TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2020 NAB Show?

SCOTT MURRAY: There are certainly a number of trends we’ve been watching. Demand for programming continues to trend up, both in terms of traditional programming and increasingly, streaming of live events such as sports and concerts. This demand for more content is fueling the growth in OTT video services and technologies. Programmers now engage directly with their customers, while retaining maximum control over the media and its distribution. Delivering quality content to both traditional and OTT methods efficiently while monitoring along every point in the chain, demands new workflows and tools. Telestream has been laser-focused on solving those challenges for our customers, regardless of what platform they are using in the cloud.

And while OTT is indeed a growing trend, there are others that are of significance as well. There’s the demand for HDR content (as evidenced by Fox streaming the Super Bowl simultaneously in both SDR and HDR). The cloud is still a significant trend in that everyone is discussing what they should do about their next round of capex investments (i.e. “Do I build a next-gen data center or move to the cloud?”). Full IP production is another significant trend because broadcast infrastructures are now being built around IP routing with the ability to handle video, audio and metadata (SMPTE 2110) with mixed formats. State-of-the-art trucks and broadcast centers are now being built around an IP infrastructure.

It’s important that we allow machines to do what they do best—sorting through data, managing redundant processes and making intelligent business decisions based on clear sets of business rules. This frees up humans to do what they do best—advancing the creative craft of storytelling and designing new business models to compete for viewers. Organizations are actively moving parts of their workflows to the cloud where and when it makes sense, so figuring out how to best use the cloud continues to trend. For distribution, we’re seeing more content owners going direct to viewers. That makes them responsible for monitoring quality, and we supply the tools to do that.

Our strategy has been to support all of these trends. We offer on-prem and cloud multiscreen encoding with monitoring of the distribution content for OTT. Vantage, Lightspeed Live Stream and PRISM support HDR workflows. Vantage Cloud Port obviously supports the cloud, and PRISM supports test and measurement for IP production.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

MURRAY: With so many products, it’s hard to pick out the most important news. Based on customer feedback, the continued evolution of Vantage Cloud Port is turning a lot of heads. Being cloud-agnostic and multicloud, and seamlessly moving processing to the cloud provider of your choice all while having a transparent view of how much services cost. Our overarching goal is to meet customers where they are with regards to their cloud transformation needs. 

Other important news is in regard to supporting the latest workflows in IMF package delivery, and supporting wide color gamut, HDR, Dolby Vision and object-based audio within automated processing of the Vantage world. Test and measurement of these new color standards during production and post has equally become critical with our PRISM media analysis platform. For monitoring streaming quality at every point in the distribution chain, our OptiQ Monitor and our iQ products give programmers instant feedback on where issues are occurring, hopefully before customers notice a significant loss in quality.

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

MURRAY: Thanks to the strategic acquisitions Telestream has made, we are uniquely positioned to provide customers with automated media processing and transformation across the entire media value chain. Only Telestream delivers these lens-to-device workflows with quality monitoring and measurement at every stage of the acquisition, post and delivery processes. Everything we’ve ever done has led us to this moment, so it’s really great to be a market leader at such a transformative time in the media and entertainment business. Of course, the beauty of all these solutions coming from one company is that we can develop them as our customers evolve their business models and their viewers evolve their consumption habits.

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

MURRAY: The NAB Show is the number one place to engage with customers and prospects to understand their needs and business goals. It’s also the best place to get validation from our customers on all the hard work we’ve been doing—much of it based on their direct feedback. The relationship between customers and manufacturers has changed. We are more like partners with our customers than mere manufacturers or vendors. The new world of IP-video, virtualization and cloud requires conversations and innovation between parties. Our customers rely on that relationship and know that we’re in it for the long haul. The days of selling boxes and just parting ways is long gone, and I like doing business this way much better. The NAB Show makes all these face-to-face interactions possible on a massive scale.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2020 NAB Show?

NICK RASHBY: We’re going to see momentum for new products and technologies that support 8K/UltraHD workflows continue to build at the NAB Show as broadcasters prepare for 8K production and delivery of the upcoming Summer Games in Tokyo. In line with this trend, 12G-SDI technology will return as a key focus this year, supporting studios, venues and trucks with the bandwidth needed to transport higher raster content with simpler cabling. Though interest in high dynamic range has drawn attention at the show for a few years now, approaches to HDR broadcast, production and post are still evolving, so this year at the show we expect to see a range of advancements geared toward helping professionals perfect how they capture, edit, color, monitor and deliver HDR. Similarly, as adoption of IP continues to grow, a number of hybrid SDI/IP solutions are emerging, and technology providers are likely to demonstrate new tools that help them refine those approaches.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

RASHBY: The NAB Show is a big show for AJA, and one where we’ve established a history of announcing important technology for our customers. It’s also a time where we’re able to highlight products that have already been market-tested, and speak to how they’re being applied in different environments. Every one of our solutions on display is engineered to give customers more flexibility to create and deliver reliable, high-quality video. Attendees can also look forward to some exciting announcements from AJA at the show, focused on the technologies that our customers have asked for, with several major new products designed to move industry workflows ahead. 

Powering 8K HDR post production with the new Mac Pro, our KONA 5 will be on display driving 8K 60p imagery from within popular NLE software. For the latest HDR workflows, we will be showcasing our HDR Image Analyzer 12G, and the  powerful FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG converter and frame synchronizer. Our broad range of 12G-SDI gear including Mini-Converters and KUMO routers will also be on display and make it easy to transport higher bandwidth content over a single cable. We’ll also highlight our family of Ki Pro digital video recorders, a variety of solutions for hybrid IP workflows and streaming tools that facilitate a range of workflows, including our standalone HELO H.264 streaming recorder. Drop by our booth in the lower South Hall (SL3316) to check out what we have on display and chat with one of our product experts.  

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

RASHBY: At AJA, we strive to develop a diverse range of solutions that answer common demands for professionals from live production to post production and distribution. All of our products are designed, assembled and tested at our headquarters in Grass Valley, Calif. Customers also receive access to our world-class technical support, advanced replacement policies and generous warranties. For more details on our latest product releases, visit: www.aja.com/whatsnew. Stay tuned for updates coming to the page on day one of NAB. 

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

RASHBY: The NAB Show draws the industry together. It’s a place where technology developers, customers and partners converge to catch up and also form new relationships. The one-on-one face time we get with partners, customers and friends is invaluable. The show is also a good testbed, in that we can talk to customers about the challenges they’re facing and how we can address them, as well as uncover how our products are being used in unexpected ways. Since most communication in the industry is done via email, phone and text, the NAB Show is a welcome reprieve through which we get a chance to put down our devices and engage with the community in person. 

