2023 NAB Show Daily News - DAY3

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From

The Pulse of NAB Show

YOU’LL FIND ALL THE TOP STORIES YOU CAN’T MISS RIGHT HERE — BREAKING NEWS, INDUSTRY TRENDS, EXHIBTOR COVERAGE, EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW AT THE 2023 NAB SHOW.

TV Technology, Broadcasting+Cable, Multichannel News, Next|T V, TVB Europe, Radio World, Mix, Sound & Video Contractor, Systems Contractor News, AV Technology, TWICE and more!

CONTENT

Managing Director, B2B Tech & Entertainment Brands Carmel King

Content Director Terry Scutt

Content Manager Mike Demenchuk

Contributors Susan Ashworth, Jim Beaugez, Tom Butts, Mark Hallinger, Steve Harvey, Craig Johnston, Paul Kaminski, Elle Kehres, Bob Kovacs, Phil Kurz, Jon Lafayette, Mike Malone, Deborah D. McAdams, David McGee, Paul J. McLane, Addie Morfoot, James E. O’Neal, Dustin Steiner, Randy Stine, Peter Suciu, George Winslow

Photographers

John Staley Photography & Phototechnik International

DESIGN & DISTRIBUTION

Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban

Senior Design Director Lisa S. McIntosh

Production Managers Heather Tatrow, Nicole Shilling

ADVERTISING

Managing VP Sales, B2B Tech Group Adam Goldstein

Ad Sales: Raffaella Calabrese, John Casey, Janis Crowley, Zahra Majma, Debbie Rosenthal, Andi Tureson, Kyle Walkenhorst

MANAGEMENT

SVP Wealth, B2B and Events Sarah Rees

Head of Production US & UK Mark Constance

Head of Design Rodney Dive

4 Despite Challenges, NAB Chief LeGeyt Says Next 100 Years Look Positive

In welcome address, CEO says broadcast TV, radio have a streetlevel edge in media ‘arms race’

10 FCC, NAB Set Intitiative to Finish Shift to ATSC 3.0

‘Future of Television’ group will help set regulation for NextGen TV era

26 Esports ‘Winter’ Is Here, But the Viewers Keep Coming

Despite economic downturn, activations continue to prove profitable for brands

38–43 Experiential Zones Program

50 Bob Pittman, Angela Yee Get Real About Radio, Localism

iHeart founder, ‘Lip Service’

18

Adoption of Advanced Technologies Could Change Immersive Storytelling

Session explores what is on the horizon for VR, AR and XR

22 5G Creates Opportunities for Broadcasters and Producers

The impact of 5G today and in the future can be seen on the show floor

30 Artificial Intelligence Makes Itself Seen (and Heard) in Radio

Futuristic capabilities of this disruptive technology raise expectations and job fears

34 ‘Remote Production Is Here to Stay’

The benefits to news and sports include reduced equipment, personnel requirements

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

Despite Challenges, NAB Chief LeGeyt Says Next 100 Years Look Positive

In welcome address, CEO says broadcast TV, radio have a street-level edge in media ‘arms race’

By Michael Malone BROADCASTING + CABLE

NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt sat for questions from Gabriela Teissier, anchor at Univision’s KMEX Los Angeles, during NAB Show’s welcome session. LeGeyt said the show’s 100th anniversary allows NAB to reflect on the past and sort out how to best help members in the future.

“The thread throughout all of

it is innovation,” he said. “Innovation in service to our local communities.”

LeGeyt spoke of the “arms race” in terms of the modern media age, as the likes of Google, Amazon Prime Video, Spotify and other tech giants fight traditional media for users and revenue dollars. LeGeyt stressed that broadcast is unique in that it covers news at the street level. “We have the boots on the ground in local

communities,” he said, “and that’s something no one else is doing.”

The pandemic was a reminder, LeGeyt said, of local broadcasters’ role in the communities it serves. Each subsequent severe weather event or other major local story is another reminder. “It’s very, very clear where broadcasters thrive — free, local, live,” he said.

ATSC 3.0 enhances local broadcast’s role in the community, LeGeyt added, noting how 60 mar-

kets now feature the standard also called NextGen TV.

Teissier asked about radio’s efforts to maintain its presence in automobiles. LeGeyt cited the “fierce competition for real estate on the dashboard” involving the newer media players. Making radio’s battle more difficult, he said, is that the industry has a vast array of owners, while the likes of Sirius XM and Spotify have but one.

“If we’re not all rowing in the same direction as an industry,” LeGeyt said, “we’re going to lose this arms race.”

Cable TV, podcasts and other digital media often offer users a forum among those who share their take on the world, LeGeyt said. Local broadcast, for its part, brings people with “different world views, different persuasions, different interests” together with unbiased content. Reporters in a given community know the best way to communicate with con-

NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt (l.) and KMEX Los Angeles anchor Gabriela Tessler at NAB Show’s welcome session on Monday.

Server-based Processing

sumers in that region.

LeGeyt stressed that AM radio remains “very relevant,” reaching rural communities and serving as backbone of the Emergency Alert System.

Teissier asked about Spanish-language consumers, and LeGeyt mentioned that that

demographic is most reliant on local broadcast. “They are far and away the most susceptible to disinformation on social media,” he said.

Local broadcast is “filling an enormous void left by the newspaper industry,” said LeGeyt, and has the support of the lawmakers he encounters in Washington.

Moments before FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel took the stage, LeGeyt pressed for “modernized” ownership regulations, which better reflect the state of media in 2023.

Asked about NAB weighing in on the FCC’s handling of the proposed Standard General-Tegna merger, LeGeyt said NAB typically

stays out of mergers and acquisitions. But he felt the “uncertainty” in the FCC’s regulatory process may get in the way of further investment in broadcasting. “Do some fundamental changes need to be made to that process?” he wondered.

Teissier also asked about AI, and LeGeyt said such technology can both help and potentially hurt broadcasters. AI can help stations better understand what’s going on in their communities and can

free up reporters to be out in the field more. He’s also concerned about content creators being fairly compensated and the potential for mistakes in reporting rooted in AI.

“There are a lot of opportunities but I want to wave the caution flag,” he said.

The future looks bright for broadcast, the NAB chief said, but it will take hard work. “I couldn’t be more excited to lead that fight,” LeGeyt concluded.

His words seemed to reso-

nate with the audience. “I think that he’s got a great grasp of the issues, he communicates his point of view and NAB’s point of view, and he talks about broadcasters in the most favorable light — that we’re here to serve our local communities,” Phil Lombardo, CEO of Citadel Communications, said. “He makes that point time and time again and that’s what you want from the CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.” l

The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation’s second annual Insight Award to CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” during Monday’s welcome session (from left): Session co-chair Heidi Raphael of the LABF; “60 Minutes” Executive Producer Bill Owens; session co-chair Jack N. Goodman and NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt.

If we’re not all rowing in the same direction as an industry, we’re going to lose the arms race.”

CURTIS LEGEYT PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAB

STREAMING TV CONSUMPTION TRENDS

FAST Mavens Talk Saturation, Monetization and Content Migration

Panelists: Streaming’s quickest-growing segment is headed to an inflection point

By Daniel Frankel NEXT TV

Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) has become the fastestgrowing segment of the video streaming business.

But with so many competing services emerging recently, each touting hundreds of channels, is the industry already too saturated? And do FAST consumers, who often spend 9 minutes or more trying to figure out what to watch, have too much choice?

“I don’t think we are at the saturation phase yet,” Aileen Del Cid, head of marketing for Samsung’s free, ad-supported Samsung TV Plus offering, said.

To Del Cid’s thinking, it’s not the volume of content, it’s how it is deployed. The burgeoning in-

ternational opportunity presented to the broader FAST industry, she said, makes it beneficial for FAST operators to be armed with ample flexibility in regard to content selection.

“You have to pay attention to what your customers are watching across every single platform,” Del Cid explained. “You can’t just put the same U.S. content in Brazil, for example. You really have to cater to the user.”

According to Scott Olechowski, co-founder and chief product officer at Plex, the amount of FAST services, and the vast selection of content available on these platforms, is simply “forcing everyone to up their game.”

For his part, Chris Knight, president and CEO of cooking-themed FAST Chanel Gusto TV, believes

there will be a “culling of the herd” in the next two years as operators compete for finite amounts of viewership time and ad dollars.

The whole panel seemed to agree that FAST content is better than ever.

“Back in 2019, we really struggled to get quality content on the platform,” Del Cid said. “Now, what you’re seeing is what you traditionally see out in the rest of the world. Studios and networks are bringing recognizable IP to the space, and I think [FASTs have] really begun to mature in that respect.”

