to their business model–for example trading off a bit of throughput for robustness.

“In an apples-to-apples comparison of 1.0 to 3.0, legacy DTV has a throughput of 19.39 Mbps while Next-Gen TV doing fixed services can deliver 24 to 28 Mbp/s of throughput with comparable CNR to ATSC 1.0,” said Macher. “That’s already better. However, over the past 20 years since 1.0 was finalized, receivers and antennas have improved a lot, so you can probably go with a higher capacity / less robust transmission and achieve about 32 Mbps of throughout. On-going ATSC 3.0 trials will play an important role in validating actual performances.”

Further, HEVC is only at the beginning of its life. “There is a huge improvement curve ahead of us,” said Macher.

EQUAL TREATMENT

The company also was showing advanced management capabilities for its stat mux for 3.0. An innovation it refers to as “Convergence” allows channel-sharing broadcasters to define their average bit rate to ensure each is treated fairly. “With this capability, you can have the instant quality of the stat mux together with the converging average bit rate,” Macher said.

Another was a feature called “Data Track,” which allows data other than video to be added to the stat mux pool. If that data isn’t available or necessary, more bandwidth is then available to video services, he said.

While greater throughput is important, it’s far from the only game changer associated with 3.0. For instance, Harmonic also highlighted the hybrid nature of the Next-Gen TV standard—that is how 3.0 is equally adept at leveraging over-the-air and over-the-top content delivery.

“One of the really cool things about 3.0 is it uses a lot of OTT mechanisms that have been in use for a long time,” Macher said.

Harmonic demoed the commonality of DASH in 3.0 OTA and OTT environments. “You can reuse all the innovation, all the proven mechanisms, including ad insertion that have been used and finetuned over the years,” said Macher. “It was a very good move on the part of ATSC.”

[Read: Harmonic Helps Boost KWHY-TV Channel Lineup]

For the demo, Harmonic used its VOS cloud-native media processing to create OTT multiscreen derivatives of an over-the-air channel supporting time-shifting, scrubbing, looping back and nDVR on-demand functionality.

While it might be beyond the reach of local broadcasters from a rights perspective to apply this OTT solution to their network and syndicated programming, news and other locally produced programs are great candidates for this treatment, he said.

Harmonic also conducted private showings of SHVC, scalable high-efficiency video coding for ATSC 3.0 in a meeting room at the booth. SHVC gives broadcasters even more flexibility in how they use their bits, allowing them, for example, to allocate fewer bits over the air and more over the top.

It does so by providing for a base layer and an enhancement layer to be encoded. The base layer, or lower version of a program, can be decoded by a standard HEVC decoder and the enhancement layer adds on to the base layer to enable full-quality video. It requires an SHVC decoder.

One use case could be preserving over-the-air bits and delivering the base layer of multiple channels for mobile reception while bringing those channels up to full quality in the home on the big screen with enhancement layers delivered over the top.

With such a Next-Gen TV focus, it’s not surprising that broadcasters hungry for a better understanding of what’s possible with 3.0, walked away from the Harmonic booth satiated.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo. 

WASHINGTON--Attendance at the 2018 NAB Show was down 10 percent, according to numbers released by NAB this week. 

Here is the breakdown (with 2017 numbers in parenthesis)

TOTAL REGISTERED ATTENDEES: 93,171 (103,443) 

INTERNATIONAL ATTENDEES: 25,550 (26,714) 

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED: 153 (161) 

NUMBER OF EXHIBITORS: 1,718 (1,518) 

SQUARE FEET OF EXHIBIT SPACE: 1,020,247 net square feet (1,063,380) 

LAS VEGAS-At the 2018 NAB Show IP-based KVM specialist Adder Technology demo-ed a new keyboard/video/mouse solution that eliminates the rack space required for a traditional KVM transmitter, cuts power and rack-room cooling requirements and costs about half as much as the conventional alternative.

The dongle-sized ALIF100T, part of the company’s ADDERLink Infinity product family, offers the same functionality as Adder’s rack-based KVM transmitter, but plugs into the back of a computer rather than being rack-mounted. To demonstrate the space savings, Adder is showing a conventional alternative. The 10-source PC setup requires 10 KVM transmitters—two mounted side by side in 1RU of space for a total of 5RU.

The savings extend beyond rack space with the ALIF100T, however. The dongle-sized transmitter draws just 2 watts of power and generates far less heat than a traditional KVM transmitter. The ALIF100T is now shipping.

Copyright: NAB

LAS VEGAS—During last week’s NAB Show, TV Technology Contributing Editor Phil Kurz sat down with Newtek’s Rex Olson to discuss the technical and production opportunities for ATSC 3.0 (aka “Next Gen TV.”)

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology has announced the Best of Show Award winners for the 2018 NAB Show.

NewBay Media’s Best of Show Awards are judged by a panel of engineers and industry experts on the criteria of innovation, feature set, cost efficiency and performance in serving the industry.

The winners will be featured in TV Technology magazine, read by thousands of broadcast professionals in the United States, around the world and online. In addition, all nominees will be featured in a Best of Show Program ebook in the near future.

TV Technology is the industry’s leading magazine for broadcast and media technology news and reviews. Companies pay a fee to nominate a product.

The winners are:

Accelerated Media Technologies — ENGenesis BAS LTE Network & StreetNode

Advantech — VEGA-3318 High Performing Transcoder

Alteros — GTX Series L.A.W.N.

Aveco — Ad Juggler for Sports Master Control

Avid — Avid NEXIS | ES NL

AVIWEST — PRO3 Series video uplink system

AWS Elemental — AWS Media Services

Bitcentral — FUEL Linear on Demand Streaming Platform

Blackmagic Design — ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K

Bridge Technologies — Instrument View, unique tool

Canon — 4K UHD-DIGISUPER 66 (UJ66x9B) Lens

ChyronHego — Paint 7.4

Cineo Lighting — Standard 410 LED Full-Gamut Soft Light

Clear-Com — E-IPA Audio and Intercom Over IP System

Cobalt Digital — 9904-UDX-4K-IP – 12G-SDI 4K A/V Proc +IP

Cobalt Digital — OG-PC-x86 openGear Modular Computer Card

Dalet Digital Media Systems — Dalet Galaxy five MAM & Orchestration

Dejero — Dejero CellSat blended connectivity

Densitron — UReady 16600 TFT display for 1U racks

DJI — Force Pro

DJI — Zenmuse X7

DVEO — TLV500E-ATSC 3.0 Receiver-Demodulator

Edgeware — Ad Enabler

ENCO Systems — enCaption4

Ericsson Media Solutions — MediaFirst Content Processing

Ericsson Media Solutions — MediaFirst Encoding Live

Evertz — SCORPION

EVS — XT-VIA live production server

Glensound Electronics Ltd. — Beatrice R8 8-Channel Network Intercom

Gracenote — Video ACR Technology

Grass Valley — GV K-Frame X Video Production Engine

Grass Valley — GV STRATUS 6.0 - Social Media Management

Hitachi-Comark — PARALLAX VHF Band 1 DTV Transmitter 

Ikegami — HDK-99 3G Capable Full Digital HD Camera

Imagine Communications — xG Scorecard business intelligence tool

Interra Systems — BATON - Way Beyond Automated QC

Kinotehnik — Practilite 802 IP54 Dust and Waterproof

Leyard and Planar, a Leyard Company — Leyard TWS Series

Marshall Electronics — CV502-WP Weatherproof Miniature Camera

Matrox Graphics — Matrox X.mio5 Q25 ST 2110 network card

Net Insight — Nimbra 1060 Terabit Media Service Router

NeuLion — NeuLion Advanced Mobile Experience

NewTek — NewTek LiveGraphics

Open Broadcast Systems — Ultra Low-Latency Encoding and Decoding

Paywizard — Paywizard Agile and Diagnal Engage

Prime Focus Technologies — Secure Subtitling Tool

Primestream — IP Ingest App and Media Framework

Qligent — Match - Content Mismatch Detection

Redrock Micro — DigiBoom

Rohde & Schwarz — R&S TLU9 gap filler

Ross Video — Ultrix FR5 Software Defined Router

Sachtler and Vinten — flowtech Camera Tripod

Sharp Electronics Corp. — 8K Professional Camcorder

Sharp Electronics Corp. — 8K-UHD LCD Monitor

Silvus Technologies — StreamCaster 4K-HEVC

Simplestream — VOD-in-a-Box 

SmallHD — 703 Bolt Wireless Director's Monitor

Sportzcast — Control Room streaming automation system

Tedial — SMARTLIVE Automated Live Sport Solution

Tektronix — Tektronix PRISM Platform

Telemetrics — OmniGlide Roving Platform (RRP-1)

The Telos Alliance TV Solutions Group — Telos Infinity IP Intercom

Tieline the Codec Company — ChatterBox Remote Broadcast Intercom

Triveni Digital — StreamScope Portal II

TVU Networks — TVU Nano with TVU Router

V-Nova — P.Link Contribution Encoder

Videstra — VestraView Streaming Video Manager

Vizrt — Viz Liber AR sports analysis system

Wheatstone — SCREENBUILDER 2.0

WideOrbit — WO Analytics Cloud

LAS VEGAS--NAB’s PILOT tech incubator has teamed up with IBM and Frankly to demonstrate a proof of concept for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for local broadcaster video at the 2018 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The demo will be presented in the PILOT booth (N2431FP), at Futures Park in the North Hall of the LVCC, April 9-12.

The display will demonstrate the way in which local broadcasters can use AI to enrich video assets and provide rich, contextual metadata. This data can be used to help editors quickly and more efficiently produce news packages as well as provide consumers with a more contextually relevant and highly targeted content recommendation engine.

[Read: NAB Show Conference Showcases Machine Learning And AI For Filmmaking]

"AI holds great promise for broadcasters in terms of enhancing the way content is produced, managed, delivered and consumed," said Executive Director of PILOT John Clark. "We appreciate the collaboration of PILOT members with IBM and Frankly, and we are proud to bring this demonstration to NAB Show through the development of this proof of concept."

“Local broadcasters need to unlock new opportunities for viewer engagement and monetization,” said Jason Simpson, Chief Revenue Officer at Frankly. “Leveraging AI to analyze textual, audio, and visual data within their media, local broadcasters will benefit from stronger viewer engagement, enhanced content discovery, and more advertising revenue.”

Elsewhere in Futures Park, attendees will have the opportunity to see demos of high-tech media developments in progress, prototypes, and products not yet available for sale from academic, government, and commercial research laboratories in the United States and around the world. Exhibitors will show their research and development work on a wide range of topics, including dynamic ad insertion for Next Gen TV, UHD broadcasting and virtual/augmented/mixed-reality content creation.

 Visit our NAB Show social hub at www.tvtechnology.com/social and stay up to date with show news. To join the conversation, use Twitter hashtags #myNAB2018 and #NABShow, or email your links to tvtech@nbmedia.com.  

LAS VEGAS—SMPTE Fellows Robert Ross, senior vice president for East Coast operations at CBS Engineering, and Richard Friedel, executive vice president at FOX Engineering, will each receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Technology from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) at the 69th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards, April 8 in Las Vegas.

SMPTE—the organization whose standards work has long supported advances in entertainment technology—issues the annual award to technology companies and individuals "that have impacted the way people view television because of their industry-changing technological innovation and vision."

ROBERT ROSS

As the senior vice president for East Coast operations at CBS Broadcasting since October 1998, Robert Ross was responsible for converting the CBS broadcast center to HD, rebuilding and upgrading the CBS Network Media Distribution Center, and rebuilding the network’s satellite distribution system. He also created the Path Fire and Pitch Blue systems for domestic and international distribution, enabled the conversion from videotape to digital distribution for syndication, and spearheaded the redesign of the Ed Sullivan Theater for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, ” as well as key production areas for CBS Sports, the “CBS Evening News,” and “CBS This Morning.”

For 19 years, Ross worked at Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting Company) stations WBZ-TV, WJZ-TV, and KYW-TV, and was vice president of engineering for Group W prior to the CBS/Westinghouse merger. And he contributed to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) and various SMPTE Engineering Committees. He is the past chair of the Toolkit working group of the Media Security and Reliability Council (MSRC), a FCC Advisory Committee, past president of the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), as well as a SMPTE Fellow, a Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) member, and Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame inductee.

[Read: NABA Names Bob Ross President]

RICHARD FRIEDEL 

Richard Friedel oversees FOX Networks Engineering & Operations, the 21st Century Fox unit responsible for engineering, operations, and technology at FOX’s national and regional television businesses. He is also responsible for long-term technology strategy and day-to-day operations of the Fox Network Center in Los Angeles and Fox Houston Technical Operations Center, home of Fox Sports’ regional networks. He was also instrumental in launching the FOX News Channel and provides technical support for 14 regional production centers.

[Read: What Tom Said: About Richard Friedel]

Friedel’s previous positions include: Capital Cities/ABC, NBC News, and local television stations. He is a SMPTE Fellow, and member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), SBE, and Society of Cable Television Engineers (SCTE). He serves as ATSC Board Chairman, president of the Video Services Forum (VSF), and NABA president. In 2015, he received the NAB Engineering Achievement Award.