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2019 NAB Show?

PHIL OWENS: The move to IP is happening, but we realize that the transition may be gradual for some stations. It will be important to offer systems that incorporate the newest IP-related requirements while also supporting the embedded architecture in current use. Not everyone will be able to just flip that switch.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

OWENS: Wheatstone will be showing an enhanced version of the IP-64 TV board. It has enhanced graphics, more context sensitive touch screens and a more flexible Automixer. Layer management has also been improved.

We’ve been able to leverage our development work on the IP-64 to create a new TV board, the Strata 32. Like the IP-64, it’s fully IP-based and AES67-ready. It uses many of the same touchscreen functions as the IP-64 and has 32 physical input faders with two control layers, providing 64 mix channels, all in a 40-inch wide footprint. We’re able to use the Gibraltar IP Mix Engine to produce 16 aux busses, 16 mix minus busses, eight sub masters, stereo and 5.1 master outputs, all at a very attractive price point.

We’re also introducing a new Stagebox for IP-connected I/O with 32 mic/line in, 16 line out and eight-by-eight AES in a 4RU enclosure.

Finally, we’ve “virtualized” our Dimension 3 console to run on a touchscreen app for stations that require high channel counts but no physical console, for automated newsroom operations.

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

OWENS: Wheatstone is addressing the changes we see in the market—the move to IP, the need for higher functions/lower cost and the need for powerful virtual mixing.

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

OWENS: We all work better with deadlines! Every year the NAB Show drives product development at Wheatstone. We take all the feedback from our customers both at the show and over the year to help us create and display great new gear in Vegas! Plus, we enjoy seeing our friends and making new ones!

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2019 NAB Show?

COLLEEN SMITH: I think there are a couple of significant technology trends, one of them being the move to IP, which is showing no signs of slowing down. This is all about networking and enabling software-defined architectures. And as more media companies look to migrate to IP, we continue to make strides, which allow our customers to take advantage of it.

OTT, and the technology which enables it, is still increasingly important. Having an OTT platform alongside any news, sports or live entertainment broadcast is an absolute requirement, rather than being something that’s just nice to have.

Having started some key discussions last year at the NAB Show, security will continue to be a crucial theme and focus for our industry. It’s a prevalent trend that’s important to Avid customers and key partners alike. With this in mind, we continue to develop multiple security features within our product ecosystem.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

SMITH: Our most important product news will address some of the challenges we’re seeing in the post-production workflow. Avid has a unique opportunity here because we are, and have been, one of the key inventors of nonlinear editing.

Media Composer has been at the forefront of most organizations for a long time. We not only understand what the editing itself requires from a post-production workflow, but also what editors need to achieve their creative vision. We’re an organization built on creativity, so our understanding extends beyond that. So, you’ll definitely see a couple of key announcements from Avid around post production this year at the show.

Additionally, Avid’s Maestro real-time graphics integration is something we’re excited to talk about because of what it’s allowing broadcasters to do. In the end, it’s about what the viewer is looking for. And it’s about news organizations, for example, accessing a whole new palette of creative deliverables—from new sets, graphics and experiences. At the NAB Show, we’ll be talking about graphics integration with our overall MediaCentral platform. I anticipate it’ll be a hot topic at the NAB Show because this is how broadcasters are trying to differentiate themselves. They have to be on top of their game and delivering that unique user experience in real time is how they’re going to get there.

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

SMITH: The differentiator for Avid is that users have the ability to stay within an open platform, using tools and solutions that are fully integrated. We’re giving users the end-to-end post-production workflow from first cut to finishing, which also easily accommodates other third-party products our customers might choose. We believe the need today is to be able to support all formats, especially when speed and delivery is important. You have to be able to deliver content immediately and you have to be able to create together. Collaboration is important, but you need that end-to-end workflow. That’s what editors and collaborative teams today are really looking for. That’s a big area of focus for Avid and you’ll hear a couple of key announcements at the NAB Show around that.

Another key differentiator that Avid brings to the table is that while we’re the best of breed in each one of our products we also have a complete integrated suite. It really is the best of both worlds where you’ve got the first-class products as well as the ability to have that complete end-to-end workflow. Avid is really one of the only players on the market to offer that to its customers.

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

SMITH: Avid continues to invest in its attendance because this is the show that many of our customers rely upon to understand the latest trends in technology and how they will impact their business. While the NAB Show has evolved, there have been many changes in terms of consumer behavior, the adoption of more OTT services and the demand for TV everywhere and anywhere. It’s now more important than ever to show our customers, as well as other media companies, what is going on within the industry and how we’re addressing these trends with technology. We need to show our customers what investment decisions we’ve made, and therefore, what investment decisions they need to make in order to be able to sustain and be on top of their game, the same way Avid is.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2019 NAB Show?

MIKE SAVELLO: The most significant trend on everyone’s mind and what we anticipate seeing in many booths at the NAB Show will be AI and its impact on news and storytelling. AI-based speech to text for automatic tagging, metadata insertion and closed-captioning generation will be invaluable to broadcasters.

Here at LiveU we are excited by what AI can mean for content routing and handling. Systems like bonded-cellular and IP distribution, such as LiveU's LU600 and 300, as well as our Matrix distribution system, mean stations and networks have access to more content, including live content, than ever before. But having access to it doesn't help if you can't identify, classify and route that content to your outlets and needs. To keep up with the “content explosion,” content originators need help and AI can provide that—it’s particularly strong for identifying and classifying people and objects. We’ll demo AI for tagging and metadata insertion in our booth.

We also expect to hear more conversations around 5G and its effect on broadcasters and cellular bonding this year. 5G doesn't just provide lower latency with higher bandwidth; it enables whole new business models for the carriers, which they can pass on to broadcasters. These are possibilities LTE wasn't capable of. We’re looking for areas where 5G can begin to have short-term impacts on the media business. That can come in the form of getting 5G-enabled tools into the hands of content creators now.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

SAVELLO: HEVC is transforming live content for broadcasters and online content creators. We’re eager to share news about our 4K-SDI card, the newest addition to our family of hardware-based HEVC encoder/transmitters. The 4K-SDI solution facilitates professional 4Kp50/60 streaming for top-quality production, supporting VR and 360 applications

The release of our global live content management and distribution system LiveU Matrix enables stations to view, manage and distribute live content quickly and efficiently throughout the media group using low-cost internet connectivity. This platform is poised to transform the way media groups manage and distribute live content over IP.

