LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Richard Westcott, vice president of technology and digital media for NBC4-LA and KVEA-52:
Q1. How many NAB Shows have you attended?
R.W. 18 to 20.

Q2. What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
R.W. AIMS/ASPEN/IP transport (2022-et al) ATSC 3.0.

Q3. What were some examples of these themes?
R.W. Evertz meeting room pitching ASPEN benefits and capability, Grass Valley, AIMS etc. of course, Emprionix, the glue for all seasons. Most interesting were the kinds of services that the OTT providers were already so familiar with, i.e. Equinox; connectivity to reduce latency by colocating cloud service providers, virtual machine environments and missing on-prem with off prem.

Q4. Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
R.W. YES SMPTE 2022-6, within AIMs, a successful bridge between AIMs and ASPEN, as well as ATSC 3.0 within the next five years.

Q1. What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
R.W. ...

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Susan Ashworth, former editor, TV Technology, contributor, NewBay Media Broadcast/Video Group: Q1. How many NAB Shows have you attended?
S.A. 18 years. Don’t tell anyone, since I’m 25.

Q2. What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
S.A. Playing nice together (interoperability), looking pretty (4k/8k), looking skyward for answers (the cloud), next-generation offerings (ATSC 3.0).

Q3. What were some examples of these themes?
S.A. New options that allow broadcasters and OTT operators to have their entire operations monitored from a remote location (the cloud, via Akamai’s Broadcast Operations Control Center), Canon’s 8K prototypes (4k/8k), ONE Media’s ATSC demos.

Q4. Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
S.A. The cloud has already begun to prove its worth in a number of different ways, and as security issues and bandwidth issues continue to be addressed, the technology should continue to be deployed on a massive scale. While much is still to be determined as far as ATSC 3.0, it’s a technology that much of the industry is uniting around, in that it offers new a vastly expanded means for bringing content and services to consumers.

Q5. What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn't see the light of day?
S.A. 3D had so much potential and was such a rallying point for so many people. And then, not. But fear not, it’ll be back.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

William T. Hayes, director of engineering and technology for Iowa Public Television:
Q1. How many NAB Shows have you attended?
W.H. Frighteningly, this was my 37th in a row.

Q2. What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
W.H. ATSC 3.0 was clearly a theme. UHD (beyond resolution) was also a theme, with much discussion of HDR, wider color gamut and higher frame rates. Drones as a camera platform was another theme. IP as a replacement for SDI was another theme. Virtual and augmented reality was another theme.

Q3. What were some examples of these themes?
W.H. ATSC 3.o was on display at both the Futures Park and the Consumer Experience areas along with live broadcasts of UHD content, AWARN tests and consumer products. UHD was evident in cameras and switchers, which I was actually evaluating for IPTV. You couldn’t miss drones, as they were in every hall, every size, shape and configuration. The IP theme was coupled tightly with a lot of the UHD technology as an infrastructure for the next generation of production equipment. This last one is still a little on the cutting edge for general adoption, but clearly it is developing. There were a number of VR cameras on display and a few compelling session on VR.

Q4. Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
W.H. Drones and UHD were a given. They have been in development for some time and are moving into the mainstream. IP is also no surprise, it has some attractive features and will in all likelihood be a valuable tool in UHD production tool kit. I was hopeful about ATSC 3.0 but the alignment of the FCC petition for rule making, the introduction of the LG tuner-demodulator chip and Wheeler’s pledge fast track movement on the petition all made for a much bigger splash for ATSC 3.0.

Q5. What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
W.H. Obviously there was no 3D anywhere to be found but in truth, the technology didn’t really impress me from the beginning. I can’t really think of anything else that was compelling to me from past shows that vanished. I did hear several people refer to VR as the new 3D, so this will be an interesting question to ask next year after the wow factor dissipates, and we see how hard it is to work in the virtual space.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Simon Eldridge, chief product officer at SDVI:
Q1. How many NAB Shows have you attended?
S.E. 2016 was my 16th straight.

Q2. What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
S.E. Content supply chains, cloud migration, IP.

Q3. What were some examples of these themes?
S.E. AIMS, the growing presence of cloud providers (AWS, Microsoft), IP production everywhere, and every software vendor providing ‘cloud’ versions, or at least the ability to be virtualized—this is now a must have checklist item.