Bethany Atchison, senior director of distribution partner management for Vevo, said the overall improvement in production value is generating “more acceptance from advertisers.

“We’re seeing increased monetization opportunities because of the content being so strong,” she said.

Meanwhile, panelists were asked to rate, on a scale of one to 10, the overall connected TV experience that FAST operators are delivering to advertisers.

Atchison rated the broader industry at a “seven.”

To her thinking, ad partners actually have too much data — and perhaps have excessively high expectations as a result.

“I think where advertisers get stuck is, they have so much CTV data, they end up trying to achieve every KPI,” Atchison said. “But the views are there. The targeting is there. I think, overall, we’ve made a lot of progress.”

Del Cid rated the industry at a “five or six.” She believes the industry is still in its “early days,” and we still don’t understand the long-term impacts of potentially game-changing technologies, including AI.

The panel was also asked about improving engagement.

Liz Riemersma, vice president of strategy, business development and international for Sling TV, discussed her company’s somewhat unique juxtaposition as part of a larger parent company, Dish Network, which is moving into wireless with assets like Boost Mobile.

“We’re looking for ways to extend engagement on the platform and a big point of focus for us is, how do we extend the sessions to go beyond the living room?” Riemersma said.

Ironically, Dish’s top-level management — which is now in the business of moving consumption of things like video to mobile devices — still sounds a little rooted in traditional linear satellite TV.

At least this one Riemersma quote seems, in a way, to betray this odd juxtaposition.

“The executive team laughs at me for watching content on an iPad, but I don’t think I’m alone,” she said. l

(From left): Bethany Atchison of Vevo, Scott Olechowski of Plex and Liz Riemersma of Sling TV talk about the potential of FAST channels at a late Monday panel.

Harmonic’s Cloud Set to Reign on Video Services

Harmonic’s broadband segment is on quite a roll, with the San Jose, California-based software company’s sticky network virtualization products currently all the rage among larger cable operators including Comcast and Charter Communications.

Harmonic’s broadband product sales were up nearly 38 percent year over year in Q4 to $96 million. Harmonic’s share price has nearly doubled on the Nasdaq over the past year.

During a press conference

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SHOW SHOTS

At the Create Innovation Learning Lounge, Luke Potter gives a presentation on live production with Vizrt.

Mark Fellinger showcases Idea Visions’ VacuMount systems, designed to fit any car, on or off the NAB Show floor.

Philipp Schmid of Nautel points out some of the features of their GV2 Series transmitters, which can host the complete HD Radio air chain inside.

❹ Jean-Claude Krelic of Ross Video answers questions about the Ultrix Hyperconverged Platform. It Provides UHD routing, multiviewers, signal processing and audio processing in one platform.

arkona technologies partnered with AVC-Systems of Switzerland, and Jon Phillips & Associates of the U.K. and Ireland to bring support to the company’s customers in both regions. The two companies officially became part of the arkona channel network family, shaking hands to seal the deal at arkona’s booth.

From left: Jon Phillips and arkona’s Wiggo Evensen celebrate the naming of their new British distributor.

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GRANTING A DREAM

Dream Recipient David Whitehead and wife Bonnie are attending NAB Show with support from NAB and Dream Foundation, a national dream-granting organization for terminally-ill adults.

David was a radio serviceman in the U.S. Air Force, and then chief engineer for the Cesar Chavez Foundation’s radio network. He later served as an audio/visual equipment repairman and a telecommunications agent. David loves broadcasting!

David’s Dream was to attend NAB Show with his wife Bonnie. He wanted to see new products, attend sessions and catch up with friends. NAB and Dream Foundation not only made that happen, David and Bonnie were able to meet NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt.

EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHTS

OSPREY VIDEO TALON 4K ENCODERDECODER WITH CTP

W1931 | Osprey Video, in a new partnership with Caton Technology, is introducing an integrated encoder and decoder that connects direct to IP circuits using Caton Transport Protocols (CTP). The partnership involves integrating CTP into the Osprey Talon 4K encoder and decoder. These are compact, cost-effective hardware devices providing high-quality conversion from linear feeds into IP at extremely low latency.

By embedding CTP into the Talon 4K encoder, users have a single-point device that takes the source feed (at up to 12G SDI or HDMI), encodes it to H.264 or H.265 and packages it for CTP to provide secure transport over IP circuits, including the public internet. At the receiving end, the Talon 4K decoder takes in the stream and delivers SDI or HDMI into the broadcast infrastructure.

Both Osprey and Caton focus on achieving very low latency, so the solution is extremely practical for high-profile sports, as well as entertainment and other live events to be seen worldwide.

GLENSOUND VITTORIA NETWORK AUDIO BRIDGE

C6111 | Glensound is following up on a very busy 2022 by enhancing several of the new products after feedback from customers and the market. Joining the Ravenna community has given Glensound the possibility to integrate with other similarly featured broadcast equipment and to work with higher sample rates. The process of adding this capability to many products is ongoing but the Vittoria Network Audio Bridge has been an immediate success. This allows connection

between two networks of different types, Dante or Ravenna, in any direction with a Firewall in between. Higher Ravenna sample rates can be input, and the two networks can be at different rates and operate asynchronously.

Another new product, the Express IP Mini X Commentary unit, caters for two commentators in a rugged desktop package. Dante/AES67 compatible, this unit has configurable talkback circuits, two microphone inputs with phantom power and compressor/limiter on each and four external monitor inputs.

NEVION SOFTWARE-DEFINED MEDIA NODE VIRTUOSO UPDATE

C8101 | Nevion, a Sony Group company, is enhancing its software-defined media node Virtuoso with new wide-area network (WAN) capabilities. Focused on transport streams (TS), the new functionality is eminently suited for broadcast contribution and remote production applications. A key component of Sony’s Networked Live offering, Nevion Virtuoso has been widely deployed across the globe to transport video, audio and data across WANs reliably, securely and in real time.

The latest update to the Virtuoso media functions includes ASI over IP transport, TS gateway and JPEG XS in TS. The Virtuoso ASI over IP transport capabilities, already available in Virtuoso FA, is now also available on Virtuoso MI. The Virtuoso TS gateway functionality provides handoff capabilities between networks with four 1G/10G network interfaces. The Virtuoso JPEG XS in TS (also known as VSF TR-07) functionality complements the existing JPEG XS in SMPTE ST 2110 (known as VSF TR-08) as well as JPEG 2000 over TS.

NEW TECH IS NEW BUSINESS

FCC, NAB Set Initiative to Finish Shift to ATSC 3.0

‘Future of Television’ group will help set regulation for NextGen TV era

By Jon Lafayette BROADCASTING+CABLE

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the commission will work with NAB on ways to complete the change to ATSC 3.0 and compose new rules and regulations once the transition is complete.

Speaking at NAB Show, Rosenworcel emphasized the importance of NextGen TV to viewers and broadcasters looking to compete with digital rivals.

While broadcasters have the opportunity to build new digital business and revenue sources using the new technology, maintaining a trusted source of local news and community information is urgent. “I truly believe it is important for the future of our democracy,” Rosenworcel said.

“We have seen an explosion of programming from new sources, but so much of it is filtered through algorithms that favor enragement, privilege the angriest voices and segregate us into

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separate information bubbles,” she said. “We are going to need a common set of facts and survey after survey tells us that local broadcasters are still the most trusted source of news. Lean into it, because it makes a difference.”

Rosenworcel noted that ATSC 3.0 signals are already available in 60 percent of the U.S. and that TV manufacturers are starting to include ATSC 3.0 tuners in their latest sets.

“Now that we finally have ATSC 3.0-compatible equipment in stores and headed to homes, we could really start to see the promise of NextGen TV become a reality in the not-too-distant future,” she said. “But it’s going to take some work.”

Rosenworcel said NAB leadership approached her about developing a group to work through the “big-picture” issues associated with ATSC 3.0.

As a result, “we’ve pulled together a public-private initiative designed to consider some of the

challenges ahead from both industry and consumer perspectives,” she said. “We’re calling it The Future of Television Initiative.”

The initiative will gather government and public interest stakeholders to develop “a roadmap for the transition to ATSC 3.0 in a way that serves the public interest,” Rosenworcel said.

It will have three working groups. The first will take a consumer perspective, especially because ATSC 3.0 cannot be received by sets with current TV technology.

“We can’t saddle consumers with unworkable sets or big expenses just to continue watching the local television they know and trust, so we’re going to have to figure this out,” she said.

The second group will look at completing the transition, which has been voluntary to this point. There is no set date for when ATSC 1.0 will go dark, as analog TV signals did. The group will determine “what are the conditions we need to get to the other side,” she said,

“We’re going to have to develop a vision for everything from the state of simulcasting to the capacity for multicasting to the right labeling standards for tuners.”

