NAB 2008 Pick Hit Awards

We entered NAB 2008 knowing that the showfloor would be missing two key manufacturers: Apple and Avid. What's more, no new major releases were to come from Adobe, the lone member of the A-team to exhibit officially at NAB 2008.

But while the desktop editing space took a well-deserved sabbatical from releasing revolutionary software, the rest of the industry picked up the slack: lighting products, encoding and asset management software, professional displays. Cameras especially took another leap forward, as small-format HD cameras continue to add features that were once the province of only the highest-end broadcast models.

The quantity and variety of the innovative new gear introduced at NAB 2008 surprised many at the show who were expecting a very quiet year, especially from the big boys. For the Pick Hits, our judges look for products that show significant technological innovation, while promising to have a positive, practical impact on the day-to-day professional lives of digital content producers, and the 2008 list certainly reflects that. For eligibility, the products must be slated for a 2008 release, and must be shown to the NAB public on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Our Pick Hits judges also found plenty of solid new products that just barely missed meeting our award criteria. Maybe it's a clever new marketing package for existing technology, a groundbreaking price point, or an overall solid product that exhibits just incremental improvement over preceding designs. Blackmagic Design, a perennial source for award winners, came very close with two products at polar ends of the scale spectrum—its USB-based composite/component-to-H.264 Video Recorder turned a lot of our judges' heads, as did its Broadcast Videohub, billed as “the world''s largest affordable SDI router." Manfrotto, with its 701 HDV, won over many on our panel for introducing to the market a very affordable true-fluid head. Though these products and others were judged as just shy of game-changing, they represent the broad advances that the professional video industry put on display at NAB 2008.

Thank you to each of our judges, and congratulations to the winners of Digital Content Producer's NAB 2008 Pick Hit awards. Without further ado, here are our 2008 winners.

One of three small-format HD camcorders on our 2008 list, the AG-HMC150 points to the future of intra-frame compression. Once long-GOP was anathema to Panasonic's professional camcorders; now it's the cornerstone of its new AVCCAM line of pro AVCHD models. New for the AVCCAM camcorder line is PH mode, a professional implementation of the MPEG-4-based format that ups the AVCHD bit rate to an average of 21Mbps, putting it in line with the rate of the HDV tape format. But as you might expect, there's no tape drive on the HMC150; instead it records to SDHC cards, consumer-friendly flash units that certainly offer a price break over Panasonic's P2 media. The camera's three 1/3in. CCDs captures "full-pixel" 1920x1080 in its three highest modes. Available this fall for "under $4,500."

Another small-format HD camcorder model that records to solid-state cards instead of tape or spinning discs. This one follows the still-new PMW-EX1 in Sony's emerging XDCAM EX family, a format under which MPEG-2 video in an MPEG-4 wrapper is recorded to SxS cards at bit rates of 25Mbps and 35Mbps. What does the PMW-EX3, a 1/2in. 3CMOS camera just like its slightly older sibling, bring to the table? "EX3 gathers up the best of EX1 and adds advances of its own," says Pick Hits judge D.W. Leitner. "Interchangeable lenses, a radical new lens mount design, huge LCD viewfinder, remote CCU operability, even a dial to adjust frame rate in one-frame increments. Several bold steps forward." Expected in the third quarter for $13,000 MSRP.

"Panasonic took what was best about the their previous 17in. LCD monitor BT-LH1700—field ruggedness, generous connectivity, built-in waveform display—and made it superior," says Pick Hits judge D.W. Leitner. The LH1760 has a doubled scan rate of 120Hz, which helps ensure the integrity of fast-motion scenes. There's no fan; the built-in vectorscope is switchable for 75 percent and 100 percent chromaticity; and the monitor includes look-up tables to match Rec. 601, Rec. 709, and EBU display standards. From the previous LH1700, the LH1760 retains pixel-to-pixel matching, its bevy of I/O choices (DVI-D input, two auto-switching HD-SDI/SD-SDI inputs; component video, RGB, PC RGB, external sync, speaker, and headphone outputs), and its live screen vs. freeze frame display mode. Available; "under $5,000."

FFV's Elite HD is the first digital video recorder to use wavelet-based JPEG2000 compression for recording HD-SDI video signals. J2K is "the prime format of digital cinema production," says Pick Hits judge Dan Ochiva. The camera-back recorder represents a practical solution for harnessing the excellent video quality that's enabled by HD-SDI outputs, available on just about every newer professional camcorder, affordable or high-end. It's also compatible with switchers that output HD-SDI. The Elite HD works with inexpensive off-the-shelf, hot-swappable 2.5in. SATA drives, recording up to seven hours of 1080i or 720p material on a 320GB drive. "Don't forget the eight channels of embedded audio, as well as the ability to immediately connect to an NLE via USB cable," says Ochiva. Available in June, no MSRP announced yet (but expect to pay around $3,000 to start and extra for drives).