LAS VEGAS--To drive home the significance of ATSC 3.0 for mobile reception, attendees of this year’s NAB Show will be able to watch live ATSC 3.0 broadcasts from the comforts of an 11-seat self-driving vehicle while it shuttles them between the busy Central and South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

During the ride, passengers will see live over-the-air ATSC 3.0 broadcasts—displaying on LG Electronics ATSC 3.0 TV receivers and monitors—as they’re sent from an experimental Sinclair Broadcast Group Next Gen TV transmission facility over 10 miles away.

Supporters of this “Next Gen TV Autonomous Transport” exhibit include: ATSC, LG Electronics USA, NAB, PILOT, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the Nevada Center for Advanced Mobility, and Keolis North America, a Boston-headquartered provider of transportation services nationwide.

[Read: ATSC 3.0 To Take Center Stage At NAB Show]

“This is the first time an autonomous vehicle and Next Gen TV have been combined to provide a powerful glimpse of the future,” said NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny. “Riding in a driverless vehicle is a revealing moment for people to see where the future of mobility is taking us, and viewing live HD broadcasts while doing so really highlights one of the great opportunities that broadcasters have in deploying the ATSC 3.0 standard.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Vice President of Advanced Technology Mark Aitken calls mobile video the cornerstone of his company’s Next Gen TV efforts, adding, “Mobile TV will help jump-start the transition to ATSC 3.0, and this demonstration will show how broadcasting to moving vehicles is a practical and commercially viable proposition.”

An identical but stationary shuttle will be featured in “The Road to ATSC 3.0” exhibit in the Central Hall Lobby, co-sponsored by NAB, the Consumer Technology Association and the Advanced Television Systems Committee. In addition to highlighting the mobile reception capabilities of ATSC 3.0, the exhibit will showcase demonstrations of Next Gen capabilities, including Ultra HDTV, High Dynamic Range video, immersive audio, and personalized and addressable content.

“One of ATSC 3.0’s key benefits is mobility, giving broadcasters who deploy the new service reach far beyond the living room screen,” said ATSC President Mark Richer. “We fully expect ATSC 3.0 to be entertaining passengers in self-driving vehicles, and for this technology to be used for providing other data services to riders, whether in an autonomous vehicle or on-the-go with future mobile devices.” 

  For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.  

LAS VEGAS—NewTek’s theme for the 2018 NAB Show may be “The Power To See Ahead,” but it has a definite idea about what that vision should be for broadcasters and video producers, alike: IP-based video production and distribution powered by its NDI IP protocol.

Since its earliest days, NewTek has been all about software-driven video production. Thirty years ago, that meant writing machine code to squeeze every bit of processing efficiency from NewTek’s Video Toaster and its Commodore Amiga host.

Today, it means software-driven IP workflows that offer a high degree of flexibility when compared to video production solutions based upon proprietary hardware. At the NAB Show, NewTek will emphasize this with IP-based video solutions that take a signal from acquisition, through the entire production workflow and ultimately to viewers as streaming IP packets.

NDI LINEUP

In practical terms, from NewTek’s point of view, that means acquisition with the NDHX-PTZ1 pan-tilt-zoom camera, across a typical IP network using the NDI protocol, to production equipment like its TriCaster TC1 production switcher and finally streamed to viewers via its MediaDS Media Distribution System.

The lineup of NDI products at the NewTek booth will include the new 3Play 3P1 replay device for NDI workflows as well as its new LivePanel IP-based control surface that enables video producers to control their NDI workflows from their tablets, smartphones, laptops and workstations.

The 3Play 3P1 is a four-input, two-output replay system with NDI IP connectivity. Together with NewTek’s TriCaster TC1 16-input, 4K-capable production switcher and NewTek-Vizrt NVG1 IP graphics server, the 3Play 3P1 is part of an NDI-based technology triumvirate NewTek calls the Dream Team, which packs all the muscle needed for network-quality sports production.

SOFTWARE-DRIVEN CONTROL PANEL

NewTek’s new LivePanel browser-based, software-driven control panel is compatible with any current OS and modern web browser. Users can define their own virtual control surfaces for LivePanel using the LivePanel Builder. More sophisticated interfaces are available on a contract basis from NewTek’s ProServ professional services division.

NewTek also will highlight its NDI HX products, including the NDHX-PTZ1 pan-tilt-zoom camera with NDI network connectivity, NDI HX HDMI and SDI converters, and a high-efficiency mode for NDI use in bandwidth restricted environments that allows 1080p video to be transported over Wi-Fi.

At the high end, the company will feature its flagship IP Series Video Mix Engine with 44 inputs and 35 outputs. Supporting video signals up to 4K/60p, the IP Series offers native NDI support as well as support for other IP protocols and standards, including ASPEN and SMPTE ST-2022, says the company.

NewTek has been shipping NDI, or Network Device Interface for about two and half years. In that time, there have been some 5,000 downloads of the NDI software development kit. A total of about 850 developers are actively creating NDI-based solutions for video production, and of those, about 400 to 500 are shipping NDI-enabled products, according to Brian Olson, NewTek’s vice president of product management.

[Read: NewTek Releases V3 Of NDI]

Fourteen NDI developers will be showing their products at the NDI Central Pavilion (SL5516), next to the NewTek booth.

The company will get the NAB ball rolling Sunday, April 8, with its NewTek Community Event. The event promises to give those who attend a preview of what the company has in store for them at the booth.

Kiki Stockhammer will host the shindig; NewTek founder Tim Jenison will speak, and Andrew Cross, company president and CTO, will present. The event will be held in the Congo Room of the SLS Las Vegas. Cocktails start at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 6:30.

NewTek will be in booth SL5016.

LAS VEGAS—More than 40 exhibitors will show ATSC 3.0 products or services next week at the 2018 NAB Show in Las Vegas (April 7-12), according to the Advanced Television Systems Committee.

“With approval of the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards, the focus shifts from development of the standard itself to early deployments across the world," said ATSC President Mark Richer.

A guide to ATSC 3.0 products and services at the NAB Show from ATSC members is available online for download.

Once again, the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center (between the North and Central Halls) will be the site of the “Road to ATSC 3.0” exhibit. The focus of the exhibit will be deployment plans for ATSC 3.0 in cities within and outside the United States.

[Read: 2018 NAB Show Marks Next Gen TV’s Arrival]

“Of course, all eyes were on South Korea during the Winter Olympics and their stunning 4K broadcasts,” said Richer. “At the NAB Show, we will focus on the first stations that are signing on here in the U.S. and give attendees a look at how next-generation television is being tested and introduced.”

In the North Hall Futures Park area, two Next-Gen implementation teams will demonstrate various capabilities of ATSC 3.0. The Advanced Emergency Alert I-Team will show the end-to-end workflow of advanced emergency alerting. The Personalization and Interactivity I-Team will demo a TV program with ads and how ATSC 3.0 can be used to display alternate ad content, the press release said.

To demonstrate the mobile TV aspect of the Next-Gen TV standard, an autonomous bus service will link the Central and South Halls, showing mobile reception of terrestrial 3.0 signals. “We fully expect ATSC 3.0 to be entertaining passengers in self-driving vehicles, and for this technology to be used for providing other data services to riders—whether in an autonomous vehicle or on-the-go with future mobile devices,” said Richer.

For more information on the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

LAS VEGAS—Virtualized video playout streams operating in the cloud; the integration of many station automation systems into one easy-to-manage platform, and having the flexibility to spin new channels up and down as needed… these are just some of the trends influencing station automation products today, and that vendors will be addressing in their booths at the NAB Show.

CENTRAL CONTROL

Sam Peterson, vice president of production management at Bitcentral, said that along with virtualization, other trends driving station automation including centralization and simplification.

Although locating station automation facilities in centralized locations, creating them as “virtual” facilities in the cloud, and making all of them simple to operate may seem like very different trends, they all come from a common broadcaster need. “What is driving those trends is our customers’ requirement to run multiple outputs from more efficient operations centers,” Peterson said. “This is particularly true for customers who are running multiple linear channels.”

To address these trends, at the show, Bitcentral will showcase CentralControl, its master control/station automation platform that provides a suite of modular user interfaces and tools for ingest, media management, and playout. Bitcentral recently did a major CentralControl installation for a Latin American broadcaster, and will be sharing details of the technical solution at the NAB Show.

THE IP FACTOR

IP signal delivery, cloud, and integration of playout facilities are the automation trends ENCO Systems is focusing on right now, according to Ken Frommert, company president. “Video over IP is the big buzzword in the industry right now,” he said. “We’ve implemented that within our automation system to meet the growing demand.”

Dave Turner, executive vice president for ENCO added that video over IP “is a much easier transport mechanism” and that it “lends itself to implementing virtualized content management and playout in the cloud, which is a huge trend in broadcasting due to its lower cost of operation.”

[Read: The Benefits Of Virtualization]

With its integration of automatic ingest, media asset management, graphics, and playout automation together into one platform, ENCO Systems’ MOM (Media Operations Manager) automated playout system will be front and center at the company’s booth. “We’ll be showing how it integrates with different production systems made by Broadcast Pix, Grass Valley, NewTek, Ross Video, and Sony,” said Turner.

ON PREM AND IN-CLOUD PLAYOUT

Shawn Maynard, senior vice president/GM for Florical Systems sees two divergent trends in station automation.

On one hand, cloud-based station automation is catching on. “Whether on or off-premises, we’re seeing a lot of interest in virtualized playout systems operating in the cloud,” he said. On the other hand, “I’m seeing a resurgence of traditional playout centers using best-of-breed equipment. When it comes to individual local stations, rather than a network, they just don’t see the cloud as a viable playout option at this point.”

Florical System will focus on virtualized playout at their NAB Show booth. “Our main feature this year is our new FéniX integrated playout option—powered by Harmonic Technologies,” Maynard said. Florical Systems will also showcase its Acuitas channel-in-a-box IT-based playout package that can be deployed on COTS hardware. “For the first time, we’ll be showing Acuitas operating over SAN architecture,” he said.

MAKING MOBILE CONTENT DELIVERY AFFORDABLE

Grass Valley is seeing a growing emphasis on pushing broadcast content to mobile users, according to Chuck Garfield, the company’s director of product management for the News division. “Unfortunately, the ad dollars are not following this area of digital content growth,” he noted. “So the revenue that is generated of this is a small part of any station’s revenue stream; say just 25 percent of the total.”

In this context, station operators need to find economical ways to fund and operate second and third channels. “The budget isn’t there to fund standard linear control room equipment,” Garfield said. This is where virtualized and cloud-based station automation solutions need to step up.

Grass Valley has been tackling this issue through what it calls “automated production control.” At the NAB Show, the company will demonstrate “Event Builder,” the first stage of an APC application designed to reduce the complexity of live broadcast production by up to 50 percent.

“Event Builder is designed for a non-technical, lower-cost staff member to call up a basic Grass Valley Ignite library to produce live programming,” said Garfield. “This is part of our efforts to create lower cost station operations for broadcasters; of which station automation is just a part.”

With the recent acquisition of Snell Advanced Media, Garfield said Grass Valley is “excited” by the opportunities to blend the SAM line of production equipment into Ignite. “We will demonstrate Ignite control of the Kula video switcher, and already have plans in place to add Kahuna control to our APC portfolio,” he said.

NEW MEDIA WORKFLOWS

For Imagine Communications, their customers are concentrating on new media workflows, according to Chuck Kocsis, the company’s senior product manager for automation.

“We’re also helping our broadcast customers define their business cases for data center-based playout and cloud-based playout,” he said. Such changes help stations launch short-term pop-up channels for special occasions/opportunities at minimal cost, and facilitate disaster recovery.

At its booth, Imagine will feature the Versio Platform integrated playout solution, which supports data center-based and cloud-based content playout. The company will also show xG Schedule, which it says is the industry’s first cloud-based planning and scheduling system for linear, on-demand and digital platforms.

Read: The Opportunities For Virtualized Playout]

“One of the major questions we will be able to answer is how customers can transition from their current station operations—whether automated or not—to our streamlined Versio and xG Schedule platforms to become more efficient, flexible, and cost-effective in their operations,” Kocsis said. “We want to help broadcasters decide what they need to do to automate their stations, identify their comfort level in affecting change, and help them achieve it as painlessly as possible.”

BOTH ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM

Ross Video is seeing “a push this year for automation at both ends of the spectrum,” said Mike Paquin, marketing product manager for control and automation for the company.

“A decade ago, automation was all about making operational savings and improving the efficiency of existing productions,” he said. “Now, our customers are looking for ways to add content for new distribution channels cost-effectively at a time when video resolution quality is jumping up to 4K on TVs, computers and even smartphones.”

At the NAB Show, Paquin says Ross will demonstrate “end-to-end solutions for large national and network level productions—with all the production horsepower required—featuring our flagship Acuity production switcher, Inception social media management and OverDrive Premium.”

The company will also showcase OverDrive+Graphite, which combines automation and production tools that provide the same levels of production quality and consistency “as the larger offerings, but at a price and compact size that ideally meets the needs of smaller productions like seconds screen, breaking news, or smaller markets” Paquin said.

THE REPACK IMPACT

The ongoing channel repack that resulted from the recent spectrum auctions is prompting broadcasters to focus on reducing capital and operations expenditures, without sacrificing functionality, according to Rush Beesley, president of RUSHWORKS. These changes are leading broadcasters to re-evaluate their spending plans, he noted.