The third working group will look at post-transition rules. The FCC has created interim rules allowing multicasting on a temporary basis to balance the need of the industry with the cost to consumers.

“When we reach the future, we’re going to need clear rules and a clear understanding of how they fit in communications law,” Rosenworcel said.

The initiative will be hosted by NAB, but the FCC will be an active participant.

“The future of television initiative is going to be reaching out to stakeholders soon because this big-picture dialogue needs big-picture participation to be successful,” Rosenworcel said. l

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FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel spoke at NAB Show’s opening session on Monday.

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Adoption of Advanced Technologies Could Change Immersive Storytelling

Session explores what is on the horizon for VR, AR and XR

By Peter Suciu TV TECH

It was 100 years ago that innovations in sound-on-film led to the first commercial screenings of short motion pictures that incorporated sound. Though it would take another four years for the technology to be employed in the full-length feature “The Jazz Singer,” it was a revolutionary step forward.

Fast forward and today’s Main Stage session “Immersive Storytelling: Expanding Audiences

With XR in Games, Education and Location-Based Entertainment” could preview the next step, which may promise to be as much evolutionary as revolutionary in video production. The session will explore what is next on the horizon for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR). From headsets at home and in schools to location-based entertainment venues, consumers are embracing innovative ways to tap into their favorite stories.

“Technology tends to be an evolutionary force for what we

can do with the experience,” said session speaker Ted Schilowitz, futurist at Paramount Global. “It is an interesting perspective compared to what sound brought to the experience. Now we can look forward to what this simulated technology can bring — as it provides new ways to trick the brain, the eyes and other senses.”

TRULY IMMERSIVE: GAME ON

Hardware will certainly play a key role. Immersive technology can add much value to the player/

WHY THIS MATTERS

Immersive storytelling could be the next great leap forward in terms of audience experience. It could be as great as the introduction of sound was 100 years ago.

viewer and provides a unique experience only achievable through a headset.

“Take the PlayStation VR2, for example,” said session speaker Jake Zim, senior vice president of virtual reality at Sony Pictures Entertainment. “It has impressive new features like eye tracking, haptic feedback and foveated rendering, providing game developers with more ways to create

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unforgettable moments, blurring the lines between real life and the digital experience.”

Virtual worlds, including those found in VR, AR and XR through a headset, are now the most immersive form of entertainment as these allow gamers to take center stage and star in their favorite stories alongside their favorite characters.

“Even though we’ve already seen many significant hardware advancements, this technology has so much potential to grow, for games and many other use cases,” said Zim. “But the content needs to be there, which is where Sony Pictures VR steps in, leading the way forward with best-in-class developers to deliver new games that bring players directly into the universe of beloved franchises like ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Zombieland.’ Incredible content will bring players to VR and make way for innovations, shaping how we play and interact with one another.”

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

As this technology moves to other platforms, it will come with new challenges and opportunities – including the compatibility between different hardware platforms, addressing latency concerns and even making sure

4 KEY TAKEAWAYS

1 Virtual worlds found in VR, AR and XR through a headset are the most immersive form of entertainment we have right now. 2

The adoption of advanced technology is revolutionizing the immersive storytelling experience. 3

We are on the cusp of a convergence between traditional entertainment and advanced technology.

Industry EXPERTS Say...

“The more difficult the challenge, the bigger and more intense, there is the potential for change. That’s what we’re expecting with immersive storytelling.”

the player/viewer is looking in the right direction.

Session speaker Aaron Grosky, president and COO of Dreamscape Immersive, said, “There are so many issues to consider. How do you control the frame rate? How do you boil down the essence of the story? And what is its narrative arc? We can control the hardware ecosystem in that the target devices are utilizing the highest frame rates, poly counts and fidelity. When you go to a broader space of devices, then you have to design for the most common targets. We expect to see a cloud-based 5G future playing a role where there isn’t a need for local compute. But as long as you have that local compute you could have many of these challenges.”

Presenting a linear experience could present its own challenges, as well as opportunities. As virtual worlds become more open — and thus all the more real-seeming — ways will be required to get the viewer to stay on track.

“This could take cues from

the theme park experience,” said Schilowitz. “You must convince people to look in a particular direction. That is the main tenet of magic and really good theater. We’re just putting a layer of technology on top — but all the best tenets can still be employed.”

We are also entering a new period where people will want a truly magical experience that could be greater than what current technology can deliver. Hence, we may still see evolutionary steps forward — so the production world needs to ensure that it is still overwhelming instead of underwhelming with what it is able to deliver.

“This is very much about managing expectations,” said Grosky. “We expect early adopters to be the most vocal critics. We started looking at VR in 2014 and 2015 and were put off as we didn’t think we could quite get past that moment of ‘suspension of disbelief.’ But now we’re seeing that the technology is making the experience richer and we’re finally at that ‘ah ha’ moment.” l

“We need to be able to demonstrate where we are going and provide that glimpse into the future. It isn’t there yet for the masses, but we will get there. The key is when you can bring it all together and provide that ‘I get it’ moment.”

“There will always be challenges associated with immersive tech as long as players have to strap a headset on their faces. Ease of use is an extremely important factor, removing friction points, and each new generation of headsets gets incrementally slimmer and more comfortable.”

TED SCHILOWITZ FUTURIST, PARAMOUNT GLOBAL

AARON GROSKY PRESIDENT AND COO OF DREAMSCAPE IMMERSIVE AND COO OF DREAMSCAPE LEARN

JAKE ZIM SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, VIRTUAL REALITY AT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Immersive technology can add much value to the player/viewer and provides a unique experience only achievable through a headset.

5G Creates Opportunities for Broadcasters and Producers

The impact of 5G today and in the future can be seen on the show floor

By George Winslow TV TECH

The fifth generation of wireless cellular technologies, 5G, isn’t as venerable and ubiquitous as the long history of broadcasting technologies being celebrated at this year’s Centennial celebration of NAB Show. Yet, 5G will have a major impact, both in terms of immediate applications in the new production gear and in more futuristic demos and discussions of 5G broadcasting that could transform the media and entertainment landscape over the next five to 10 years.

“Per our annual Broadcast Transformation Report, 5G is

being cited by broadcasters as the technology that will have the biggest impact on the broadcasting industry in the next three years,” said Mark Horchler, marketing director of products and solutions

at Haivision.

Further down the road, many companies believe that developments in 5G and the new NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 broadcasting standards will create lucrative partner-

ships between mobile carriers and broadcasters and producers.

“If we can fully utilize the combination of 5G and ATSC 3.0, we can create something very powerful for a new generation of consumers that might combine data, video, AR [augmented reality], live and ondemand video to create new business and new forms of entertainment,” explained Paul Shen, CEO of TVU Networks.

5G PRODUCTION

Many of the immediate applications for 5G in production and broadcasting can be seen in the new cameras and production technologies on display. “5G offers

PHOTO CREDIT: Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Haivision is one of the companies showing products designed to improve remote productions using 5G connectivity.

DSPK-4 (DIGITAL SPEAKER STATION)

Introducing the new member of the RTS Digital Partyline family

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Available in desktop, flush-mount and wall-mount versions, each with an unmatched variety of power options and headset connectors.

into existing IT infrastructure. It adapts the unique hybrid IP/digital/ analog functionality, ergonomic design and intuitive UX of the bestselling DBP (Digital Beltpack) into a sleek new form factor that is available in compact desktop, flush-mount and wall-mount versions.

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Operate DSPK-4 in partyline mode with OMS (OMNEO Main Station) or in portable keypanel mode with an RTS matrix (ODIN/ ADAM) – one device covers it all.

Compact and ergonomic design with full-color icon-based menu navigation for quick setup and intuitive operation.

creative and cost-efficiency benefits to broadcasters and producers,” said Kento Sayama, deputy vice president, imaging solutions, Sony Electronics, providing producers with opportunities to put cameras in new locations and to rethink the way video is produced.

“The faster speeds and low latency offered by 5G networks help enable real-time connections for remote production, making creators even more mobile when producing content from not only anywhere in the world, but also from more devices,” said Dave Hoffman, business development manager, Americas, Blackmagic Design, which is showing several lines of products taking advantage of faster 5G connectivity.

Attendees can also see a number of advances from vendors such as Comrex, LiveU, Dejero, Haivision, TVU Networks, Broadpeak and others in the area of streaming and delivering video over 5G for production and distribution.

