NAB
2005
Las Vegas
A digest of NAB 2005 technical sessions, through Jim Wheeler’s
fingers (sorry
‘bout the typos)
This document is posted at www.wheeleraudio.com/nab2005.htm
All-Industry
Opening Ceremony
April 18, 2005
• 9:00AM - 10:15AM
State of the Industry Edward Fritts,
Office of the President, Washington ,
DC
NAB President and CEO Eddie Fritts
will deliver his annual State of the Industry Address and Verizon
Communications CEO and Chairman of the Board Ivan Seidenberg will deliver the
keynote address at this year’s All-Industry Opening.
Seidenberg is uniquely positioned
to provide insight on the future of technology in the telecommunications and
electronic media industries. Verizon is one of the first major telecom
companies to begin using fiber optic lines to directly connect homes and
businesses on a widespread scale. Fiber-to-the-home opens up rich possibilities
for delivery of voice, broadband Internet and video services on a scale not
available from other means of distribution. Verizon’s recently announced
multi-billion-dollar acquistion of MCI and the company’s strategy to serve
growth markets and offer broadband technologies will be of great interest to
attendees.
Lowry Mays, Chairman of
the Board of Clear Channel Communications, will receive the 2005 Distinguished
Service Award from the National Association of Broadcasters during the
All-Industry Opening at NAB2005. Each year, the DSA award recognizes
broadcasters who have made significant and lasting contributions to the
broadcasting industry.
“Lowry Mays built from scratch a
media and entertainment company that has changed the face of broadcasting and
mass communications,” said NAB President and CEO Edward O. Fritts. “His passion
for excellence, his commitment to community, and his support for civic causes
make Lowry the perfect choice for this year’s DSA Award.”
The "Spirit of
Broadcasting" award is presented periodically by NAB in recognition of
general excellence and leadership and is given to individuals or organizations
that have made lasting contributions to the broadcast industry.
Note: all 8-point
type in this document, as well as the head-shot photos, are © National Association Of Broadcasters lifted
from their website. The 10-point type represents Jim Wheeler’s notes and
opinions, expressed solely for informational, non-commercial purposes.
Howard is being honored
for its long history of educating and fostering the creative talents and
leadership skills of people of color for the many professional facets of the
entertainment, broadcast and media industries.
Dave Brown from Accenture made a few remarks (Accenture sponsored the opening ceremonies).
He said the very real threat to the
advertising-based model of current broadcasting must be considered. All the new technologies and capabilities
must be paid for somehow, and it is unclear how this will be done. This will be a major challenge facing the
[ for more on this, see the article below, “Advertising in the Age of Personal Video Recorders” by Anne-Marie Smith, RADIO WORLD ]
Eddie Fritts Our system of free, over-the-air broadcasting is the envy of the world. Upcoming challenges:
· Rewrite of the Telecom Act: has the potential to reshape all of broadcasting.
· It’s important to have a smooth transition to digital. A premature cutoff of analog spsectrum, as dictated by the loan from Contress several years ago, could be devastating.
· HD radio will provide exciting new opportunities. It will be terrestrially broadcast, so don’t even think that satellite radio will kill terrestrial radio.
· Indecency: It’s just not fair to regulate broadcast signals, but not satellite signals.
Our future is in combining the
domestic with the digital. We
broadcasters come up with the content, but we must
[ Eddie thanked the audience for 22 years of a rewarding tenure as CEO of NAB… it sounds like he’s stepping down ]
Ivan Seidenberg keynote
speaker
So how come a telephone guy is addressing broadcasters? I’m just as surprised as you are. But you can turn your cellphones and pagers on.
Your
The endgame is a whole lot easier to predict than the midgame.
Verizon has spent $73B in capital investment in infrastructure.
Verizon is rolling out a fiber interactivce broadband network: FiOS fiber to your home or business 100 mbit down, 15 mbit up. FiOS TV merges broadband and TV.
EvDO and VCAST wireless multimedia content -- video to the handset. VCAST is a reality today.
FiOS TV will launch later this year. Local programming, HD content, whole house HDTV and DVR.
We need you to supply the content. We want to partner with you: Our common interests are:
· Content protection
· Digital transition: must-carry and re-transmission of digital content
·
Franchise reform: the biggest challenge. We’re seeking a federal solution to this
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NAB
Post|Production World Saturday Keynote April 16, 2005 • 9:00AM - 10:00AM
Keynote speaker Matt
Chesse is the Academy-Award nominated editor of Finding Neverland and
the films Monster’s Ball and Ellie Parker, as well as the
upcoming thriller, Stay. With his roots in commercial editorial and
independent film, Matt’s experiences in the cutting room are varied and
ever-challenging. In his keynote address, Matt will share his process editing
Finding Neverland on an Avid system with director Marc Forster,
showing key clips from several of his films to illustrate the challenges he
faced and the techniques he employed to solve them. Having learned the craft
of editing in the digital age, he will explore the strengths of nonlinear
systems as story telling tools, and reflect on his creative process and how
these tools influence his editorial choices. |
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Keynote |
Introduction by Ben Kozuch, President & Co-Founder of FMC, the PostProduction World event planner. Mobile 917-445-4742 office 212-233-3500
ben@fmctraining.com Ben’s the guy that straightened out my
registration mess (apparently I was signed up for the Bdcst Mgmt Conference,
which didn’t include the
Marc Forster was the Finding Neverland director. Previously, Mark and Matt did Monster’s Ball with
Aesthetic Agenda seems to be Matt’s favorite catch-phrase. Though movies are shot out of sequence, Matt always cuts linearly, in sequence. He feels character development requires this.
His method is to string together 10 or 20 takes of a particular shot – all that were shot – and then move onto the next line’s 10 or 20 takes, and so on. He says that drives other people in the suite crazy, but only because they don’t see Matt’s ‘aesthetic agenda.’ He also says it’s handy to have all takes strung together in this manner when a client wants to hear a different take. He just rolls them all the takes and lets them pick one. Frequently, he says, the client will pick the same take he’s placed in the edit. Another technique he employs is to play some complementary soundtrack music, lightly in the background, while he views the dailys and begins to map out his cut.
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NAB
Post|Production World Sunday Keynote April 17, 2005 • 9:00AM - 10:00AM
See for yourself how an
all-digital Adobe-based HD workflow was used to edit and finish the upcoming
2005 IFC Films release Dust To Glory. Directed by Dana Brown, director
of the Step Into Liquid, the film captures the famed Baja 1000 road
race in all its glory. Shot using over 50 cameras in a variety of formats -
including HDCAM, DV, Film and more - the production presented many
challenges. The Adobe PC-based solution allowed the filmmakers to mix media, add titles, effects and color correct within an all-digital workflow. Running Premiere Pro and After Effects on a BOXX HD[pro] RT system using the Cineform Prospect HD engine, they were able To finish without having to make any post compromises. Dana’s team successfully delivered a stunning film print as well as HD master while keeping costs to a minimum. Join Jacob Rosenberg, online editor & supervisor, to learn how this workflow might benefit your next production. The feature film will be in theatres April 2005. For additional information about the film please visit www.d2gfilm.com. |
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Keynote |
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Acquisition
· Story first
· Format choices
· Workflow decisions
· Mapping a route
· Scans vs. Telecine
Going Digital
- Benefits: optical effects / transitions / titles
- Smart choices: super16 (S16mm)
- 2k Cineon vs. HD: 2048x1556 vs. 1920x1080 23.98 frame rate is equiv. to 29.97 fps
Digital to Film
- Cineon to Film: LUT (lookup table) / recipes much bigger file size
- HD to Film: LUT / recipes scanned, outputs to a HD tape… more manageable
- Picking your lab: get bids
Bang for the Buck / Risk Reward
- DI Benefits: creative control wysiwyg
- HD DI Benefit: video master
- Time maximization
- Falling off the edge: there are a lot of misconceptions about color correction
HD vs. Cineon
- HD – Broadcast: color correction – linear / HDSDI cable DVI cable is 8-bit, whereas HDSDI cable is 10-bit. Then, back to film.
- Cineon – Film: color correction – log – photo chemical. Then, back to film.