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

SAVELLO: Our HEVC products are all based on hardware HEVC encoding for maximum quality and optimal battery utilization. Users can operate in real time with extreme low latency with the highest quality, even at very low bit rates. This is where the LU300 differs from software solutions where video quality may be sacrificed to keep the latency low or may be switched back to H.264 to save battery life. Unlike software solutions, LiveU’s hardware solutions are encoding in HEVC all the time, providing longer battery time.

LiveU Matrix is the first global content management system that can scale to thousands of simultaneous feeds. The IP video management platform gives media groups and their local affiliates full visibility into all feeds available and puts the broadcaster in the driver’s seat to manage and send content anywhere, without interruption or another piece of hardware. We’re confident that LiveU Matrix will quickly become an invaluable tool for maximizing our customer’s capabilities, while reducing production and distribution costs.

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

SAVELLO: There’s no better show to learn about the trends, issues and technology that’s impacting the news and media industry. It’s where our customers go.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2019 NAB Show?

KEVIN SAVINA: The rise of OTT and direct-to-consumer is pushing a strong need for business transformation in the industry. We expect this will be high on the agenda for most media organizations at the NAB Show, driving adoption trends toward new platforms and technologies that facilitate an efficient and effective chain for multi-platform content production, publishing and delivery.

We foresee an accrued need for media asset management, process automation and workflow orchestration. AI (artificial intelligence) is one of the trendy aspects of it, but the wider topic really is optimizing operational productivity and increase in quality.

The second trend would be the “coming of age” of cloud technology. This has now become a more mature technology, better understood by technology providers and customers alike, around which we can now have informed and productive discussions on how these cloud technologies can actually benefit businesses.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

SAVINA: Last year, we launched Dalet Galaxy five. Twelve months later, a number of key enhancements have been added to the platform and some will be released at the show.

We are releasing a groundbreaking technology framework for remote editing leveraging the Dalet Galaxy five media services and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. This is aimed at serving a smooth and collaborative editing experience for mobile journalists as well as teams of video editors spread across several facilities. Reporters can compose packages from the field, mixing on their timeline locally recorded material and centrally stored content, even in complex network conditions.

Second, this will be the first display of our new live show automation application called Dalet OnePlay in the United States. An extension of Dalet Galaxy five, Dalet OnePlay not only automates the control of all devices in the studio, it also automates multi-platform publishing events in sync with the live show—fully leveraging the native connectivity to the MAM, NRCS and workflow orchestration capabilities of the platform. This allows users to build new forms of audience experiences across several devices and opens up new revenue opportunities, all the while optimizing the costs of the entire operations.

Finally, we are also announcing the general availability of Dalet Media Cortex, a new SaaS service aimed at augmenting media workflows through AI. Dalet Media Cortex connects to the Dalet Galaxy five platform and helps increase productivity and optimize workflows by bringing an AI toolset (smart content annotation, automated captioning and content recommendation) right at the fingertips of the editorial staff.

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

SAVINA: Dalet Galaxy five is unique in the sense that it is the most versatile and powerful media and workflow management platform available today. Serving many industry segments and content-specific workflows—from news to sports, from program preparation and promo management to radio operations and content owners—it is a mature and extensive platform that leverages the latest technologies to bring more agility and business efficiency to our customers.

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

SAVINA: Meeting with so many customers and partners, all in one place. It’s a great opportunity to get a deep update on the pace and trends of the industry, meet for fruitful discussions and discover some of the latest innovations.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2019 NAB Show?

RICHARD E. FIORE JR.: The 2019 NAB Show will have a heavy focus on ATSC 3.0/Next Generation Broadcasting Technology. We were elated to see the release of the complete suite of ATSC 3.0 standards last January, allowing companies such as Comark to develop, test and deploy exciting new technologies. NGBT provides broadcasters with more avenues to engage the consumer than ever before, and from a technology standpoint it extends the IP-enabled workflow all the way through to the transmitter’s input. NGBT also allows us to promote and integrate software-defined encoding solutions that provide the flexibility for today’s challenges and support tomorrow’s more efficient encoding algorithms.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

FIORE: We are focused on integrating technology and software solutions to meet the upcoming demands of NGBT with our team of experts here at Comark Digital Services (CDS). CDS is not a product but rather an integration, test and deployment arm of our company that has already helped broadcasters with their end-to-end solutions. To that end, we are testing various technologies and products to bring the best-of-breed solutions to the market. One of these technologies is our software encoding solution CDS powered by TITAN Live. Software encoding is a cost-effective solution that easily supports a station’s current requirements including ATSC 1.0, high-quality feeds to cable/DTH MSOs, as well as the station’s OTT feed. The same system can also be provisioned for ATSC 3.0, all of the above within a single software solution.

On the transmitter front, we continue to promote and produce our award-winning PARALLAX liquid-cooled, solid-state, high-efficiency product line (4 kW–100 kW). This year we are also introducing the E-Compact “MP series” of air-cooled, solid-state transmitters for LPTV/SFN applications. The new EC710MP-BB is a perfect solution for customers requiring a compact 1 kW DTV transmitter, featuring separate PA and PSU chassis that utilize only 4RUs of cabinet space. In addition, future compatibility with both ATSC 1.0/ATSC 3.0 is ensured, providing the same output power for either standard.

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

FIORE: CDS powered by TITAN Live is a pure software encoding solution and as such it provides the flexibility to meet the needs of all broadcasters, present and future.

First, it is flexible enough to be deployed on a variety of configurations including bare metal servers, blade servers/data centers or even the cloud. Also, CDS is able to assist broadcasters with deployments, integrations and even migrating the software encoding solution from one configuration to another.

Second, the solution allows each video program to be processed and then sent simultaneously in multiple output formats. This means CDS powered by TITAN Live supports legacy MPEG-2 (ATSC 1.0), H.264 (HQ feeds to the local MSO), HEVC/SHVC (ATSC 3.0) and even HLS (a dedicated OTT feed via a CDN). And all of this capability contained within a single software solution running in a variety of deployment environments.

Third, since CDS powered by TITAN Live is a pure, software-based solution, additional features or software codecs (such as AV1) can be introduced into the product suite as the market changes and technology continues to evolve.

