Panasonic (Booth: C2518)

Panasonic announced that at NAB 2006 it will unveil the AJ-PCD20, a new five slot P2 solid-state memory drive. The P2 internal/external drive is designed for high-speed file transfer of 25Mbps DVCPRO or 50Mbps DVCPRO50 video into nonlinear editing systems and servers. With the AJ-PCD20, a user can mount five 8 GB P2 cards (containing up to 160 minutes of recordings in DVCPRO, 80 minutes in DVCPRO50 and 40 minutes in DVCPRO HD) at the same time and have access to the contents on all five cards for continuous editing of recorded clips in sequence. With the AJ-PCD20, digitizing is eliminated, so that material can be accessed almost instantaneously.

As an internal drive, the AJ-PCD20 installs in a standard PC type 5.25” bay drive enclosure, and through its highspeed USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394b interfaces, connects to the host computer, and through that computer to a television station’s local area network (LAN). For in-the-field use, the AJ-PCD20 serves as a stand-alone external drive and teams with a notebook PC or Mac PowerBook for editing and playback. The drive offers Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X compatibility. The AJ-PCD20 card drive will be available in July.

Panasonic’s DVCPRO P2 series products are fully compatible with DVCPRO, and provide a seamless migration path to DVCPRO HD. DVCPRO P2 offers nonlinear acquisition and instant access to material, high-speed file transfer, laptop field editing without requirement for proxy videos, and compatibility with off-the-shelf data storage drives for low-cost archiving, while eliminating traditional digitizing and ingesting operations. The core DVCPRO P2 products â€" the AJ-SPX800 camcorder, AJ-SPC700 camcorder, AJ-SPD850 studio recorder and the AJ-PCD10 drive -- eliminate transports and mechanisms, resulting in a significant maintenance cost-savings because of the absence of any moving parts that can break down or wear out from repetitive use. Moreover, DVCPRO P2 products are resistant to environmental extremes including shock, vibration, and humidity. The P2 card is re-usable, allowing a station to substantially reduce its media budget.

DAYANG (Booth: SU4209)

Dayang’s D3-Edit HD8 video/audio editor supports compressed HD and uncompressed video formats including 8/10 bit YUV, MPEG2-I and DVCPRO HD as well as DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO-50 SD and HDV. It incorporates all the operating modes and most functions of the existing D3-Edit family. Hybrid editing of HD and SD is also supported. Features include hardware-accelerated real-time 3D page turn, reshaping, graphic pasting and particle effects based on Flex 3D and Power of X technology. A complete colour-correction toolset provides modes such as primary/secondary/partial colour control with integral real time monitoring vectorscope. Chroma, luma, graphic and title keys are also provided, including precise matte adjustment. Built-in D3-CG graphics enables the production of titles, rolls, sub-titles and animations. Clips can be captured and composited using D-Cube-Edit. D3-Edit HD8 has an IEEE-1394 interface and can also input/output TGA image sequences.

Also on display is the new addition to the MagicWall family of monitor splitters â€" the MagicWall 5000. The new monitor splitter has auto-sensing analog/SDI inputs and switchable dual 1600 x 1200 pixels DVI outputs with integral de-interlacing. Designed for use in broadcast playout facilities, it supports 16/32 channel SDI-video with embedded audio. Two-channel or four-channel audio level can be displayed alongside each image. Additional features include network/GPs-sourced time and countdown display, under-monitor display with automatic ID prompt, and a hard disk recording function. A versatile auto-alert system is also incorporated, including video blackburst, still, lost video/audio and lost logo.

Another exhibit, the Dayang D3-CGHD character generator, provides broadcasters and post-production facilities with the necessary tools to create HDgraphics, titles and animation, including real-time letter-by-letter motion-path manipulation. Running on an open PC platform, it delivers 1080i-native multilayer graphics at 50/50.95/60 field/s or 1080p at 23.967/24/25/29.97/30 frame/s. Innovative features of the D3-CG-HD include 3D titling and true object-based timeline control for infinite-layer title display.

Da Vinci Systems (Booth: SL713)

da Vinci Systems LLC, provider of color enhancement and image restoration products used in post-production facilities, has expanded its Resolve® product line for varying digital mastering applications.

Supported by three distinct hardware configurations and its exclusive PowerPlant(tm) programmable hardware acceleration, the Resolve FX, Resolve DI, and Resolve RT systems are each designed to address specific post-production applications and are optimized for varying resource demands. All feature da Vinci’s color enhancement toolset combined with non-linear conforming tools.

Resolve FX is an entry-level solution for studios wanting to offer file-based, nonlinear color enhancement and conforming work -- making it suitable for processing and matching short clips in a digital intermediate workflow. Resolve FX is equipped with PowerPlant™ da Vinci’s software-programmable image processing accelerator. For facilities new to the realm of DI, the FX is a versatile solution that can be upgraded by adding additional PowerPlants as volume and time demands increase.

With two PowerPlants for enhanced processing power, Resolve DI is the perfect fit for digital intermediate projects calling for a substantial volume of colorlook creation and conforming. When ultimate speed performance is required, the Resolve DI can be reconfigured and upgraded to the RT system.