Chris Crump, senior director of sales and marketing at Comrex, stressed not only the advantages of faster 5G networks but the importance of Comrex’s ongoing work in developing technologies that make much better use of the existing spectrum. “The challenges of trying to utilize the commercially

5 Things to Know About 5G

1

5G is still in its early stages of development. At the end of 2022 there were only 137 million 5G connections in North America and about 1.1 billion worldwide, according to Omdia; 4G will account for the majority of connections worldwide until 2027 when there will be about 5.7 billion 5G subscriptions.

2

While 5G hasn’t lived up to the initial hype, it is already having a major impact on technologies used for streaming, video production, remote production, live news and sports coverage, ENG and other applications that are on display at the show.

3

Operators are beginning to rollout much faster 5G Stand Alone or 5G SA networks, with T-Mobile recently demoing a 3.3 Gbps download over a 5G SA network. The 5G standard can handle up to 10 Gbps.

4

The deployments of much faster 5G networks will open up opportunities for 5G Broadcasting, create new competition for existing broadband providers that will push them to offer much faster speeds and potentially transform the larger M&E landscape as new content distributors and broadcasters emerge.

5

A group within ATSC is working to harmonize the 5G and NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 standards so that broadcasters work closely with mobile operators to deliver new services, such as datacasting, which BIA Advisory Services believes could produce $10.7 billion in new revenue for U.S. broadcasters by 2030.

available wireless data network, which is overwhelmed by demand, is the impetus for our continued innovation,” he said.

5G BROADCASTING

Meanwhile, mobile network operators (MNOs) are working to improve their 5G networks. “On the download side, 5G is the next evolutionary step, expected to be a hundred times faster than 4G,” explained Kevin Fernandes, chief revenue officer of Dejero, which is showing the EnGo 3 mobile transmitter optimized for 5G.

A number of companies, including LiveU, TVU Networks and Rohde & Schwarz, are showing technologies that have been used in demos of 5G Broadcasting.

Recently, LiveU was involved in a trial with Ericsson and Nokia where 5G slices were used to transmit live video at the University of Patras in Greece.

“The area that will likely have the largest impact to users over the next few years are Stand Alone or `SA’ networks, meaning networks that are 5G technology in every component of the network,” said LiveU’s Chief Technology Officer Dan Pisarski.

Using a 5G SA network, T-Mobile recently achieved 3.3 Gbps download speeds to a Samsung phone, creating networks that are both a threat and an opportunity for broadcasters.

“We believe that, over time, the wireless spectrum used by tradi-

tional broadcasters will transition toward MNOs [and] ... traditional broadcast services will be replaced by data services operated by MNOs,” said Yann Begassat, business development, 5G and Edge at Broadpeak.

Others, however, see enormous possibilities for collaboration between 5G networks and broadcasters deploying NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0. “A vital part of the 5G standard is 5G Broadcast,” explains Thomas Janner, director of R&D, broadcast applications, Rohde & Schwarz.

Rohde & Schwarz is part of a group within ATSC that is working to harmonize the two standards with the practical implementation of 5G Broadcast within ATSC 3.0. “This proposal is a win-win: broadcasters get the opportunity to add valuable new services within their existing ATSC 3.0 transmissions; consumers can access content anywhere, and new revenue opportunities are opened in data transmission,” he said. l

LiveU was involved in the production of a handball match entirely in the cloud for Sky Germany using a 5G network and several LiveU LU800 units.

Many of the immediate applications for 5G in production and broadcasting can be seen in the new cameras and production technologies on display.

GAMING VIEWERSHIP

Esports ‘Winter’ Is Here, But the Viewers Keep Coming

Despite economic downturn, activations continue to prove profitable for brands

By Dustin Steiner NAB SHOW DAILY

The esports industry, despite explosive growth over the past decade, is now undergoing a correction. While pundits are warning there are tough times ahead for the esports industry, there are still promising signs.

NewZoo, one of the reporters of growth for the industry, forecasted in 2022 that esports was set to generate $1.38 billion by the end of 2022. This, however, was before the economic downturn that hit in 2022 as the economy cooled in the wake of inflation, as well as in the after-effects of COVID-19.

Newzoo has discontinued their esports and streaming marketplace report moving forward.

NEW MILESTONES

While these revenue data points are always murky and hard to verify, what is not hard to verify is esports viewership for tournaments and among streaming influencers. These two sectors continue to grow, with the largest tournaments and streamers hitting new milestones every year.

The League of Legends World Championship, for instance, saw record growth for its finals in October of last year, with a new record of 5.15 million peak concurrent viewers. Average viewership did decline from 1.3 million viewers to 990,000 (a first in three years, but well above 2018), but some pundits put this to a North American-focused

timeslot, whereas esports are still more popular overseas, despite a growing domestic market.

There are also an increasing number of brands engaging with streamers and streaming platforms to throw their own events, rather than putting the money into tournament sponsorships. This is because they can directly measure the impact their spend is having instead of relying on tournament investment, where the return on investment can be murky at best, relying on brand awareness instead of direct messaging to their consumers, the streaming viewer.

OTHER PROMISING SIGNS

The collegiate esports scene continues to grow, as evidenced by

campuses around the United States offering varsity level scholarships to prospective esports athletes. More than 204 schools across the United States are listed as having collegiate esports programs, with more than 30 of those offering varsity scholarships. Indeed, these scholarships are supported by much the same level of equipment spend as other athletics programs.

As an example, Horizon AVL brought their AV integration expertise to Kean University to help bridge the gap between esports and academia with high-quality gear, as well as to help develop and integrate a holistic curriculum that prepares students for careers in esports, broadcasting or IT.

The space is dedicated to the

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Betancourt/Riot Games via Getty Images

university’s esports team, where students can experience the ins and outs of the esports industry, learning skills that would be used on a real broadcast. In its 6v6 setup, Horizon AVL installed 12 Marshall CV380 cameras, one at every player station to capture each POV position of the player. The captured footage is then streamed onto the team’s Twitch channel, as well as the space’s LED wall, where six players from one team are shown simultaneously as a group.

“The Marshall CV380 has been a game-changer for us,” said Joshua Kell, chief executive officer at Horizon AVL. “As an integrator, we’ve specified Marshall for various projects for a while, so we were well-accustomed to the camera’s level of sophistication. For this project, the CV380 offered everything we needed.”

Programs like these, perhaps even more than the current industry outlook on revenue for the current

EXECUTIVE Q&A

Barbara Marshall Global M&E Industry Lead HP

Inc.

year, are important for the future of not only esports but broadcasting as well. Given the demographic of esports, it’s important to attract the next generation of broadcasting talent, who can marry their inter-

ests to skills that can be applied to their greater careers and learn from an aging talent pool who need to have someone to pass on their knowledge to.

While esports programs have

a long way to go to bring about their promise of being the next NBA, they still play a key role in engaging with a passionate group of fans who want to put together professional productions. l

FROM THE SHOW FLOOR

What technology trends will you be following most closely at NAB Show this year?

The real-time revolution continues apace so I’ll be checking out the latest in virtual production, virtual sets and in-camera VFX technology, as well as developments from the traditional software vendors that offer real-time rendering and playback in their tools. The other big trend that is gathering momentum is AI and data science — so I’ll be looking to see who’s making waves in that space.

What brings HP back to NAB Show each year?

NAB Show is the industry show of the year — it brings together vendors, customers, former colleagues, friends from all over the world. From a business point of view, I often joke it’s the supermarket of the industry — it’s where people come to make technology buying decisions, or research what to buy in the coming year. On top of that, it’s a huge social gathering — the best place in the media and entertainment technology business for networking.

The New Esports Center at Kean University

RADIO AI CAPABILITIES

Artificial Intelligence Makes Itself Seen (and Heard) in Radio

Futuristic capabilities of this disruptive technology raise expectations and job fears

By Paul McLane RADIO WORLD

Radio industry talk has focused on the many ways artificial intelligence might make work more efficient — or take away jobs. AI already was used in radio but generational platforms like ChatGPT have accelerated debate. Expect to hear a lot more here at NAB Show.

Futuri is here with RadioGPT, which creates “the world’s first 100 percent AI-driven radio hosts.” It combines GPT-3, voice tech and a story discovery/social content system. It scans social media and a quarter-million other sources of information

to identify topics trending in a market. It uses AI to create a script for on-air use, and then puts AI voices to it.

U.S. company Alpha Media is intrigued; Executive Vice President of Content Phil Becker said the company is “conceptualizing use cases” but hasn’t deployed it. In Canada, Rogers Sports & Media is dabbling.

Futuri says stations can even create single-, duo- or trio-hosted shows, or train the software with voices of existing personalities, in any format. Promises like this have a lot of radio people worried that AI will be a job-killer.

But CEO Daniel Anstandig calls it playing to radio’s strengths:

“The ability for broadcasters to use RadioGPT to localize their on-air content in a turnkey fashion opens up resources for them to deepen their important home-field advantages in new and unique ways. … With RadioGPT, there should never be a ‘liner card’ or ‘sweeper-only’ air shift again. Now everyone can be live and local.”