Adding to their confusion is OTT, which “presents an ever-rotating kaleidoscope of possibilities, and the attendant uncertainties of how to monetize alternative media delivery platforms,” Beesley said. “So spending less on products and minimizing human resources is key to economic survival in station automation.”

RUSHWORKS will address this uncertainty by showcasing its A-LIST BROADCAST Automation and Streaming System. “It supports up to four channels in a chassis, and provides all the functionality that traditional broadcasters need at a fraction of the cost of ‘big iron’ systems,” said Beesley. A-LIST interfaces with virtually all video routing switchers and third-party traffic and billing systems; provides detailed as-run logs for reconciliation, integrates with most current EAS systems, and can be run remotely from virtually any location, as long as there is Internet connectivity.”

RUSHWORKS will also unveil the A-LIST Streamster, a tiny desktop appliance that includes most of the features of the A-LIST BROADCAST configuration, according to Beesley. However, with the emphasis on IP/OTT mediacasting, there are no baseband inputs or outputs. The A-lIST Streamster has six USB 3.1 ports and Gigabit Ethernet.

EFFICIENCY IS KEY

Sony’s take on station automation is in line with the trends it sees driving the broadcast marketplace.

“Broadcasters are looking for more efficiency across the entire enterprise, as their operations become more consolidated and they look to move away from the traditional ‘heavy iron’ approach often associated with many on-premise solutions,” said Ali E. Amoli, director of product management & solutions development at Sony Professional Solutions Americas. “We’re seeing more interest in virtualized data centers and master control in the cloud, especially for disaster recovery. Customers have come to us and said this is a real need, especially in light of all the recent natural disasters and flooding that disrupted local stations’ broadcasting.”

At the 2017 NAB Show, Sony announced the acquisition of station automation developer Crispin Corp., a company it had been collaborating with on deployment of the “Public Media Management” platform at Boston PBS station WGBH. The fruits of this acquisition, and how it meets the demand for more efficient operations, will be seen at the 2018 show, when Sony Electronics exhibits its own station automation solution.

“Sony’s solution uses a combination of Crispin Loading Dock and RapidPlayX in the cloud, Sony wireless streaming camcorders, our Ci Cloud Platform and virtual switching technology,” said Amoli. “We can take streams directly from the cameras in the field, files directly from Ci, do graphics overlays and switching, automate play-out and exchange information with traffic systems. With Sony’s Master Control in the Cloud for DR, we can get a station’s programming on air and distributed when they are unable to operate locally.”

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?

KEN FROMMERT: The recent usual suspects will remain at the forefront—IP, 4K and the cloud. Beyond these umbrella topics that cross the broadcast workflow and infrastructure, there are some more focused topics bubbling to the surface this year, one of which is automated captioning. As TV networks and independent stations grapple with compliance and the high costs of (and difficulty of securing) live stenographers, new software-defined solutions are coming to market that automate captioning workflow with much greater speed and accuracy then before. We believe this is an area to watch closely.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

FROMMERT: Our latest automated captioning solution, enCaption4, will make its U.S. debut with new enhancements that will eliminate all concerns with accuracy and speed-to-air. Additionally, we will showcase our MOM solution for organizing, managing and automating critical production and channel playout tasks, with an emphasis on robust integration with NDI and newsroom workflows.

TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

FROMMERT: enCaption4 just takes automated captioning to an entirely new level. For one, it’s deployable in the cloud or on-premises; second, it optimizes compliance with expanding regulatory requirements. But there is no question that nothing else comes close to enCaption4 when it comes to speed and accuracy. With our new patented technology, enCaption4’s new speech-to-text engine leverages breakthroughs in machine-learning technology to develop a deep neural network approach to voice recognition. Accuracy is further enhanced by a dictionary database for 28 languages—three times larger than previous enCaption solutions—while integration with popular newsroom computer systems (NRCS) takes advantage of news scripts and rundowns to learn and validate the spelling of local names and terminology.

As for MOM, there is no other solution of its kind that provides as much for such a reasonable cost. It is truly an all-in-one solution, which brings graphics, media ingest, playout automation, media asset management into one flexible solution. It is software-based and unlike the convoluted spreadsheet-like automation systems that permeate the industry, MOM is easy to navigate thanks to an intuitive, legible interface with clear and colorful on-screen arrays.

TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

FROMMERT: The NAB Show is all about relationships. It’s impossible to overstate the value of meeting with our customers and partners from around the world in one place. Hearing from our customers that they are happy, satisfied and interested to learn about our latest innovations to bring them into the future is an amazing opportunity. And their feedback on what we can do to further improve our products and solve their problems is invaluable.

LAS VEGAS—This year’s NAB Show will undoubtedly be focused on transitions—the one to IP and the cloud as well as the one to new evolving business models. What Imagine Communications hopes to do is talk about the exact types of migration strategies that the industry needs to get itself from point A to point B.

That’s the basis for the company’s focus on practical innovations at the NAB Show, according to Glodina Connan-Lostanlen, Imagine’s chief marketing officer. “We recognize that a lot of transition is happening, and we recognize that customers need to be able to go through them at their own pace.” At the exact time that the industry is looking at next-gen solutions, they’re also looking for a real-world way to migrate to new technologies and business strategies, she said.

LONG-TERM PRIORITIES

The annual NAB Show offers a chance to kick the tires, so to speak, and see first-hand how these next-gen technologies interweave with existing facilities, and why accelerating (or slowing down) the migration might make good sense, depending on the company and their long-term priorities.

Take for example the transformation that’s happening in playout. “It’s a segment that used to [require] a multiproduct solution [to] launch channels, and now one can [utilize] a more compact solution that relies on software modules,” Connan-Lostanlen said.

Or take the revenue opportunities that come from next-gen advertising solutions. “[The industry] is really moving together traditional adverting linear workflows with the digital ad insertion technology,” she said. Disappearing are those scenarios where a salesperson selling the digital platform is totally separate from one selling linear advertising.

In these areas as in others, there are potential monetization improvements and cost efficiencies that happen with the adoption of next-gen technologies that are able to compress and streamline, she said. And yet on the other hand, companies nearly always have existing legacy products and infrastructures that need to be properly considered as part of the migration.

One key example is the transition in North America to the next-generation ATSC 3.0 standard, she said. “If broadcasters today want to take advantage of ATSC, they [need] to be on digital platforms with very efficient workflows to be able to leverage that,” she said.

NEW BUSINESS & PRODUCTION TOOLS

This year, the company will be showcasing a number of new tools in the areas of advertising, playout, live production and the cloud. In the advertising arena, Imagine plans to introduce new business development tools such as the xG Scorecard business analytics tool, the new xG GamePlan cloud-based ad inventory optimization solution and AdTech solutions.

On the live production networking front, Imagine plans to show new features within the Selenio network processor as a means of addressing the gap between baseband and the IP world. Other options on display will be the hybrid SDI-IP Plantium IP3 router and the UHD-ready EPIC MV multiviewer.

“We are supporting a hybrid solution of routing/multiviewing in terms of how you take this to the IP world,” Connan-Lostanlen said. The company plans to participate in the IP Showcase initiative that will be at NAB alongside industry standards groups like AIMS and SMPTE. Imagine will do a deep dive discussion into standards like the recently approved SMPTE ST 2110-20 uncompressed video transport and the ways to go about ensuring interoperability between different receivers.

The company will also present a series of seminars in its booth on ATSC 3.0, solutions for monetizing inventory and dynamic ad insertion.

For playout, Imagine will show its Versio playout system and Versio IOX sharable and scalable storage solution.

In its booth in the South Hall, Imagine also plans to showcase solutions in cloud microservices technologies, routing, master control, graphics, storage and inventory management.

Imagine will be in Booth SL1516.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?

DAVID SCHLEIFER: The NAB Show always has two tracks, delivery of long-promised technology that you can actually start to plan on deploying, and new trends that catch everyone’s attention. We expect AI to continue to be the focus on new ideas and new thinking, while we expect IP, 4K to push customers towards systems that deliver solutions to their real-world problems.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

SCHLEIFER: We have been working hard to optimize and rebuild our system throughout, and this year it allows us to deliver very strong IP-based workflows capturing and publishing content in a wide array of formats and codecs. We are also delivering new cloud-based solutions like Review and Approval along with complete 4K workflows.

TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

SCHLEIFER: Our solutions can be deployed in several ways, in a traditional on-premise installation, or hybrid with cloud-based components, or completely in the cloud. Combined with our new APIs and built-in scripting and configuration tools, we are more capable of solving customer problems with solutions that fit their needs.

TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

SCHLEIFER: The NAB Show provides us with the opportunity to reach the largest number of key prospects and customers in the same location. Our effort is to stand out amongst our peers and to gain the opportunity to educate the industry about how we can help them accomplish their goals.

Anyone who has debated IP’s impact on broadcast will have that topic along with many others addressed at this year's Broadcast Engineering Information Technology Conference (BEITC) at the NAB Show. The conference will kick off with several SBE Ennes Workshops on Saturday, April 7 that will discuss the state of the industry and the transition to IP. The session, “Is IP Real?” (Saturday, April 7, 9:35 a.m., in N262-N264 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center), will face the issue head on and discuss the hard facing details about real time IP from supplier through system integrator to end-users.

“There are a lot of people that are asking that question, but it is safe to say that we’ve already shown that it is very real,” said Michael Cronk, vice president, core technology at Grass Valley and one of the session panelists.

IP for broadcast is here and now, according to Stan Moote, CTO for the International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers and session moderator. “There are already enough systems out there that after this show, IP will become the norm,” he said.

[Read: What 2110 Means for Broadcasters]

The question now is how fast the industry will adopt it, Cronk added. “SMPTE has finished the SMPTE ST 2110 standard and that will open the door for a lot more IP solutions,” he said.

FINDING ANSWERS

The new standards suite specifies the carriage, synchronization, and description of separate elementary essence streams over professional internet protocol (IP) networks in real-time for the purposes of live production, playout and other professional media applications. In addition, the SMPTE ST 2110 standards will make it possible to separately route and break away the essence streams—audio, video, and ancillary data.

“Right now we’re in the beginning of this adoption,” Cronk said. “However, as people see that it is now being used in the field it will begin to take off.”

Other SBE Ennes Workshops include “Next Gen is OTT/OTA,” (Saturday, April 7, 9:55 a.m., N262-N264), where the interrelationships between over-the-top and over-the-air will be discussed; “What are MicroServices and Why Should We Care?” (Saturday, April 7, 11:05 a.m., N262-N264), which will explain how microservices could be the new software-based building blocks that could be utilized by the next generation of media creators and distributors; and “Cyber Security Hygiene in IP Broadcast Systems,” (Saturday, April 7, 11:30 a.m., N262-N264), which will offer a discussion on how cyber security can be implemented in a practical manner.

“These sessions answer the fundamental questions and issues that the industry is facing this year and beyond,” said Skip Pizzi, vice president of technolgy and outreach at NAB.

The sessions could also put some minds at ease, including those broadcasters who are still using legacy systems and may not be able to fully move to IP in 2018.

“The dirty little secret is that SDI works fine with IP,” said Moote. “You don’t have to panic if you can’t get every product in IP. That has been one of the scary points that people have been worried about.”

Attendees of the conference will be able to take in what IP can offer as there will be a full IP production studio at the show.

“This will highlight all aspects of IP,” added Moote. “We want to show the hybrid solutions of how IP and SDI can and do work together.”

EXPLORING ATSC 3.0

BEITC will also feature sessions devoted to the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, which combines over-the-air broadcast capabilities with IP, allowing TV stations to not only deliver higher-resolution video, but to also offer geo-targeted ads as well as video on demand and other interactive services.

Much of this functionality will be discussed in the panel session “ATSC 3.0 - Layers and Layers and Layers Oh My!” (Sunday, April 8, 1:30 p.m., N260-B).

[Read: 2018 NAB Show Marks Next Gen TV's Arrival]

“We’ll be pulling it back much like the layers of an onion,” said Ted Korte, session presenter and COO of Qligent, a Melbourne, Fla.-based developer of broadcast monitoring systems. “There is a lot on what you can do with it from the encoder to the end user.”

However, it is apparent already that this transition to ATSC 3.0 may not be a trivial task, nor is it likely that everyone will simply switch on every feature.

The hurdles and challenges that lay ahead will be discussed in other ATSC sessions on Sunday including: “The ATSC 3.0 Test Station in Cleveland Grows Up,” (10:40 a.m., N255), offering insight from WJW-TV and summarizing the activities at the station and the lessons learned to date; and “Transmitter Carrier and Timing Offset for Co-Channel Interference Mitigation,” (1:30 p.m., N260-A), which will discuss how carrier and timing offset techniques are proposed at the transmitter side to mitigate the co-channel interferences. “How the ATSC 3.0 Deployment Can be Better than that of ATSC 1.0” (1:30 p.m., N260-D), will compare how this transition will be different from the deployment of the nation’s first digital broadcast standard.

“[We’ll] be highlighting some of the issues that will be at the heart of channel-sharing agreements to effectuate the 3.0 deployment,” explained session presenter Jerald N. Fritz, executive vice president for strategic and legal affairs at ONEMedia. “We will point to both host and tenant issues that need to be reflected in these unique market-wide, mutistation agreements.”