Q4. Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
S.E. I believe that ultimately the transition to IP instead of SDI is a short-term solution that will ultimately be replaced by completely hybrid cloud solutions. Standardization in this area is critical in the short term. I also believe that the notion of migrating the media business to that of a content supply chain (industrialization) will dramatically increase the ability to make intelligent, informed business decisions, which has not always been the case.

Q5. What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn't see the light of day?
S.E. AI production. There are still glimpses in to this area, but it’s not yet been fully realized.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Ken Aagaard, executive vice president of engineering, operations and production services for CBS Sports:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
K.A. This is around my 36th. 

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
K.A. 4K and HDR 

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
K.A. Every booth had something 4K. 

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
K.A. Yes 4K and HDR will happen. Hard part is how do we produce this format but continue to serve HD viewer and not lose production elements. Big learning curve for live sports production. 

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
K.A. 3D

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Dr. Richard Chernock, chief science officer for Triveni Digital:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
R.C. Compared to many, I’m a relative newbie—I think I’ve been to 16 or 17 NAB shows.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
R.C. Very clearly, this year’s theme was ATSC 3.0.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
R.C. Many different products across the spectrum that support the new ATSC 3.0 system—as well as integrated systems from multiple vendors that showed a working end-end ATSC live broadcast system—starting from a camera in the Futures Park area to a full set of studio equipment for encoding and transport to an STL to an exciter on Black Mountain, to a transmitter and reception from an antenna on the roof of South Hall connected to ATSC 3.0 televisions—and it worked! For a technology this new and this complex, I think this was a major achievement.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
R.C. Simple answer—yes. I think ATSC 3.0 will be adopted and used by broadcasters as it provides them the opportunity to re-invigorate their business, connect to their viewers in ways that they now demand and provide a growth path to new services and business opportunities.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
R.C. I really can’t think of one—the ones that impressed me had legs & the ones that didn’t disappeared.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Bob Kovacs, writer, editor, reporter and video producer:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
B.K. I first attended the NAB in 1984, but missed a couple years. I’ll guess and say this is my 30th NAB. More than half of those, I worked as a journalist for IMAS/NewBay.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
B.K. The two main themes I’ve noticed are ATSC 3.0 and 4K/8K video. However, anyone who went down to the five-digit booths in the Central Hall had to be knocked out by the insane assortment of video production equipment. In addition to pricey, high-end broadcast and production products, there was an explosion of low-cost great quality cameras, tripods, lights, recorders, lenses and camera support equipment. (Not the least of which is UAVs.) So at the high end, there’s ATSC 3.0 and 4K/8K cinema production, but there’s also a tremendous democratization of video gear for people who work on a shoestring.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
B.K. There were plenty of ATSC 3.0 demos around the halls and nearly all transmitter manufacturers are showing ATSC 3.0-compatible products. Camera companies at the high end (Red) and low end (GoPro) had 4K cameras that are highly popular, judging by the crowds around their booths.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
B.K. The only one of these that hasn’t taken hold is 8K. (Although the apartment-sized 8K display at the Planar booth was a “must-see.” It was astonishing.)

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
B.K. HiVision, the Japanese analog HD system that was first shown in the mid-1980s, looked like a dead certainty for high-end applications. However, there was never any interest in the U.S. Parts of it ended up as digital HD, but far different from what was shown so many years ago

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of communications for the National Association of Broadcasters:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
D.W. 28

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
D.W. Next-gen TV, Ultra HD, high dynamic range; drone explosion; virtual and augmented reality; IP-based content delivery.

Q3. What were some examples of these themes?
D.W. Ang Lee’s revolutionary 4K/3D/120 frames per second film trailer using immersive audio and HDR; Kaleidoscope VR Showcase; Virtual Reality Production Summit.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
D.W. Next-gen TV is off to a great start with the filing of the ATSC 3.0 petition at the FCC by NAB, CTA, APTS (public TV lobby) and AWARN (public safety group). That was followed up by a pledge from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to move quickly on the next-gen TV petition. [Editor’s note: Wheeler did so April 26. See, “FCC Puts ATSC 3.0 Out for Comment.”]
Ang Lee’s film screening was so compelling and “buzzworthy” that you have to believe this technology will be embraced by the movie-going public.
Once regulatory issues are settled, drones will unquestionably become a force in newsgathering and filmmaking.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
D.W. For a variety of reasons, 3D has not been the success that many expected.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Karl Paulsen, chief technology officer of Diversified:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
K.P. Since 1976, 39 years’ worth—maybe missed no more than two or three between 1978-1994—but continuous from 1995 onward.