- Tools
- Ae – curves
- PP / AE –
- TBD see show floor
- CD with HD
- HD / SDI Broadcast monitoring
Dust to Glory HD DI Workflow soulful film, Jacob says, go see it
- Online
- Format conform
- Titling & effects
- Color correction
- Exporting / mastering
- Film out
Project Details
- Workflow
- Audio goes
- Online HD in Premiere Pro 1.5 & After Effects 6.5
- Export to QuBit for D5 & Film Out with Laser Pacific
- Goals /
- Mix formats and frame rates in HD online/desktop finish
- Color correction, titling, dust & scratch removal and effects. Work in HD 10-bit 4:2:2 resolution
- Export to QuBit (wavelet) for film out & D5 master
- Export to wm9 file for digital projections
- Export to DVD for dailies and screeners
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NAB MultiMedia World Keynote April 18, 2005 • 10:45AM - 12:00PM
“AMD is sparking a
renaissance for the digital artist,” said John Marino, NAB vice president for
science and technology. “AMD is one of the few technology companies that
understands what the artistic community needs, and has the vision and ability
to deliver technology solutions that balance artistic performance with the
ultimate in production power. We are very happy to welcome Hector and AMD to
the world’s largest digital media event.” Ruiz serves on the
Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, the National Security
Telecommunications Advisory Committee and the Eastman Kodak Company Board of
Directors. Prior to joining AMD, Ruiz was president of Motorola’s
Semiconductor Products Sector, holding a variety of executive positions in
the |
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Keynote |
Jeffrey Katzenberg announced
a Dreamworks alliance with AMD. AMD is
the preferred processor provider for all CG animation done at Dreamworks, which
is partnering with AMD and HP.
AMD’s 64 bit platform is fully
compatible with 32 bit standards. You
have a choice.
Charlie Boswell director of digital media and entertainment at AMD He says, it’s not about the technology, it’s about what you can do with it.
Jeff Wood director of
product marketing at HP Previewed the XW9300, a digital workstation that supports dual-opteron processors. It’s been in release for 8 weeks, and has
been
David
David Newman cto
Cineform Real-time compositing, no need
to wait for rendering. A system for
$10-15 grand will rival Avid systems costing 10 times as much. The Cineform systems uses
Dual Core processors
Bill Stotesbery general
manager KLRU, a PBS station Austin City Limits, just entered its 30th
season. Initially used AMD workstations
for a Digital Audio Workstatoion (DAW).
Moving to HD as well as a tapeless environment, he appreciates the power
and efficiencies that AMD and 64 bit
Eliot Scheiner 5-time Grammy
winner. Crossroads was a 3 day festival conceived by Eric Clapton as a
charity for his home
Dave Fester general manager Windows, Microsoft
Powering the HD revolution:
· Standards: windows media 9 now standardized and locked in
· Great content: partnering with Warner Bros to push next generation HD
·
Tools & distribution: creation, distribution and experience
software and
· Playback anywhere
Win XP pro x64 edition will roll out next week. Brings 64 bit to reality.
Announced a new partnership between MS, AMD and THX.
Dan Gregoire animatic
supervisor LucasFilms,
Rick McCallum producer Star Wars Prequels – Revenge of the Sith showed a split screen clip of animatic vs. finished CG animation. Then he showed the same 5 minute sequence full screen. Very impressive.
[ damn, Hector, you’re kickin’ butt and
takin’ names ]
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SUPER SESSION - Convergence and Content on the Move: Riding the Digital, Mobile, Virtual and Personal Wave Sponsored By HP April 18, 2005 • 2:00PM - 3:45PM This super session will
be international in scope and will focus on advances being made to distribute
digital media content over a variety of wireless platforms – DTV, Wi-Fi,
WIMAX, satellite, cellular technologies, etc. A variety of personal devices
will be described along with developing standards needed to support the
devices. An executive panel of experts will discuss progress in this area
with regard to available and future platforms, content production
requirements, and revenue opportunities expected to become available with the
rollout of mobile media technologies. KEYNOTE At NAB 2004, Robison
announced HP’s intention to invest in creating a Digital Media Platform to
help the entire industry capitalize on the digital entertainment revolution.
This was all about speeding up time to market, saving money, making money and
creating new revenue streams and experiences that never existed before. At NAB 2005, Robison
will provide his perspective on the industry’s progress as well where the
promising opportunities for growth and profitability lie ahead. The evolution
of mobile content and digital rights management will be important topics as
they impact every part of the industry’s transformation from content creation
to content distribution to content enjoyment. This will be a must see keynote
for those interested in a glimpse of how digital technology is finally
linking everything together from the World’s largest supercomputer
installations to the simple and rewarding digital entertainment experiences
consumers can enjoy in their homes and on the move. |
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Keynote |
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Moderator |
Shane’s in charge of all the CTO’s at HP.
NAB is a tale of 2
Content Creators
New trends are changing the way we access content. Shrek 2 was the first film to use HP technology, and went on to become the best selling movie of all time. HP’s working with Warner Bros to restore classic movies. King Kong will be restored and seen with greater clarity than even the original theatrical release in 1933. It will also include scenes removed by the censors in the thirties.
HP Digital Media Platform (DMP)
· Create content once, convert to securely distribute many times
· An intelligent engine for heavy duty digital media transformation and distribution
· Manages digital content creation and content distribution processes for a fully secure digital supply chain
·
Open standards based framework consisting of
enterprise software and
Warner Bros will use the DMP for an end to end solution. Ascent Media and Sony Pictures, announced today, will adopt the HP DMP. Transforming their entire workflow to an all digital process. A single virtual repository of the entire Sony catalog. Sony wanted 100 titles by this April. Instead, they now have 600 titles on the DMP.
Ken Williams ceo, Ascent Media
Jeff Hargivone? Sony Pictures
Announcing today that Warner Bros, with Accenture, will move their entire production chain over to digital with the HP DMP. All digital from shooting, post and distribution. All at 4k resolution.
Communications and Service Providers
Visual Radio: Nokia has it in Europe and
HP is partnering with Infinity
Broadcasting to bring visual radio to the
Joe ? ceo Infinity Broadcasting visual radio will give terrestrial radio a boost. It will extend listener loyalty. It will allow Infinity to compete more effectively with video games, satellite radio, etc.
see what you hear, buy what you see
IPTV: called HP IPTV In Italy, 2 networks are already using HP IPTV.
Wobulation doubles res without adding pixels or cost.
Story Mail expands capabilities of camera phone. Pictures and video clips with personal comments attached.
Custom TV it’s automated TV google
Smart Streaming Technology content reformats itself for whatever the playback device is.
Digital Content Standards are key:
· New dvd format: HP advocates blue ray standard up to 50 gig 9 hrs of HD content
· UWB ultra wideband lo power, lo cost, transfers data at greater than 100 mbits
· Digital Rights Mgmt (DRM):
o Emphasize DRM in context of viewer experience
o Support DRM in all HP products and services
Must have open standards – 1 company should not have all the power
HP is the IT
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SUPER SESSION - Video: The Next Wave in Publishing April 19, 2005 • 10:15AM - 12:00PM
With the availability of
video-enabled mobile devices, electronic signage and more accessible
broadband networks, global business and consumer demand for video is
increasing dramatically. Video has long been used in our industry to tell a
more compelling story and now, video is replacing traditional, static forms
of communication. A vision for the future will be presented, highlighting the
role video will play and why video is acting as a catalyst for the next wave
in publishing. There will also be a discussion of some of the latest trends
and an explanation of how the video industry can prepare itself for the
inevitable plunge into the mainstream. The session will also highlight the
perspectives of several industry professionals who are already using video to
help communicate their client’s messages through this powerful visual medium. |
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Executive Panelists |
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Erik Huggers,
Senior Director, Windows Client Division, Microsoft Corporation, |
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Bob Ott, VP, Broadcast
and Production Systems Division, Sony |
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Darrel Ward,
Director of Worldwide Marketing, Dell Precision Workstations |
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Jeff Wood,
Director, HP Personal Workstation Marketing, HP, Fort Collins, CO |
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Moderator |
Video Publishing will explode because we remember 10% of what we see, 20% of what we hear, but 50% of what we see and hear (multimedia content)_.
New Opportunities in video venues:
· Amount of content available has doubled with the advent of broadband.