Other panels on the subject include: “The Data Strategy Behind Harnessing ATSC 3.0 for Audience Targeting,” (Monday, April 9, 2:20 p.m., N256), which will discuss how NBCU will harness big data and machine learning infrastructure behind Audience Studio, the network’s data management technology platform and ad targeting system, to plan for the adoption of ATSC 3.0; and “ATSC 3.0 Ready – Designing Antennas for Higher OFDM PAPR (Tuesday, April 10, 9:20 a.m., N255), where new limitations in RF transmission system specifications will be addressed.

With all these different topics, one takeaway for broadcast engineers at the 2018 NAB Show is that with the standards process mostly completed, the road to ATSC 3.0 is just beginning.

“We shouldn’t expect everything to be resolved in ATSC 3.0 in 2018,”said Korte. “Even 2019 is looking ambitious as there is still too much distraction this year. We should expect a lot more trials to get us there.

“We can’t do this all at once,” he added. “It is like going to buffet and trying to eat it all—it might seem like a good idea but it isn't recommended.”

LAS VEGAS—Over the years, the NAB Show has successfully adapted to the rapidly changing demands of the media and entertainment industry. This year is no different.

This means connecting with streamers, gamers, post professionals and, of course, broadcasters. But this year’s annual event has been reorganized to meet all of those needs with a new lineup of sessions, summits and exhibits that seemed unimaginable even a few years ago.

One theme that seems to permeate throughout the new programs is the way in which technology is being used to create better storytellers.

“Effectively using technology is critical to creating quality content,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president of conventions and business operations for NAB. “NAB Show offers inspiration, training and the very latest tools and technologies to help storytellers step up their game and advance their tradecraft.”

STREAMING SUMMIT

The NAB Show is responding to the increasing popularity of over the top platforms with the introduction of the Streaming Summit, a one-day conference that will focus from top to bottom on the culture and dynamics of the streaming media business. What was cutting edge and resourceful 12 months ago—be it ways of monetizing or streaming protocols—may be outmoded and outpaced come this April. The session will address topics like live linear workflows, transcoding, distribution, new business models and technology platforms.

What’s not up for debate: that regardless of the technology and monetization schemes behind the curtain, consumers expect a certain level of quality content and a certain level of quality delivery, Brown said. “As video streaming services continue to gain immense popularity, media and technology companies must evolve to meet the demand for quality content when and where consumers want it,” he said.

RECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE

NAB has also shuffled around one of the most popular events at the show—its TV, radio and technology luncheons—into two new major events. The first is a new NAB Achievement in Broadcasting Dinner; the second is a celebration called “NAB: We are Broadcasters” Celebration.

The changes were made to better highlight key awards and expose them to a broader NAB Show audience, Brown said, while still highlighting the work the broadcast industry does from a business, creative and community perspective.

Just as the individual broadcast and tech awards did in the past, the new Achievement in Broadcasting Dinner is designed to recognize those individuals and companies who are working to advance the industry through technology, public service and content. At that same dinner, two awards will be presented: the NAB Radio and Television Hall of Fame Award and NAB Engineering and Digital Leadership Award. Game show aficionados may want to brace themselves for this double-whammy award ceremony that will honor “Wheel of Fortune” and its hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White, as well as “JEOPARDY!” and its host Alex Trebek. All three have hosted their respective programs since the mid-80s, and between them have produced a combined 13,000 episodes.

This year’s NAB Digital Leadership Award will be awarded to Roger Keating, Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer for Hearst Television. The Television Engineering Achievement Award will be presented to Mark Aitken, vice president of Advanced Technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group and Clay Freinwald of Freinwald Technical Services will receive the 2018 Service to Broadcast Engineering Award.

The NAB’s “We Are Broadcasters” Celebration event will include the presentation of several familiar radio and TV awards, including the NAB Crystal Radio Awards and Television Chairman’s Award. Attendees will find them in “the good place” for the Television Chairman’s Award, which will be presented to TV and film actress Kristen Bell.

Those of us who want to hear firsthand what NAB President Gordon Smith has to say will need to re-route the Uber away from the Westgate over to the main stage in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. After that keynote presentation, the NAB Distinguished Service Award will be awarded to ABC co-anchor Robin Roberts.

The NAB is also partnering up with that famous little gold statue guy. This year, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) will present the Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards at NAB. Up to this point, these technical honors had been awarded at the annual CES show. “We couldn’t be more pleased that NATAS has chosen to recognize the industry’s most innovative companies and leading technology minds at NAB Show,” Brown said. “The awards are a natural fit for NAB Show. Many of the winners are regular attendees or among our exhibitor ranks.”

MORE THAN JUST EXHIBITS ON THE EXHIBIT FLOOR

A surprisingly number of new areas will spring up on the show floor this year too. At the Destination NXT Theater, an on-the-show-floor education program In the South Hall, attendees can listen to presentations on distribution, delivery and commerce. In one instance, that will mean getting inside the devoted, chaotic, demanding and progressive head of a sports fan.

One of the events in the Destination NXT Theater will be “The Super-Fan Journey,” which will take a real-life look at the ways that a sport fan flits from social media to video games to OTT to follow his teams. So how does a team or network provide a more targeted, streamlined journey from one hop to the other? The session, manned by staffers from the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Vikings, will take a crack at answering the question.

Other new spots on the show floor will be the Podcasting Pavilion and the Immersive Storytelling Pavilion, which will look at the ongoing creation and commercialization of virtual, mixed and augmented immersive content. Convention organizers expanded podcasting’s presence at the show to help attendees “capitalize on the medium’s growing popularity and potential,” Brown said.

Away from the show floor, attendees will see five new conferences. In addition to the new Streaming Summit, the NAB is introducing the “Ad Innovations” conference that will look at everything from AI and big data to ad models and new platforms.

And fan engagement comes swinging around again in several new conferences. “Content Strategies for Podcasting” will look at the way podcasting can tap into rabid fan engagement and introduce new revenue streams. Likewise, the new eSports conference looks at this rapidly growing market and the ways in which streaming, media rights and fan engagement tools are helping shape it.

The NAB will also usher in three new networking opportunities, including several new Community Mixers, the new Braindate series of small group conversations, and (for those of us seriously tired of standing up eating a cold hot dog while leaning against a hallway wall) a new Draft House food and beverage area in the South Hall.

For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

LAS VEGAS—The world’s newest digital television delivery standard, ATSC 3.0, has now come of age, getting the FCC’s official nod last November, and cheered with a champagne toast by industry leaders at the International CES. The standard, which has already been deployed in South Korea, was further showcased in February when it was used to transmit the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in sparkling UHD and HDR.

After years of buildup during the development process, ATSC 3.0 officially makes its debut at the 2018 NAB Show, with numerous presentations devoted to both technical and non-technical aspects of the standard, a special ATSC 3.0 exhibit, real-world mobile reception demos, and some of the first-ever ATSC 3.0-specific products on display on the exhibit floor.

THE ATSC 3.0 ’ROAD’ BECKONS

Show visitors arriving through the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall will be greeted with the ATSC’s “Road to ATSC 3.0” showcase with experts on hand to answer questions and discuss the early 3.0 deployments in U.S. television markets.

“Look for the ‘Road to ATSC 3.0’ exhibit as you enter the Grand Lobby of the Convention Center, the NAB Mobile ATSC 3.0 Shuttle in front of the complex, and various technology demos taking place in Future Park in the North Hall,” said Dave Arland, ATSC spokesperson.

Mark Richer, ATSC president, extended his own invitation to the exhibit.

“I’d encourage anyone curious about what’s coming to stop by the ‘Road to ATSC 3.0’ exhibit for an update on the Cleveland test stations, the Phoenix Model Market project, WRAL in Raleigh, and the ongoing work by Sinclair Broadcasting and others to light up ATSC 3.0 in Dallas and other markets,” he said.

Pearl TV, the consortium of station groups focused on developing services for Next Gen TV as well as deploying the standard, will be represented at the exhibit by Anne Schelle, managing director for the group, who discussed the next steps for ATSC 3.0.

“The industry needs to begin commercialization and develop agreed-upon industry service profiles and deployment guidelines,” she said. Last year, Pearl TV and several network partners collaborated on a Model Market in Phoenix that serves as an industry test bed for service development and consumer testing. “Details [about this] can be seen in the ‘Road to ATSC 3.0’ exhibit,” Schelle added.

A DOUBLE HIGH-TECH OPPORTUNITY

Also being featured is the NAB Mobile ATSC 3.0 Shuttle, which will await attendees just outside the LVCC. Riders will get to experience two cutting-edge technologies: ATSC 3.0 with its ability to provide rock-steady UHD television reception in moving vehicles, and a ride around the LVCC complex in an autonomous self-driving vehicle.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, LG Electronics and NAB are sponsoring the mobile demo in cooperation with Keolis, which operates the Las Vegas ‘Strip’ bus system, and the autonomous Navya shuttle, according to Mark Aitken, vice president of advanced technology for Sinclair.

“The bus route is around the parking lot and between the convention halls,” Aitken said. “The ATSC 3.0 signals viewed in the bus are being transmitted from an experimental Channel 45 installation located south of Las Vegas on Black Mountain, which is being operated by Sinclair’s KSNV.” (These 3.0 transmissions can also be viewed at the ATSC exhibit.)

[ATSC 3.0 Transition Strategies]

In addition, according to Aitken, ONEMedia/Sinclair will demo ATSC 3.0 at the Wynn, in conjunction with South Korea Telecom, showcasing dynamic ad insertion and the synchronicity aspects of ATSC 3.0 running on MMT.

TRANSMISSION CONSIDERATIONS

With many broadcasters preparing to deploy the Next Gen TV standard, plenty of exhibitors will debut new equipment, offer demonstrations and provide advice.

At minimum, the 3.0 move will involve transmitter plant changes, and there’s plenty to check out in this area.

GatesAir will show its Maxiva range of ATSC 3.0-ready transmitters, including the ULXTE for high-power UHF, UAXTE for low-to-mid-power UHF, and VAXTE low-to-high power transmitters across low and high-band VHF, according to Rich Redmond, the company’s chief product officer. “All are outfitted with our Maxiva XTE software-defined exciter,” he said.

Redmond added that broadcasters wishing to move to 3.0 may need to consider a new transmitter, even if their ATSC 1.0 DTV transmitters haven’t reached end of life status.

“The ATSC 3.0 digital waveform has a higher peak-to-average ratio than ATSC 1.0, which limits some transmitters’ capability to achieve the same power levels in ATSC 3.0 you can in ATSC 1.0,” he said.

Hitachi-Comark is ready to equip broadcasters with everything needed to produce the sparkling true-to-life video delivered by ATSC 3.0, according to Joe Turbolski, director of sales operations at the company. In addition to transmitters and an ATSC 3.0 exciter, the Hitachi Kokusai Group, in conjunction with key partners, will offer a complete “glass-to-glass” 3.0 technology demo, allowing broadcasters to visualize ATSC 3.0’s full capabilities.

“‘Glass-to-glass’ refers to the demo’s scope, which includes image capture via Hitachi HD-HDR cameras, software-based HEVC encoding, and finally ATSC 3.0 RF transmission, reception, and monitoring,” Turbolski said.

Rohde & Schwarz will launch what it says is the world’s first IT server-based exciter solution for ATSC 3.0 broadcasting according to Erik Balladares, vice president of the company’s U.S. broadcast and media division. The R&S SDE900 “was developed around a pure software-based approach, which will ensure that future evolutions of the standards are supported, and provide the most flexibility to broadcast network operators,” he said.

Updates on the testing of single frequency networks for ATSC 3.0 in the Dallas area will be discussed at the NAB Show and stations considering deploying SFNs may want to explore new antenna technologies in the Central Hall and outside exhibits.

Martin noted that broadcasters selecting Dielectric antennas for the ongoing repack won’t have to worry about another such purchase when transitioning to 3.0, as the “FutureFill” feature is built into the company’s repack antennas and can be “turned on” as needed to enhance reception across their coverage areas.

Jampro will be on hand with its “Futurization Technology,” which the company says is “based upon years of proven use by one of the largest broadcast network operators in the world.”

[ATSC 3.0 Marches On]

The company’s JUXD broadband panel targets broadband, multichannel applications where the polarization ratio has not been fully decided.

MONITORING THE SIGNAL

Monitoring of these next-generation signals will be an essential part of the transition, and there’s also plenty to see in this area.

Triveni Digital will have plenty of ATSC 3.0 gear at its booth in the North Hall.

“As broadcasters transition to ATSC 3.0, the ecosystem becomes more complex, increasing the chance for video and audio quality issues,” said Ralph Bachofen, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing. “Having an ultra-portable analysis platform like Triveni Digital’s StreamScope Portal II, which simplifies troubleshooting of DTV transport streams in both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 environments, is critical.”

Triveni is also demonstrating other ATSC 3.0 analyzers and associated gear.

Qligent will introduce Vision-ATSC, a new cloud-based solution that will simplify the transition from 1.0 to 3.0, according to Ted Korte, the company’s COO. “Since it evaluates both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 signals with the same hardware platform, broadcasters can use it to establish a baseline of ATSC 1.0 performance, and provide monitoring and oversight throughout the ATSC 3.0 transition for greater operational continuity,” he said.

The 2018 NAB Show will offer broadcasters a gateway to next-generation ATSC 3.0 television broadcasting, providing an opportunity for both learning about the technology from those professionals who helped to develop it, and for interacting with the companies who have created the equipment to deliver it. It behooves anyone interested in the future of television to spend as much time as possible in the exhibit halls and presentation rooms this year.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—NewBay has announced that it is extending the deadline for its fifth annual Best of Show Awards for the 2018 NAB Show to March 30. The original deadline was last Friday, March 23.