Exhibitor Veritone makes products to create avatars and synthetic voice models, deploying AI “to bring digital personas to life.” Clients include iHeartMedia, Audacy and ESPN.

“Radio managers need to be thinking about which technologies

to embrace and lean into,” said Sean King, Veritone senior vice president and general manager, Commercial Enterprise, “whether that’s synthetic media or automation tools to ensure their organizations are around for the next NAB Show.

“Everyone in this space needs to learn not only how to keep up with content demands and new platforms but how to reach new audiences while remaining authentic to their programs’ values and brand.”

What about a risk to jobs? “I think about farming,” King said. “Advances in equipment didn’t

put farmers out of business, it made them more efficient. Now, many successful farms utilize AI to analyze weather patterns, make predictions and optimize their crop growth.

“AI provides great insight … Take attribution and proof of performance. Without real data, stations and advertisers are merely guessing at what’s working,” said King. “Without AI, it can take a long time to sift through content archives to find a needed clip. With AI, it can be done in mere seconds.” With synthetic voice, creators can use their voice “in two or more places at once.

RadioGPT Player Screen

Like automation before it, AI will change operational models and perhaps disrupt some traditional structures, but AI cannot survive in broadcast alone.”

KEN FROMMERT ENCO

Additionally, they can do this in multiple languages,” opening new markets.

ENCO Systems already uses AI for automated captioning. At NAB Show, it’s showing two offerings that use ChatGPT.

AITrack integrates with DAD automation to generate voice tracks between songs. “That might include identifying the song and artist of the previous song, introducing the next song and artist, or communicating station IDs, and news or weather updates,” President Ken Frommert said.

Meanwhile ENCO-GPT will automatically create ad copy and summarize news stories. “The application will summarize a written news article into a few sentences or inject breaking news updates into a body of a break. This technology can also be used to quickly write copy for both sponsorships and advertising and convert it to synthetic speech.”

Frommert said AI is still emerging. “It will take time to reach the quality and accuracy levels that the broadcast industry requires and expects. One concern to alleviate is that AI will make everyone’s job obsolete. Like automation before it, AI will change operational models and perhaps disrupt some traditional structures, but AI cannot survive in broadcast alone. That human element will always be required for quality assurance.”

And not all AI applications are “generational.” Exhibitor WorldCast Systems deploys an AI system called SmartFM for Ecreso transmitters. It says the technology, sold via software license, enables reductions of energy consumption by up to 40 percent.

Director of Marketing Communications Chantal Fourgeaud said the AI qualifies the robustness of audio content; when the

IP KVM is changing live sports broadcasting, and many of the world’s biggest venues and producers are already reaping the rewards.

With the ADDERLink® INFINITY range, you can remotely control multiple cameras, switch between camera angles, and easily manage other equipment, all from a centralized location. This allows for more efficient and cost-effective broadcasting, and a better fan experience.

signal is robust enough, it adjusts transmitter power, with no impact on program coverage and audio quality. She said this dynamic RF power approach saves electricity, produces less carbon dioxide and improves service life. The system is in numerous markets, but the biggest is Germany, where approximately 800 transmitters are equipped with it. l

• Remote Production • Live Broadcast • OB • Stadium Experience • Live Events •

Streamline Your Workflow with IP KVM

WorldCast Systems uses an AI technology to reduce power consumption by its Ecreso FM transmitters.

Advances in equipment didn’t put farmers out of business, it made them more efficient. Now, many successful farms utilize AI to analyze weather patterns, make predictions and optimize their crop growth.”

SEAN KING VERITONE

NEW NORMAL WORK/LIFE BALANCE Industry EXPERTS Say...

‘Remote Production Is Here to Stay’

The benefits to news and sports include reduced equipment, personnel requirements

By Peter Suciu TV TECH

It was three years ago that the industry pivoted to accommodate COVID-19. The world has returned to normal for the most part, but broadcast production remains changed forever. The pandemic forced the industry to adapt and overcome, and in the process, it discovered that having teams work remotely had some advantages.

“Remote production is here to stay,” said Sasha Zivanovic, CEO of Nextologies, which operates a broadcast video delivery network specializing in broadcast-grade video connectivity. “The pandemic showed that you could practically get away with consumer equipment from home to facilitate what

is normally produced in a studio or broadcast center.”

The sentiment was shared by Nick Ma, CEO and CTO of Magewell, which is showing its Ultra Encode AIO advanced live media encoder at the show.

“The benefits of remote production for news and sports — such as reduced equipment and personnel requirements at the event site, which in turn lowers production costs — are compelling,” said Ma. “It also allows valuable resources such as experienced staff to be maximized. For example, with remote production, a producer or director may be able to work on multiple events taking place in different cities on the same day, all from a centralized production center.”

However, bandwidth will continue to be an important consideration when sending multiple remote feeds concurrently from these distant locations and the reliability of the IP connection is critical.

“The ongoing rollout of 5G technology promises to bolster both of these aspects in wireless production environments, delivering lower latency and higher bandwidth that can be combined with cellular bonding to provide network redundancy across multiple carriers,” added Ma.

LESS TRAVEL, SMALLER TEAMS

Remote production has continued to result in smaller teams heading out on the road, even for major events — while the bulk of

“It is easier than ever to replicate the traditional broadcast remotely.”

“We’re seeing a move towards the use of private 5G networks for video communication, which is separate from the public network being used by every attendee in a stadium.”

“Now that we are back to in-person, making an event ‘hybrid’ is more than putting a camera in the back of the room to live stream a panel. It can mean setting up multicam switches, having a special host just for the remote audience, and even shipping items like snack boxes to remote participants. So building a successful hybrid event is more than combining live with remote. You have to get creative.”

SASHA ZIVANOVIC CEO OF NEXTOLOGIES

DAVID EDWARDS PRODUCT MANAGER VISLINK

AMY DELOUISE DIRECTOR/PRODUCER, FOUNDER OF #GALSNGEAR

With the right equipment, not all staff members need to be on location.

PHOTO CREDIT: FOTOGRAFIA INC./Getty Images

the staff can also be available to work from a broadcast center or even from home — reducing costs in the process. This will continue to present opportunities, as well as some challenges.

“We are traveling a lot more than just six months ago, but even before the pandemic our customers were seeing the benefits of remote production,” said David Edwards, product manager at Vislink. The company is demonstrating its 5G-Link, a cellular video and data communication device that enables bidirectional data communication between free-roaming wireless cameras and production centers.

“Remote production allows teams to be more efficient and provide for that work/life balance, and this makes it easier to recruit better as not everyone is ready to constantly be on the road all the time,” said Edwards. “We also see that cloud production is enabling

EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHTS

teams to work together on multiple events without the need to travel to each one.”

In other cases, smaller — possibly even single-person — teams can do what used to require a truckload of gear.

“Thanks to efforts in miniaturization, most everything that is in a grip truck can practically fit in a backpack,” said Douglas Spotted Eagle, UAS instructor and director of educational programming at

Sundance Media Group. “The heaviest kit is just 65 pounds, which can be important to note if you’re traveling by airplane.”

There are still times when not all aspects of a production can be handled remotely.

“A lot of what our team discusses in pre-production is how to get the most authentic content. Much of my directing work is interview-driven docu-style, and I can tell you that, as many remote

interviews as I have successfully conducted during and since the pandemic, there is nothing like speaking face–to-face,” said Amy DeLouise, FMC programming director and founder of #GalsNGear. “During the pandemic, we pivoted to producing entirely virtual events, which meant bringing a lot of our clients up to speed on effectively what it means to produce hours of broadcast television. You can’t just have talking heads for a day-long conference.” l

NEWSBRIDGE AI TECHNOLOGY

W2073 | Newsbridge is launching and demonstrating an AI technology for media asset indexing that the company says achieves new levels of precision, speed and scalability. A game-changer for media and sports organizations, the technology enables users to index vast amounts of content in record time.

Newsbridge also is adding a new AI detection feature to its existing capabilities (i.e., people, logos, objects, patterns, speech and scenes). The new location-based search feature will enable producers, journalists and media managers to pull up the exact shots they need in less than two seconds.

Newsbridge’s Cloud Media Hub solution is at the heart of the company’s technology demonstrations. The Newsbridge Cloud Media Hub enables broadcasters and sports rights holders to centralize, auto-index and work with media assets in the cloud without changing their existing ecosystem.

