Video Systems: Points of Interest

When someone travels to Las Vegas, they usually travel with an agenda. After all, there's a lot to see and do out there in the middle of the desert. The Hoover Dam, ghost towns, and hiking trails. And of course, miles and miles of blackjack tables and roulette wheels.

For NAB attendees, however, such attractions are of secondary importance. For them, the main point of interest is the activity occurring inside the city's two big convention centers. But exactly what kinds of technologies and products are they most curious about? What is it that has their attention this year? What do they like and dislike about the show? We know what the vendors will be showing, but what is it the attendees want to see?

To try and get a handle on that, Video Systems conducted an informal survey of a small number of people planning to attend this year's show. While not scientific, thesurvey does offer some insights into the kinds of things the average video professional will be looking for. Most of those surveyed characterize themselves as being from an independent video production facility of one sort or another, but the mix of respondents also included some from inhouse video departments and small-scale cable TV facilities as well. All of those who responded to the survey have attended at least one other NAB show, with the majority of them having attended five or more.

The one thing most everyone agrees upon is that their main reason for attending the show is to look over the new products being exhibited by vendors. While networking with colleagues and attending workshops and seminars are not uninteresting activities, they fall far behind vendor exhibits in terms of perceived importance. Indeed, most of the survey respondents say they expect to make equipment purchases within three months of NAB, and that those purchase decisions will be based, at least in part, on what they see on the show floor. But even those who don't expect to make equipment purchases in the near term made it clear that the primary reason for attending the show is to get caught up on what's new.

If there's one topic that video professionals particularly want to get caught up on, it's DTV and HDTV. Even though the majority of the survey respondents don't expect to be shooting in either a widescreen aspect ratio or in high-definition for another year or more, almost all respondents express the need to educate themselves on the technology - either to prepare themselves for the day customers begin demanding it or for the day the technology is foisted upon them. As Warren Jones Jr., the director of production for Air University TV, a U.S. Airforce production facility, says, "In our business, the need for DTV or HDTV is not there. A nice-looking analog picture is still good. Customers just aren't demanding HD. But it's something we need to know about because I expect we'll be forced to go that way at some point. Plus it's our business, so we need to know about it."

Other emerging technologies that rank fairly high on people's priority lists are DVD and webcasting. A number of respondents indicate that though they have not begun using either of these technologies, they expect they may start getting involved with them before the year is out. The feeling seems to be that client demand for both of these technologies is likely to come to fruition before client demand for HDTV does. Indeed, in some cases, respondents indicate that the demand has already arrived.

For example, Steve Mendel, director of production for Group W Network, says, "We are already moving into webcasting. We've got a number of clients that broadcast events and then make those same events available as streaming video on the Web. So we just really want to be there for them once they get past the experimentation stage and make that more of a regular part of their programming."

Likewise, Jones says of DVD, "Right now we distribute all product on VHS tape, except those things that go out on satellite. But DVD is such a good educational tool that I am convinced that in the near future we'll start distributing on DVD rather than VHS."

In terms of specific products, survey respondents indicate an interest in a wide spectrum of equipment. But the biggest vote-getters are nonlinear editing systems, compositing and special effects equipment, VTRs, DDRs, and storage and networking tools. In many cases, the interest is driven by a desire to upgrade existing equipment or to finish converting a facility from an analog production process to a digital production process. While attendees see HDTV as a technology of the future that they need to be educated about, they see the conversion from an analog to a digital production process as a task that they need to complete right now.

Finally, the last thing some of the attendees hope to do at the show is sit down with their existing vendors to discuss current problems and possible solutions. Unfortunately, say some, one of theircomplaints about NAB is that it's just so crowded that vendors often can't spare enough time to talk. As one respondent says, "Vendors really need to have a place where they can sit down and discuss issues or provide information without interruptions."

The other big complaint about NAB? It's just too spread out, and similar technologies aren't grouped together, making it difficult to see everything you want to see. Oh yes, and there's not enough parking, and the buses don't run as frequently as they should. Still, say the respondents, there's probably no easy solution to most of those problems. And given its size and the number of people passing through its doors, NAB wins high marks overall for being a well-run and important show.