Q2. What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this
year?
K.P. Interoperability, IP-video is here, we may be beginning to solve the automatic metadata capture issue, cloud based solutions are viable and available but the whole story is still incomplete, drones and VR are a big deal, at least for now.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
K.P. Evertz and Sony joining AIMS, but both holding on to some of their roots in ASPEN and NMI SAM, Lawo, and others are providing IP-centric products you can order today. Arista, Cisco and others are joining the IP-bandwagon for network switches, but for Cisco, it’s a very small part of their total product line. Audio vendors are starting to pay attention on how “their” particular adaptations of AES67 (Dante and others) may affect their next-generation product offerings.
GrayMeta and MOG are both showing means to capture metadata through entire systems and then “work on it” from a search, discovery and registration perspective. (This may cross into the IP-metadata/ANC-data domain in the next few years.)
Cloud is still everywhere. Pebble showed an actual full demo on how to spin up their systems in a full-on cloud environment (they were not alone); while others (Harmonic with VOS365 and
VOSCloud; Imagine with the same story as last year) are making headway but still have a few missing pieces.
IBM is beginning to figure into this big time; given they have more pieces of the puzzle than others, including now long-line and last-mile fiber connectivity.

Q4. Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
K.P. Once settled from a standards adoption perspective, TR-03 as it becomes SMPTE 2110 may drive interoperability for the next generation of video transport to success across most of the current vendors playing in this space.
How these systems are marketed and built out requires new expertise and experience, which most users/owners/facilities lack (and many systems integrators as well). How to make money from a reseller/expertise perspective is an interesting discussion. Changing the landscape for systems integrators will need to be thoroughly analyzed as we transition from a hardware/design-build to a software/consult-configure-deploy/support perspective.

Q5. What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
K.P. Fixed-based/hardware-centric traditional broadcast automation is dying a slow-but-sure death. The quad VTR is definitely dead.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Bruce Devlin, chief media scientist at Dalet and governor of SMPTE U.K.:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
B.D. 23.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
B.D. Interoperability as a business requirement, IP transport, HDR, VR and drones.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
B.D. AIMS announcing more members and DPP-NABA common delivery specs. 

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
B.D. Yes, both and being big money savers for users. 

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
B.D. Big screen 3D.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Michael Silbergleid, strategic & technical marketing communications guru:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
M.S. Dallas was my first, but I don’t actually remember when that was... 1989 maybe.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
M.S. For production, IP and 4K with HDR. For transmission, ATSC 3.0. If you’re a broadcaster. Other folks have other needs... like being able to replace a Fresnel lamp with an LED.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
M.S. Look at The NAB Daily’s headlines, 4K & IP and similar stories with the order reversed IP & 4K. But the questions are the best—why do 4K HDR when 1080p HDR would look better than just 4K with almost no additional bandwidth overhead, then upconvert in the TV for 4K display? It’s “the last mile” of distribution again, and consumer products trying to lead broadcasters.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
M.S. HDR for sure. IP for sure. 4K, yes, but will take longer.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
M.S. That’s hard, but my favorite product that failed was the Sony VJ-1, a handheld mic with a video monitor for one-man reporters so they can see their shot. Maybe it was shown in 1997.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of communications for the National Association of Broadcasters:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
D.W. 28

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
D.W. Next-gen TV, Ultra HD, high dynamic range; drone explosion; virtual and augmented reality; IP-based content delivery.

Q3. What were some examples of these themes?
D.W. Ang Lee’s revolutionary 4K/3D/120 frames per second film trailer using immersive audio and HDR; Kaleidoscope VR Showcase; Virtual Reality Production Summit.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
D.W. Next-gen TV is off to a great start with the filing of the ATSC 3.0 petition at the FCC by NAB, CTA, APTS (public TV lobby) and AWARN (public safety group). That was followed up by a pledge from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to move quickly on the next-gen TV petition. [Editor’s note: Wheeler did so April 26. See, “FCC Puts ATSC 3.0 Out for Comment.”]
Ang Lee’s film screening was so compelling and “buzzworthy” that you have to believe this technology will be embraced by the movie-going public.
Once regulatory issues are settled, drones will unquestionably become a force in newsgathering and filmmaking.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
D.W. For a variety of reasons, 3D has not been the success that many expected.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Aimée Ricca, director of Marketing and Communication for SMPTE:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
A.R. If feels like more, but I think it’s actually only four!