·
Mobilization of the the internet:
· Professional language of the future is rich content multimedia
· Kids will be the movie producers of the future: give them a camera and cheap software and they’ll tell the story
Democratizing the process of creating hi-quality digital content: audio, video and film
Cynthia: acrobat is the primary enabling tool for desktop publishing, even more significant than the design tools. The next wave of publishing is going to be much more demanding than before. It’s fashionable to say that tools don’t make content. Technology and tools will make a difference, and will drive the exchange between the creators, distributors and audience.
Erik:
MS has been looking at video and audio space in the analog to digital
shift. New
Wireless
carries are getting very serious about mobile video
Darrel:
Open HD is embraced by
Steve: Open HD is the bringing together of turnkey solutions from various manufacturers to accelerate migration to video publishing. Future proofing products is accomplished by the adherance to standards.
Jeff: we worked strategically
with
Bob:
portable HD on cellphones. HD is
not new. The 1984 Olympics was shot in
HD. The camera cost 350k and the lens
was another 100k. It was recorded analog
on 1” tape with 30 mbit bandwidth, but
· HDV camcorder is a 25 meg recording format.
·
HD-CAM was used by George Lucas for
Legacy technologies: we don’t abandon formats, the new formats will continue to be backward compatible.
Diane
64 bit
New HD apps, like Premiere HD pro 1.5 support ‘hyperthreading’ parallel processing [ multithreading? ]. We rolled out dual-core processors yesterday. Over next 4 years, you’ll see continued performance increases.
Radio Luncheon
April 19, 2005
• 12:30PM - 2:00PM
Sun Microsystems
Co-Founder and Chief Researcher John Gage will deliver the keynote address at
this year’s Radio Luncheon.
Gage has a reputation for
capturing one’s imagination and feeding his audiences 
brain food. Online publication
Spectrum said, "Listening to Gage is a wild ride with leaps, bounds and
hairpin turns. He knows what technologies are incubating, and what the specific
technical needs are around the world. As he talks, the connections between the
two light up like a switchboard in
In his capacity at Sun
Microsystems, Gage regularly hosts Sun’s "Digital Journey," a series
of broadcast and Web-based programs that seek to gain a more complete
understanding of new and emerging technologies.
"John Gage is one of
the most popular presenters at the annual NAB Futures Summit and we’re very
pleased that he’s agreed to focus on radio’s future in the digital
marketplace," said John David, NAB executive vice president for radio.
The late Jack Buck, legendary
announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals, will be inducted into the NAB
Broadcasting Hall of Fame during the luncheon as well. His wife, Carole, will
accept the award.
Buck, who passed away in
2002, is widely regarded as one of sport’s greatest announcers. He was the
voice of the St. Louis Cardinals on KMOX/St. Louis from 1954 to 2001 and
covered almost every professional sport. Buck’s career included work for the
CBS Radio Network and play-by-play assignments of the 1965 and 1976 All-Star
Games, the National League Championship Series from 1979 to 1982, and the World
Series from 1982 to 1989. His signature call was "That’s a winner!"
"The NAB Hall of Fame
is not complete without Jack Buck. He was truly one-of-a-kind in sports
broadcasting. We’re pleased that NAB can honor his legacy," said John
David, NAB executive vice president for radio.
Some of the famed
broadcaster’s most memorable moments include Lou Brock’s 3,000th hit and
record-breaking 938th steal, Bob Gibson’s no-hitter and Mark McGwire’s 61st
home run. In 1987, Buck was bestowed the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick
award, which honors excellence by baseball broadcasters. A 1996 recipient of
the Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle award, he received a lifetime
achievement Emmy in 2000.
Radio’s Future in the Digital World John Gage
Technical changes are facing our
But, technology is easy, people
are hard. The local community service of
your
52 light years from here, Jack Buck’s first broadcast in 1953 continues to travel through the universe.
What scares you the most about the future of broadcast?
Jeff Greenfield: “I watch an hour (of programming) in forty two minutes.
I stream music and radio programs to my iPod.”
With Tivo, it spells the end of advertising for radio.
Sam Donaldson: Your license isn’t worth anything in the future… you won’t be able to sell your license to anyone. It isn’t worth anything in the future… you wont be able to sell your exclusivity. Public airwaves won’t be controlled by the gov’t.
Charles Osgood:
You have to survive by your ability to adapt. Things are changing so fast that I’m glad most of my career happened prior to this disruptive phase.
Jeff Greenfield:
People will not walk away from local radio.. Older technologies must adapt and adopt.
Sam Donaldson: There are 6 and a half billion people in the world. I can see six and a half billion customers for your product you can sell advertising and make money and that should make you smile. And there must be a way to measure the audience of any journalist.
Kids have a different feeling about what’s local.
Sling, a small device, converts a/v signals to IP packets, put on the web and you’re broadcasting anywhere in the world.
Sun has a 30 dollar device that takes hi quality video in, kicks out 5.1 audio and s-video. It looked like it had an Ethernet connector.
Basic guidelines for assessing the impact of future technologies:
Look to the edge – like cellphones. Edge devices are altering what it means to be a radio station.
Bono has concert-goers
Trust and Security over local networks: Bluetooth on steroids
Identity and anonymity: RFID, thanks to Wal-Mart, will become ubiquitous
If we measure efficiency by
energy use, then in the next 5 yrs we’re gong to dramatically drop the energy
consumed per bit of information transmitted.
Couple this with a rapid decrease in
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SUPER SESSION - IPTV: The Technology and Market Outlook April 19, 2005 • 2:00PM - 3:45PM The worldwide build-out
of broadband now has telecom and cable operators |
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Keynote |
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Moderator |
Trust: The
Killer App
There are observers who believe that the main stream media is about to be pushed off the stage.
Today the majority of TV viewing
takes place over cable. Many viewers
surf the web at the same time they watch TV.
Polls show that CNN is the most trusted of all TV news, cable or
network. Broadband offers way more than
a faster surfing experience – it
· Report the news: dig up facts and report the news too much tainment, not enough news
· Avoid innuendo and opinion Fox allows opinion in 70% of stories, CNN in 10%
· Cover what matters The internet makes viewers have an insatiable appetite for the latest stories, and they don’t want to be bombarded by incessant coverage of the same story.
· Self-Police: when a white house correspondent imposter infiltrates the press corps, who gets blamed? The white house? No, the press corps.
· Shout it out: be clear about what and who you are
Q (from the floor): why didn’t you discuss IPTV?
A: digitization creates a democratization of content. Once material leaves our hands, it morphs. We newscasters need to make sure we get the story right before it leaves the house.
[ And with that, Mr. Klein left the stage. A subsequent panelist observed that maybe,
instead of answering a difficult question, he’d just walk off the stage
too. Even though Mr. Klein didn’t speak
to the topic, I thought he hit the nail on the head when be talked about
“bombardment by incessant coverage of the same story,” never mind the fact that
CNN is every bit as guilty as the rest of the media in this regard. ]
Jim Beveridge: I want my IPTV when will it arrive? I think it’s here already.
In
Steve Harvey,
IPTV: The market and the outlook. The Telcos began testing this 12 years ago, it was called “Video on Demand” (VOD). What is IPTV?
· Delivery of content to consumers via broadband networks using Internet Protocol (IP).
· It’s a two-way medium that supports fully interactive services
· Delivered over a service provider’s closed switched digital network, not the open internet
· Video is in formats used by broadcasters: usually MPEG2, but advanced codecs coming
· Provides new opportunities to cross-purpose content
Two reasons for IPTV:
- Fear and Greed
- Carriers desire to increase revenue
- Pressure to reduce subscriber churn, increase loyalty
- Mitigate competitive pressures
- Offset declining voice revenues
- Content providers want to reach more viewers
- Consumers want more choice, on demand
- Pressure to reduce operating expenses
- Increase operating efficiencies
- Justify retirement of outdated equipment
What the subscriber gets: digital TV, IPG, VOD…..
Types of IPTV providers
- Telcos
- Types: utilities
- Types:
municipal
Communications services today:
- Analog tv
- Digital tv
- Residential phone
- Online games
- VOD PVR
- Web access
- Video conferencing
- Wireless
- Voice services
- Data services
Converged IP-enabled telecom
Same services converged over fiber, wireless, copper
Everything IP, devices talk to each other, better bandwidth mgmt
Transformations
Push – linear pull – on demand
Cable or satellite new competitors
Issues
- Complete inversion of subscriber-service provider marketer dynamic. On demand IP world is subscriber driven, not advertiser driven. Pull, not push
- Content and interactivity are key. IPTV won’t succeed vs. cable / satellite without differentiated content, presented securely in a compelling manner
- Local presence, relevance to local subscribers
- Effective marketing bundling
- IPTV content protection is historically not well understood
Jeff Weber head strategist for SBC, IP Operations and Services
Fear and Greed are the drivers
Project Lightspeed: 20-25 mbps, everything IP
Customers like the notion of bunding of services, but that’s clearly not enough.