BITMOVIN SMART CHUNKING

W3800 | Bitmovin has optimized its next-generation VOD encoder with Smart Chunking to further increase the quality and turnaround times with split and stitch. The new functionality optimizes chunk lengths and bitrate distribution, delivering an improved visual quality throughout the whole asset that is visible to audiences and achieving this at an even faster pace than before.

Bitmovin’s Smart Chunking is the next evolution of the split-and-stitch algorithm,

when a video file is split into multiple parallel encoding jobs. The split-and-stitch algorithm accelerates encoding but can cause the quality to drop between segments due to bitrate “jumps,” which can be visible to the viewer. Smart Chunking intelligently optimizes chunk lengths and bitrate distribution, ensuring smooth visual quality throughout the whole asset, achieving it at an even faster pace, according to the company.

Early customer testing indicates Smart Chunking enhances low-quality frames in assets by up to 60 VMAF points.

FARMERSWIFE COLLABORATION TOOLS

W1959 | farmerswife is showcasing the latest version of the farmerswife tool, as well as the latest updates to its SaaS task and project management solution Cirkus.

Version 7.0 of the farmerswife scheduling, management and reporting tool delivers improvements for its users. It boasts new features that facilitate workflow management and collaboration, including a Dark Mode for a better user experience, support for multiple currencies, and improved search functions.

The cloud-based Cirkus day-to-day task collaboration tool has been enhanced to provide media organizations with even greater resources for teams looking to schedule, assign and manage projects across an organization and its external contractors. It now includes Personnel Bookings for Schedules and improved Project Flows, with date offsets in Project Templates and Project Requests/Approvals.

Demos will showcase how farmerswife and Cirkus can work together or as standalone products to address the specific needs of media organizations.

Thanks to efforts in miniaturization, most everything that is in a grip truck can practically fit in a backpack.”

DOUGLAS SPOTTED EAGLE SUNDANCE MEDIA GROUP

NAB MEMBER SERVICES

Whether it’s advocacy tools, industry updates, educational offerings, professional development programs or networking opportunities, NAB provides members with MORE valuable benefits.

Take advantage of exclusive cost-saving benefits and resources for NAB members that support your business and strengthen your ability to serve your community.

Experience MORE with an NAB membership!

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EXPERIENTIAL ZONE CREATE

All Things Pre-Production to Post: Explore implementation strategies with curated education, networking and product discovery for the Create community.

Central Hall IMPLEMENTATION

EXPERIENTIAL ZONE CREATE

North Hall INNOVATION

All Things Pre-Production to Post: Explore innovation with curated education, networking and product discovery for the Create community.

AWS

9:30 a.m.–6 p.m. M&E Direct-to-Consumer and Broadcast Foundations Learning Plan Knowledge Testing 9:30 a.m.–12 p.m. AWS Jams 12:30–1:30 p.m. AWS M&E Workshop: Amagi FAST Workshop

NABiQ

10:30– NABiQ: Develop a 11:30 a.m. Creator-Led Nextgen Approach for Cine Live Productions

1–2 p.m. NABiQ: Develop a Creator-Led Nextgen Approach for Cine Live Productions

HEADLINER SPONSOR

Innovation Theater

10–10:20 a.m. Streamline Your Virtual Production Pipeline With Version Control

10:30–10:50 a.m. Complete Data Freedom: How Creators Can Maintain Control of Their Own Creative IP

11–11:20 a.m. Iterate More and Deliver Content Faster With High Performance Workstations

11:30–11:50 a.m. FOX Sports Builds Cloud Workflow for Global Productions

PRESENTING SPONSORS

1–1:20 p.m. Cloud Readiness: The Future of Hybrid Media Workflows

1:30–1:50 p.m. No Glasses Required: Holograms Set to Invade the Physical World

2–2:20 p.m. Stunning Map Animations With Mapcreator

4–4:20 p.m. No Glasses Required: Holograms Set to Invade the Physical World

Scan for current online schedule

Scan for current online schedule

EXPERIENTIAL ZONE CREATE

All Things Pre-Production to Post: Get ready to be inspired with curated education and networking for the Create community. Features Magicbox Gen 2, the world’s first mobile virtual production super studio.

Central Hall INSPIRATION

Networking

11:15 a.m.–12 p.m. Roundtable: Live Production for a New Era - Presented by Cinamaker

1:45–2:30 p.m. Roundtable: Live Production for a New Era - Presented by Cinamaker

Inspiration Theater

10:30–11:10 a.m. Secrets of Building Your Brand in the Metaverse 1:50–3:20 p.m. CineLive - Unique, Creative Opportunities of Cinematic Multi-cam

3:30–4:10 p.m. Fueling Production and Post Workflows in the Cloud: A Goalcast Story Featuring Backblaze, LucidLink and iconik

EXPERIENTIAL ZONE CONNECT

West Hall

Where content moves next — Here you’ll find cloud computing and media infrastructure pushing the boundaries of content delivery anytime, anywhere. This is the place for people who want to boost their productivity. Inspiration, innovation and implementation tips await you with curated education, networking and product discovery for the Connect community.

PRESENTING

Innovation Theater

10:30–10:50 a.m. Applying AI for Premium Video

11–11:20 a.m. 5G Edge Editor

11:30–11:50 a.m. Live Stream AI Dubbing: An Innovative Localization Approach to Reach Global Audiences

2–2:20 p.m. Let It Flow With qibb: How to Make Integrations of Professional Media Workflows Easy

2:30–2:50 p.m. Audio Over IP With Cisco Catalyst 9000 Switches

3:30–3:50 p.m. Unlock New Revenue Opportunities With VisionEDGE Digital Signage

3:30–4 p.m. Understanding the Role Social Media and Influencers Play in Remote Productions

4:30–5 p.m. Understanding the Role Social Media and Influencers Play in Remote Productions

Wednesday

9:30–11 a.m. Producing Hybrid Events

11:30 a.m.–12 p.m. Goodbye Logsheet, Hello Frame.io

1–1:30 p.m. Goodbye Logsheet, Hello Frame.io

FMC Remote Production Corner

OTT Demo Area: Featuring hardware from Amazon, Apple, Roku, Google, LG, TCL, Vizio and Samsung – all showcasing dozens of streaming services including: Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu+ Live TV, Sling TV, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock TV, YouTube TV, Tubi, Pluto TV, ESPN+, Freevee, AMC+, fuboTV, DAZN and many others.

NABiQ

10:30–11:30 a.m. NABIQ: Design the Future of Sustainable Streaming

Networking

2:30–3:15 p.m. Roundtable: Fostering Diversity in Media Technology

Inspiration Theater

10:30–11 a.m. SMPTE Rapid Industry Solutions: On-Set Virtual Production Workstream Goals, Deliverables, Timelines

1–1:30 p.m. SMPTE: How Immersive Enhances Both Content Creation & Consumption

1:50–2:30 p.m. Getting Web3 Right – Securing Content in 21st Century

2:40–3:20 p.m. Broadcast CISO Roundtable

4:20–5 p.m. NEXTGEN TV Devices: Update on Progress, Challenges and Opportunities

Wednesday 11:20 a.m.–12 p.m. Fox Sports Joint Event IP Flypack Transformed World Cup and Super Bowl Live Production

Scan for current online schedule

EXPERIENTIAL ZONE CAPITALIZE

Where content meets commerce — Here you’ll find strategic solutions and next-gen technologies creating new revenue streams and fueling the content economy. This is the place for people who want to perfect their go-to-market and monetization strategies. Inspiration, innovation and implementation tips await you with curated education, networking and product discovery for the Capitalize community.

West Hall

NABiQ

10:30–11:30 a.m. NABiQ: Create an Enhanced Immersive Ad Experience

1–2 p.m. NABiQ: Create an Enhanced Immersive Ad Experience

p.m.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

11:20 a.m.–12 p.m. Building and Branding a Comprehensive Content Portfolio

1–1:40 p.m. The Road to New Hybrid Models for Content Distribution - From Legacy Pipelines to the Blockchain

2:40–3:10 p.m. Metaverses for Entertainment and Enterprise — Capitalizing on Worldbuilding

4:20–5 p.m. My 23-Year-Old Self: True Stories From The Come-Up (LIVE Podcast Recording)

Wednesday

11:20 a.m.–12 p.m. Crafting Win-Win National Charitable Partnerships

Inspiration Theater

Inspiration Theater

Innovation Theater

2–2:20

Fireside Chat With Jose ‘Platao’ Rocha

EXPERIENTIAL ZONE INTELLIGENT CONTENT

Where content gets personal — Here you’ll find industry-wide transformation enabling customized, immersive content. This is the place for people who want to automate production, harness data to enrich user experience and engage new business models to drive reach. Inspiration, innovation and implementation tips await you with curated education, networking and product discovery for the IC community.