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

FIORE: For almost 45 years I have been attending the NAB Show with the same company since the Chicago convention in 1975/76. Over the years much has changed, but we have built many strong relationships with broadcasters and we look forward to bringing innovative products and customer-focused solutions to the NAB Show. For Comark, the NAB Show is about technology and relationships. We have many customers but also many friends that we enjoy seeing at this venue.

TV TECHNOLOGY:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2019 NAB Show?

JEAN MACHER: The media and broadcast industries are thriving and changing, and in order to keep pace our customers need to run simpler, leaner operations. At the 2019 NAB Show you can expect to see all-IP, all-software solutions for maximum workflow flexibility, cloud and SaaS for business agility, and AI and machine-learning technologies that enable breakthrough improvements in media processing.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

MACHER: Our VOS360 Video SaaS continues to gain enhancements to its cloud-native media processing capabilities and support a variety of new workflows. For OTT workflows, VOS360 SaaS now provides content monetization through support for targeted ad insertion, content replacement and blackouts.

For channel origination workflows, our VOS360 solution supports UHD HDR playout, as well as new advanced scheduling capabilities. Additionally, VOS360 SaaS can be used for ATSC 3.0, offering an efficient centralized model for ATSC 3.0 encoding, statmux, and delivery to remote TV stations, all provided as a service.

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

MACHER: All of Harmonic’s expertise in video processing, playout, and OTT delivery is available in our cloud-native VOS software, which is deployable as a Video SaaS, as a cluster on-premises, or on traditional appliances. VOS software provides deployment flexibility and supports a wide range of business models, from skinny bundles to Disaster Recovery as a Service, UHD HDR live streaming and more. By providing our customers with an end-to-end workflow solution, we’re enabling them to launch video streaming services faster and run simpler operations. The VOS solution is exactly what our customers need in this new TV world, where disruption becomes the norm. In that context, our VOS offering is unique to the industry.

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

MACHER: The NAB Show is much more than a broadcast trade show; it is the main event for television in any shape or form. It is the one opportunity to connect with a wide array of customers, from established TV players to new entrants that are trying to compete in this industry. The exhibit and the conferences are the best platform to showcase our revenue-generating solutions and introduce forward-looking technological innovations.

TV Technology:What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the  2019 NAB Show?

DAVID COHEN: IP will continue to be a major talking point as we see an uptick in mainstream deployments; this is backed up by the findings in Grass Valley’s recent IP Barometer survey, which confirmed a strong industry desire to invest in open IP-based solutions. The approval last year of ST 2110, based on the work done by AIMS and all its member companies, was really a necessary move to give the industry assured interoperability in IP deployments.

With pressure to produce more content and deliver personalized viewing experiences—compounded by downward pressure on budgets—content owners, broadcasters and media companies are looking for solutions that drive efficiency within their operational workflows. Scalability, flexibility and agility have become key to making fast and smart decisions that will help leverage the opportunities presented by ongoing market evolution. IP enables systems that deliver better operational efficiency.

As the vendor with more open-standard deployments than any other, Grass Valley is a front- runner in IP transition. We deliver fully interoperable end-to-end workflow capabilities that are flexible and tailor-made to meet our customers’ specific needs. Built on standard COTS hardware and switches, our IP solutions enable our customers to benefit from flexible, scalable, format agnostic architecture that gives them the agility to meet the challenges of the current mediascape head on.

The integration of AI into a wide range of broadcast products is also something we expect to see widely demonstrated and talked about at the show. 

Being more efficient is the key to survival and growth, and AI holds significant promise in helping media companies achieve this. With consumers demanding strong, compelling storytelling, customers are turning to AI-based solutions that help reduce time spent on mundane tasks, enabling production teams to focus on impactful, creative activities.

More than that, the enriched information that AI-based solutions can deliver makes it easier for production staff to do their jobs. The ability for systems to analyze data and use it to enhance the quality of content by matching it to a set of criteria has enormous implications.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

COHEN: Some of our key focus areas for the NAB Show are IP, live production and innovations in media workflows. As the frontrunner in delivering end-to-end, open standards IP solutions, Grass Valley is the only technology partner that provides a glass-to-glass solution that can be tailored to meet our customers’ requirements. We will also clearly underline how end-to-end workflow solutions from Grass Valley enables a smoother purchase process and deployment, allowing customers to get their services running more rapidly.

As consumers expect content anywhere, anytime and on any screen, media organizations must address a range of platforms—both digital and linear. Grass Valley enables assets to be handled more efficiently, seamlessly supporting content production and delivery to multiple platforms, including social media, via a single interface—the key to opening the door for citizen journalists and other content types that deliver a modern “any content, everywhere” scenario.

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

COHEN: The priority for our customers is not just the technology—what media companies want is a partner that understands the industry and the way their organizations operate. Working with a company that has the breadth of solutions as well as deep expertise is central to successful technology deployments.

Grass Valley provides the widest reach and outstanding service; our customers know that they can access the support they need to keep mission critical systems running. The weight of the Belden brand behind us ensures financial stability; customers have the added assurance during the purchase process that their investment is future-protected. This scale underpins the outstanding innovation that is a hallmark of Grass Valley, while our Core Tech initiative ensures a faster time to market and the ability to respond rapidly.

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

COHEN: We go to the NAB Show because that’s where our industry does business. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate to our customers that we’re there for them and, once again, are delivering new innovations that help them create better content, more efficiently than ever.

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

NICOLAS BOURDON: This year’s show floor will be full of exhibitors presenting integrations with artificial intelligence. AI and machine learning are going to be one of the big themes of this year’s show. But aside from just joining in on the buzzwords, we need to see vendors presenting ways in which AI can be used to address real-world business needs. There are opportunities to implement intelligent functionality in any number of production processes where an AI application can act as a built-in assistant rather than a replacement for human operators.

At the same time, users and facilities providers are asking for more tailored solutions for live productions so demonstrations of workflow architectures that benefit from software-based micro-services will be a key feature of the NAB Show. The acceleration of virtualized infrastructures offers more flexibility and lets users optimize resources to better meet the expectations of content producers.

[Read: EVS Switcher Controls Devils’ Scoreboard]

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

BOURDON: We’ve got several new products being announced and demonstrated at this year’s show including an updated version of our video officiating system. Xeebra 2.0 integrates a new AI engine enabling automated calibration of a field of play so graphics can be added to live feeds in the correct size and perspective without needing any additional tracking or calibration. This can be used initially for soccer to notify a video referee of the precise moment a player goes offside.