- 4 hi-quality TV streams, incl HDTV and VOD
- HiSpeed Internet Access
- IP Voice full featured offering, growing wireless integration
Why Now? The Froces are Right
- Bandwidth requirements: new compression technologies reduce bandwidth required
- Global Development: global demand speeds innovation and drives down the cost curve
- Deployment costs:
new distribution architectures allow
- Growth potenhtial: these developments create video and consumer data growth opportunities
The competitive environment is meaningfully different than it was 10 years ago. The time is right.
What IPTV is, what it isn’t
IS Isn’t
TV PC
Closed system, fully open system
Managed w/in sbc
More secure than
traditional bdcst platforms
1 Fiber to the RT (Pronto) fiber - copper
2 Fiber to the Neighborhood (FTTN) fiber - copper
3 Fiber to the premise (FTTP) fiber
We need to be in the market quickly. All our new construction is fiber. A new housing development will not even have copper run to the home – just fiber.
Broadcast video vs. Switched video
Bdcst sends all 200 channels
Switched only sends only the channel or channels you’re watching. And the channel change is instantaneous, no latency, much quicker than changing channels from cable or satellite.
· Photo and music sharing
· Multiple camera angles
· Interactive guides
Dick Anderson IBM
- Experiment to exceed customer expectations
- Partner to achieve success
- Build integrated next generation service platforms to support seamless customer experience
- Leverage your brand across entire landscape
- Make it simple and fun
Don’t think of IPTV in isolation… remember, it is interactive – two-way.
The fact that the entire creation and distribution process is now digital will promote a rapid of rollout – critical mass has been reached.
Today we’re around 1.5 mbits, but we’re getting to 25 to 50 mbits very rapidly.
Pricing reduction on storange and networking will speed up the process as well.
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Beyond: 30-New Advertising Models for Television April 19, 2005 • 2:00PM - 3:45PM A confluence of factors
is rapidly changing the television landscape. Audience fragmentation, the
perpetual rise of new media channels, growing diffusion of PVR’s, significant
changes in the metrics associated with TV audience research... such factors
are gradually changing the business models associated with television in fundamental
ways. Increasingly, networks will need to diversify their revenue streams.
Advertisers, too, will need to discover new models of advertising designed to
complement the traditional 30 second spot. |
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Moderator |
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Panelists |
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Rick Mandler,
Vice President, Enhanced TV, Walt Disney Internet Group, |
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Barbara Bacci
Mirque, Sr. Vice President, Association of National Advertisers, |
Note: the following is excerpted
from NAB2005 Daily News, Wednesday PM Edition
It was written by Anne-Marie Smith, RADIO WORLD. Jim Wheeler was busy taking notes at the
other session above, but he believes the following to be worthy of
consideration.
Advertising
in the Age of Personal Video Recorders
by Anne-Marie Smith, RADIO WORLD
Personal
video recorders (PVR) are disrupting broadcasters’ business, but in disruption
there is opportunity. At least according
to
“We’re
reaching the point where advertising avoidance is becoming habitual,” Varan
said. He and the four other panelists
Traditionally, “the larger the audience, the greater the value. Then new advertising model isnot exposure, but engagement,” he said.
Rick Mandler, vice president and GM of enhanced television for the Disney Internet Grolup, called DVRs “the scary thing that we’re all worried is going to kill our business.”
However, he said ABC saw a dramatic increase in advertising results with interactive programming, where viewers are both logged onto a PC and watching TV at the same time. He predicted an increase in interactive programming, more live programs and the development of new formats within technologies new to broadcasters, such as cell phones.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
For return on investment for advertisers, “TV isn’t living up,” said Barbara Bacci Mirque, vice president of the Association of National Advertisers. “And, if TV doesn’t change, guess what, advertisers will be leaving.
Mirque said new VOD (video on demand) and enhanced television formats give advertisers more opportunities to target specific households with less “waste” sending messages across public airwaves.
Mandler said the problem of personal recording was an interesting one because cable and broadband providers including TiVO and other video recording services are also in the broadcast business.
“They are in the television business,” he said. “They are providers of programming, too.”
The last example could mean a boost to local advertisers, he said. For example, a viewer in the market for a new car would likely choose to watch a nearby car dealer’s ad, Mandler said.
AD SIKIPPING
Shelly Palmer, president and CEO of Palmer Advanced Media, showed print ads from the 1950s promoting “clickers” to avoid commercials and said, “Ad skipping is not new.”
However, he said, the future of TV is in advanced media formats including virtual channels, wireless communication, iTV gaming, interactive program guies and VOD.
All of the
panelists agreed that pricing in the new formats is difficult, in part because
the
Because advertising is likely to be more expensive in more targeted formats, “accountability is the top priority of advertisers,” said Mirque, of the advertisers’ association.
Most of the panelists questioned the reliability of DVR surveys because early users tend not to be a typical sample. But, a limited ABC/ESPN study showed one-third of TiVO subscribers surveyed said they did not skip commercials at all.
Still, Varan predicted the eventual erosion of network brands if those broadcasters fail to begin looking for new methods to impact viewers with advertising.
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SUPER
SESSION - Taking It to the Streets: April 20, 2005 • 10:15AM - 12:00PM Sports and reality
programming are primary drivers of new mobile devices. Moving TV out of the
living room offers dramatic ways to engage viewers. Especially live in real
time. Whether accessed through your phone, PDA, on mall kiosks, on an
airplane, in your hotel room or by networked home appliances, Extended
Television (xTV) gives networks, affiliates and brands exciting options in
reaching audiences. This session examines sports and reality program case
studies on TV content and advertising that have successfully migrated to
mobile phones, PDAs and other personal screens. Executives discuss the
inventive, surprising and resourceful ways they’ve unleashed TV from the
traditional box. They’ll unveil a few surprising business models for a future
iTV marketplace that expects mobile to be incorporated into television
programming distribution strategies as a matter of course.
10:15-10:45 AM 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM |
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Executive Panelists |
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V. Tyrone Lam,
President & COO, Buzztime Entertainment, Inc., |
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Ross Levinsohn,
Senior Vice President/General Manager, FoxSports Interactive Media, |
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Rod Nenner,
Vice President, Marketing & National Brand Sponsorship, The |
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Bob Shallow,
Head, Music and Rich Media Business Unit, |
Ben Mendelson president, ITA, introduced…
Mark Cuban formerly AudioNet, became Broadcast.com, sold it to Yahoo. Now w/HDNet
HD is not just about pretty pictures – its about impact, taking chances
2929 Studios does feature films with budgets <30mil
Magnolia Distribution
Landmark Theatres 200 screens going to 4k projectors this July
HDNet films: Enron – the smartest guys in the room the first release
In
prodn: Over the Mountains, Quid Pro Quo
· Create value in the aggregate
· No legacy business to protect
HDNet and
· We’re in 60 million homes
· 100% HD
· Growing subs more than 20 pct per month
· We only broadcast in 1080i res, 16:9 aspect ratio
· All movies shown in orig aspect ratio
· No upconversions
What Matters in the HD World?
· :Picture Quality Matters
o When you pay more for a TV because it has a better picture… you want a better picture
§ Retailers are reporting 10% of returns of HDTVs is due to disappointment in picture quail;ty
o TV mfg are increasing TV quality to 1920x1280 and beyond
o The more TV viewers watch, the more discerning they become. They can see the difference between content shot in film and shot in HD, and between up converted. You can also tell the difference between 720 and 1080… it’s a big difference.
· 1080i is better than 720
· 1080p will be better than both
How’s compression going to be used? Compression will be the biggest issue between telco vs. cable vs. satellite The technology could definitely favor over the air broadcasters, because they have a highter quality picture.