West Hall

NABiQ

1–2 p.m. NABiQ: Invent a Personalized Viewing Experience That’s Pure Magic

Innovation Theater

11–11:20 a.m. Using AI to Accelerate Your Path to Content Monetization

1–1:20 p.m. Achieve Monetization Agility by Streamlining Partnership Onboarding

1:30–1:50 p.m. The Evolution of Data Targeting –Understanding Your Options

2:30–2:50 p.m. Customer Retention: How to Improve Your Profitability by Reducing Subscriber Churn

Inspiration Theater

10:30–11:10 a.m. Cracking the Radio Code With Connected Cars

2:30–3:10 p.m. The NAB Show Web3 Advisory Council Annual Update: INTELLIGENT DATA

4–5 p.m. NABiQ: Pitch Session and Happy Hour

4:20–5 p.m. A Studio, a Vendor and an Assessor Walk Into a Bar…

Inspiration Theater

Here’s a short rundown of what visitors to the Korean Pavilions will find and can learn more about through the exhibitors there.

CENTRAL HALL ALADDIN CO. LTD. C5832

All MOSAIC-LITES are 600W output with RGB panels, have a CRI and TLCI over 95 and offer Bluetooth connection to adjust them with the free Aladdin app right from your phone. For each MOSAIC size there is a fitting frame with softbox and grid, similar to the FABRIC-LITE.

SPOTLIGHT ON: Korean Pavilions

GENTREE CO. LTD. C5730

GENTREE specializes in the development and manufacture of batteries, chargers and converters for broadcasting. The company launched what it says are the strongest and most-trusted batteries and fast chargers, along with high-power converters for lighting. Visitors to their booth will see “great products with our passion and desire to reach perfection.”

footage and supports a wide color gamut conforming to DCI-P3. Which make these monitors suitable for 8K/4K live production, versatile monitoring and field production applications.

pixels for high resolution. Also, it uses the temporal information from multiple frames to provide realistic visual quality.

DS BROADCAST INC.

W2658

DS Broadcast was established in 2014, dedicated to developing quality encoding/decoding UHD equipment and solutions for broadcasters. With what the company says is “deep experience and No.1 market share in Korean broadcast technology,” DS Broadcast employs experienced hardware and software engineers with company headquarters in Daejeon and R&D center in Seoul, Korea.

TOVNET CO. LTD.

EDISTEC C5930

Since 2014, the company has developed its own PTZ products and supplied broadcasting cameras, PT heads and joystick controller products to government offices, concert halls, schools, church broadcasts and hospitals. EDISTEC expands the range of choices for clients by designing and supplying differentiated services and products according to the customer’s eye level.

HD&P C5932

HD&P provides solutions to convert serialized electrical digital video signals to optical or vice versa. HD&P fiber-optic converters are applicable in the field of broadcasting, security and surveillance based on optical communication technology. The company says it designs and develops products “at competitive prices with the best quality.”

POSTIUM KOREA C5732

The OBM-8K Series monitor incorporates 4 x 12G SDI input and Loopout (x4), HDMI 2.0 input. It accepts up to 7680x4320/60/59.94/50p signals.

The OBM-8K Series provides the function to display the HDR

C5931

The TOVNET lightbulb security camera is operated by solar charging, an eco-friendly energy, and allows easy, fast and real-time monitoring at any time without complicated and expensive electrical and internet wiring, so it can efficiently solve safety complaints and security management in blind spots.

WEST HALL BLUEDOT INC.

W2660

BLUEDOT AI models are trained for video super resolution algorithm with a large dataset using deep learning technology. The AI model improves quality by removing noises and sharpening details for high quality and generates

KX INTEK

W2459

INTEK is a South Korean company, founded in 2005 with rapid growth in the STB market, recognized for its customer care and cutting-edge H/W and S/W technologies, according to the company. INTEK is the right partner for those who look for innovation and high-standard technology in their DVB-T/C/S and IP Hybrid STB services.

MACRO IMAGE TECHNOLOGY INC.

W2461

Macro Image Technology develops and supplies high-performance image processing ASICs ranging from FHD to 4K60p. MDIN640, one of the latest 4K60p processors, provides four HDMI receivers, four HDMI transmitters and digital video ports with scaling, warping/rotation, keying, HDR conversion, signal monitoring, frame-rate conversion, noise reduction, deinterlace and OSD functions.

EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHTS

NEXTLAB CO., LTD.

W2561

NEXTLab provides proven solutions for set-top box testing, video quality testing automation and monitoring, and network speed measurement. Through extensive log visualization, NEXTLab aims to help QA engineers and dev teams in the broadcasting and telecommunications field find the root cause of errors and measure QoE.

NIMBUS INC.

W2559

The company says it offers the “world’s fastest, innovative HEVC and AVC wireless/Ethernet video solutions.”

WiMi8600/WiMi8200: Low latency (50ms) HEVC/H.265based Wireless/Ethernet 2160p60/1080p60 transmission solution with 12G-SDI/HDMI 2.0 interface with radio coverage of 5,000 feet

WiMi5300/5560T: Ultra-low latency (20ms) Ethernet FHD video encoder/decoder solution by H.264 for IP KVM extender or remote operations

TIVICON CO. LTD.

W2560

TiViCon says it is an innovative software solution provider for the broadcast industry, specializing in smart technology for Pay TV, ISP and hospitality. The company’s experienced team creates unique products and ideas for partners, focusing on lowest investment and high monetization with “Ready to Launch” solutions. l

DIELECTRIC RECONFIGURABLE MANIFOLD COMBINERS

W3601 | Dielectric is introducing reconfigurable manifold combiners for multistation RF facilities. Adaptable for FM radio and UHF television, Dielectric’s innovation introduces system expandability to manifold designs that have long only been expandable by adding constant impedance filter (CIF) units. This offers an attractive option for sites installing new master broadcast antennas that can add new tenants in the future, without the space constraints and assembly labor that CIF-based expansion requires.

Dielectric’s reconfigurable manifold combiners are essentially modular fixed units built to specification. For example, a site owner with five broadcasters today and a goal of seven total tenants can specify a manifold combiner with seven ports. Dielectric builds the initial system with five filters and protects the two open slots with shorted ports or “shorts.”

Dielectric raises the value proposition by providing calculations that carefully consider how site owners can add other broadcast frequencies in the market in various combinations.

DPA MICROPHONES 2012 CARDIOID, 2015 WIDE CARDIOID MICROPHONES

C6113 | DPA Microphones is unveilings it new compact 2012 cardioid and 2015 Wide cardioid microphones, which are suitable for a variety of instruments, from loud and booming audio to gentle tones.

The 2012 compact cardioid microphone acts as an all-around, generalist pencil mic that performs well on any instrument. This mic combines a robust design with

intricate sound pickup for accurate close miking on stage setup. The 2012 can capture crystal clear, single instrument pickup with ease, making it suitable for live broadcast productions.

While the company says the 2012 excels at single instrument pickup, the compact 2015 Wide cardioid microphone performs particularly well as a stereo pair on drum kits and instrument groups. Featuring uniform, wide cardioid directionality and a linear frequency response, a selected pair of 2015 mics offers spacious sound for horn groups, vibraphones, xylophones and other large instruments.

INSYNC TECHNOLOGY FRAMEFORMER

C2013 | Marking its 20th anniversary, InSync is spotlighting its flagship video conversion solution, FrameFormer, upgraded with advances in the quality of its algorithms. Driven by real-world user experiences, FrameFormer boasts ever-more faithful retention of fine detail — for example, small balls travelling at speed across the frame, as you would find in challenging sports coverage. At the same time, engineers continue to advance the CPU-only application, delivering direct cost benefits to the user by reducing the compute processing power required by as much as 20 percent.

Designed from the ground up to be vendor- and architecture-agnostic, FrameFormer is now available for deployment on ARM-based platforms. This reduces the processor demand still further, reducing cost, power consumption and environmental impact.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES SHOWCASE

New innovations from exhibitors on the show floor

MONITOR BROADCAST, OTT, HLS, VOD & FAST STREAMS

Comprehensive compliance monitoring and logging solutions that include an extensive set of multiviewers, verification of SCTE and HLS ad triggers, tools for newsroom and ad sales workflows, and much more. On-prem, VM & Cloud Solutions.

