Every year in Las Vegas, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show features some of the latest and greatest in tech for the film and television industries. From drones, to cameras, to computer hardware and software, NAB has it all.
The Drone Pavillion at NAB 2015 (PHOTO: Odin Lindblom)
If someone would have said several years ago that drones would become an every day part of filmmaking, there would have been some very skeptical reactions. With NAB’s addition of the Drone Pavilion this year, it seems drones have become an essential part of the digital production tool set. The flying nets up at the drone booths and at the drone pavilion highlight the growing safety concerns about drones. Lawmakers and the FAA are currently struggling to regulate this booming part of the industry. Despite this producers, cinematographers and television station managers are investing in drones like crazy. Booths like 3DR and DJI were slammed as demonstrations of drones filled the air. The popularity of the drone booths could even explain why 3DR walked away with awards for best drone and best booth.
As I managed to walk past the drones and continue viewing the one million + square feet of exhibits, it was easy to become more grounded in some of the latest trends in gear. Many of the audio equipment brands including Shure, Sennheiser and Marshall were showing off microphones and microphone interfaces designed to work with mobile devises and make field production easier for journalists. These same devises can be used by filmmakers for audio clips for sound design and Foley work while on the go. Sennheiser also showed off their new AVX wireless microphone system. The AVX system features fully digital transmission and has the ability to change frequencies automatically in case of interference.
While most companies had their 4K products out front, some like NewTek were offering new feature rich HD products at remarkable prices. NewTek’s TriCaster Mini, which starts at $5,995, is a live production studio in a tiny box. The Mini can switch between 6 cameras, record HD video, webstream video, live chroma key and even has built in virtual sets.
Virtual Set at NAB 2015 (PHOTO: Odin Lindblom)
Virtual sets where popular at NAB. From creation tools by software companies to camera and studio gear for the live shoots to companies offering turnkey solutions, you could find tons of options for virtual sets. Virtual sets are increasing in quality and complexity at a fast pace. I wonder how long it will be before more film effects are done live like these virtual sets?
Nearly every production light on the show floor was LED powered. The selection was huge from Mole-Richardson’s new 5,000 watt equivalent LED fresnel down to Manfrotto’s new tiny 60mm wide Lumie light. There were options for almost any lighting need.
Shakey camera movement may not be as popular as it once was if the number of stabilizers shown at NAB were any indication. From motorized rigs like DJI’s newly updated Ronin to Steadicam’s new M-1, their first fully modular sled, to tons of small handheld units, there were plenty of new options to look at.
4K workflows were being demonstrated with hardware and software products throughout the NAB show floor. As I wandered the show floor looking at the new 4K cameras from just about everyone who made cameras, I couldn’t stop thinking, “Why don’t I have 4K TV?”
OTT services like Netflix have already begun streaming UHD 4K on select titles. Certain film titles are already available for download in the 4K format. Improvements in compression have already demonstrated the ease of conversion for broadcasting of 4K. In fact, 4K broadcasting is available in most of Japan. At NAB, the consensus seemed to be that the majority of U.S. broadcasts would be in 4K in the next three to five years.
While UHD will replace HD in the near future, 4K not only has its replacement being actively developed but also rolled out. RED Digital Cinema already has their Epic camera with their Dragon sensor that shoots 6K. At NAB this year, RED announced the upcoming release of their new camera called Weapon. Weapon is due to release latter this year with a 6K Dragon sensor and will be upgradable to an 8K sensor in 2016. Hitachi is taking pre-orders for their 8K cameras, and Sharp announced that they will soon begin retailing their 8K monitors. Nvidia says their Quadro M6000 video card will be able to handle 8K and beyond as soon as the monitors are ready. Companies like Christie are even in development of projectors that exceed the 12K threshold.
8K Camera (PHOTO: Odin Lindblom)
According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, 8K broadcasting will begin in Japan in 2017. Their goal is to have international 8K broadcast from Japan by 2020 in time for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. There is no question that 8K and beyond will eventually become reality, the only question is how soon?
Micro Cinema camera from BlackMagic (Photo: Odin Lindblom)
Resolution wasn’t the only trend in cameras. Many camera makers were displaying smaller models of their cameras or new tiny units. New from Blackmagic Design was the Ursa Mini and the Micro Cinema Camera, which looked to be built with drones in mind. IO Industries new 4KSDI camera shoots 4K at 60fps and weighs just over 1 ½ lbs!
Waccom, an industry leader in pen tablets, was showing their new Cintiq tablet for artist and animators. The Cintiq has over 2000 levels of pressure sensitivity and can be configured with a 3.4 GHz processor, 16GB of DDR3 ram, 512GB of SSD storage, and a 2.5K screen making it a power house mobile device.
Adobe Character Animator at NAB 2015 (PHOTO: Odin Lindblom)
There were many new products and releases on the software side as well. Adobe unveiled a new animation tool called Adobe Character Animator which can track facial expression from a webcam feed and use it to automatically animate a character in real time. Red Giant talked heavily about the new Magic Bullet plug-ins and the free Red Giant Universe plug-ins. Blackmagic Design unveiled Fusion 8, their compositing software, which will now run on PC, Mac and Linux. AutoDesk had a massive update to all of their software. Notable changes for their animation software include a nodes layout for 3D Studio Max and upgraded fluid simulation including foam and bubbles to Maya.
While a keynote about Virtual Reality (VR) excited many with the hopes of a new broadcast platform, the uphill battle VR faces was painfully obvious. VR lacks a standard platform and delivery system. Also missing is a consistent workflow from camera to post. There is hope for standards as more companies get involved in VR development. VR may one day become more than just a toy for video gamers and a platform for advertisers.
NAB’s exhibit floor is stimulating for the mind but grueling for the feet. Next year, I’d like to demo a drone that will fly me over the entire show floor!
Video cameras on display at NAB 2015 (PHOTO: Odin Lindblom)
[…] Every year in Las Vegas, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show features some of the latest and greatest in tech for the film and television industries. From drones, to cameras, to computer hardware and software, NAB has it all. […]