MPEG2 19.4 has become the gold standard
Consumers want new experiences from their HDTVs
This is where HDNet is focusing
Now’s the time to take chances
- Consumer HDTV programming expectations are being developed now
- Medium is changing and programming should reflect that change
- Customers want their favorite shows, but they want to see new and exciting experiences as well.
News: completely underappreciated. Will have a surprisisng impact… most compelling, visceral
The sound and the picture tell the story! HDNet is only network to have gone live HD feeds.
- Broadcast from
- From middle east – Arafat’s funeral
- From
It’s really interesting that if you bring people events with the quality of images and sounds of HD, all of a sudden you don’t need a voice over guy telling people what they’re seeing – it makes the news visceral and personal and compelling. This is why news will be such a huge opportunity for HD.
HDNetWeekly news: the only HD 1080i stringer network
25 stringers across the world.
Debate! Another show pitting all sides of the most sensitive issues our country faces. No time limits. No pre determined questions call it Jerrry Springer meets the presidential debates no rules coming on HDNet this Fall
HDNet Films
- Movie production company filming exclusively in HD
- Goal: 10-12 movies per year
- Distributed in Landmark and wide release
- First release: Enron..
- Coming soon: Over the Mountains, Quid Pro Quo, All Fall Down, One Last Thing, The Strokes/Hard Days Night remake
Bring Content to consumers: When, how, where they want it
We don’t care what
Digital is 2nd nature
to us, we know it can be
Great Licensed Programming: bringing back the shows we all
Format Agnostic
“We don’t care who wins Blu Ray vs. HD-DVD we’ll provide in all formats. Confusion helps us [@ HDNet]… it makes every else [cable, satellite, telco] wait to see how the dust’ll settle. Meanwhile, we’re out there doing it now, so we’re getting a big head start on everyone else.”
The Analog to Digital Transistion
- What a set date will trigger (killing analog spectrum)
- Customer wars will subsidize transition costs
- Telco vs sat vs cable
- TV retailers and manufactures
- Are going to discount like crazy
- If they can bundle a DVD player or Lazy Boy, or bundle A to D converters, they will.
- Buy a new HDTV from us, and get 3 AtoD converters FREE so all you other sets will work after cutoff date.
- The cost to the govt will be far smaller than expected and mostly for education.
- If I’m a media company, I’m for imposing a date because the advertising bonanza is going to be HUGE.
- Every single PVR is going to be obsolete.
[
Mark really is quite the cheerleader… I saw him in the late ‘90’s at NAB hawking
AudioNet, then Broadcast.com, before he sold it to Yahoo and became a billionaire. He was quite the cheerleader then, too! ]
Technology Luncheon
April 20, 2005 • 12:00PM - 1:45PM
Las Vegas Hilton Barron Room
This year’s Radio and Television Engineering
Achievement Award winners, Oded Bendov and Milford Smith, will be
honored at the NAB2005 Technology Luncheon where Dr. Robert W. Lucky,
internationally recognized engineer, author, and commentator on the state and
future of data communications technology, will provide the keynote address. His
talk is titled "Is Bandwidth Infinite?" and he describes the topic
this way: 
Is bandwidth a scarce
resource, or is it virtually infinite? Recent theoretical and experimental work
has called into question the long standing belief that bandwidth is a precious
resource that is depleted when allocated to a particular use. What is known
about this critical question, and what are the implications for spectrum
management policies? While this argument is a theoretical one at the moment,
there is an important experiment happening now in the unlicensed bands. Is
there an impending "tragedy of the commons," and, if so, how will we
tell? So many questions; so few answers.
During his 40 year career,
Dr. Lucky has led premier research laboratories at Bell Labs, and Telcordia
Technologies (formerly Bellcore), where he served as corporate vice president
of Applied Research until he retired in 2002. He received his doctorate in
electrical engineering from
Increasing the efficiency of the usage of spectrum
I’d like to examine how the economists view this vs. the engineers. But I don’t have much time, so the economists will just have to wait.
Here’s a conundrum: Radio Spectrum is all used up, but most of it is un-used. In other words, the FCC has allocated all of it, but the vast majority of it lies dormant. Many are concerned about the ‘commons’ at 2.4 gHz, fearing, for example, that WiFi will be interfered by microwave ovens, which operate in that frequency. But I don’t know of any laptops messed up by microwaves – unless you put it IN the microwave – so don’t do that.
Tragedy of the commons:
Everybody brings their sheep, pretty soon, there’s no grass left. So it’s divided up, fenced off, and everybody
Let’s consider the theoretical future of the spectrum we have. Fiber has a lot more capacity than radio spectrum. But fiber is one dimensional, whereas RF is three dimensional.
MIMO multiple input/multiple output being built into new standards like 802.11n mimo works better in a cluttered environment.
Interference: is a property of the receiver… there is no interference in waves passing each other in space. But the FCC doesn’t regulate receivers, they regulate transmitters.
Scaling Problem: how many sheep can we bring into a given commons
and still survive. Theory says maybe
infinite. Relay networks are efficient
in their use of power. But it’s not
totally effective. Overall capacity goes
up, but
Cooperative Diversity: consider a waterbug floating up and down in a pond as a wave passes. When another wave is propagated from another direction, and the two waves pass each other on the surface, they remain unaffected. However, the waterbug experiences a wild ride and can’t figure out what’s happening. Well, the bugs get together and communicate with each other, and achieve the ‘gods eye view.’ You could scale to infinity with Cooperative Diversity, but
1 you must have as many receivers as transmitters
2 you must work together
It’s like each sheep brings its own grass each brings its own transceiver
Is bandwidth infinite? Probably yes, but I don’t know how we get there. We tell the sheep that if they cooperate, they get more grass. So it may be infinite, but hey, today, we’ve got a great problem!
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SUPER SESSION - New Technologies for Digital Media April 20, 2005 • 2:00PM - 3:45PM One of the most popular
super sessions at the NAB Show! Opportunities for creating digital media
content have never been greater. The technologies that are driving digital
media are being developed and offered at an unprecedented pace. Here you will
find a high-level discussion of how new digital media technologies are being
developed, what’s driving their development, and what effects these
developments will have on the creation and distribution of content in the
years to come. Many top technologists in the realm of digital media will
offer their perspectives on what you may find at an NAB Show of the future.
They will discuss the latest developments in digital media from the
perspective of content development, content distribution professional and
consumer awareness. KEYNOTE
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Executive Panelists |
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Stephen Stough,
Technical Director and Chief Engineer, In telligence Systems, |
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Keynote |
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Moderator |
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A Transforming Landscape April 20, 2005 • 3:45PM - 5:00PM Convergence has moved
beyond the trial stage and is now affecting business strategies in all
industries, but most notably in the areas of IT, Telecommunications and
organizations which own and create their own content. It illustrates an
environment where both real time and on demand transmissions can be merged
onto IP platforms, offering lower operational costs and the ability to
introduce new services and penetrate into new markets, creating unique
business opportunities to meet an organization’s development strategies. In
addition convergence has opened up opportunities to create and develop new
business relationships in order to compete in this ever changing market
place. For example, telecommunications providers are developing ways to
broadcast television programming onto hand held wireless devices – opening up
new business markets and relationships with other service providers to serve
the ever growing demand. But what are the real indications that convergence
has moved beyond prototype and into mainstream business practice and what are
the issues that will need to be overcome to fully benefit from these
opportunities. Who will be the key players, what industries will they
represent and what expertise will they need to exploit in order to survive? |
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Moderator |
The Digital Facility: Audio Post
April 20, 2005 • 2:00PM - 6:15PM
2:00PM - 3:15PM
5.1 Surround Sound Mix and Master
Working in stereo 2
channel formats has been great, but now there’s that one project that demands a
5.1 channel mix. With the latest in surround sound technology made for the
home, 5.1 mixing is no longer just found in movie theaters. How do you deal
with working in surround sound and what tools do you use? What is the ideal
monitoring environment? This session provides answers from a top audio
professional working in 5.1 for film and TV.
Audience: Experienced Audio Engineers looking to learn the components
and process involved in creating 5.1 Channel surround mixes. Speaker: Jeffrey P. Fisher,
Fisher Creative Group
Acquisition
Stereo mic tricks translate well
from stereo to surround.
Binaural modeled after the human head, translates well to surround.