Resolve RT is the top-of-the-line system, optimized for studios requiring speed, flexibility, efficiency, and high-volume throughput. Resolve RT addresses the specific needs of true real-time image processing in film, digital intermediate, and video finishing applications. Greatest speed and performance are delivered with PowerGrid™, a unique set of da Vinci-exclusive programmable PowerPlant accelerator boards that deliver real-time, multilayered color correction on full-film-resolution images, not just proxies. Also featured are conforming tools, a file browser, a formatter, and real-time waveform monitoring of data, a unique capability that allows colorists to view simultaneously a vectorscope, parade, or histogram display of the color grades they’re applying.

All of the configurations in the Resolve product line provide workflow efficiency with an open architecture that provides a direct connection to local storage or to a SAN. Fully integrated with ADIC StorNext® and SGI CXFS™ network file systems, this totally nonlinear approach allows flexibility and speed, while maintaining the comfort of the da Vinci traditional control panels.

Snell & Wilcox (SU156)

Exhibiting on the theme of “Putting Pictures to Work,” Snell & Wilcox will present system solutions for broadcast playout, live production, and mastering and repurposing at NAB2006. Snell & Wilcox designs and builds systems for video playout, mastering, repurposing, infrastructure, and live production switching.

At NAB 2006, Snell & Wilcox launches Quasar, a HDTV upconverter that integrates motion-estimation technology. The new Quasar platform utilizes motion estimation techniques based on Snell & Wilcox’s Emmy® Award-winning Ph.C technology to produce clear and sharp HD outputs from a variety of SD inputs.

Developed from the ground up to deliver conversion to HD formats, Quasar combines three key Snell & Wilcox technologies in a single compact 1-RU package. These include Ph.C motion estimation, premium HD upconversion, and Prefix compression pre-processing for noise reduction and dropout filtering.

At the heart of Quasar is motion estimation technology, based on Snell & Wilcox’s Ph.C, which has never before been available in a product in this price range. Unlike traditional upconverters that employ multifield apertures, Quasar’s motion compensated conversion delivers the sharp HD outputs, regardless of the complexity of the input. Quasar is equally adept both at preserving high-frequency detail in action-packed images from sporting events and at converting the fine detail in scrolling text and captions â€" even when signals contain a mixture of film- and video originated material.

Snell & Wilcox has developed a series of new IQ Modular products for decoding and upconversion in the broadcast infrastructure domain. For example, new Snell & Wilcox IQDEC modules pack a 12-bit Golden Gate premium decoder, synchronizer, and audio embedder with noise reduction all on a single compact card, giving broadcasters the ideal bridge between analog legacy operations and digital environments. Completing the transition between analog and HD video is the new IQUDC synchronizing HD/SD-SDI up-, down-, and crossconverter â€" a solution for users requiring SD/HD flexibility for handling multirate broadcast operations or variable input/output situations.

DVS (Booth: SL2964)

NAB visitors will be able to see DVS’ CLIPSTER workstation as well as the disk recorders Pronto2K and ProntoHD in their latest versions. The OEM boards Centaurus and SDStationOEM II will run with additional features and an extended SDK and application support package. DVS’ new Content Management System will make its debut in Las Vegas.

With CLIPSTER, post houses benefit in particular from a powerful real-time workstation with multi-resolution, zoom and- pan, conforming, color-correction, cropping, and versioning capabilities. The new CLIPSTER software supports workflows for dailies and various compressed formats such as JPEG2000, WM-9 and QuickTime. Moreover, it is based on a platform employing latest technologies such as 64-bit CPU and operating system architectures and multi-core processor support, thereby increasing the overall processing speed of the system.

The disk recorders Pronto2K and ProntoHD provide instant access, playout and capture of uncompressed 2K, HD and SD and combine the advantages of a disk-based recording system with a state-of-the-art workstation to offer affordable VTR emulation, computer-video interfacing and networking integrated in a single device. The new disk recorders supply conforming capabilities with transitions and will also support several compressed image formats.

DVS’ high-end HD OEM board Centaurus now supports up to 16 instead of 8 embedded audio channels, thereby perfecting its interaction with Sony’s HDCAM SR. The SDStationOEM II runs on 24 Hz “slow PAL” providing a correct timeline for film content scanned at SDTV rates.

Harris Corporation(Booth: SU2929)

Harris Corporation will be showcasing enhancements across the company’s range of products for the production and post-production markets during NAB 2006.

Editing solutions featured for the post-production market will include the forthcoming Leitch VelocityX™ software-only, non-linear editor. Sharing the acclaimed Velocity™ editing interface with Leitch’s hardware-based editing solutions, VelocityQ™ and VelocityHD™, VelocityX™ provides the same flexibility and creative control in a software-only NLE. First unveiled as a technology preview last year, VelocityX™ will be fully demonstrated at NAB2006, and will include a new effects engine, enhanced performance and more. VelocityX™ is standalone, software editing solution recommended for VelocityQ™ or VelocityHD ™ customers needing a laptop editor for field editing or for customers looking to expand their operations with additional low-cost editing seats.