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
A.R. HDR definitely, of course also HFR and 4K… basically, anything having to do with what we like to call “better pixels.” 
There was also a lot of discussion regarding ASPEN: Adaptive Sample Picture Encapsulation, which was submitted to SMPTE as a Registered Disclosure Document (RDD 37) and now published in the SMPTE digital library; as well as AIMS: Alliance for IP Media Solutions, as we begin work on additional SMPTE standards for it and are actively looking for opportunities to facilitate interoperability between both AIMS and ASPEN. 
Also, adoption of the SMPTE DCP: YMAGIS has been rolling it out in Europe, and found that most of their theaters are actually already equipped to deal with it. It’s great to see the SMPTE DCP finally being adopted by major cinema chains! 

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
A.R. I’m probably biased, but I have to say the Future of Cinema Conference, which SMPTE produces with NAB. We were very fortunate to have Ang Lee keynote and also demonstrate 11 min of the upcoming feature “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” in 120 fps, 3D, 4K. There were also panel discussions on HDR. The buzz on AIMS and ASPEN was a result of the news coverage and press conferences and there was tons of discussion on the show floor!

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
A.R. Widespread use of higher frame rates, I think, is most likely a ways off, but the rest, yes, definitely!

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
A.R. I think we’ve been discussing HFR for many years now and that still hasn’t taken hold, unfortunately. Also, 3D in the home never really happened—despite best efforts—on a widespread scale.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Alan Popkin, director of engineering & technical operations at KLCS-TV/DT:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
A.P. 35

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year? 
A.P. Video over IP, drones, VR, 4K, CDNs and ATSC 3.0. The order depends on which aisles you walked down.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes? 
A.P. Most of the manufacturers have finally agreed that AIMS (2022-6) for video over IP is the direction the industry should move. This level of cooperation was vital for this emerging technology.
Drones of every shape size and purpose took up a lot of floor space. While it is an agile and relatively inexpensive camera platform it may be overused as was the “nervous camera” look of a few years ago. The audience will decide.
VR was in a lot of booths, some of them unexpected.
It appeared that equipment manufacturers have devoted a great deal of R&D and marketing resources to try to enable 4K production.
There was a CDN vendor around every corner.
While ATSC 3.0 is still not a standard it may be broadcastings last best hope.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold? 
A.P.Drones have already become ubiquitous. VR utilizing cellphones will probably have a rapid marketing effort in games. Not sure how it will be utilized in broadcast. Video-over-IP looks to still be a few years out. It is at the same stage SDI was in its infancy. Larger facilities and trucks will probably be the early adopters. In smaller file-based facilities, there is so little SDI left, it may not pencil out for the ROI. A lot depends on the future ability to leverage this transport layer in virtualizing a facility. CDNs are already her—it remains to be seen if there is enough marketable content and bandwidth to keep them all in business. ATSC 3.0 will be an expensive and complicated gamble for broadcasters. If the timeline stretches out too long for deployment, it may be the next 3D TV.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
A.P. The now infamous 3DTV was a technology in search of an audience. If you recall, it was everywhere a few years ago on the show floor. The industry invested heavily in this losing endeavor. While the technology was impressive, the lack of a business plan ultimately led to its demise. I had thought that datacasting in ATSC 1.0 would have found a purpose, but it, too, has mostly been relegated to the scrap heap. Lack of use cases that had a revenue stream killed this technology.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Christy King, consultant:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
C.K. About 10. I took a few years off in the early 2000s when NAB went through the phase where everyone pretended the Internet didn’t exist. Once everyone got over their fear of the series of tubes, NAB content became relevant to me again. 

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
C.K. VR and drones, though I was more struck by the lack of themes this year. Last year, everybody was marketing “cloud everything.” The year before, everyone in South Hall was a MAM. This year, everyone seemed unintentionally focused on anti-vaporware: Promoting functionality that actually worked and existed today, rather than promising things that were “coming soon.” 

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
C.K. Every demo I saw specifically mentioned that their products/features were not “vaporware” and showed actual execution instead of “slides” from a Power Point. 

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
C.K. I think people who got burned by the 3D fantasy are struggling mightily to jump on the VR bandwagon. VR makes a ton of sense for specific applications: Training, gaming, tourism, real estate, but may not be so quick to invade theaters or our living rooms. 