Deca Tree Roland booth has a surround mic pricey
Authoriing
Encoding: Dolby and DTS
Speakers
You want 5 matched speakers, full range. And a subwoofer (20 to 120 Hz), preferably one that’s been matched to the other five transducers.
Systems made by: Blue Sky, Genelec, M-audio has a cheap one.
Acoustics
Dead’s better, and it needs to be broadband-dead. Particularly the first surface reflection. A mirror moved around the wall is an easy tool to determine where first reflection is relative to listening position… if you can see the speaker in the mirror, then that’s the first reflection.
Speaker Placement
Spkr Calibration
Use pink noise, band limited, 500 to 2k @ -20 dbfs rms (average, not peak)
Measure each speaker individually: Sound Pressure Leve (SPL) guidelines: TV = 79 db, film = 83 db, music = 85 db. The sub woofer wants to be 4 db louder than the other 5 spkrs.
Panning
Narration panned to center and surround only, not mains, puts the narr right in your face.
Put a reverb on surround spkrs, maybe with a little pre-delay, so sound’ll move from front to back.
Big wide stereo and huge surround sound is created by introducing subtle differences like de-tuning and varying timings from one speaker to another.
Delivery
(encoding)
Steve Vinezia, Dolby Labs manager, dvd/dtv
broadcast support sjv@dolby.com
Steve says he’s heard
someone at Digi is developing a 5.1 plugin, and he thought they’d roll it out
at the show, or at least its release is imminent.
Most Important Metadata allows us to have control over consumers who listen in different formats
· Dialnorm (loudness metadata)
· Downmix metadata
·
Dialnorm metadata dialog normalization value selection between 0 and -31 default = -27
Represents averge level of
spoken dialog with respect to Full Scale Digital. Then on playback the ratio is adjusted by
turning down everything else.
How to set dialnorm values
· Subjective method
o Compare your program to a known reference
o Adjust your dialnorm to match reference
· Objective tools are available
o Sound level meters
o Dolby LM100 first broadcast level meter isolates speech from mix, and displays.
Downmix metadata
Lt/Rt Downmix ProLogic surround Left total / Right total
Gain metadata allows control of downmix, mains or rears
When it gets mono-ed, any surround info disappears
Lo/Ro Downmix stereo Left only / Right only
Surround channels are not put out of phase, so it won’t disappear when mono-ed
Why do we need dynamic range control? Some people want full dynamic range, some do not
Listening conditions vary: ambient noise, late night listening (kids asleep, neighbors are complaining)
Some products handle full dynamic range, some don’t
Product capabilities vary: large home theaters to small TVs, downmix overload protection.
We want dialog to be a constant (-31 db) and everything else changes.
Go to Dolby’s website to see DRC settings www.dolby.com :
Film standard, film light, music standard, music light, speech
Preprocessing:
Dolby Digital does not yet do a 6.1. future formats will add more channels. Early HD implementations will probably be 7.1
Fast Start With Adobe Photoshop CS
April 15, 2005
• 12:00PM - 3:00PM
Learn Photoshop quickly and learn
it from the pros. Pick up Photoshop in two and half hours. From start to
finish. From a blank canvas to output. This boot camp will help you get up and
running faster than you would ever believe.
Jeff Foster was actual presenter for the noon-3pm session. CS2 out in May $150 upgrade
www.pixelpainter.com get the FastStart-PSCS.pdf Jeff wrote he’s a teacher.
Marquee selection tool: Hold-down shift key to draw a perfect circle, or make subsequent selections additive. The alt key is for subtractive selections.
Freehand lasso tool, with alt key, makes it polygon tool.
Magnetic wand selection tool.
Magic wand tool: change parameters at top, like tolerance to 25
Images with an ‘alpha channel’ containing a ‘C.O.B.’ selection use load selection, then pick alpha channel.
Learn keyboard shortcuts! Change view by typing a value in lower-left of preview window or Navigator pane on right, click on little mountain or big mountains, or use slide bar. Control + or – are zoom shortcuts. With zoom glass active, the space bar modifier becomes the hand tool to move the work around.
Image Ready, bundled with Photoshop, has animation capabilities for rotoscoping. It’s primarily design for web output. Slice tool makes a selection table entry for subsequent use in Image Ready.
Ctrl-H hides the selection wavy line, tho the selection is still active. It’s easy to forget that you have an active selection.
Paint Brush tool: color selection small boxes go to default black on white color, the arrows reverse to white on black.
Layers: duplicate the background layer by dragging it down to the copy button on the layer-pane.
‘new set from linked’ called grouped in cs2.
Layer Style button at bottom of layer palette. Check drop shadow, then click n drag shadow, or mess with parameters on layer style dialog box.
History Pallette: semi-unlimited undo’s painting in with the history brusy. History States change the value here for more undo’s.
Blur tool to smear microscopic painting. Selection pulldown, feather option softens the COB.
If you are designing for print and video, then start in CMYK, not RGB. CMYK converts to RGB perfectly, but not the other way around.
The Palette Well: window pulldown, save workspace as.
Layer mask, on layer palette. Liquify was interesting. Added waves to a flag bg behind a cityscape, to make it wave.
Image Ready: more detail in Jeff’s Tues afternoon session at 2:30
CS2: differences: layers palette has changed. No more linking boxes column, just shift or ctrl key groups layers. Grouping into smart objects, or new group from layer palette button.
Vanishing Point: creates a perspective grid. Then get out the Clone tool (looks like a rubber stamp).
Filters – distortion – Lens Correction to correct wideangle distortion of buildlings, for instance.
Image Warp: edit pulldown – transform – warp
Text now has wysiwyg display of fonts on selection.
Clone tool picks one area to sample, then paints into a 2nd area with the sampled area’s colors.
Healing tool repaints similar to the clone tool. alt key defines sample area.
Fast Start
With Adobe Photoshop CS For Video
April 15, 2005
• 4:00PM - 7:00PM
Learn it quickly and learn it from
the expert on Photoshop and Video. Join noted author, Richard Harrington, as he
helps unlock the power of Photoshop CS. Pick up Photoshop in two and half
hours, start to finish, from a blank canvas, to output on screen. This boot
camp will help you get up and running so you can meet those tough client
deadlines.
Richard Harrington
President, RHED Pixel
www.rhedpixel.com
Richard Harrington is a certified
Project Management Professional, Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and After
Effects, and Apple-certified trainer in Final Cut Pro. Additionally, he has
completed Avid’s Master Editor Workshop and the Avid Certified Instructor
Program. He is also a member of the National Association of Photoshop
Professionals Dream Team.
His
visual communications consultancy, RHED Pixel, creates motion graphics and
produces video and multimedia projects. He is a faculty member at The Art
Institute of Washington, a popular speaker at conferences, and an instructor
for Future Media Concepts.
Richard
Harrington is the author of the best-selling book, "Photoshop for
Nonlinear Editors." He is also the co-author of "Final Cut Pro 4 On
the Spot" and "After Effects 6 On the Spot." He can also be
found as a moderator Creative Cow’s Photoshop Forum.
He also
shares his expertise as a guest speaker at industry conferences such as DV
Expo, Photoshop World, the
Purpose
· Learn skills needed when creating graphics for video
· Understand video’s limitations that affect your photoshop designs and workflow
· Learn abt new video oriented tools in Photoshop CS
Confenence handouts will be
posted next week www.rhedpixel.com
Preferences in CS2: adobe color picker, bicubic interpolation, UI font size = Large
History states, 20 is default eats up ram, so don’t get carried away.
Zoom with scroll wheel (if you have one).
File Saving opts: always save icon, maybe full size. Always append file file extension.
Normal bushtip with crowwhair. Other cursors: more precise.
Video graphics are not 72 dpi. Now they’re expressed only in pixels, so change units and rulers to pixels.
Smart Guides: magenta
Multiple scratch drives. You don’t want the startup disk to be your scratch disk – that’s much slower.
PS likes 75% of the computer’s ram. It likes at least 750 meg.
Color Settings default is north amer general purpose 2. click more options, then turn color management off. RGB = RGB monitordisplay
Keyboard shortcuts and menus gui
Canvas size and PAR pixel aspect ratio
Square pixel: 4x3
Non-square pixel: DV aspect ratio .9 wide, 1 unit tall
After PS 7, non-square pixels were incorporated
See chart of ratios for various formats: ntsc vs pal, professional vs consumer formats.