We will also be unveiling a brand new server in our XT range, which will come with higher UHD 4K channel density (up to six channels) and offer optimized bandwidth for any live production workflow — whether in UHD, HD or 1080p. And with its integrated HDR support, the latest XT server is built to meet growing demand from those operating in higher-resolution live production environments.

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

BOURDON: The artificial intelligence that EVS has integrated in Xeebra isn’t simply plugging in a third-party AI machine. Our innovation teams have been working in this area for a while, building our own neural networks and teaching the machine to generate the correct output by learning from previous examples.

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

BOURDON: Having a show like the NAB Show where everyone is able to come together to present new technologies, share ideas and experiences is vital for an industry that moves as quickly as ours. That’s why EVS continues to return so we can speak to customers and partners about how to continue the evolution of broadcasting technology.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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

RICH REDMOND: Broadcasters grow more comfortable with IP technologies in the broadcast infrastructure with each passing year. As solutions continue to grow more robust, reliable and intelligent, broadcasters are expanding their strategies to leverage IP as their main transport medium for content delivery. The flexibility IP brings in multipoint contribution and distribution is particularly compelling for broadcasters that are looking to eliminate the costs of point-based legacy networking, and introduce new video, audio and data services that can be delivered to consumers in the most efficient way possible.

ATSC 3.0 for next-generation television will also loom large. ATSC 3.0 ushers in a whole new paradigm where broadcast TV stations can transmit an IP stream rather than a broadcast-specific transport stream, and interface with the growing array of video services based on the Internet. It also provides a foundation for targeted content and advertisements, improved mobile reception and 4K HDR content delivery over the air that will help broadcasters level the playing field against competing TV services.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

REDMOND: In television, we will be laser-focused on demonstrating our over-the-air content delivery solutions for repack and ATSC 3.0. With repack, we have announced several major station group wins with Hearst Television, Raycom Media, Cordillera, Heartland Media and Quincy Media, and to date have 20 sites with repack projects up and running. That’s important to point out because it validates the strength of our repack strategy across products and services, including complete site audits in advance of installations.

For products, we have completely revamped our entire TV transmission lineup over the past three years with our Maxiva UHF (ULXTE liquid-cooled and UAXTE air-cooled) and Maxiva VHF (VAXTE air-cooled) transmitters. Our next-generation Maxiva XTE exciter, with integrated IP inputs, brings it all together for both repack and ATSC 3.0 needs moving forward. Collectively, we offer the youngest transmission product line in the industry, albeit with field-proven technologies, performance and efficiency.

Since repack and ATSC 3.0 introduce new systems and processes—essentially a completely new, native IP infrastructure for the latter—we’ll emphasize our next-gen control, monitoring and security platforms. This includes advanced monitoring with our StreamAssure solution, an SNMP interface to remote controls via IP connectivity, and advanced security features powered through our Intraplex IPConnect solution.

We have also restructured the user interfaces on our Maxiva transmitters. These will now be HTML5-based, which removes the security vulnerabilities of Java and all together delivers a more simple and intuitive user experience.

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

REDMOND: Key points include market-leading power density–for example, our VAXTE transmitter reduces rack space by two-thirds the amount of its predecessor–outstanding RF performance, and integration of the latest FET technology and high-power devices providing simplified channel changes without the need for failure-prone jumpers. The latter is critical to our achievement of parity power between ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0. That is important because our customers who buy for repack now do not need to invest in a larger ATSC 3.0 transmitter to achieve the same power levels as ATSC 1.0. We should also note that our Maxiva VAXTE transmitter is the first transmitter to support repack and ATSC 3.0 needs in low-band VHF.

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

REDMOND: It’s hard to think of a better venue to meet new people and see old friends when it comes to the broadcast industry. NAB Show continues to be the premier world stage for broadcast and media professionals seeking to discover new technology, see products in person and meet face to face with their peers and collegaues. For us at GatesAir, that means an unrivaled opportunity to interact with customers and partners. This is a genuinely human benefit that can’t be replaced by webinars and virtual conferences.

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

JASON TOMLIN: Increasingly, equipment and software manufacturers are creating solutions that are compliant with the new SMPTE ST 2110 Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks suite of standards. We anticipate much of this technology will be featured prominently at the 2018 NAB Show. The development toward one common Internet protocol, per SMPTE ST 2110, is already in place with AES67, the Audio Engineering Society Standard for IP audio. The TVSG product portfolio complies with AES67 Livewire+ standards, and is compatible with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Ethernet IP switching and routing equipment.

TVT:What will be your most important product news?

TOMLIN: TVSG is leading the television industry’s migration to AoIP, and broadcast professionals are quickly embracing our recently introduced IP Intercom solution, which unleashes the full potential of a distributed IP audio infrastructure. Telos Infinity, which is slated to ship in April, 2018 is far more than a talkback system; it’s a total reimagining of broadcast communications. It brings together voice communication and contribution audio on a single IT backbone employing the latest standards-based VoIP and Livewire+ AES67 AoIP transport to provide dedicated features and functionality in a simplified, more elegant form and without limitations. Telos Infinity replaces outmoded matrix technology with an advanced, distributed IP solution that allows plug-and-play networked devices to be added to the system as part of a planned or ad-hoc expansion without the worry of exceeding the number of available ports on a matrix.

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

TOMLIN: There isn’t anything on the market currently that compares with the Telos Infinity IP intercom. What makes it so unique is its ease of integration, which provides customers with the versatility and cost-efficiency of using their existing infrastructure for advanced AoIP communication. You can access any networked audio endpoint through our Telos Infinity Dashboard software and make it available wherever you need it—internally or on-air. And, because it natively supports Livewire+ AES67, it seamlessly connects with our own AoIP products as well as those from other supporting manufacturers. Being matrix-free allows plug-and-play networked hardware and software devices to be added to the system as part of a planned ad-hoc change without ever worrying that you might exceed the number of available ports on a matrix.

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

TOMLIN: Given the competitive pressures to accommodate increased content production and expanded audio choices in today’s highly charged environment, the NAB Show provides a comprehensive vehicle for the industry to find solutions that are right for them. I think the NAB Show website says it best—“This is the ultimate event for media, entertainment and technology professionals looking for new and innovative ways to create, manage, deliver and monetize content on any platform.”