Also on display will be the latest version of the VelocityHD™ post-production HD/SD NLE. Building on the features of VelocityHD™ version 9.1, including support for the HDV™ high-definition format and variable frame rate processing for content from Panasonic®’s AJ-HDC27 VariCam® camcorder, new features for VelocityHD™ will include expanded IEEE-1394 I/O support. Combining the robust Velocity™ software with the powerful Altitude™ hardware platform, VelocityHD™ delivers post-production editing flexibility. VelocityHD™ features real-time HD playback and editing of multiple video and dynamic graphics streams.

For broadcast environments, Leitch will also feature VelocityXNGâ„¢, a laptop field editor designed for journalists to use as a portable news desk in remote locations, and the VelocityNXâ„¢ promotions craft editor for NEXIOâ„¢ server environments. VelocityNXâ„¢ offers a comprehensive editing and effects toolset for broadcast production environments that need high-end post features along with true shared storage; sports applications that need editing and slow-motion server output; or news operations that require additional compositing capability.

Harris will also be showcasing its extensive range of infrastructure products that form the backbone of post-production facilities and workflows, including the Leitch Panacea™ and Integrator® for small- and mid-sized routing applications; Videotek® test and measurement equipment; and Leitch’s comprehensive HD conversion portfolio, featuring the X75™ M-PATH multiple-path converter/synchronizer.

Autodesk (Booth: SL3719)

Autodesk completed the acquisition of Alias on January 10, 2006. This NAB marks the first public showing of Maya and MotionBuilder â€" as part of Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment product portfolio - to the broadcast and post-production industry. Autodesk will also present the latest developments in its color grading, visual effects and editing technologies.

At NAB, Autodesk will demonstrate how its tools can be used across industries and workflows, offering integrated technology that equips users from the earliest stages of projects to final design and distribution.

Throughout the show, Autodesk will present on its digital media pipeline, 3D portfolio, digital daily workflow for film, and data-centric workflow for TV production. Customers will also present in the Autodesk booth’s three theatres each day.

Present at ions will demonstrate how Maya and MotionBuilder fit into Autodesk workflows and solutions for visual effects, film, broadcast, game development and design visualization. Further, The Discreet Flame fully interactive 3D visual effects system will be showcased on dual-core workstations running the Linux operating system. The Discreet Lustre digital color grading system will combine strengths with the new Autodesk Incinerator system. Incinerator uses computing cluster technology to provide real-time Lustre capabilities for complex primary and secondary color correction, as well as real-time visual effects processing at high-definition and 2K resolutions and accelerated 4K processing.

Finally, 3ds Max 8 and the latest versions of Maya, MotionBuilder, Lustre, Discreet Flame, Discreet Smoke and Autodesk Toxik will all be demonstrated during NAB.

Miranda Technologies (Booth: SU1341)

Miranda Technologies Inc is launching multiple new products at NAB2006 including a more powerful Imagestore Intuition channel branding processor with clip playout, a new up/down/crossconverter with advanced aspect-ratio conversion, picoLink 12-bit miniature interfaces, and a new HD-Bridge with HDV/ASI to HD-SDI interfacing. The HD monitoring range is also being strengthened with new features for the Kaleido-Alto-HD and Kaleido-K2 multi-image display processors, as well as new HD signal monitoring probes.

A video/audio clip playout capability has been added to the Imagestore Intuition SDI channel branding processor to improve the output of multilevel graphics over moving backgrounds. This MPEG clip playout can also be used for back-up material in emergency situations.

Imagestore Intuition’s automated character generator has been enhanced with multi-language support and soft shadows. The character generator is ideal for data-driven applications, and offers virtually unlimited playout of text crawls, rolls, and dynamic text layers. It also offers full creative freedom with respect to text styles, backgrounds, and the dynamic qualities of individual graphic/animation layers. Timeline control is available for complex animation effects, including single shot, in loop-out, and multi-loop playout. The processor’s software suite has also been redesigned to improve workflow from graphics preparation to proofing and playout.

Also new on the block is the XVP-811i. Miranda’s XVP HD interfacing family has been enhanced with this HD/SD, up/down/cross converter. This new interface features sophisticated aspect ratio conversion using the soon-to-be standardized Advanced Format Descriptor (AFD). This allows broadcasters to manage aspect-ratio conversion automatically and effectively using embedded control signaling.

The XVP-811i also offers 5.1 to left/right downmixing for easy audio monitoring of downconverted HD signals. A Dolby E Metadata insertion capability provides efficient distribution of audio information across a plant, including dialogue level and dynamic range control information. Additional key features include frame synchronization, video proc amp, and audio processing with mux/demux. The XVP family comprises a range of HD/SD interfaces that can be easily upgraded in the field to the full XVP-811i specification, thereby simplifying maintenance and minimizing infrastructure costs.

Miranda has also launched two new picoLink 12-bit miniature interfaces: the ENC-291p SDI to composite (NTSC/PAL) encoder, and the DEC-291p composite (NTSC/PAL) to SDI decoder. These ultra-lightweight and affordable interfaces offer high-quality conversion for a wide range of monitoring and conversion applications.

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