CS2 has a new file browser called ‘bridge’ same browser for all adobe pgms
Power Crop in pre-CS type in 720 x 534 if working with DV or 720 x 540 digital cameras, scanners, etc. all have square pixels be sure to specify px for pixels.. Then do image size, uncheck constrain proportions, and type 480 instead of 534 or 540. JPEG has no place in video. Use tiff, pict or targa or png. These are hi-res, uncompressed files. Tiff supports layers, so it’s the best.
When you crop, choose hide, not delete, then the cropped info remains on the layer, and can be un-cropped.
Use presets! (file open presets set the canvas to end product)
Turn off preview when doing type work
Add square pixels
Shift key modifier (on re-size click-drag operations) constrains proportions add alt key and it stays centered.
New actions in cs2 dvd slide show, title safe overlay (a preset layer)
File – automate - crop & straighten scan a bunch of pix on flatbed, then CS individually crops and straightens them.
Broadcast safe colors. RGB and YUV define different color spaces.
RGB NITSC Video consequence
White 255 108.4 IRE clipped, creates audio noise
Max 235 100 IRE max broadcastable
Min 16 7.5 IRE min broadcastable
Black 0 .74 IRE below spec
Levels dialog: RGB Lock in output levels to 16 and 235 for broadcast safe
image adjustments are descructive, instead, use adjustment layers. Use levels instead of brightness – contrast. Except on raw plugin, where brightness / contrast are working from more data, not compressed jpeg data. There, Richard says it’s OK to address these parameters.
Film look first, blow up a smaller image 200%, don’t constrain proportions, use nearest neighbor.
Filter – blur – gausian blur. Then, blending mode allows mixing layers. Play with opacity. Cmd-j duplicates layer. Then get selector tool, and shift-plus scrolls down thru various filter effects.
Adjustment layers can be dragged onto the next image.
CS introduced shadow/highlight on image pulldown. More tools for fixing underexposed stills.
Left bracket - Right bracket smaller – larger brush size
Liquify command select feather first, then use really low pressure on the brush, so you have to purch the pixels around a lot to get an effect.
Straightening a crooked shot: use measure tool to draw a line on the image of something that’s straight. Then rotate image arbitrary amt, and the value is there.
Corner pinning: to straighten architectural shots when you couldn’t get straight on to take the shot.
Depth of Field blur: create an alpha channel on layers palatte. The apply a lens or Gaussian blur using the alpha channel inverted.
Patch tool a lot like healing brush. But patch tool is more drag-n-drop
White and black balance eyedroppers on levels dialog fixes exposure.
www.adobeevangelists.com deflickerator it’s an action incl. in CD2 only modifies areas of image which need deflickerizing.
Texture layers are great ways to embellish your graphic.
Alternative selection methods
(to magic wand, magnetic, polygon, etc.)
· Use select color e.g. hold down shift key while click-dragging over sky. This puts in a color range to use as selection criteria.
· Use calculations make your own ultimatte this method creates an alpha channel which, when inverted, works like a mask
www.creativecow.net address tech questions to Richard there, not to his personal email address.
Digital
Photography
April 16, 2005
• 10:15AM - 6:15PM
10:15AM - 11:30AM
Lighting for Photography
This session presents
an overview of how light works. We’ll unravel the mysteries of the quantities
vs. the qualities of light and do it in an easy to understand program. If
questions like, “The closer a subject gets to a source of light; does it become
harsher or softer?” makes you wonder, then this session is for you!
Audience: Beginning or experienced photographers who want to understand
how light works. Gain a complete explanation of the qualities of light vs. the
quantities of light.
Kevin
Ames, presenter quoted
Dean Collins, used to work with Kevin Ames at Mamiya. Get notes soon at http://software.cinema.com these will be the notes from Dean’s
technique.
- The closer the subject moves to a source of light, the larger
that source becomes.
- The larger the source is in relation to the subject the softer
the light.
Direct sun has shap-edged shadows – small ligit
source. Overcast sky is the softest
source, because it’s so big. Shadows
are non-descript or absent.
Short shadow edge
transition = harsh light
With a diffusion panel (or overcast day) the origin
of light is the actual
Long shadow edge transition
= soft light
Contrast: the difference between highlights &
shadows measured in f/stops (reflected)
Harsh light (quality) High Contrast (quantity)
The shadow edge shows us the quality of light.Harsh
light has a short transition between highlight and shadow. Soft light has a long transition between
highlight and shadow.
Exposure: The
diffused value reveals the true tone of a photograph. It is the exposure set on the camera.
To get incidence light reading, point the meter at
the light source, NOT the camera.
Then after metering the subject, shoot a frame of
the grey-scale card. Gray scale balance
card: provides color balance and
exposure references. This reference
helps refine the exposure and color balance in photoshop’s camera raw. Use the color selector tool (eyedropper) on
the gray-scale card to white-balance after the image is shot. Gretag Macbeth color check brand gray-scale
balance card. Around $60 Gretag Macbeth
Gray Scale Card 
MFR #50103 • B&H
#GRGSC
The Photoshop Camera Raw plugin: Histogram- far right spike means image is
white balanced. Shadows on the left,
mid-tones in the center. Tint slider
controls the green-balance, great for shots in fluorescent. Keep the shadow slider low, close to 0. Once shadow detail is tossed by too high a
value, you can’t get it back in photoshop.
Brightness slider leave highlights and shadows alone, deals only with
midtones.
www.software-cinema.com/tinkertubes.html download Dean Collin’s pdf book there also.
Tools: Incident
controls modify light before it reaches the subject. Reflected
controls modify light after it bounces off the subject. Gobo: an incident control that goes between the
origin of light and the subject. Scrim is 1/3 stop. Changes the quantity of light without
affecting the quality. Cucoloris (screen, aka ‘cookie’) mimics
light coming thru a tree. It’s a dappled
light. A wooden one has more distinct
shadows. Diffuser spreads the light –
it becomes larger and softer.
11:45AM - 1:00PM
Full Disclosure Lighting for Digital Photographers
See the actual process
of lighting a digital portrait live. As each light is placed or modified, you
will see the result on the screen. Learn how to control contrast, where to
place the lights and modifiers and discover the secrets of using a handheld
light meter. This session includes how to read a Greytag MacBeth ColorChecker
Gray Balance Card to optimize digital exposures.
Audience: Beginning or experienced photographers who want to see theory
turned into practice. This course builds on the information in SA-DP-1.
Dena (fmc staff) was the model. Kevin lit her in several ways with just 1
light, a diffuser scrim several feet from the strobe, and a reflector (first
silver then gold) on the other side to provide fill and reduce contrast. It was an interesting lab employing the
techniques described in the previous session.
It was especially interesting to see how little effect the diffuser had
when placed right next to the strobe.
Basically, it provided no diffusion, as it did not make the light source
larger – it was still just the diameter of the strobe.
C-stands by Chimera. Get their eng kit diffusor, reflectors, bobinette for
scrims, carrying case $750
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Chimera
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Here’s a better alternative, from
RoadRags
C-Vival Kit Specifically
designed for the run and gun shooter who must move quickly and create studio
quality images, this new kit contains two (2) 40" Matthews C+, C-Stands, a
RoadRags Kit which includes a single, double, silk and a flag and the
convenient MiniGrip Kit for quick mounting of the light modification devices to
the light stand. Packaged as a self contained kit, the heavy-duty case includes
wheels for easy transport and maneuverability. weight
42
price $1,000.00 may want to substitute
24x36” Road Rags kit (the above is 18x24”), as well as get the C-stands in
Black. Be sure to specify that when
ordered from B&H (Matthews custom configures these before drop shipping). New msrp = $1170.
Or, just do Road Rags and Mini Grip kit, and use light stand with studio strobe, and not C-stands. That’s probably the way to go. Or, mount strobe to C-Vival kit above… either way.
2:00PM - 3:15PM
Introducing Photoshop’s Camera Raw
What is the Raw
format? Is Raw really better than JPEG? How can Raw files make “impossible”
photographs possible? Answer these questions and many more in this session
designed to get you in the exciting world of Raw digital photography
Audience: Digital photographers who are shooting JPEGs and want to learn
the advantages and power of the Raw capture format to improve their
postproduction capabilities.
Bit Depth: defines
the number of tones that each pixel represents.