As a leader in the television industry’s migration to AoIP, TVSG is at the NAB Show with our full product portfolio, including TelosSystems, OmniaAudio, AxiaAudio, Linear Acoustic, 25-SevenSystems, and MinnetonkaAudio. These brands have popularized and helped to fast-track AoIP through eight major solution groupings: distributed and decentralized routing; mixer hardware and software; site-to-site connectivity; multi-line call management; signal distribution and format conversion; real-time audio processing; audio measurement and monitoring; and IP intercom and communication.

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

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

RUSH BEESLEY: In my view, the prominent “trending” technology is IP delivery of video/audio/data streams using several alternative formats. This impacts both internal and external operational workflows.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

BEESLEY: We’re rolling out our RFID robotic camera-tracking technology that allows PTZ cameras—and our PTX Universal PanTilt Heads—to track multiple targets in real-time at distances up to 100 meters. The implications are significant for education, presentation, worship, sports and many other market sectors.

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

BEESLEY: We’ve married our expertise with robotic camera control with a sophisticated real-time data delivery system, the end result being professional camera tracking of individuals and objects without the need for camera operators.

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

BEESLEY: The show is a great opportunity to validate our new product introductions by getting feedback from booth visitors who get a chance to see our products in action. It’s the best way to assure the highest likelihood of product success in the marketplace.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

TAG BORLAND: In the audio world for local market television, we are seeing a move away from large mixing consoles to a “glass cockpit” approach where critical routing and mixing functions are taking place within a rackmount engine, which is interfaced to a video automation system. Most of the control is handled via the video automation system. In these types of installations, physical audio consoles are reduced to just a few faders, if any.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

BORLAND: We will be launching a new product line for both Radio and TV that more fully adopts the “glass cockpit” concept of signal management. Much of our management and control is being moved from physical buttons and knobs to touchscreens.

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

BORLAND: The user interface on our new product incorporates multi-touch technology similar to that which has become ubiquitous in smart devices. Only a few years ago, users would have had a problem with using a touchscreen for control functions or console management; now, it seems everyone is accustomed to this type of user interface. We’ll still have critical functions such as on/off buttons and faders available in a physical format, but almost everything else is being moved to touchscreens.

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

BORLAND: Seeing industry friends and the one-on-one interaction with our customers.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate as significant trends at the 2017 NAB Show?

ERIK OTTO: Software and IP technology continues to transform the television industry resulting in an increased convergence between traditional TV and OTT video. We are seeing the lines between TV and OTT being increasingly blurred as consumers continually switch between different viewing devices. In order to maintain high levels of service quality means that traditional TV and OTT services need to be managed and monitored concurrently.

Whereas specific broadcast functions have traditionally been contained within dedicated areas such as studios, master control rooms, and playout centers, there is a growing demand for software-based solutions that enable broadcast engineers and television executives to access any critical broadcast function from any location. As with other industries, increased workforce mobility and flexibility is becoming a reality through software running in the cloud and on mobile devices.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

OTTO: We are releasing a major update to our LogServer software suite to support multiscreen monitoring, analysis and compliance TS and video over IP sources. By adding support for more ABR profiles, LogServer users can now view and monitor their traditional linear broadcast monitoring alongside OTT streams.

LogServer now includes support for newer broadcast standards such as HEVC, 4K UHD, and SMPTE-2022-6. Our advanced LogServer and Monwall data monitoring panels provide real-time analysis and monitoring of TS sections, ETR290 ASI priority events, closed captions, subtitles, and loudness.

We are also introducing our new Aircheck mobile app, which works in conjunction with LogServer and allows for real-time broadcast stream monitoring on iOS and Android devices. Aircheck answers the call for greater workforce mobility and system-wide visibility by providing broadcast engineers and executives access to content sources, playout and transmissions from anywhere.

With Aircheck we are first to support for live multiview monitoring on mobile devices. With Aircheck and LogServer, master control panels are finally being untethered from master control rooms. We’re really excited about this feature as it further advances the move towards greater broadcast engineering flexibility and mobility.

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

OTTO: LogServer combines access to advanced broadcast tools from one place. It’s already being used by hundreds of broadcast engineers across the globe for meeting their monitoring, analysis, and compliance needs. As the broadcast industry moves increasingly to software-defined video solutions, we are able to quickly introduce new features and tools to our well-established software platform whether running on premises, in virtualized environments or in the cloud.

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

OTTO: The NAB Show is effectively New Year’s Day for us broadcast engineers. We reminisce about the previous year and table innovations for the future of our industry. It’s the most important show of the year and simply an exciting place to be, whilst catching up with our partners and peers.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

PAUL SHEN: Driving efficiency has been and will continue to be what many broadcasters will be demanding this year. There will be many products and services focused on delivering efficiency. For those of us who specialize in IP-based workflow solutions, we’re sure this NAB Show will show a lot of groundbreaking technology on multiple fronts for broadcasters. We expect to see a lot of discussion around the operational efficiency achieved from the transition to IP infrastructure from SDI, and the impact that has on all aspects of a broadcaster’s workflow. We also expect to see trends towards software-defined workflows. We are going to demonstrate a number of solutions at our booth this year that address IP-based and software based workflows for video.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

SHEN: Our family of products and services were built to help broadcasters create more with less. To that end, we’ll be focused on demonstrating how new additions and enhancements to our hardware and software ecosystem for IP video delivers operational efficiency to a broadcaster’s workflow. For example, we’re showing our new TVU One mobile cellular transmitter with HEVC. It’s really the best of two worlds: more efficient video performance and better stability at 0.5 seconds latency even in a moving vehicle while also using less bandwidth. We can do this because TVU One combines H.265 video compression and TVU’s patented Inverse Statmux Plus transmission algorithm to deliver live video performance that can rival satellite and microwave.

We will also be demonstrating a new API integration with a well-known third-party broadcast equipment provider. This new TVU Alert integration is designed to efficiently automate and streamline a common but manually intensive workflow. The operational efficiency realized by this integration will allow news crews to bring non-live stories captured from the field to the studio by accelerating the transfer and ingest of metadata linked content to the newsroom.

Going beyond traditional broadcast production, we will be demonstrating how the TVU ecosystem now allows broadcasters to manage digital media production within their existing workflow. Using TVU Producer, a broadcaster does not have to treat the producing and managing of live streams to Facebook Live for instance as separate from existing, well-established broadcast workflows. TVU Producer is designed for the digital media producer for easy control of video live streams.