The awards honor outstanding new products exhibited at the spring show. Each year hundreds of new products are nominated by convention exhibitors. Awards are be given by NewBay publications TV Technology, Digital Video, Government Video, Video Edge, Radio World, Radio magazine, Pro Sound News and Sound & Video Contractor. Winners are selected by panels of professional users and editors based on descriptions provided by companies via their nomination form as well as on judges’ inspection at the convention.

And for the second year, exhibitors can also nominate in the category of Booth Design Award.

[TV Technology Announces 2017 NAB Best of Show Award Winners]

All nominees will also be featured in a post-show Program Guide that provides a spectacular overview of new media technology offerings at the convention. You can read the 2017 guide here: http://www.mazdigital.com/webreader/50251

To learn more about the awards program and to nominate, visit the FAQ page.

The 2018 NAB Show will take place from April 7-12 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

MONTREAL—Five weeks ago Grass Valley announced that it had acquired Snell Advanced Media and now it is ready to show some of the fruits of that merger to attendees at this year’s NAB Show.

[Belden/Grass Valley Acquires Snell Advanced Media]

Visitors to the Grass Valley booth on the Las Vegas Convention Center floor will see offerings from both GV and SAM portfolios organized by key application areas: live production, news, content delivery and networking. There will also be a dedicated camera stage and a “Discovery Zone,” which will feature self-guided virtual tours of technology topics.

GV is also housing a hospitality booth, SL1805, where customers can meet with sales people, product managers and executives.

The 2018 NAB Show will run from April 7-12. Grass Valley will be located at booth SL1806.

CLEVELAND & LAS VEGAS—Telos Alliance, along with its subsidiary companies, will have a pair of booths all to themselves at this year’s NAB Show, but the company also plans to have a presence at the IP Showcase on the show floor. Telos Alliance will join more than 50 companies as part of the Showcase that will demonstrate the benefits of IP.

Using AES67, the SMPTE ST 2110 standard and AMWA NMOS specifications, IP can provide operational benefits. At the IP Showcase, visitors will be able to see some of these benefits, like format flexibility and efficient cabling; resiliency and data-loss protection; plug-and-play connection management; and a choice of interoperable audio equipment. Presentations, panels and a live all-IP studio will also be hand to highlight IP.

The IP Showcase will be located at booth C12634 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Telos Alliance will have its own booths (N6531 and SU2321) also on the show floor.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place from April 7-12 in Las Vegas. 

WASHINGTON—At this year’s NAB Show, the Federal Communications Commission will be out in full strength. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Michael O’Rielly, Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel will participate in four separate sessions, April 7 – 12 in Las Vegas. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is not scheduled to attend.

Chairman Pai will deliver remarks at the “We Are Broadcasters Celebration” Tuesday, April 10, 3–4:15 p.m. The new event celebrates local radio and TV stations’ role in communities and “commitment to innovation that enables broadcasters to better serve listeners and viewers,” according to the announcement.

[Rep. Greg Walden to Speak at 2018 NAB Show Opening]

Designated chairman by President Donald Trump in January 2017, Pai had previously served as commissioner at the FCC, appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in May 2012.

Remember that Pai notably canceled an appearance at January’s CES, reportedly after threats to his safety over his position on Net Neutrality.

Commissioners O’Rielly, Carr and Rosenworcel will address three sessions within the NAB Show Business of Broadcast Conference, April 8–11, including a Law and Policy Q&A with the FCC and Capitol Hill, which is open to NAB members only.

BOTHELL, WASH.—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions will set itself down at the IP Showcase in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center for the duration of the 2018 NAB Show. As one of the showcase’s sponsor, AIMS will highlight progress on the move toward uniform IP interoperability.

The IP Showcase is being set up as a one-stop shop for NAB attendees to understand using IP for real-time media. The booth will highlight key technologies and offer seven demonstration areas focused on IP workflows: format flexibility from SD to UHD; simplifying discovery and registration with AMWA IS-04 and IS-05; compatibility between AES67 and SMPTE ST 2110-30; audio/video lip sync and handling of multichannel audio; design of deterministic IP systems with COTS IP switches using SMPTE ST 2110-21; SDI and IP conversion and harmonized timing with SMPTE ST 2059; and system resiliency and protection from data loss using SMPTE ST 2022-7.

AIMS’ additional plans for showcasing IP include an “IP in Action” wall, which will display information about reference sites that use IP technology on the AIMS roadmap. The organization also plans to demonstrate IP’s real-world power with an all IP-production room broadcasting live during the show. AIMS members will also be making presentations in the IP Showcase Theater.

Furthermore, AIMS members are slated to present 10 papers during the NAB Show covering a range of topics for media-over-IP workflows. Thirty AIMS members will also have AIMS-branded sections of their booths.

AIMS will be located at booth C12634 during the 2018 NAB Show, which runs from April 7-12 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS—TVU Networks is set to premiere the TVU One TM1000G—a new model of its TVU One IP newsgathering transmitter—at the 2018 NAB Show. Weighing just 2.2 pounds, the TVU One TM1000G features an embedded global modem that makes it easier for broadcasters to transmit live coverage of important events, like elections, natural disasters and sporting events, from virtually anywhere in the world.

With the global modem, broadcasters need only insert local SIMs wherever they are into the transmitter and they’re ready to go live. Compared to TVU Networks’ standard model, the TVU One TM1000 IP, the new TM1000G offers increased flexibility, robust functions and hassle-free operation, without sacrificing performance or picture quality.

Previously, depending where in the world the user wanted to broadcast from, the standard model required that a specific set of modems be installed to ensure compatibility with a particular region’s SIMs. This meant that modems had to be swapped out if a broadcaster planned to use it in a country that required a different modem configuration.

The TVU One TM1000G transmitter is available with HEVC video compression and TVU’s patented Inverse Statmux Plus (IS+) transmission algorithm to transmit full HD quality video with a half-second of latency at 3Mbps. And it can transmit simultaneously over multiple connections, including cellular, microwave, WiFi, Ethernet, BGAN and satellite.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. TVU Networks will be in booth C1707. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

Read up on all of TVT's NAB Show Sneak Peeks and other 2018 NAB Show news here.

LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, Thomson Broadcast will highlight Gigativy, a full-power transmitter designed for the spectrum repack and shift from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0. This high-efficiency, wide-band transmitter provides a continuous stream in the UHF band (470 to 600MHz) and reaches up to 18kW with 12 power amplifiers in a single cabinet, or higher power with multiple cabinets.

Furthering Thomson’s commitment to its “GreenPower” transmission solutions, Gigativy maximizes savings of up to 15 percent on energy, while improving motor fan life and reducing vibration noise and operating costs. Featuring the latest Doherty technology in its liquid cooled range, this compact transmitter optimizes heat exchangers and circulators with an expanded cooling systems range.

It also permits easy access to all modules, hot plugs and amplifiers within a sliding cabinet system. Gigativy joins the company’s ATSC 1.0/3.0 transmitter product line, designed for the spectrum repack, including Megativy and Dreamline products.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Thomson Broadcast will be in booth SU6525. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—The 2018 NAB Show will serve as the official launch of Solid State Logic’s (SSL) System T v2.0 software, which puts immersive audio for ATSC 3.0, Dolby Atmos and MPEG-H at the heart of this IP-based broadcast audio production platform’s architecture.

With the emergence of 3D immersive audio in broadcast and film, System T’s new three-axis co-ordinate panning incorporates two- or four-channel overhead speakers into the available channel and bus formats; and positions mono and stereo sources in a 3D sound field. System T can also fine-tune spatial components as multichannel 3D sources are added to the mix.

Completing System T’s immersive feature set is a collection of processing tools and intelligent down-mixing. It also supports formats, such as 5.1.2, 5.1.4, 7.1.2 and 7.1.4 (with side channels and rear channels), as well as 4.0.4, which is designed for beds and stems to ensure that the center channel remains available for dialogue and commentary.

System T v2.0 also introduces “appified” software, whereby software interface components launch as separate applications that are available across multi-screen control surfaces and PC control stations.

SSL is also introducing the most comprehensive DAW control available in a broadcast console. It makes full use of System T touchscreen and hardware controls and includes a dedicated screen interface for control over the DAW mixer environment and transport controls. SSL will also demonstrate v2.0 with its S500, S300, Tempest Control Rack (TCR) systems,and complete network I/O range, with demos of its SSL Live console.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Solid State Logic will be in booth C3026. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) will launch its CLEAR Digital Lab, which acts as the “media universe” for secure content operations, from acquisition through distribution and archive. CLEAR Digital Lab revolutionizes the way content makers manage their content by connecting the various contributors engaged in the content creation process.

By leveraging the scalability and global accessibility of the Microsoft Azure cloud hosting platform, CLEAR Digital Lab gives production houses and studios greater creative control, faster decision-making capabilities, more efficient workflows, supply chain freedom and lower production costs.

CLEAR Digital Lab connects the production ecosystem, making it easier and more secure for people to collaborate across the supply chain. It brings together the stakeholders and supply chain vendors for such tasks as editorial, visual effects, sound, localization, mastering and distribution.

Built around CLEAR Media ERP’s DAX Production Cloud software and Cloud MAM software modules, CLEAR Digital Lab handles files of different resolutions and content types—including scripted, unscripted, short form and digital content—as well as tracking jobs and managing media logistics across production supply chains.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Prime Focus Technologies will be in booth SL9605. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—IPV is rolling out its Curator 2.0 asset management software at the 2018 NAB Show, focusing on how this new version allows content creators in any media organization or industry to manage their growing volume of media assets, while improving their overall production workflow.

Configurable as a cloud-based, local or hybrid system, Curator 2.0 enables faster installation due to fewer manual configurations and features integration with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services cloud-hosting platforms. Through cloud integration, the system automatically generates subtitles for assets. This is particularly useful for cost-conscious educational institutions that want to comply with legislation to make video content accessible to all viewers.

Curator 2.0 also features Clip Link Collections, which let users keep track of assets by selecting and adding media to collections that can be sent to specified destinations or shared with colleagues.

Project Versioning has also been added to Curator’s Adobe integration, improving collaboration within the editing software. It also adds project management to ensure that every version is automatically stored and giving producers an overview of important metadata. For even greater control over metadata, Curator 2.0 has a new thesaurus search feature that makes sure everyone on the team is using the same terminology to ensure that the metadata remains accurate.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. IPV will be in booth SL4905. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—Ikegami is set to reveal its new HDK-99 3G-Capable (3-CMOS) HDTV Portable Camera at the 2018 NAB Show. As the successor to Ikegami’s HDK-95C, the HDK-99 employs three 2.6 Megapixel high-performance CMOS image sensors for full 1920x1080 HD picture quality, 1000TVL horizontal resolution, SNR of 62dB or more and F11 (59.94Hz) sensitivity.

With its wide dynamic range of over 600 percent, the HDK-99 features an HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) mode that conforms to the ITU-R BT.2100 standard for HDR. HLG can expand the range represented from dark to bright and provide bright pictures with HDR, while achieving rich colors with wide color gamut.

It features native support for a wide range of progressive and interlace formats; a lens aberration correction function that minimizes the loss of resolution and colored edges; and a Quick EZ focus assist that enables operators to make critical focus adjustments. With its docking-style construction, the HDK-99 can be outfitted with several adapters and CCU’s, base stations and control panels.

The HDK-99 also incorporates AXII, Ikegami’s next-generation high-speed digital video processor for HD, 4K, and 8K cameras. AXII performs high-speed processing of super high resolution video signals in multiple formats and frame-rates, with high reliability and low power consumption. The AXII DSP also incorporates a real-time 3D color matrix function for precise color adjustment and 16 axes of the color gamut can be fine-tuned in hue and saturation for live, multi-camera production.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Ikegami will be in booth C7218. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—Hitachi-Comark has a new VHF Band 1 (54-88MHz) version of its PARALLAX solid-state, liquid-cooled DTV transmitter to promote at the 2018 NAB Show. It supports RF power levels from 4.0 up to 41kW and shares the same architecture, including cabinet, distributed control system and user interface, as their UHF and VHF Band 3 models.

Hitachi-Comark will also show its E-Compact transmitters, which are optimized for the U.S. spectrum repack and upgradeable to ATSC 3.0. The series now incorporates the latest air-cooled broadband, asymmetric Doherty amplifiers, which feature 888E LDMOS devices and utilize 950W high-efficiency PA blocks. The transmitters are available for 10kW or greater TPO.

Also at the booth will be the EXACT-V2 DTV exciter, which is fully optimized for ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 RF-performance, with 7 GigE ports. The exciter’s “DualCast” technology allows migration from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0 with a simple license upgrade.

For ATSC 3.0, the exciter supports MFN/SFN, multiple PLPs and TDM or LDM. The QoS-1000RT RF Layer Monitoring Receiver is also available for ATSC 3.0 via a simple upgrade. The receiver, which is a cost-effective, real-time tool for ATSC DTV RF signals, is available in either a 1RU chassis or portable tabletop versions, and features a web-based GUI, coupled with high-precision, near-real-time metrics.