This new transforming tripod system has something for everyone—and every shooting predicament. The sticks, spreader, head, and center column of the Sachtler SOOM support four different styles of shooting: low to the ground (or a table) with the TriSpread; standard tripod shooting with the SOOM TriPod and 3in. head fixture; as a monopod with just the SOOM Tube (61.8in. max height); and elevated shooting with TriPod and TriSpread combining to fix the Tube in place, allowing it to extend up to 98.4in. All four components together weigh only 13lbs., and at maximum height the "HiPod" configuration supports 20lbs. Sachtler provides twin-tipped spiked feet and stirrup-style snap-on rubber shoes, plus a padded bag. "Most shooters need a variety of support systems," says Pick Hits judge Jan Ozer. "The Sachtler SOOM supplies four."

Clearly, Sony and Panasonic have introduced several promising new small-format HD models this year. This one, the Panasonic AG-HPX170 camcorder, appears to be a tape-free, more compact revamp of the company's HVX200—and it resembles the HMC150 very closely. The HPX170 is a solid new choice on many levels, but one feature really put it over the top with our judges: It's the first camcorder at any price to feature a built-in waveform and vectorscope. That's huge—professional camera operators want absolute certainty that what they're recording will be suitable for broadcast, regardless of what the sometimes-deceptive LCD or viewfinder shows. Another huge advance for the HPX170: A rugged six-pin FireWire out (to go along with an HD-SDI output). Ships in fall; no MSRP announced yet.

Organic LED display technology has garnered quite a bit of buzz recently, and for good reason. OLED panels help prevent light emission when producing dark shades, resulting, of course, in very deep blacks—that Holy Grail of professional monitoring. The HDVF-EL100 is an 11in. OLED-camera viewfinder. It's Sony's first professional implementation of this technology, following a consumer-level 11in. flatscreen introduced last year. Unlike most consumers, of course, professionals' eyes can actually appreciate this stuff. "The Sony HDVF-EL100 is a welcome shot across the lens mount, delivering finally the brilliance and color gamut suitable for actually seeing what we''re doing," says Barry Braverman, a professional cameraman. Expected later this year; no MSRP announced yet (expect to pay over $20,000).

Litepanels has pioneered the use of heat-free LEDs for professional lighting. Just about every year since the company's first LED unit shipped, we've seen a Litepanels model that's more affordable. Late last year, the company introduced Micro, which represents quite a leap: the 4oz. lights run for 7 hours to 8 hours off Duracell Lithium AAs, according to the company. The 3.3"x3.3"x1.5" lights mount easily to miniDV cameras, but that's just the beginning. "Expect to see these small miracles Velcroed, rubber-banded, gaffer-taped, and tucked into the most unexpected places, says Leitner. "I'm finding new uses for the Micro all the time." Available; "under $350."

GridIron Software's new asset management program is aptly named. Flow automatically tracks workflows by recording all Import/Export, Save/Save As, and Copy/Paste actions in a project, working across a network, locally, and with removable devices. The dual-platform program creates a graphical image file called a Workflow Map to represent connections among a project's files, including all assets, project files, comps, and layers. By selecting any file in the Workflow Map, users can view its fonts, color swatches, and the application plug-ins used to create it. "Click on any link, and Flow will even pull up all of the necessary files and start up the related programs," says Pick Hits judge Dan Ochiva. "Very cool." Expected to ship in summer; $349 per seat.

Another new LED lighting option, the Kelvin Tile from Element Labs breaks new ground by providing unlimited variable color temperature. According to the company, a unique mix of six different LEDs (expanded RGB with cyan, amber, and white) results in a full-spectrum white light. Each of these different colors can be dialed up or down, and the Kelvin Tile is controllable via DMX. As with other LED lights, color will not vary as intensity varies. Kelvin Tile can be ordered with a standard V-mount for battery-powered operation. The correlated color temperature (CCT) ranges from 2200 degrees K to 6500 degrees K. Look for it in OEM packages from Kino Flo.

Ever tried to plug in an audio XLR cable only to discover you have the wrong sex? Addressing that, Neutrik has created a XLR connector that's hermaphroditic—it does double duty as a male and a female endpoint. In one configuration, one notes the familiar bumps of the male of the species. But just slide forward its sheath, and the ConvertCon transforms into a female connector. "What's a little gender confusion for such a total convenience?" says Pick Hits judge D. W. Leitner.

With Armada, Inlet Technologies is attempting to change the way we encode video by "taking the human out of the process." Armada will analyze your files during input and suggest optimal output parameters, then perform post-rendering quality control on all encoded files. "I didn''t learn much about the front end analysis at the show," says Pick Hits judge Jan Ozer, "but the post-compression quality control will be handled by the company''s Semaphore product, which is by far the most capable quality-control tool in the industry." Armada encodes video to Windows Media VC-1, Flash 8 (VP6), H.264, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-2, and AC-3 stereo. Inlet positions Armada as being well-suited for encoding for mobile, television, IPTV, DVD, Blu-ray, and the Web. Expected to ship in summer; price not available.