NAB Observations
I got back from the annual pilgrimage to NAB and wanted to throw out some observations and see what other people thought. For me, it was the shortest trip yet, flying in Monday morning and leaving 24 hours later! Still, I came in looking for very specific new technologies and came away very pleased.
Apple vs Avid
This is definitely Apple’s year @ NAB with the announcements of Final Cut Studio 2, Final Cut Server and Color. Last year, Avid had the bigger buzz while Apple was focusing on the important but difficult transition to Intel Chips. I did miss seeing Apple and Avid squaring off right next to each other, but Apple definitely needed a larger booth and made a good decision to move into the center of the South Hall. Monday morning’s crowd at Apple’s main presentation screen was the biggest I’ve ever seen - seating for hundreds with walls of people standing in the back.
As far as buzz is concerned, people seemed the most impressed with Color, the bundled color correction software that is now part of FCS 2. This is as disruptive as Final Cut and DVD Studio Pro - bringing down the cost of color correction by tens of thousands of dollars. Although Color does not impact us directly, it will deepen the Final Cut ecosystem dramatically. The rumors on the floor were that there were 50,000 Avid installations in the market place and over 800,000 registered copies of Final Cut (and many more pirated ones!) Apparently, the Final Cut user base increased by 300,000 since last year alone!
The big deal for us was the announcement of Final Cut Server, which is server software that provides digital asset management users of any Final Cut Studio application. As Apple says, “Final Cut Server takes the headache out of managing large collections of media files, then extends to tracking job status, managing reviews and approvals, and automating complex sequences of tasks.†This is Apple’s answer to Avid’s Interplay system - but at literally 1/100 the cost! Final Cut Server will help the Vault immediately - it will be easier to find, manage, and export video than ever before. Instead of having multiple resolutions of a video file (i.e DV source, Quickime version, MPEG1 vesion, etc), FCS introduces the idea of a single “Clip†that represents them all. We think that FCS will streamline our client’s high res video files the way iTunes improved on the CD collection. What we are really excited about is the ability to ultimately integrate Wiredrive with FCS, making a complete digital workflow that reaches all the way out to client presentations! Final Cut Server should be out by the end of summer.
Online Digital Video / Compression
As Apple keeps marching forward with great digital production technology, Adobe and Microsoft are stepping up their commitments to the world of online video consumption. Microsoft seems to have woken up to the fact that Apple’s set the standard for online music and Adobe has suddenly taken over user generated content with Flash video (Youtube, Google Video, Revver, etc). Microsoft’s Silverlight (http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/) plugin looks like a direct competitor to Flash, combining website design elements with video playback. It will probably take several years for Silverlight to become a mainstream plugin but Microsoft is really good at taking the long view of development. Considering it will be preinstalled on millions of computers over the next year, they may have something here… Or maybe they will just be an online Zune, who knows.
Adobe’s presentation of Media Player was a bit spotty - i.e. long canned buildup with technical difficulties. That being said, it’s a good branding move as Adobe would prefer people to talk about Adobe instead of Flash. Adobe is moving into the desktop web application realm here and trying to compete with iTunes as a localized viewing experience. The Media Player is a skinnable Flash application that will allow people to build their own “Channels†of video content to come down to your computer. It uses RSS and even offers DRM capabilities, so content providers can charge for and protect their content delivery.
Apple’s obviously not sitting idle in this space, having delivered a new DRM-less audio codec (changing the music industry once again) and AppleTV that brings a new video consumer experience to the marketplace. Apple’s Compressor 3 application provides some new filters and workflow on top of pretty much the same compression engine (i.e. not many speed improvements unless you have an Octo-core Mac).
Cameras
There was a 45 minute line to enter the Red booth. They had working cameras and possibly the coolest “sculpture†at NAB - a spider-like creature with blades for feet and a camera iris for an eye. The booth combined Apple’s announcement of an integrated solution with Red and Final Cut definitely helped push Red from crazy vaporgear status to “OMG, Panavision needs to be worried†status. I’d be curious if Apple’s not heavily behind this product on other fronts, because it seems to share a similar disruptive approach - incredible design, a fraction of the cost and cutting edge technology. Not a bad combination.
Regards,
Bill Sewell
[update] - I just got a call from a nice lady from Avid who found this blog and called in to clear up any misconceptions I might of had while attending NAB. First off - it’s very cool to see that level of followup, so hat’s off. In the end though, my observations still stand. A few Wiredrive customers may benefit from ScriptSync or other new Avid announcements, but the vast majority will see significant improvement from Final Cut Server. Assuming it launches soon 