Comark Digital Solutions (CDS), powered by Titan Live ATSC software based encoding, can replace aging ATSC1.0 encoder systems, including channel-sharing requirements, while supporting ATSC 3.0 requirements. CDS supports any resolution from SD to 4K, MPEG2, H264 and HEVC codecs, and HDR, for ATSC 1.0, ATSC 3.0 and OTT output.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Hitachi-Comark will be in booth C4309. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, Accedo will demonstrate how its Accedo One augmented reality platform can deliver a birds-eye view of long-distance sporting events—complete with real-time updates and interactive video experiences—to the viewers’ tablets, smart phones and other portable devices.

This technology is particularly well suited to long-distance sporting events, such as marathons and bike races, augmented by real-time updates. Broadcasters can use this AR platform to complement their live sports broadcasts by sending additional information or interactive experiences as a second screen experience.

Accedo One enables video service providers, brands and broadcasters to overcome the technical challenges of delivering scalable AR video experiences, such as fragmentation of the AR device market and the synchronization of live video with AR interaction and information elements. Accedo will demo AR, virtual reality and other products and services with its key partners, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Comcast and Brightcove.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Accedo will be in booth SU9401CM. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?

JON FINEGOLD: The continued move to 4K/8K, the evolution of VR/AR and the growth of OTT are all interesting trends in 2018, and of course cloud initiatives and security remain on everyone’s mind. Those things all mean bigger files and more complex workflows, making Signiant’s sophisticated and secure file transfer solutions an even more critical part of operations.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

FINEGOLD: We have recently made significant advancements across all three of our products.

Manager+Agents now offers Flight and Media Shuttle integrations, enabling Manager+Agents to connect with Signiant’s SaaS products for automating cloud workflows as well as system-to-person workflows.

Flight is now faster with extreme multi-Gbps transfer rates, as well as offering more flexibility in where files can be transferred to and it also integrates seamlessly with Managers+Agents.

Media Shuttle, with over 200,000 users worldwide, is far and away the market leader for person-initiated file transfers. We recently added new capabilities including expanded foreign language support, including Japanese; content protection to create “for your eyes only” encrypted transfers; and a System-to-Person Automation API, which allows customers to integrate Media Shuttle with other systems such as MAMs and DAMs.

TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

FINEGOLD: Our solutions offer many unique or best-in-class features; however, our Manager+Agents solution has one important attribute that has never been replicated. Specifically, it was designed from the ground up to operate at scale. M+A’s central database and policy-based architecture allow configuration information to be automatically propagated out to hundreds or thousands of endpoints. In contrast, operating at scale was an afterthought for other solutions on the market, requiring an administrator to touch each endpoint for individual configuration. This is a huge differentiator for a worldwide deployment at scale, since the costs associated with managing endpoints quickly become prohibitive–making M+A the only practical solution.

TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

FINEGOLD: M&E is our core market and the NAB Show is one of the best opportunities to network with our customers and partners and discuss their changing business needs. The show also provides a tremendous opportunity to hear from industry thought leaders to get a snapshot of the entire industry and where it may be headed, which helps us define the future product developments that our customers will need.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?

AVI COHEN: With business models changing for broadcasters, a big trend we are seeing is a shift to more cost-effective ways to work in general. Broadcasters want to do more with less money, without compromising the production value or quality. What we see are the market leaders in broadcasting looking for ways to maintain quality productions and as the manufacturer, here are the ways we are helping them accomplish savings in bandwidth by shifting to H.265, distribution by using a multipoint distribution solution, cost-effective production means using At-Home production and a move to IP satellite.

IP is going to continue to explode and I think there are a lot of broadcasters who are looking to reduce their costs using new IP methods. Ten years ago, the disruptiveness of H.264 took the size of the pipe out of the equation. And now HEVC is taking that even further using half the bandwidth of previous video compression standards. The technology frees up worldwide IP bandwidth, reducing congestion, allowing that bandwidth to be used to deliver a much higher quality of experience and break down global barriers to bring live content to viewers anywhere.

More and more multi-station broadcasters and their affiliates are using video distribution solutions to share live content between their affiliates over IP. In the past, stations were using bulky, expensive satellite or fiber-based solutions. Today, customers can share content across groups with minimal delay at lower cost using the cloud-based LiveU MultiPoint solution.

Remote integration production (REMI) or at-home production has been another way our sports and broadcast customers have been doing more with less. At-home production offers customers the chance to deliver multi-camera live events from remote locations, leveraging their existing home studios. It eliminates the need to spend a fortune on production trucks, satellite uplink, wiring, man hours for set up/tear down, resource allocation and travel expenses. We’ve seen Quincy Media dramatically reduce the number of hours they spent planning for a single event from 80 to just a few by using LiveU’s At-Home Production Solution. They’ve been able to capture more content for their digital properties, including high school sports and local parades.

L2 Productions out of Austin, Texas has done over 100 at-home productions for university athletics for sports that would have never been covered otherwise due to the cost of production or bandwidth challenges. We’ll see more content creators embrace this avenue for cost-effective live productions in 2018.

For broadcasters, there is still a place for satellite in their productions. We’ve designed a hybrid solution that takes the best of both worlds (satellite connectivity and cellular bonding) and removes any bandwidth concern, simplifies the workflow and ends billing confusion for data. You won’t need to make a big commitment to satellite providers or schedule satellite time. We’ll streamline your satellite needs in one simple service plan.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

COHEN: We’re introducing products that enable significant cost-savings for broadcasters in all areas—bandwidth, production, distribution and satellite.

TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

COHEN: Stay tuned…

TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

COHEN: The NAB Show provides a great platform to introduce and demonstrate our latest and greatest products. The show gives us the opportunity to meet and bond with our customers and partners from around the world. We’re also looking forward to meeting potential new clients and building those relationships. The NAB Show is the convergence of amazing innovations, smart, innovative people and great keynotes and panels. 

WASHINGTON—House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will be taking a break from Washington to talk with the broadcasters at the 2018 NAB Show. The NAB announced that Walden will take part in a fireside chat with NAB President CEO Gordon Smith and his Committee’s current legislation and the impact that it could have on the broadcast industry.

“From his days as a longtime radio broadcaster and now one of the most influential members of Congress, Greg Walden has been a steadfast champion of local broadcasting,” said Smith. “This is a great opportunity for broadcasters to hear from a key lawmaker about the legal, regulatory and legislative challenges facing radio and TV in Washington.”

[YouTube Exec Mohan Headlining 2018 NAB Show Opening]

In addition to Walden, NAB has announced that the 2018 NAB Show opening will feature Smith’s annual “State of the Broadcast Industry” address, a keynote from YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan and the presentation of the NAB Distinguished Service Award to Robin Roberts.

The 2018 NAB Show opening will take place on Monday, April 9 at 9 a.m. on the Main Stage in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, ZOO Digital will demonstrate a new security feature that employs machine learning and facial recognition to automatically obscure all areas of a video stream except for the actors’ faces or mouths, or any other areas necessary for accurate lip-syncing, subtitling and dubbing.

By deliberately spoiling the video, TV and movie assets used for localization would no longer have entertainment value, thereby reducing their value for piracy. The security feature obscures portions of each frame using a process similar to rotoscoping, a visual effects technique used to create a matte for a live action sequence for compositing purposes.

While using rotoscoping to spoil proxies has been around for a while, this manual technique is expensive and time-consuming. By automating the process, the facial recognition feature could be used on all kinds of high-value content, not just major Hollywood releases, for greater content security, without impeding the subtitling and dubbing process. The company also offers encryption, two-factor authentication and individual watermarking solutions.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. ZOO Digital will be in booth SL5724. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—Sencore will spotlight its new MRD 7000 4K/UHD contribution decoder and MRD 6000 4K/HEVC distribution decoder at the 2018 NAB Show. The MRD 7000 is a reference decoder for JPEG 2000, HEVC, H.264, MPEG2 and HDR codecs, with support for 12G-SDI, HDMI 2.0, 4x 3G-SDI or SMPTE 2110 outputs. The MRD 6000 receives IP, ASI, RF and other inputs and natively decodes HEVC, H.264 and MPEG2 up to 1080p60. It can be upgraded to 4K/UHD output via 4x 3G-SDI.

For video-centric switching, processing and digital turnarounds, the DMG 4200/4100 features SMPTE 2110 encapsulation/de-encapsulation and JPEG 2000, HEVC and H.264 encoding and decoding. And the new SD12X SDI over IP converter, available as a low-cost one to four channel standalone unit or openGear card, with support for JPEG 2000, SMPTE 2022-6 and SMPTE 2110.

For MPEG/IP playout and streaming, Sencore will also introduce the MIP 6210 High Bitrate IP Video Streamer and TSS 6220 Transport Stream Server for video streaming, recording, delay and disaster recovery.

Sencore ‘s VideoBRIDGE solutions, which monitor compressed audio, video and data services on any cable headend, satellite, OTT or telco network, help troubleshoot problems. Sencore monitoring probes provide full support for ASI, DVB-S/S2, 8VSB, QAM, fiber and 1G/10G/40G/100G IPTV/OTT interfaces, with 24/7 confidence transport stream monitoring.

New VideoBRIDGE products include: the VB440 real-time analyzer for SMPTE 2110, with 100-GigE speeds for handling HD/3G/4K signals; and the Nomad-Pro portable RF/Sat/IP/ASI/OTT monitoring tool, which provides a Wi-Fi hotspot for field setup.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Sencore will be in booth SU1916. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, SDVI Corporation will demonstrate Rally Gateway and Rally Access, two new features of its Rally media supply chain management platform. As a cloud-based SaaS service, Rally streamlines quality control and optimizes content submission, while lowering costs.

Rally Gateway creates customer-branded content submission portals that serve as automated on-ramps into the media supply chain. The raw materials can come from internal or external content production partners.

With Rally Gateway, content producers submit their material to the supply chain through a secure web interface that automatically logs the arrival and initiates the supply chain and validates compliance with the distributor’s requirements.

Rally Access lets media supply chain managers view issues discovered during preparation and packaging on a familiar, timeline-based interface within Adobe Premiere. It marks segments for rapid evaluation and resolution using metadata that comes from Rally-supported tools, including quality control, compliance, compression and AI engines, like speech to text conversion and visual recognition.

Rally Access also makes it easier to locate segments that may still require manual verification and address them from within Adobe Premiere. Work orders are automatically created to track the progress of manual steps so operators can focus on completing tasks rather than documenting their work.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. SDVI Corporation will be in booth SU12813. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—Pliant Technologies is going to show its CrewCom wireless intercom system at the 2018 NAB Show. It features exceptional voice quality, high user counts, unparalleled range and scalability and user-friendly, full-duplex wireless radio packs. Users can use the 2.4GHz or 900MHz frequency bands, or mix the two.

CrewCom offers the flexibility of a matrix/party-line without the cost or limitations of either system. With its decentralized platform approach, CrewCom puts dependable, global RF coverage where it’s needed.

Pliant will also display its CrewWare intuitive graphical software, which enables comprehensive offline configuration, online control and real-time monitoring of system components.

CrewCom will also display CrewNet—which coordinates and transports system timing, audio conferences, signaling and control over a single mode Cat-5e or greater fiber network, further extending the wireless intercom range—and SmartBoom PRO professional headsets.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Pliant Technologies, LLC will be in booth C7947. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions plans to debut its scalable, next-generation BullDog II Field Fiber Portable Transport system at the 2018 NAB Show. Compared to the original platform, the new BullDog II scales up or down to suit any user-configuration or signal count. And like its predecessor, it supports long-distance signal distribution between trucks, studios and hard-to-reach production locations requiring remote powered equipment.

BullDog II interoperates with the MultiDyne VF-9000 rackmount fiber transport frame, MultiDyne openGear cards and other BullDog systems. Users can add or remove MultiDyne modules and openGear cards to change video signal counts and increase audio density or Ethernet capacity. It supports multiple video formats (12G, 4K, 3Gb/s, HD/SDI, composite) as well as mic/line audio, intercom, tally, Ethernet, genlock and data. And full camera control is supported using the camera’s RCP via serial or a 10/100GigE Ethernet connection.

The new design integrates a monitor and touchscreen for better signal control and status monitoring between two points. Its compact, lightweight design makes it easier to take on-board trucks or into the field. Users can add Pelican cases, or accessories like handles and rack-mount kits, to protect the gear during transport. MultiDyne will roll out three different frame sizes for single-camera standup interviews to large-scale sporting events, with more to follow.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Multidyne Fiber Optic Solutions will be in booth C6818. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

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LAS VEGAS—Embrionix will showcase new SMPTE ST2110/2022-6-7-compliant IP core processing and gateway solutions that optimize 4K/UHD IP production at the 2018 NAB Show, as well as ultra-compact, high-density IP multiviewers.

The emMODULAR-48-8 IP aggregation/processing frame moves 4K/UHD over a 25GigE network to enable clean IP switching. Within its 1RU frame, it offers up to 80x 4K/UHD, or 96x 3G miniaturized Embrionix gateways.

Embrionix will also debut a new version of its modular emVIEW products, which are compact, standalone IP throwdown boxes. The product line includes the emVIEW-U-DMI, which installs on the back of an HDMI monitor and features frame sync, audio shuffling at the edge, 4K/UHD support and hitless redundancy.