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
C.K. Surprised that there is still so much resistance to public cloud applications. Especially the security arguments strike me as odd, but maybe that’s because I don’t send embarrassing emails to my clients or co-workers?

LAS VEGAS—The parties are over. The booths are packed up. Another NAB Show has come and gone. TV Technology asked a cross-section of show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (Possible spoiler alert: ATSC 3.0, IP-based infrastructures and drones. Lots of drones.)

A compendium of their quotes is presented here, with each contributor’s name linked to their full five-question Q&A, in the order they were submitted. We thank them all for playing ball. 

“Central Hall West was literally abuzz!!!” ~ Wendy Aylsworth, past president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, who has attended around 25 NAB Shows.

“Like everyone else, I have a very hard time seeing into the future.” ~ Mark Schubin,engineer and explainer, (as well as engineer-in-charge at the Metropolitan Opera) who has attended the most NAB Shows among these respondents with a total of 44.

“No doubt—ATSC 3.0, HDR/4K and VR/AR.” ~ Dave Siegler, senior vice president of operations for Cox Media Group, a veteran of 18 NAB Shows.

“Most of the manufacturers have finally agreed that AIMS (2022-6) for video over IP is the direction the industry should move.” ~ Alan Popkin, director of engineering & technical operations at KLCS-TV/DT—35 NAB Shows.

“Anyone who went down to the five-digit booths in the Central Hall had to be knocked out by the insane assortment of video production equipment.” ~ Bob Kovacs, writer, editor, reporter and video producer—30 NAB Shows.

“Very clearly, this year’s theme was ATSC 3.0.”~ Dr. Richard Chernock, chief science officer for Triveni Digital—16 or 17 NAB Shows.

“Why do 4K HDR when 1080p HDR would look better than just 4K with almost no additional bandwidth overhead, then upconvert in the TV for 4K display?” ~ Michael Silbergleid, strategic & technical marketing communications guru—27 NAB Shows.

“While I feel ATSC 3.0 is lacking from the sense of how we can actually execute it in say the top 30 markets, I liked the consumer experience areas.” ~ Kyle Walker, vice president of technology at Weigel Broadcasting—20 NAB Shows.

“Interoperability as a business requirement, IP transport, HDR, VR and drones.” ~ Bruce Devlin, chief media scientist at Dalet and governor of SMPTE U.K.—23 NAB Shows.

“Most of the technologies that I thought were really cutting edge when I first saw them have become part of the business now.” ~ James E. O’Neal, retired television engineer and historian—more than 30 NAB Shows.

“Every booth had something 4K.” ~ Ken Aagaard, executive vice president of engineering, operations and production services for CBS Sports—36 NAB Shows.

“AIMS gaining significant traction, Sony and Grass Valley Groups agreeing to work together on I/P connectivity.” ~George Hoover, chief technology officer, NEP, Pittsburgh SMPTE section chair, chairman of NAB’s Exhibitors Advisory Council—around 35 NAB Shows.

“I think ATSC 3.0 was the over-arching theme of this NAB, with lots of sessions and lots of buzz.” ~ Craig Johnston, TV Technology correspondent—33 consecutive NAB Shows.

“4K will no doubt take hold as the distribution business models evolve.” ~ Thomas Edwards, vice president of engineering and development at Fox—14 NAB Shows.

“Tip: Keep an eye on Sony’s TV line next January.” ~ Pete Putman, president of ROAM Consulting—22 NAB Shows.

“We may be beginning to solve the automatic metadata capture issue.” ~ Karl Paulsen, chief technology officer of Diversified—“39 years worth” of NAB Shows.

“I think people who got burned by the 3D fantasy are struggling mightily to jump on the VR bandwagon.” ~ Christy King, consultant—about 10 NAB Shows.

“As late as last year, I heard manufacturers saying that their end users ‘wanted to build a plant with a single vendor’s products, as if that would insure interoperability. I did not hear one manufacturer say that this year.” ~ Clyde Smith, semi-retired consultant at Fox Network Engineering and Operations—36 NAB Shows.

“VR has the furthest to go, but it’s obvious HDR and cloud-based media management/processing are here in a big way.” ~ Richard Welsh, chair of 2016 NAB Show’s Future of Cinema Conference, co-chair of HPA Tech Retreat U.K., CEO of Sundog Media Toolkit—Eight NAB Shows.