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

SHEN: In the case of TVU One with HEVC, one distinct difference is our Inverse StatMux Plus (IS+) advanced IP video technology. In order to combat the bandwidth and QoS hurdles inherent in wireless 3G/4G networks, TVU Networks developed a proprietary technology called Inverse StatMux (statistical multiplexing). StatMux is a process where multiple signals are combined and transmitted over a fixed channel. As its name suggests, Inverse StatMux does the opposite, taking a single signal source and then reverse multiplexing the signal across multiple channels for transmission. The transmission is then re-aggregated at the receiving end. With Inverse StatMux, our mobile transmitters can mitigate the effects of constrained bandwidth by transmitting the video signal over multiple channels simultaneously and when you combine that with HEVC, broadcasters can more efficiently transmit data with less bandwidth but with greater performance and transmission stability.

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

SHEN: It’s a tremendous show. We’re able to meet with so many of our current and prospective customers from all over the world in one place. And we get to participate in discussions about the important topics that are directly impacting broadcast and media industries. We look forward to it every year for all of those reasons, plus socially, we get to spend time with our industry colleagues.

This NAB Show marks the company’s first in the Central Hall. TVU is moving from its traditional location in the South Upper Hall of the LVCC to the Central Hall. This hall will become TVU’s home at the LVCC for future NAB Shows. 

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

RALF JACOB: We’re going to see more and more OTT technology that’s enabling and supporting the creation of personalized viewing experiences. Just as content has continued to trend towards personalized experiences—from skinny bundle offerings to apps exclusively featuring niche content such as sports, movies and television shows—so too, will the technological infrastructure that supports these viewing experiences head in this direction. Whether it’s more consolidation of workflows into a single platform, intuitive ad insertion technologies or robust enterprise quality of service tools, more of these technologies will be available to content creators and OTT providers. We also anticipate new ad formats to emerge, making use of AI and machine learning; we expect object recognition to play a major role.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

JACOB: As the OTT industry continues to evolve, we’re always working to ensure that our products, solutions and services meet the ever-changing demands of content creators—the demands both of today and tomorrow. We’re always looking for ways to simplify the OTT workflow of getting content into the pipeline, monetized and then out to audiences around the world, at scale. With this in mind, we can’t wait to share more about a new, next-generation OVP solution that we’ve been working on and that will drastically impact the media and entertainment landscape.

We’re also excited to make the North American debut of two products that we launched last fall 2016: our Live Streaming Solution and our Volicon Media Intelligence service.

Our Live Streaming Solution simplifies the live event workflow and gets quality live streams onto mobile and connected devices. It boasts so many features to make the entire live streaming process easy—from the instantaneous creation of on-demand content to video clipping for content syndication to internal or third-party content management systems and apps.

Last year, we acquired Volicon, a leading provider of video capture, archival, compliance monitoring and clip creation workflow for broadcasters. After the acquisition, one of the first investments we made was integrating our Slicer application, which encodes and packages content for streaming, into the Volicon Media Intelligence service. Now, Volicon Media Intelligence service users can easily launch OTT offerings through their own existing Volicon hardware infrastructure.

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

JACOB: One of our biggest differentiators is that we have a digital media platform that comprises both all of the necessary tools to successfully launch an OTT service and also a global content delivery network (CDN) to ensure the secure, reliable and quality delivery of content to mobile and connected devices. There’s no need to have to go to multiple partners—one for analytics, another for monetization and yet another for a CDN. You can get everything you need all under one roof, the Verizon Digital Media Services roof.

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

JACOB: The NAB Show is a jam-packed week, filled with informative panels, educational seminars, mind-boggling booths and critical relationship-building meetings. It’s fast-paced, hectic, a whirlwind—and, incredibly fun. Where else can you find out about the latest industry trends, see some of the coolest technological innovations, connect with old friends and meet new ones—literally all in one day? I’ve been attending for many, many years now and each time, I always find myself leaving the conference having learned something new and networking with some of the most inspiring leaders and trailblazers within the media and entertainment space.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What will be your most important product news?

CRUMP: Comrex is introducing two new products at the show this year. ACCESS NX is a major upgrade to our flagship audio contribution IP codec ACCESS 2USB. ACCESS NX features a more powerful processor, larger touchscreen and several improvements ACCESS users will appreciate. We will also introduce Opal, an audio contribution product designed to allow remote guests to sound like they are in the studio without requiring complicated setup and using devices, such as computers or smartphones, that support Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

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

CRUMP: ACCESS NX is highly anticipated by tens of thousands of customers that have relied on the ACCESS platform for the past 10+ years and we’re very excited to bring this to market. But Opal really shines because it takes advantage of technology that is built into web browsers. We’ve made it truly broadcast-reliable with our nearly six decades of experience moving broadcast media over challenging data networks. Our engineering team has taken a complicated, open source technology and distilled it down to an incredibly simple user interface that will really enhance broadcast program audio in a way that is not currently being done.

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

CRUMP: It’s kind of like the geese migrating North in the spring. Beyond that, NAB is a chance to connect with our customers and potential customers from all over the world. It provides us with an invaluable opportunity to discuss existing and future products with them and get their direct feedback. So, ultimately, it’s our customers that keep us coming back.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

RICHARD E. FIORE, JR.: ATSC 3.0 without question, but it should be noted that the 2017 NAB Show will be the “Year of RF” thanks to the FCC’s completion of the 600 MHz spectrum auction and upcoming repack of the broadcast TV band. Having said that, incorporating ATSC 3.0 into RF products that focus on performance and efficiency will be a key driver towards decision-makers.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

FIORE: Comark will be announcing the VHF Band 3 version of the award-winning PARALLAX. PARALLAX is our flagship liquid-cooled solid state Doherty DTV transmitter that was designed specifically for repack. Last year this transmitter won the NewBay Media’s Best of Show award. At the NAB Show we will be introducing a VHF Band 3 version of the PARALLAX transmitter that features up to 50 percent efficiency. The VHF Band 3 version of PARALLAX shares all the mechanical architecture, user interface and performance with the UHF version of PARALLAX. The PARALLAX family provides the highest reliability and efficiency, for the lowest overall cost of ownership.

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

FIORE: PARALLAX was specifically designed from the ground up for the U.S. repack market. It is band optimized for Channels 14–36, with broadband Doherty technology, high efficiency and unparalleled RF performance utilizing the latest devices available for RF amplification making this product timely! PARALLAX also provides broadcasters with future proof technology—a transmitter that operates at the same RF output power level in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0. So the transmitter you deploy today will be perfectly suited for use with ATSC 3.0 in the future with no need to de-rate the output power due to the different (OFDM) waveform. 