The emVIEW-U-2-DMI maximizes a 25GigE pipe by providing two distinct HDMI outputs to monitors, while receiving any type of senders, including narrow or wide profile, with control through Ember+, RESTful or NMOS protocols.

The new emFUSION-6 standalone gateway, also set for the show, enables remote control of up to five unmanned camera feeds, camera pan/zoom/tilt parameters and signal returns via a single fiber link. Its two aggregation ports can be used for link redundancy.

A series of new multiviewers will be on hand, including the emQUAD, emSFP-QUAD and emVIEW-6, can be installed on the back of HDMI monitors to enable smart IP monitoring. These high-density, standalone multiviewers use Embrionix software-defined emSFP-QUAD technology to create a mosaic view from four SMPTE ST2110 streams.

Another multiviewer, the emSFP-QUAD, offers a 1RU emMODULAR frame that accommodates 48x quad split views. It can be plugged directly into existing 10GigE IP switches, or deployed in standalone frames. The emVIEW-6 model enables 4x quad views from a compact throwdown box. The modular design can be configured with SDI or HDMI inputs or outputs. All Embrionix solutions are designed to save space, shrink costs and future-proof IP infrastructures.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Embrionix will be in booth N4111. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

Read up on all of TVT's NAB Show Sneak Peeks and other 2018 NAB Show news here.

LAS VEGAS—Core SWX’s new Nano-VBR98 cine battery for select Panasonic cameras, such as the AU-EVA1, will be in the spotlight at the 2018 NAB Show. Weighing just 0.9 pounds and with a capacity of 98wh, the Nano-VBR98 is a 7.4v battery pack with a 12v power tap (2A max load) that lets users power on-camera accessories, such as transmitters and monitors from Teradek, SmallHD and Zacuto.

The Nano-VBR98 is the first battery pack to offer Core’s SmartTap protocol, which allows future integration with devices to utilize the smart battery data in the pack, a feature previously only available in premium brick battery packs. With its four-stage LED power gauge and power tap, the Nano-VBR98 has a typical runtime of five hours and charges on Panasonic chargers.

Core SWX repurposed its Nano brick battery technology into a smaller form to address the needs of the growing small form cine camera market. For example, until now, users of small form cine cameras have had to rig them to use V-mount or Gold Mount battery power, or rely on consumer-grade battery packs, when powering accessories.

Utilizing Panasonic lithium ion cells ensures that the battery will withstand the demands of video production. The company will also showcase other Nano-M batteries, including the Nano-U98 for Sony cameras and one for Canon cameras.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Core SWX will be in booth C5633. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

Read up on all of TVT's NAB Show Sneak Peeks and other 2018 NAB Show news here.

LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, Comrex will unveil EarShot, which delivers telephone-based IFB and live studio program audio to field-based remote broadcasts. As a simple hardware solution, EarShot helps TV stations reduce remote IFB costs, while providing greater flexibility.

While most other phone technology has moved to voice-over-IP (VoIP), remote IFB has largely relied on a legacy approach involving banks of telephone auto-couplers connected to expensive analog phone lines. This has left broadcasters paying for a dozen or more POTS lines to provide remote IFB functionality. EarShot pays for itself by eliminating the need for these phone services.

Up to 30 users can listen to program or IFB feeds by calling into EarShot with a mobile phone. It can handle up to four program feeds or two IFB feeds, but for higher fidelity, smartphone apps can be used to pull the audio in studio quality. EarShot, which will be available in mid-2018, can be connected to a low-cost cloud-based VoIP service, or tied to a station's VoIP PBX.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Comrex will be in booth C2330. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com. 

Read up on all of TVT's NAB Show Sneak Peeks and other 2018 NAB Show news here.

WASHINGTON—In addition to NAB CEO’s Gordon Smith’s “State of the Broadcast Industry” address and presentation of the NAB Distinguished Service Award to Robin Roberts, the 2018 NAB Show Opening has added another name to the billing: Neal Mohan, chief product officer at YouTube. Mohan will help kick off this year’s conference by discussing the future of TV and entertainment and how the intersection of content, hardware and software is helping companies reach audiences in new ways, per NAB’s official announcement.

At YouTube, Mohan is responsible for products and user experience on all platforms and devices globally, including things like mobile applications, YouTube Live, VR, YouTube’s subscription services and vertical experiences like YouTube Kids, Music and Gaming.

[NAB Show Previewing Future of Content Production in New Session]

“We are thrilled to have Neal Mohan keynoting this year’s show,” said Chris Brown, NAB executive vice president of conventions and business operations. “YouTube’s story is a perfect representation of the ‘M.E.T Effect’—the convergence of media, entertainment and technology.”

The 2018 NAB Show Opening will take place on Monday, April 9, at 9 a.m. in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The 2018 NAB Show runs from April 7-12.

WASHINGTON—Change is coming all along the content chain, from production to viewing, and the 2018 NAB Show will look to detail some of those changes with a special, three-act session. Produced by Amazon Web Services, the combined session will feature three presentations that focus on cloud-based media workflow combined with advanced machine learning for the delivery of immersive viewing experiences.

The first act of the session is “Race on the Red Planet: Chasing Our Creative Future With Curiosity and Opportunity.” This presentation will detail the OTT video event from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory rovers on Mars and how they tackle the challenges—like scaling up cloud resources, personalized ad insertion, language translation and captioning, and highlight package creation—in real time.

[TV Tech Experts Preview the 2018 NAB Show]

Futurist Marco Tempest will lead act two of the session, as he will take a peek into the role video and machine learning technologies will play on Earth and in the journey to Mars, as well as insights into creating more immersive experiences. Tempest is a creative technologist and advisor to organizations like NASA JPL.

The final act of the session will be a panel discussion between media brand and scientific technology leaders who are using cloud media workflows and looking at machine learning and artificial intelligence to boost those processes. NAB did not provide specific names of who will be on the panel in the official announcement.

[NAB Show: Technology for Storytelling]

The show will be encoded and delivered by AWS. A live stream will be available at live.awsevents.com, while a video-on-demand version will be available after the event.

The three-act session will take place on Wednesday, April 11 at 11 a.m. on the main stage in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

No one goes to an event like the annual NAB Show without doing their homework first. As the show expands its umbrella to cover more advanced media technologies, the need to prepare becomes ever more crucial. Whatever your taste, TV Tech’s experts are here to help; here’s their advice for 2018:

KARL PAULSENStorage Technology

Standout trends will likely center on evolving workflows in cloud-based solutions and emerging applications for IP infrastructures. This is the first NAB since the adoption of new SMPTE ST 2110 standards for Professional Media Networks so don’t miss the IP Showcase (in the rear of Central Hall) where working examples of the new standards plus integration of the NMOS interface specifications will be shown in an educational showcase environment. Potential IP adopters will be looking at how manufacturers address software defined networking and new tools aimed at diagnostics and operational management for IP implementations.

The enormous prominence of virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence and machine learning at the Consumer Electronics Show will be evident at NAB. Expect to see evolving products necessary to support the industry’s mandate to create, manage and deliver content to these emerging platforms. eSports is now attracting inventive players and changing production techniques that may show promise for aspiring venues.

The continual industry churn of what is now Belden’s growing empire should attract users to see what new products they collectively offer. Everyone is curious how the combined companies of Grass Valley and Snell Advance Media will address the changes in infrastructures that appear to be moving away from pure hardware and into virtualized, software-based environments. We’ll see what comes out of these mergers and acquisitions—and who will be next in line.

JULIA SWAINLighting Technology

The 2018 NAB Show promises to be a big one! Excited to see more lighting units capable of RGB and DMX, which so many of us have been utilizing more and more on set. Being able to move so quickly between colors and qualities of light has opened up a lot of possibilities. I’m very much hoping for LEDs with great outputs as well. The climb toward stronger, more versatile LED units has been an exciting and consistent one, so I’m looking forward to seeing what this year brings in the world of lighting.

On the camera side, I anticipate some new monitor options with a gamut of exposure tools. Lots of apps to control and learn camera settings are also on the horizon.

AL KOVALICKCloudspotters Journal

Look for all things cloud including SaaS apps for your daily operations. Don’t settle for installed apps unless there is a performance need. Ask vendors what their cloud strategy is, including what clouds they support for media services, apps and processing. Go to NAB with a list of “cloud questions” for your preferred vendors specifically around hybrid cloud local operations integrated with cloud services. Understand there is a place for local services but these are being eclipsed by cloud operations. Understand what mix will work best for your facility. Expect to use one or more clouds to meet your business needs. This multicloud approach will give you more flexibility for business operations. Look for 24x7 cloud support and operational services possibly from specialty companies.

JAY YEARYFocus On Audio

This is the year where we really start to grasp the full scope of the changes that IP-enabled technologies are bringing to television, from ingest all the way to delivery. HD-SDI video and discrete audio chains will see fewer implementations as they are passed over for IP-based alternatives, even though the road to an all-IP facility remains a bumpy one. With ATSC 3.0 now rolling out in the U.S., IP is now a reality for new and remodeled television facilities.

In audio, we’ll certainly see an increasing number of personalization options for consumers, along with products for immersive audio that are designed to be shoehorned into residential environments. At least for now however, it looks like personalization, whether mono, stereo, or emulated surround, has piqued the interest of the end user more than additional surround channels in the living room. This could change if the costs of immersive audio products for the consumer become a little more accessible. The preference for personalization is partly VR-driven but is really a continued outgrowth of the de-cades-old personal device boom—which is likely to continue with or without a VR element.

User interfaces for Next Gen technologies are particularly worthy of scrutiny this year, since presenting complicated options in an easy-to-understand package is an art form that will make the difference between success and failure for some products. Finally, anyone hoping to stretch out their use of 600 MHz wireless devices appears to be out of luck now that T-Mobile has accelerated their rollout.

CRAIG JOHNSTONCorrespondent

We’ll see the rollout of ready to use 4K and some 8K camera systems. These new cameras have spawned attendant equipment such as enhanced lenses and high bit rate signal transmission equipment.

A whole host of 360 degree virtual reality camera systems and stitching software will be presented. An Immersive Storytelling Pavilion will help newcomers to 360 degree technology figure out how it will fit into their business.

Look for cellular liveshot gear that is futureproofed by including 5G capabilities, even though 5G at present is a small blip on the cellular radar.

And speaking of futureproofing, a lot of black boxes being bought at the show will have IP connectors on them, even though they will initially be connected via coaxial and fiber optic cable.

WASHINGTON—Change seems to be a constant in today’s media landscape and a panel at this year’s NAB Show will put all of those disruptive forces in the spotlight. “Leading Through Disruption” is a panel that will feature four leading women in media as they take a look at how to strategically position an organization to thrive in today’s climate of change, including the effects of digital transformations, consolidation and the big companies of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google.

The panelists include Amy Emmerich, Refinery29; Muriel De Lathouwer, EVS; Ginny Morris, Hubbard Radio; and Marian Pittman, Cox Media Group. The panel will be moderated by Kathy Bachman, former Adweek and Politico reporter. The panel is produced in partnership with NABEF, TVNewsCheck, Alliance for Women in Media and Radio Ink.

“Disruptive forces present a unique opportunity for future-focused leaders to empower competitive advantage,” said Dennis Wharton, NAB executive vice president of communications. “The insights from this impressive panel of executives will address how to fully harness the power of these emerging forces to strengthen business models.”

The “Leading Through Disruption” panel will take place on April 9 on the Main Stage of the 2018 NAB Show.

LAS VEGAS—Here’s an extended preview of some of the products that will be on display from eight exhibitors:

Broadcast Pix

Take control anywhere with the BPswitch family of integrated production switchers. Broadcast Pix leads the industry with its control-over-IP capabilities. Produce your live programming from a traditional control room, or use a customizable browser-based interface on your mobile device.

With the BPNet IP ecosystem, powered through the ioGates cloud-based media management platform, BPswitch delivers secure, full-motion video and complete access to all your sources and workflow tools. And because it only requires a typical internet connection, BPswitch is a cost-effective solution for remote unmanned studios. Get up to 22 SDI inputs and 12 outputs, with eight channels for clips and graphics and four customizable BPview multi-view outputs.

Every BPswitch system includes NewBlueNTX 3D motion graphics with hundreds of title styles and templates, plus clip stores, device control, file-based macros, integrated streaming to Facebook Live and other CDNs, and more.

www.broadcastpix.com
Booth: SL8320

Comark

For over 45 years Comark has been a trusted partner of TV broadcasters. For NAB 2018, Comark is announcing the availability of the Parallax solid state liquid cooled DTV transmitter for VHF Band 1 (54-88MHz).

This new model is available to support RF power levels from 4.0 up to 41kW. The new Band 1 version of Parallax shares the common architecture (cabinet, distributed control system, user interface) with the UHF and VHF Band 3 models. It provides the highest reliability and efficiency, while keeping the cost of ownership low. Parallax is manufactured, serviced, and supported out of the company’s MA facility.

www.comarktv.com
Booth: C4309

Florical Systems

Florical introduces a new integrated playout solution called FéniX. The server features SDI and IP I/O options on the same box. Includes integrated MC switching, branding, and DVE effects. The FéniX is powered by Harmonic technology and Florical's enterprise automation suite creating the most comprehensive system on the market.

www.florical.com
Booth: N2524

Fluotec

Fluotec is an award-winning manufacturer of professional LED lighting for Television, Video, Photography and Digital & Film Cinema

For more than two decades the Fluotec vision has been to create precision luminaires that deliver pure white lighting. Fluotec’s sustainable and efficient LED technology has already saved millions of dollars in energy costs for hundreds of television studios around the world.