“Ang Lee’s film screening was so compelling and ‘buzzworthy’ that you have to believe this technology will be embraced by the movie-going public.” ~ Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of communications for the National Association of Broadcasters—28 NAB Shows.

“It’s great to see the SMPTE DCP finally being adopted by major cinema chains!” ~ Aimée Ricca, director of Marketing and Communication for SMPTE—four NAB Shows.

Bonus round (submitted after initial publication):

“I did hear several people refer to VR as the new 3D, so this will be an interesting question to ask next year after the wow factor dissipates, and we see how hard it is to work in the virtual space.” ~ William T. Hayes, director of engineering and technology for Iowa Public Television—“Frighteningly,” 37 NAB Shows in a row.

“I believe that ultimately the transition to IP instead of SDI is a short-term solution that will ultimately be replaced by completely hybrid cloud solutions.” ~ Simon Eldridge, chief product officer at SDVI—16 NAB Shows.

“Most interesting were the kinds of services that the OTT providers were already so familiar with.” ~Richard Westcott, vice president of technology and digital media for NBC4-LA and KVEA-52, 18 to 20 NAB Shows.

“While much is still to be determined as far as ATSC 3.0, it’s a technology that much of the industry is uniting around, in that it offers new a vastly expanded means for bringing content and services to consumers.” ~ Susan Ashworth, former editor, TV Technology,contributor, NewBay Media Broadcast/Video Group.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Dave Siegler, senior vice president of operations for Cox Media Group:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
D.S. A mere 18.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
D.S. No doubt—ATSC 3.0, HDR/4K and VR/AR.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
D.S. Extensive booth presence and topics in the various conferences.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
D.S. ATSC 3.0—yes; some form of HDR and VR/AR—a couple years out until workflows are better defined.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
D.S. 3D.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Craig Johnston, TV Technology correspondent:
Q1. How many NAB Shows have you attended?
C.J. 33 in a row, from 1983 on.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
C.J. ATSC 3.0, IP infrastructure, HDR.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
C.J. I think ATSC 3.0 was the over-arching theme of this NAB, with lots of sessions and lots of buzz. Many new products had IP connectivity as a feature. Where 4G may not be delivered from cable or satellite companies for some time to come, HDR can be delivered via these pipelines, and it the difference it will make to the home viewer will kick of another round of viewers wanting to get the same great pictures their neighbors are getting.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
C.J. All.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
C.J. Mobile TV.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

George Hoover, chief technology officer, NEP, Pittsburgh SMPTE section chair, chairman of NAB’s Exhibitors Advisory Council:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
G.H. First was in 1974, but there have been gaps, as best as my memory serves me about 35.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
G.H. Perhaps that the status quo technology-wise isn’t a bad thing rich now.
Equipment buyers expressed that interoperability with other manufacturers’ gear was a key product feature above all else.
There is no compelling reason, business or quality wise, for U.S. linear channels to invest in 4K distribution to the home at this time.
There may not be a real compelling reason for HDR, considering the compatibility issues with SDR displays.
If you are going to produce in 4K, growing interest in a 12 Gbps over coax connectivity without the I/P voodoo. 

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
G.H. AIMS gaining significant traction, Sony and Grass Valley Groups agreeing to work together on I/P connectivity.
The many ways people are trying to figure out how to make HDR work for home distribution, none compatible with the other
The 4K train left the station with only a handful of riders, not a popular destination right now.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
G.H. Not widespread for 4K to the home distribution, HDR or IP for live.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
G.H. Can’t really think of anything that should have, perhaps Sony SX in its day.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Thomas Edwards, vice president of engineering and development at Fox:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
T.E. This is my 14th NAB. My first was just after joining PBS after coming from the Internet industry. It was very impressive, and my first time in Vegas.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
T.E. Main themes: 4K equipment everywhere, especially cameras (despite distribution challenges), an example are the very affordable 4K devices at Blackmagic. And of course the reaching of an industry consensus on live IP production standards as epitomized by the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), especially the huge interop demo in the Arista booth.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
T.E. [See preceding answer]

Q4. Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
T.E. 4K will no doubt take hold as the distribution business models evolve. Live IP production is already a reality in larger sports OB trucks, and will shortly begin to move into play out and master control.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
T.E. I’m sad that non-glasses 3D displays seem to have largely disappeared from the floor. There was some significant progress over the last few years, but they never quite achieved the level of quality to match stereoscopic displays.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Pete Putman, president of ROAM Consulting:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
P. P. This is No. 22, I think.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
P. P. UHD, IP infrastructure, drones (they’ve already become annoying), advances in encoding (H.264, H.265), not so much display except for HDR and some WCG [high dynamic range and wide color gamut].