Everytime you increase by 1 bit, you double the number of tones. Most digital cameras capture at 12-bit 4096 tones.
16-bit has 65,536 tones.
Photoshop does not work in 16 bit… it’s really 15-bit + 1 pixel – it
just made the math work out better.
Consider a gray-scale.
24-bit color images have 16,777,216 colors. That’s what you get when you combine 8-bit
Red + 8-bit Green + 8-bit Blue
Linear Raw Data is captured at Gamma 1.0. When you’re 6 f-stops below proper exposure,
you’re only capturing 64 tones (not the 4096 tones avail. At gamma 1.0)
So first, Kevin made a darkened down copy of the
raw image down 1.5 stops. Then he added a 2nd layer with the
darkened image, and added a layer mask (2nd button from left of
layer palette).
When you alt-click on exposure slider or shadow
slider, you get an inverse alpha-channel look.
You change values, looking at the histogram, and go to just below clip.
3:30PM - 4:45PM
Preserving Pixels—Non Destructive Editing with Photoshop
This session is the
definitive exploration of the Layers palette—the most powerful palette in
Photoshop. Learn about layers and layer masks, post-production exposure
control, black and white conversions, toning, compositing and more all while
having unlimited undos forever.
Audience: Photoshop users who want to increase their understanding of
layers, layer masks, adjustment layers and the rest of the ins and outs of the
Layers palette.
Presentation mode - at bottom of left tool palette -
strips away all palattes and toolbars. www.softwarecinema.com has CD’s for
sale that walks you through this whole layer matteing painting-in-black to
reveal background layer process. I’ve
seen Kevin do this several times, but I don’t know that I could do it without a
few more clues. But this non-destructive
editing on layers is quite useful, and preserves pixels.
Softening Techniques: we used to have to degrade the image at the
lens.
Vignette:
First, select are with oval marquee tool. Then, turn that into a layer
mask. You could feather the selection,
but a better way: apply a Gaussian Blur
from the filters menu.
Make a new layer, apply a 20 pixel Gaussian blur to
entire image… then, resore eyes, lips
and hair to not blurred.
5:00PM - 6:15PM
The Art of Retouching Portraits
Kevin Ames, commercial
photographer and author of, “Adobe Photoshop CS The Art of Photographing
Women,” (amazon.com’s Top Ten Digital Life Books Editor’s Choice for 2004)
reveals the secrets of smoothing skin, enhancing eyes, coloring lips and
shaping bodies with Photoshop. Learn how to enhance beauty without overdoing
it.
Audience: Photographers and retouchers that want to learn the secrets of
retouching beauty. SA-DP-4 or a previous knowledge of using layers is helpful.
Healing Brush: On edit pulldown, fade healing brush drop back to around 50%, so face doesn’t look plastic or too perfect. For lines under eyes, define area with lasso tool to restrict how much of area the healing brush will sample from. This keeps smoke eye away, which may be fine if she’s goin’ clubbin’, but not for during the day.
In working with eyes, we want the pupils dark and the iris’s light.
Stretch mark removal. Subtle retouching, avoid going too far and getting a plastic look. On a model’s thigh, Kevin lasso-ed an area inside by maybe 25% to keep edge shadows intact. He created a layer of that area, applied a Gaussian blur, and played with that layer’s opacity to control how much of original stretch marks would show through, keeping a little of original, so as to avoid the plastic or Barbie look.
Kevin did an interesting knee treatment, where he used to healing brush to basically remove the knee on a lasso-ed layer, then messed with that layer’s opacity to reduce the knee to a more pleasing level.
Get a
Digidesign ProTools upgrade considerations
Digi staff:
Chris
Hammond,
Chris_Hammond@digidesign.com 847-683-7505
___________,
tech also from
Jon
Connolly,
Dave LeBolt, software engineer, fielded the more technical questions on Thursday
Q: with Avid charting a course away from Apple (the FinalCut conundrum) and toward Windows, is Digi following suit?
A: yes, but maybe to a somewhat lesser degree. Mac is still the platform most PT users prefer. However, the PT platform is now fully compatible with windows XP pro, and the platform decision should have nothing to do with ‘will it work on windows or not’ Plugins and everything else is also now mature with windows, and should provide no problems.
On Thursday, Dave LeBolt was
tight-lipped about the Avid / Apple issue, but he was complimentary in
acknowledging that I had perceived a reality which will dictate Digi (and of
course Avid) future platform directions, in a strategic sense. However, it’s virtually certain that Digi
will continue to support the Mac, as so many Digi users are Mac-heads. It sounds like they’ll just move more eggs
into the Windows basket. Dave also said
that there are many users who, like me, still run OS 9 on Macs, and have been
reluctant to dump their entire Digi investment of
Q: with PT v.6.9 in release, is v.7.0 release imminent?
A: yes, soon
Q: will
v.7 be compatible with HD
A: yes on hdwe, but there may be some plugin issues. Digi plugins should be upgradeable for no fee, but I should contacgt third-party plugin mfgs directly about their compatibility… some may need to be upgraded.
Q: will
Digi’s legacy
A: yes, it’s a permanent program, according to recent internal memos and announcements, though it may not last years… no way to tell.
The pricing incentive IS compelling:
item msrp exchange
HD 2 Accel 10995 3995
192 I/O 3995 2395
Sync I/O 2095 1195
What will expire June 20 (though it will probably be re-introduced) is the free plugin package.
Q: If PT suite is not LAN connected to Avid suite, is there any reason to do the AV Option?
A: No,
but you may want to consider the Avid Mojo ($1695 list) with the
Q: What happened to Lexiverb?
A: didn’t make the trip, but there are several excellent alternatives:
· Reverb One Digi, maybe free
· ReVibe Digi, maybe free
· Altiverb V5 AudioEase a convolution reverb
·
Q: What happened to Dolby Digital 5.1 encoder?
A: Currently under development, maybe 2 or 3
On Thursday, Dave LeBolt confirmed the imminent rollout of a 5.1 plugin. He said he thought I’d be pleased with the implementation.
Q: Will Waves Restoration Bundle work with new hdwe/sftw?
A: Talk to Waves, but you may need to upgrade to v.5.0 or better for compatibility or at least free upgrade.
Q: Icon D-Control vs. D-Command?
A: 90 msrp vs. 30 msrp
Q: does or will PT take advantage of multi-threading in 64bit processors, thereby enabling ‘dual-core,’ or dual processors, like the HP xw9300 workstation recrently introduced?
A: Dave LeBolt: Yes, it already does multithread, and Digi will continue to support the lastest technology available in cpu’s. RTAS plugins would deflinitely benefit from 64-bit dual-core. Also faster screen re-draws, faster through-put of data for recording and playback as well.
HP xw9300 workstation single processor, 1 gig RAM, 60 meg HD starting price $ 1800 order and configure online at www.hp.com/workstations
May 1 is scheduled rollout of Microsoft’s xp Pro 64 bit operating system.
Mackie Speakers Caspian E. M. Brand, product evangelist
HR-824 list at $750 ea. Caspian thought that he’d be able to get me a better deal since we used to be dealers… just for old time sake. Call him.
LOUD Technologies, Inc.
Caspial E. M. Brand
Caspian@loudtechinc.com or Caspian@mackie.com
800-258-6883 direct 425-402-6129 mobile 206-310-8537
Anthro Corporation
Technology Furniture
800-325-3841
503-799-4055 mobile
Barbara Kelley, dealer sales
Cool swing arms for monitors, for Control 24 meter bridges
Good news: I bought 3 from their booth, 65% off, and
they’re shipping a 4th one from
Bad news: I had to buy another plane ticket for Friday and extend my stay 1 day, offsetting all of the savings… dammit.
Dolby
Sabine Bravo smg@dolby.com
Ask her about digidesign plugin for Dolby Digital 5.1
Steve Vinezia, Dolby Labs manager,
dvd/dtv broadcast support sjv@dolby.com
Steve says he’s heard
someone at Digi is develop a 5.1 plugin, and he thought they’d roll it out at
the show, or at least its release is immenint.
Rimage CD
printers, disc dubbers print quality is
spectactular, especiall compared to Signature printer
360i is the new one, $2495 msrp burns
dvd in 4-5 mins, cd in 3 mins, then prints on-disc in 1 min
480i is printer only, $995 price drop in a week
or so. USB printer with software for win
XP