Opening day in the Exhibition Hall at NAB2004. The buzzword this year was “interoperability.” All NAB photos © National Assn. of Broadcasters. All rights reserved.

The big buzzword coming out of NAB2004, where 90,000 descended upon Las Vegas in late April, was “interoperability,” as broadcasters and production houses make the transition to IT with all digital facilities.

In this regard, SGI revealed how it is delivering IT infrastructures and interoperability to tackle these new challenges. SGI InfiniteStorage solutions that are gaining momentum in broadcast and post-production facilities worldwide were showcased.

SGI demonstrated in a broadcast workflow, end-to-end compatibility with the Material Exchange Format (MXF) from ingest to play-to-air. Content sourced from a Sony XDCAM player was ingested on a SGI Media Server for broadcast system, wrapped in MXF and stored on an SGI InfiniteStorage CXFS SAN server. It then interoperated with an Avid non-linear editor, automation from Harris Corporation and utilized software from MassTech for asset management, archive browse and EDL prep for the Avid system. Once edited on the SAN, the file was played directly to air while maintaining its MXF compatibility for later use. SGI additionally replicated a post-production workflow incorporating leading applications, all on different operating systems, from Alias, Apple, Discreet, Interactive Effects, mental images and Quantel.

The other buzzword that stemmed from this and other demonstrations was “increased workflow,” showing the need to integrate different systems into the same digital pipeline. Thus, the power of plug-ins was quite evident. If you can’t beat them, join them, as they say. Although Sony and Apple grabbed most of the headlines with their new product lines, there was plenty of other HD and assorted digital technology on display from the usual suspects and some new ones as well.

Technology Sampling
Here is just a small glimpse of what was unveiled:

The latest version of the award-winning software from Adobe.

Adobe’s After Effects 6.5, a new version of its award-winning motion graphics and visual effects software features Animation Presets, an advanced clone tool, as well as tighter integration with the other Adobe video products, help professionals meet production challenges and demanding deadlines.

After Effects 6.5 is a core component of the Adobe Video Collection 2.5, which includes new versions of Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, Adobe Audition 1.5 and Adobe Encore DVD 1.5. Together, these products deliver a complete digital video and audio post-production platform for video and audio editing, motion graphics, visual effects, and DVD authoring at a much lower cost than competing solutions.

Animation Presets enables users to save any combination of layer properties, including text animation properties, and easily apply them to other layers. More than 250 text Animation Presets were added to create sophisticated text animations and more than 60 new effects enable users to create visuals, including light rays and 3D particles.