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
P.P. Walk by the Fuji, Deluxe, and other booths and you see “4K! UHD!” plastered all over the signage. Hitachi and others showed HDR cameras. Lots of encoding demos with HDR. Probably the best encoding demo was Fraunhofer—Ultra HD with 10-bit HDR, 60 Hz, at 16 MB/s CBR. Samsung showed their tone-mapping HDR algorithm which they’ve submitted to NAB as a candidate for SMPTE 2094 and they’ll make it available royalty and license-free.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
P.P. Yep. I’d expect to see more H.265 hardware-based encoders and decoders come to market. Still costly to implement. Saw two nice 55-inch OLEDs for broadcast and monitoring applications. I expect to see more as LG Display ramps up production. (Tip: Keep an eye on Sony’s TV line next January.)

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
P.P. Can’t remember, but I’m sure there were a few. Probably Canon’s SED display, which still looks better than any OLED display. But legal issues, costs, and licensing problems killed it.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Kyle Walker, vice president of technology at Weigel Broadcasting:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
K.W. With the exception of last year when I had a surprise baby, every show since 1996.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
K.W. ATSC 3.0, IP, 4K and OTT workflows.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
K.W. While I feel ATSC 3.0 is lacking from the sense of how we can actually execute it in say the top 30 markets, I liked the consumer experience areas. IP-centric workflows is certainly the future. Many manufacturers have made significant progress in this area over the last year.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
K.W. I want ATSC 3.0 to work, but we have to figure out 1) the business model for a typical call letter station, and 2) how the transition would actually work in large markets. IP will certainly be a part of our future. Many of us are doing IP workflows today. It will only continue to grow.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
K.W. Grass Valley’s MediaFuse. I still like it even today.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Clyde Smith, semi-retired consultant at Fox Network Engineering and Operations:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
C.S. This was number 36. I missed four—two due to space shuttle launches, one due to reorganization and one due a budget cut.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
C.S. Key enabling emerging technologies become real! ATSC 3.0, IP plant infrastructure, HDR and Rec. 2020.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
C.S.ATSC 3.0: The Futures Park had many great demos with real 3.0 receivers and set-top boxes, and demonstrations of the features live. Most impressive to me was the NAB Pilot demo of the run-time environment with rapid channel change and features like personalization of breaks and the sports viewer preference options, like riding with your favorite NASCAR driver. The audio experiences with customization for accessibility and preferences was also very impressive.
IP plant infrastructure: It was encouraging to see all the major vendors, and some end users, join AIMs to hopefully achieve ubiquitous interoperability. The best demo was in the Arista booth showing 18 vendors interoperating with IP infrastructure. I was also very impressed with Embrionix supporting interoperability with SFPs [small-form pluggables] that could allow you to evolve your infrastructure over time. I think that is a game changer.
UHD with HDR and Rec. 2020: Too many great demos to single one out. When it is done right, it is very impressive. Now, we need to be able to consistently do it right. I saw as many bad examples as I did good, many on the same system. What made them bad, they used the features in a way that detracted from the storytelling. While it did show off the technology, it also demonstrated that you can destroy the storyline by shifting the viewers attention away from the director’s intent.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
C.S. Each of these technologies will be cornerstone of future broadcast infrastructure. The success of each of these is essential to supporting the evolution of broadcast technology to permit us to support business and creative vision in a rapidly changing business and consumer marketplace.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
C.S. Resistance to interoperability, the lack of belief in the need for interoperability from both users and manufacturers. As late as last year, I heard manufacturers saying that their end users “wanted to build a plant with a single vendor’s products,” as if that would insure interoperability.
I did not hear one manufacturer say that this year.
The IABM market survey, presented at NAB, showed that interoperability has risen to the top three considerations among end users making purchasing decisions. Eighty-eight percent of users stated that interoperability was either important or very important in making their purchasing decisions. A few years ago, interoperability barely showed up on the survey. While this is encouraging, I have two concerns. One is that 66 percent are unfamiliar with major industry interoperability initiatives, and only a small percentage of users were active in these interoperability initiatives, and even fewer know how to achieve interoperability. Obviously this is an great opportunity for education from standards bodies, industry associations and manufacturers alike.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

James E. O’Neal, retired television engineer and historian:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
J.O. First one was in 1977. I haven’t attended every show since then, but have been at the majority of them since. I know the count goes well in excess of 30.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
J.O. I though the big pushes were ATSC 3.0, UHD, and VR. I can’t really ignore the spectrum auction and repack—there were certainly a lot of sessions and interested persons—but right now, nothing is set in concrete and I’m more focused on the technology end of TV anyway. (I’m neither a station owner nor broadband wireless player and don’t really have a dog in that fight.)

