NAB 2012: Mini Dolly Slider

Skateboard wheels are in a lot of booths here at NAB 2012, but none go lower than the ones on the Mini Dolly Slider.

NAB 2012:  Plasticase Nanuk

Here is the first of a series of videos on products in the “back corners” of the NAB 2012 exibition floor.  Hope you enjoy them!  In this video, Plasticase takes on an un-named giant.

NAB 2012: Maybe this means nothing.

Anyone that has attended NAB in the past decade knows that major booth positions change very rarely, either in position or in size.  For example, it was a big deal when Sony moved a few years back from dominating the Upper South Hall entrance area to a space near the rear of the Central Hall.  And for as long as I can remember, Panasonic has lorded over the Central Hall floor from an elevated position in the middle of the hall.

However…

This year, those scrappy kids from GoPro have eaten away at almost *half* of Panasonic’s space on that tier.  It is a stunning sight to see.  And in combination with Sony’s underwhelming press conference on Sunday, it’s hard for a broadcaster to feel too comfortable at this point.  Are tectonic shifts afoot?

$3000 BMD Cine Camera?

I’m just passing on a rather astonishing announcement from Blackmagic Design. I’ll try to get a look at this puppy later today, but now, I simply bring you the words of BMD’s Grant Petty, received in an email…

NAB Sunday: Canon’s Presentation

Canon held a meeting in the Brenden Theater at the Palms, showing off two 4K short films (one shot by Shane Hurlbut with the 1D C, the other by Jeff Cronenweth, using the C500) and turning Larry Thorpe loose with a wealth of technical details.

NAB Sunday: Panasonic and Sony Press Conferences

One of many GH2s being used to record the Panasonic press conference.

When big companies hold press conferences, they’re a mix of marketing / sales encomiums from happy customers, and some actual useful information about technologies and products. I’ll mostly focus on the tech stuff that Panasonic and Sony announced today (and adding my own snarky commentary in [square brackets]).

NAB 2012:  Sony Press Conference

Alec Shapiro hosting the 2012 Sony Press event.  Sorry about the poor picture, but that’s a cellphone for ya.

The annual Sony NAB press conference was held at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel, with a setting that seemed to be a bit less grandiose than previous years.  Perhaps this is fitting considering that Sony recently announced as many as 10,000 layoffs coming in the near future.  But even without that hanging over the festivities, the announcements made by Senior Vice President for Broadcast & Production Systems Alec Shapiro were less than stellar, and at times even seemed pretty out of touch, at least to an old broadcast hand like me.

The overarching theme was “Believe Beyond HD,” and near the end of the presentation the spectre of 4K acquisition did rear it’s head.  However, the first three items presented were not 4K productions, but 3D.  Clips from the upcoming programs “Stormsurfers” and hip-hop competition “Battle Of The Year” were projected on a mid-sized screen, but oddly, even with the provided RealD glasses neither clip looked very 3D at all.  (And seeing one of the “Stormsurfers” surfers very obviously holding a GoPro camera on the end of a stick suggests, at least, that not *all* of the footage was shot on Sony cameras.)  Shapiro opined that 3D was growing by leaps and bounds, but at least in the home TV market, the just isn’t true, and might well be a big part of Sony’s current financial malaise.  The third 3D production mentioned was ESPN’s coverage of the X Games, but oddly, no clips were played - and I would REALLY have liked to seen those.

GEEK-OUT: The Matrix, Reloaded

After years of wondering what exactly the user matrix does I think I’ve figured it out. I’m not sure I can explain it, but I’m going to try. Put on your propellor hat and rub your brain with soothing salves, ‘cause it’s gonna hurt…

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