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

FIORE: For more than 40 years I have been attending the NAB Show with the same company since the Chicago convention in 1975/76. Over the years much has changed, but we have built many strong relationships with broadcasters and we look forward to bringing innovative products and customer focused solutions to the NAB Show. For Comark, the NAB Show is about technology and relationships.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

SHAWN MAYNARD:I believe we are beginning to see IP connectivity for video workflow taking a significant leap. We have reached early adopter stage and are moving quickly into early majority for ST-2022-6 in the production space. This is really exciting and opens up a plethora of possibilities. The most exciting transition as we enter the innovator stage for ST-2110 for a more comprehensive playout format. This is truly a game changer. Lastly, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the possibilities being explored in virtualization and cloud computing utilization. Truly exciting times.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

MAYNARD:Acuitas is our integrated playout platform and has been hugely successful for us. We continue to expand our offerings for our customers to take advantage of more flexible playout options. I believe we will be in a hybrid SDI/IP world for several years within a content creator’s facility so we will continue to have our off-the-shelf solution that uses IT industry servers (HPE) with hardware codecs (Matrox) for those who want handles on their environment. For those growing and experimenting in the cloud computing space, whether private or secured public, we also will be showing a virtualized solution as well.

Of course, we also continue to expand our Smart Central suite of tools which allows users to interact with their automation, inventory and playout ecosystem from any PC through a webserver. These tools offer nearly unlimited flexibility for how to manage their on-air environment. Really cool stuff.

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

MAYNARD:I love what we can do in software these days. It’s a lot of fun. As a broadcaster I am just amazed by our capabilities and our offerings for the industry. I ran a hub operation for a network stations group back in the day and I could only dream about what we are doing on a daily basis. That’s really saying something because we were innovators and risk-takers in our space. What distinguishes Florical’s offerings is that our solutions work and are not marketing hype. We are very transparent and honest about what is possible today and that sets us apart. We can do what others only talk about. Since we are innovators at heart we also invite our partners, which are our customers, to dream alongside us. We dare to whiteboard and create the impossible. We have a great team of engineers that make miracles happen. If we say it will work you can take that to the bank. We hang our reputation on it.

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

MAYNARD:No doubt NAB Show is the show for the broadcaster. Over time this may change. We are quickly moving into a commodity and IT industry standards era, which will shift which shows will be important for the content creators. But at this time NAB is still the sweetest place to be to see the latest and greatest in our space.

TV TECHNOLOGY: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

Tom Burns: The continued movement to all-IP media operations and the increasing virtualization of applications and solutions will continue to be the main topic of many conversations at the show. As many have previously noted, it won’t be an overnight transition to an all-IP-based infrastructure, but leading vendors are developing incredible software-defined solutions for media and entertainment that can easily take advantage of on-premise, high-performance infrastructure and cloud ubiquity. Virtualization of broadcast applications on enterprise IT infrastructure will also enable broadcast ISVs to avoid siloed hardware upgrade and downtime issues, and let them concentrate on developing application functionality.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

Burns: We’re excited to present the Isilon All-Flash array, our brand-new flash storage product, to the NAB Show audience. With pressure from increasing media volume, the move to IP-based workflows and multiplatform content delivery, Isilon All-Flash provides the performance and efficiency to address those issues. The newest addition to the Dell EMC Isilon product family, now orderable, will enable media organizations to pursue new business opportunities, tackle new projects and expand their opportunities for media monetization.

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

Burns: Many vendors have introduced all-flash storage arrays, but Dell EMC Isilon All-Flash has a unique design that completely differentiates it from the rest of the market. Dell EMC has combined the extreme performance of flash technology with the proven scalability, true multiprotocol access and security of Isilon OneFS operating system. The Isilon OneFS operating system utilizes a native tiering capability that enables media companies to store and access content according to its business value, providing optimal storage, performance and protection—a critical capability for media and entertainment data. This benefit extends across the entire Isilon product family.

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

Burns: Each year, the NAB Show allows us to engage with the majority of our customers and our fellow solution providers all in one central location.It’s the one show where attendees are guaranteed to leave with an up-to-date snapshot of the vibrant and progressive media industry. We look forward to networking with our partner ISVs and end-to-end solution providers and discussing the future of the marketplace with our peers.

TVT: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2017 NAB Show?

Bryce Button

Bryce Button: At NAB 2017, I anticipate a continuation of trends that dominated conversations at the show last year, including HDR and Broadcast IP, VR and AR implementations and cloud-based production and storage.

As an industry, we’ve made great progress with the promise of HDR, but there are still challenges to be sorted out, especially in standardizing, converting between standards and controlling the way color is treated beyond the initial luminance phase. You can expect to see new tools from AJA at NAB that address current HDR pipeline challenges.

Although broadcast IP became a reality last year, as industry professionals worked together to establish standards like SMPTE 2022-6 and SMPTE 2022-7 and developed IP-compatible technology to simplify the transition, it was but a start. Now we are entering a new phase with SMPTE 2110 and practical implementations with lots of interoperability that will be shown at NAB 2017 and soon put to the test in the real world with many broadcasters viewing this as the turning point. AJA and other AIMS members will be showing some of these interoperable solutions on their stands and at the AIMS stand at NAB 2017.

We will still be in an interim phase for a while yet in the broadcast space with SDI and IP implemented in practice as what one might consider a hybrid of the two, but the promise of IP is closer at hand. AMWA and the efforts to standardize registration and discovery are migrating fast from theory to practicality. At NAB this year, we’re likely to see new solutions from manufacturers that promise to tear down some of the barriers that remain. As a founding member of AIMS, and a member of both the Aspen Community and SONY IP Live, AJA is thrilled to be part of this transition.

TVT: What will be your most important product news?

Button: Though we don’t disclose product news ahead of NAB, I can tell you that we’ll be rolling out exciting new items for the broadcast, production, post and ProAV markets. Our newest tools and updates will address some of the industry’s biggest workflow challenges, so don’t forget to stop by our booth #SL2505.

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

Button: We’ve built a reputation for creating affordable, flexible and reliable solutions that meet the needs of broadcast, production, post and ProAV professionals now and into the future, and our NAB product lineup will be no exception. To top it off, our products are uniquely backed by a three-year or five-year warranty, innovative engineering and unrivaled support.

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

Button: Not only does NAB give us a great opportunity to connect with major customers, technology partners and other industry friends in-person, but we also walk away from the show with excellent insight into the current and new trends that will be top of mind for industry professionals as the year progresses.