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
J.O. A whole day of ATSC 3.0-themed presentations on Saturday, the ATSC 3.0 “park” in South Upper, ATSC 3.0 posters, etc. As for UHD, 4K and even 8K technology scattered all through the halls. No one talks about “regular HD” anymore; it gets about as much attention as 3DTV. As for VR and its cousin AR, it seems like a lot of exhibitors were ready with the goggles and headphones to let show-goers experience this new sensation. 

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
J.O. I think they’re all going to hit within the next few years. ATSC 3.0 is very much on track to roll out, with two very successful “Plug Fest” compatibility trials completed and hardware manufacturers getting serious about designs. The commitment of Korean broadcasters to telecast the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in 4K and the appearance of 4K receivers in big box stores during the past couple of years (with no over-the-air content available yet) speaks volumes about the global appearance of UHD broadcasting sooner rather than later, regardless of whether it’s delivered by ATSC 3.0 or DVB. I’m not a big VR/AR fan, but I know there are a lot of them out there and the technology is going to keep growing. Equipment and content producers will have to be ready.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
J.O. This is a tough one, as I’ve been to so many shows and they tend to run together over time. Most of the technologies that I thought were really cutting edge when I first saw them have become part of the business now. I’m thinking of the first time I saw a real color “minicam,” a frame synchronizer, the first SC/H-ed sync generator, a cartridge loading VTR, really high-quality “chip” cameras, the video file server, SDI, high-power solid-state TV transmitters, the recording of video on solid-state media, HDTV, “lights-out” station automation, satellite, non-linear editing, LED lighting, bonded cellular video transmission, and a lot of other stuff that was really high-tech at the time of its rollout at NAB Shows of the past.
Some of it seemed almost science fiction at the time, but all of these things eventually became and/or have become part of the TV landscape. I suppose the biggest flop that I witnessed, at least in recent years, was 3DTV. While I did see some good demos at past shows, I was never really a big fan and haven’t shed any tears over its demise.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Richard Welsh, chair of 2016 NAB Show’s Future of Cinema Conference, co-chair of HPA Tech Retreat U.K., CEO of Sundog Media Toolkit:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
R.W. Eight.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
R.W. VR/360 degree capture, cloud everything, HDR. 

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
R.W. Lots of 360-degree camera rigs on display, from all big-name camera manufacturers such as BlackMagic, GoPro, Canon etc., plus lots of stitching technology to transform 360 into VR such as SilverDraft. The launch of the Lytro Cinema camera is a step change in camera technology, the like of which hasn’t been seen since the move from black and white to color. This may have a huge influence on future camera design in general and in particular on “scene-based” capture facilitating VR.
There were a raft of DAM/MAM solutions and storage systems with cloud-based offerings, and big file transfer software vendors (Aspera, Signiant, FileCatalyst) offering integration to the major cloud providers (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud etc).
Lot’s of OTT and pop-up playout solutions leveraging cloud, and a big shift of focus to cloud software from on-premises. Even traditional hardware manufacturers were offering (behind the scenes) their boxes in the cloud by making their hardware available on-demand in data-centers.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
R.W. VR has the furthest to go but it’s obvious HDR and cloud-based media management/processing are here in a big way.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
R.W. Not sure I’ve seen anything I liked that didn’t make it.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Mark Schubin,engineer and explainer (as well as engineer-in-charge at the Metropolitan Opera):
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
M.S. 44

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
M.S. In alphabetical order: ATSC 3.0, drones, HDR, IP, LED walls, and virtual reality.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
M.S. ATSC 3.0land outside South Upper, droneland and LEDwallsland in Central, and VRland in North.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
M.S. Like everyone else, I have a very hard time seeing into the future.

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
M.S. NICT’s live holography (though the Lytro light-field cinematography camera might be said to be a successor).