Fluotec presents “The CINELIGHT Studio Long Throw,” three Models of Constant Output Tunable LED Panels for use in high altitude studios.

These professional fixtures sport very High CRI & TLCI Indexes for accurate rendering of skin tones and stage colors and step-less Halodim 0-100 percent dimming for precise control in a studio lighting environment

Pure White Light = Energy & Cost Savings.

www.flutec.net
Booth: C161

IHSE USA

The Draco tera compact XV matrix for ultra-image 4K is offered in eight to 80 user-configurable I/O ports to support a full range of video formats up to 4096x2160@60Hz and 30bit 4:4:4 color depth. The matrix supports the full line of innovative draco ultra series KVM extenders using Fraunhofer’s Lici codec with low latency and perfect pixel-for-pixel performance. Using the 490 series DisplayPort extender units, users can either create a stretched desktop of 8192x2160 across two 4K displays or run in “clone” mode to show full 4K applications on two screens.

www.ihseusa.com - http://www.ihseusa.com/products/kvm-matrix-switch-compact-xv-fiber.html
Booth: SL10216

Myers

ProTrack empowers broadcast networks, affiliates and independent media companies to acquire, schedule, monetize and distribute content with greater efficiency than ever before. It consolidates all of the roles and responsibilities that go into linear and non-linear distribution, so media facilities can optimize their content and associated opportunities.

ProTrack is a proven solution that provides a single source for critical business data across multiple distributors, departments, technical systems and distribution channels. No matter how much disruption is occurring in the industry, our flexible, adaptable technology platform stays one step ahead—giving you the right data, at just the right time, from a single, centralized source.

ProTrack is built to keep pace with change, making it easier to scale up operations to cater to a growing customer base, cut costs, and monetize content.

For updates on all the Myers products coming to the NAB Show in April, please follow @MyersInVegas on Twitter.

www.myersinfosys.com
Booth: N3711

Primestream

At NAB 2018, Primestream will demonstrate new solutions to capture, edit and transcode live IP streams, a cloud-based review and approval system, robust 4K workflow, public APIs to easily integrate into the Xchange platform and a new centralized configuration management portal for quick and easy installations.

Primestream will also highlight VR/360 asset management, an updated Adobe Premiere Pro extension panel that features a new versioning system, as well as improvements to archival workflow with leading cloud and tape storage providers. The next generation Dynamic Media Management platform is built for ease-of-use with powerful features needed to manage the most complex sports, enterprise and broadcast workflow.

www.primestream.com/nab
Booth: SL12111

TSL Products

With over 1,000 global installations, TSL Product’s TallyMan Advanced Broadcast Control System provides broadcasters with reliable, user-oriented control and dynamic data display. TSL continues to enhance TallyMan’s capabilities with new features and protocols allowing operators to integrate a broad range of broadcast equipment into automated workflows. TallyMan now offers Ember+ protocol support, enabling engineers to intuitively integrate all Ember+ capable third-party devices.

TSL’s updated TallyMan Virtual Panel more effectively enhances operational workflow and flexibility for outside broadcast and transmission facilities with several new control features integrated into the panel’s customizable, drag-and-drop interface. New source selection architecture allows users to access presets at the touch of a button. Operators can also take advantage of improved sliders, rotary encoders and X-Y control to better steer robotic cameras, adjust gain on audio devices and tweak levels on color correctors.

www.tslproducts.com
Booth: N5615

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2018 NAB Show?

BOGDAN FRUSINA: With viewers expecting access to content anywhere, anytime and on any screen, budgets are being squeezed as broadcasters are forced to do more for less. Reducing costs and improving productivity are top of mind. Broadcasters are looking for technologies that will help them achieve these objectives while maintaining quality and reliability.

While augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), UHD/4K and HDR promise to deliver an enhanced viewer experience and gets lots of attention, we think broadcasters will also focus on more cost-effective workflows—so technologies featuring artificial intelligence to automate workflows, the shift to IP, technologies that address the connectivity challenges for remote production, and greater use of the cloud for production, management and delivery will continue to be trends.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

FRUSINA: We’ll be featuring the Dejero CellSat solution and new enhancements. Launched last August, it will be new to NAB Show visitors this year. In a nutshell, the solution enhances transmission reliability for news, sports and live event broadcasters in the field by combining cellular connections from multiple carriers with Ku-band IP satellite connectivity provided by Intelsat.

It’s ideal for situations where the cellular networks are congested or in very remote locations when the cellular signal can diminish during the live feed.

Basically, with CellSat, remote crews can confidently broadcast live from virtually anywhere, safe in the knowledge that if the available cellular bandwidth deteriorates, CellSat will automatically blend in satellite connectivity to boost bandwidth for the live shot. With built-in intelligence and automation, we’ve greatly simplified how these two transmission paths can be combined into a unified service that’s provided by, billed and supported from a single provider, and managed in the cloud.

We’ll also be showcasing additional HEVC capabilities as the industry transitions to the latest compression standard, and demonstrate enhancements to our GateWay mobile connectivity solution that addresses the connectivity challenges of remote field crews that need to collaborate with colleagues back at the studio, enabling workflows to become more integrated.

TVT:How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?

FRUSINA: CellSat leverages Dejero’s patented network blending technology using algorithms to constantly monitor in real time the bandwidth available from the IP connection paths, detecting bandwidth fluctuations and latency differences caused by network congestion or other factors, and automatically blending in satellite connectivity to boost overall bandwidth to the level needed for high-quality live feeds.

In addition to the added reliability, the solution is designed for operational simplicity, aligned with Dejero’s drive to simplify workflows. Other solutions require procurement and support of cellular and satellite services from multiple vendors, but the CellSat service is available from one, greatly simplifying procurement and billing, providing integrated cloud management, and also providing a single point of contact for support—a package that’s unmatched in the marketplace.

TVT:What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?

FRUSINA: It’s quite simple: NAB Show is where the key decision makers and influencers from the broadcast and media industry gather to discover new ways to address their challenges.

Each year we have a record-breaking number of visitors to our booth, and haven’t been disappointed yet with the types of visitors that the show attracts. It gives us another opportunity to engage with customers, prospects and industry partners all in one place.

The conference program is also impressive and genuinely addresses what those in the business of content creation and consumption are faced with and what they need to consider from a technological, business and operational perspective for future success as the industry evolves.

As the demand for storage and recording skyrockets, so do the solutions on the NAB show floor. This year attendees can expect to find cloud-based options that can address packaging and metadata delivery, multipurpose video engines that provide ingest, playout and channel origination, and even miniaturized decks that can record and play back broadcast-quality content just as well as the big guys.

CLOUD

AMAGI MEDIA LABS will show CLOUDPORT for VOD, which packages content and metadata for delivery, as well as provide automated QC, and TORNADO content preparation service for generating VOD content from a live feed in real time.

ASPERA will feature the newest version of Aspera Files, an SaaS solution designed for sharing and exchanging large files and data sets directly from cloud and on-prem storage.

AVID will demo Cloud UX MediaCentral, a task-oriented graphical user interface that runs on top of an operating system or mobile device that allows team members to collaborate remotely. The company will also show Cloud VM, which enables a user in a facility to access Media Composer software virtually using a laptop or tablet with a high-speed network connection; and Cloud Remote, which enables users to mix local and remote content in the same timeline.

AWS ELEMENTAL will highlight its cloud-based solutions for use with ingest, production, processing, delivery and networking, with a look at both appliance-based as well as hybrid workflow solutions.

PEBBLE BEACH SYSTEMS will demonstrate Beluga, which helps broadcasters transitioning to the cloud. Beluga integrates with the company’s playout automation system to prep content for linear playout, OTT and VOD distribution.

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY will show the latest versions of its CloudAir virtual broadcast ecosystem.

QUANTUM will debut a hybrid cloud/on-premise solution known as aiWARE for Xcellis. The hybrid solution offers cognitive analytics in areas such as object recognition, optical character recognition and transcription to extract hidden value from on-premise video and audio content.

SDVI will showcase Rally, a cloud-based platform that deploys, manages and optimizes media supply chains for on-premise and cloud infrastructures.

TELESTREAM will highlight its Telestream Cloud Services, a service portal that provides access to a number of digital media processing capabilities in a SaaS model. New features include auto-transcription and file-based quality control as well as Flip transcoding and Workflow services.

STORAGE, RECORDING AND REPLAY

360 SYSTEMS will feature the TSS 2470 II time delay server, which can alter the delay time on-the-fly and handle simple time zone shifting, commercial insertion and disaster recovery.

AVID will showcase two versions of Avid NEXIS: PRO, which can scale to 160TB, and E2, which now supports SSD drives to support multiple streams of ultra-high-resolution media in real time. Additionally, Avid NEXIS Enterprise systems now scale to 4.8 PB of raw storage.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN will feature HyperDeck Studio Mini, a miniaturized professional deck that records and plays back broadcast-quality 10-bit video using commonly available SD and UHS-II cards; HyperDeck Studio, a rackmount broadcast deck with dual slots; Blackmagic Video assist, a storage/monitor combination that includes SD card recorders for HD or 4K recording via 7-inch and 5-inch monitor models; and UltraStudio, a Thunderbolt capture and playback solution.

CHYRONHEGO will show its CAMIO 4.4 publishing tool and LUCI5 content generation tool, as well as the next generation of LyricX 3.2, the company’s graphics creation and playout system.

CINEGY will show Cinegy Air PRO, a real-time playout server and automation system.

CONVERGENT DESIGN will showcase Apollo, which can record up to four 1080p streams and offers live switching, and the Odyssey 7+ monitor recorder with a 7.7-inch OLED monitor with 3400:1 contrast and 1280x800 resolution.

EDITSHARE will showcase its XStream EFS storage product family, including the EFS 450, a scale-out storage system that offers enterprise-class storage capabilities and can be configured from 100 TB up to 5 PB.

EVS will demo its series of live production servers, including the XT4K and XS4K servers. The XT4K offers enhanced I/O flexibility for 12G-SDI or IP, UHD-4K operations up to four channels of XAVC-4K and 10-bit HDR. The XS4K provides similar capabilities that are optimized for studio-based ingest and playback.

HARMONIC will showcase its media processing engine VOS SW Cluster, which offers playout as well as encoding, origin and packaging, and can be deployed on private/public cloud and via localized storage.

MASSTECH will show the FlashNet media object storage solution, a scalable system that can be deployed on-prem or across cloud suppliers; and MassStore, a media object framework platform that orchestrates services and workflows from multiple vendors and can manage basic media functions such as movement and search.

NEWTEK will demonstrate NewTek 3Play 3P1, a replay solution that includes NDI capability as well as 3G SDI input, cross conversion and output. A dual-channel telestration feature allows talent to draw over live video. The company will also show the latest version of the NVG1, the NewTek-Vizrt IP graphics server for delivering real-time animated 3D graphics in resolutions up to 4K.

NVERZION will highlight NFinity, a four-channel broadcast video server designed for broadcast, university, house of worship or production applications.

PRIMESTREAM will introduce new updates to its core technologies to ingest IP sources into single or multiple self-contained file formats and transcode into ProRes, XDCAM, DNxHD, AVC-Intra and H.264, then move that content through to production, management and delivery. Also new is a SaaS review and approval system that can be integrated with existing Xchange systems, or can include a small on-site version of Xchange. The company will also debut an update to its 4K/UHD workflow with support for HDR pass-through, live preview and proxy generation and comprehensive Xchange Public APIs with signatures and client access keys, allowing customers to extend IMF workflow in conjunction with third-party applications.

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY will show the latest versions of its server-based Neo IP/SDI playout solutions.

QUANTUM will showcase the Xcellis scaleout NAS storage platform. Also on display is the entry-level Xcellis Foundation storage system, targeted toward small- to medium-sized postproduction facilities and corporate video departments.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ will show the newest generation of the R&S VENICE media server. Offering interoperability with third-party equipment, the media processing and playout platform bridges hybrid SDI and IP broadcast infrastructures. The company will also show the newest version of the R&S CLIPSTER mastering and distribution system.

SUITCASETV plans to show its Iphrame Flyaway ++ for the first time at the NAB show. This remote production technology solution has the ability to handle IP, ASI and SDI signals in a physical or cloud environment. The company may also show Clipper, its continuous recording solution designed for compliance obligation or content storage.

TELESTREAM will be on hand with Light-speed Live Capture, a scalable IP and baseband capture solution that serves as an entry-point ingest solution for live media.

VIDEO CLARITY will show its Venue Player with 4K or 2K capability, and ClearView Player IP, a server with record and playback functions for uncompressed video that can record one channel and play back up to two channels of uncompressed video programming.

VIDEO DEVICES, a brand of Sound Devices, LLC, will show the newest version of its PIX-E Series line of recording field monitors. Features include Apple ProRes and H.264 recording capabilities, a capacitive touchscreen, 500 nits of brightness and a nearly 180-degree angle of view.

VITEC will be at the show with its House of Worship Streaming Solution. Integrated with its Renewed Vision ProVideoServer, the solution allows churches to easily record one or more high-quality encoded streams from a main campus, embed time code and multichannel audio and playback those streams at the satellite campus at any time.