Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux
Andy Marken April 24, 2024
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My empathy is creeping towards what I would describe a contemptuous rage. - Bella Baxter, Poor Things, Disney, 2023
For an organization and industry that is trying to define/redefine itself, NAB 2024 was packed with a lot of great products, services and technology.
It also had just enough touchy-feely of what the industry may look like tomorrow to keep you guessing. For the time being, let's focus on the industry in transition.
Transition?
Broadcast is such a minor portion of the industry today.
People at the show make money doing film/show production/distribution and cable/payTV, as well as SVOD, AVOD, PVOD, FAST, social video and a shrinking amount of broadcast.
Exhibitors and some attendees told us the answers for the future, they just aren't certain which are the right questions.
The first thing we noticed in checking the sessions and walking the halls is that contrary to a popular global donut chain - 13,200 locations, 40 countries - the world doesn't run on Dunkin.
Source- Poor Things , Disney 2023
We'd venture to say that the power tool that runs the industry's hardware, software and service is made by NVIDIA and a few competitors - AMD, Intel, Samsung, Apple and others.
It's true and we focused our attention on AI where it makes the most sense for the industry now and in the near future - production and customer content selection - not on the AI that was going to do everything, including do all your work for you, make you handsome/beautiful and make you filthy rich.
We'll leave that to the AI techies.
Source NVIDIA
Power Driver - A lot of the NAB attendees probably didn't realize it (and didn't care) but the accelerated creation, production and demand for today's dynamite films and shows owes a lot to high-speed, high-performance GPUs from firms like NVIDIA. The company has also been ultra-aggressive in making the wave of AI solutions available.
All of those content creation/production/distribution products, services and tools are based around super high-performance GPU (graphic processing unit) technology.
It's the stuff industry folks need to push content creation to the max so they can make/deliver shows/movies that are more real than real.
Those GPUs are so important that governments are throwing money at the companies to design/produce more, more powerful (and maybe a little cheaper) chips, tools and technology to do more.
In fact, if it weren't for the GPUs and stuff like Unreal Engine (easily the most powerful and widely used real-time 3D tool), most of the people in the booths wouldn't be able to brag about how they've incorporated the best AI technology in their products/services.
Just don't ask them how and why their AI-embedded solution is the best because a lot of times, they have trouble spelling AI.
Fortunately, there were those who understood that it's all about capturing, storing, using data/information to do things faster, more consistently, and more reliably to make better content and deliver entertainment.
The rest right now is a cute acronym running wild. When it comes to video capture at the show, two firms - Blackmagic Design and RED Digital Cinema - showed off some great advances this year.
Source RED Digital Cinema
Big Red - RED Digital set the new bar for cinema capture cameras with its new V-RAPTOR [X] and V-RAPTOR XL [X] digital masterpieces.
Just before RED Digital unveiled its new V-RAPTOR [X] and V-RAPTOR XL [X] cameras, Nikon announced the completion of the acquisition of the company to expand more rapidly into the pro digital cinema camera market.
RED cameras have been the leading choice of filmmakers and cinematographers since the RED ONE was introduced back in 2005.
The new large-format cinema cameras include the industry's first global shutter.
Designed for virtual and live production, users can also take advantage of the company's advanced workflows with slow-mo, AI/ML augmentation and live-to-headset functionalities. The new cameras keep RED on the leading edge of the content capture/workflow arena.
Source Blackmagic Design
Real Black Magic - Blackmagic Design didn't disappoint NAB attendees. It rolled out a family of new cameras and accessories including (l-r) the PYXIS 6K box camera and URSA Cine 12K.
Blackmagic's president Dan May told us a long time ago that his boss, Grant Perry, had a goal of becoming the world's leading and largest professional camera producer and they're more than on track.
The company unveiled a dizzying array of new products and cinema, broadcast camera upgrades this year including the new low-cost PYXIS 6K up to the URSA Cine 17K.
The compact PYXIS 6K box design was designed for easy operation and setting changes as well as high-capacity, high-speed dual CFExpress card slots wrapped up in a price that even an indie filmmaker can handle at $2,995.
Staffers only gave vague hints regarding the Cine 17K (available late this year) but the new URSA Cine 12K created enough excitement with 16-stops of dynamic range, a full range of lens mounting, large sensor, expanded memory and plenty of industry-standard connections.
The company went with a new proprietary high-speed memory module with the new camera which, according to Blackmagic's David Hoffman, eliminates media card problems and ensures a more reliable, faster data pipeline. The 8TB module lets you capture four hours of RAW in 12K or 20 hours in 4K all wrapped up in a $14,995 package.
You can add 8TB modules at only $1,500 each.
But we feel it's the company's DaVinci Resolve where all the really creative work is done.
It was purchased back in 2009 and since then, they have continually made it more us
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Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux 