Contact - www.vela.com

UPGRADE YOUR FLOOR DISPLAY WITH ABSEN’S MR SERIES: CONVENIENT, SAFE, AND DURABLE DESIGN WITH HIGHRESOLUTION OPTIONS

Absen’s floor display MR series integrates a frame structure design, which is very convenient to use. It comes with 2-pixel pitches, 2.5mm, and 4.8mm. The highintensity frame design guarantees safety and firmness, and the MR4.8 matte/glassy version can even bear a load of 2500kg/m2 approximately. https://www.usabsen.com/products/rental_stage/ mr-series-2.html?utm_source=magazine&utm_ medium=future-NABdaily

ADVERTISEMENTS

NEW ACTUS RVM - REMOTE VIDEO MONITORING

Version 9 of the Actus Intelligent Monitoring Platform includes dramatic improvements in the already capable Actus Digital RVM (Remote Video Monitoring) solution. MVPD’s reduce truck rolls when using affordable Actus Edge Appliances for Post-STB monitoring at headends and hub sites. Features are

Prices are Down… Come See Actus!

Ecreso FM AiO series

New 100W and 300W

THE LOWEST TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

BOOTH: W2321

BLACK BOX EMERALD® DESKVUE REDEFINES THE USER EXPERIENCE

Personalize your workspace with Emerald® DESKVUE. Monitor and interact with up to 16 physical and virtual systems right from your user desk on up to four screens. Experience a live demo of DESKVUE and more KVM solutions, and register for our Blackstone Grill Giveaway at Black Box Booth #W1322.

www.blackbox.com

Visit Us At Booth C6711

Up,

Visit Us At Booth W1767

Us At Booth C3015

PRODUCTS & SERVICES SHOWCASE

PLANAR VENUE PRO VX SERIES LED VIDEO WALLS

Planar® Venue™ Pro VX Series LED video walls deliver exceptional visual properties for Virtual Production & XR. With mechanical features to suit temporary & fixed installations, they feature fine pixel pitches, high-performing scan and fast refresh, high brightness, variety of frame rates & magnetically-attachable cabinets with quick locks.

https://www.planar.com/VenueProVX

CANON EXPANDS FLEX ZOOM SERIES CINEMA LENS LINEUP

Canon has announced two new 8K FLEX ZOOM Cinema Lenses — the CN-E1435mm T1.7 and the CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 Super 35mm format lenses.

Also announced are new relay kits that allow users to convert existing Full Frame cinema lenses to Super 35mm and vice versa based on their desired sensor format.

https://www.usa.canon.com/

MEDIAKIND ATLAS/WAVE

W2100 | At its NAB Show booth, MediaKind is showcasing three significant workflows delivered by its MediaKind Atlas product: Live Catch-Up and TV recording, artificial intelligence-based file encoding and AI-based upscaling. The Atlas product leverages public cloud storage and AI-powered services for next-generation cloud DVR services. Its proprietary codec implementation ensures high-quality, high-speed file transcoding, while AI-based Upscale enables HD to 4K upscaling, reformatting archival content for modern screen sizes with pristine quality.

Its MediaKind Wave product expands Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) to ultra-low latency streams, provides instant channel change functionality and uses multicast technology to stream targeted ads to millions of simultaneous live event viewers. Wave leverages existing digital rights management and efficient delivery protocols, allowing a secure and large-scale live distribution. It allows operators to combine their IPTV and streaming distribution networks and media owners to offer new immersive and interactive live experiences.

SHURE UNIPLEX CARDIOD LAVALIER MICROPHONE

C6920 | Shure’s Uniplex is a 5mm subminiature cardioid lavalier microphone that’s engineered to be a discrete solution for speaking applications where rejection of stage noise, audience chatter and speakers in close proximity is essential. The unidirectional mic and custom-tuned cardioid element of UniPlex’s UL4 are designed for corporate presentations and guest speakers in conference rooms, lecture halls, theaters and arenas.

The UL4 can deliver the performance of larger lapel microphones in a significantly smaller design. Shure’s line of Plex lavalier microphones, including TwinPlex, DuraPlex, work in conjunction with wireless solutions such as Axient Digital, ULX-D, QLX-D and SLX-D. They help audio professionals execute events and performances in complex setups and constrained spectrum situations.

TVU NETWORKS RPS ONE

W1821 | TVU says its RPS One transmission device is the only product in its class supporting six next-generation embedded 5G, sub-6 GHz modems. It sports a 5G MIMO antenna array designed for the seamless, simultaneous operation of all built-in 5G modems at peak performance. Complementing this feature are six next-generation 3GPP Release 16 modems, providing comprehensive support for 5G SA and NSA modes, as well as compatibility with widely used 5G, LTE and 3G bands.

The RPS One’s dual Wi-Fi modules are equipped with MIMO antennas for connectivity with local devices and multiple available networks concurrently. The RPS one has four 3G-SDI inputs supporting 1080P, 1080i and 720p HDR remote production and can handle up to 16 channels of embedded audio (SDI) and as many as eight channels of embedded audio (HDMI). It also supports a low-latency, single Return Video Feed from an SDI or IP input on any TVU Transceiver or TVU Cloud service, which allows almost any source to be routed to the field.

VANGUARD LED DISPLAYS XR BROADCAST STUDIO SERIES

C2419 | Vanguard’s Studio Series LED displays are designed to help take broadcast applications to the next level. Using the latest software from Bromptom or Novastar, or Novastar, the XR Series can render accurate colors as set by the DCI-P3 Cinema Initiatives Protocol. The XR Broadcast Series features SHUTTERSYNC, 3D color management, frame remapping, 7680hz refresh rate, and a scan rate as low as 1/8.The displays include features such as wide viewing angles, 4K HDR clarity, completely smooth picture quality and brightness levels of up to 1000 nits. Vanguard’s XR Studio Series led displays come in a variety of sizes to meet any studio’s exact needs, according to the company.

VOICEINTERACTION PRODUCT SUITE VERSION 7.0

W2549 | VoiceInteraction is taking the wraps off version 7.0 of its Product Suite. The VoiceInteraction Product Suite is a set of AI-driven platforms combining proprietary Automatic Speech Recognition technology with interfaces designed to address the current needs of broadcasters. The suite includes Audimus.Media, VoiceInteraction’s flagship automatic closed-captioning product with reliable speech recognition and the ability to handle market-specific requirements. Also included is its Media Monitoring System, a platform that combines proprietary speech processing technologies with AI algorithms to add features beyond ordinary compliance solutions, such as news segmentation from topic and keyword detection. MMS both monitors quality-of-service elements with a multiviewer and configurable alert center and incorporates analytics and metadata to give broadcasters valuable insights into their network and their competitors. In addition to the latest updates, VoiceInteraction will introduce its new vice president of sales, Ken Dillard, at its booth.

WORLDCAST SYSTEMS ECRESO FM 100W-300W AIO SERIES

W2321 | WorldCast Systems is extending its new Ecreso AiO portfolio to include the Ecreso FM 100W and Ecreso FM 300W low-power transmitters. The new 100W and 300W AiO series are compact 2U FM transmitters that enable radio stations to achieve the lowest Total Cost of Ownership while delivering the highest audio quality. Built using a software-oriented design, Ecreso enables seamless performance while limiting costs associated with peripheral equipment such as sound processors or decoders.

This approach overcomes the limitations of legacy technologies, where the virtualization of FM transmitters and antennas is not possible. Instead, AiO Series products enable users to replace outdated hardware at transmission sites via software integration of Audemat RDS Encoder, multiband processing, and APT IP Decoder. The Ecreso solutions also offer a range of features. including a new RF planar design, hot-swappable power supply and fan, all of which help deliver the lowest operating costs.

GIVING BACK TO THE

COMMUNITY

Bob Pittman, Angela Yee Get Real About Radio, Localism

iHeart founder, ‘Lip Service’ podcaster chat about informing communities, taking career risks

was different from other forms of media in regard to serving communities. “Radio is very instant, and being in radio means you are ‘in’ the community and also ‘of’ the community,” Yee said. “I never looked at myself as a celebrity. I look at it as if I’m one of you … talking about the same things you do.”

She mentioned how whenever she learns something, she wants to bring that knowledge to people, often on subjects where she has no background. “Radio is your friend,” she said. “It’s not like a movie or a TV show that is fictional, it’s real life.”

By Mark Hallinger TV TECH

iHeartMedia co-founder, chair and CEO Bob Pittman sat down with media personality and entrepreneur Angela Yee for “Math & Magic: Stories From the Frontiers of Marketing With Bob Pittman,” a live podcast conversation.

While Pittman heads the prominent U.S. audio company and has one of the most impressive CVs among media visionaries, since 2019 he’s been hosting his own podcast with the stated purpose of looking at how smart marketers cut through the noise, again and again.

Yee is an example. She is currently an award-winning host of the nationally syndicated “Way

Up With Angela Yee” broadcast radio show and the “Lip Service” podcast, and she’s been on-air for nearly two decades interviewing top entertainers and newsmakers. She launched her radio career at

entrepreneur, an innovative philanthropist, and an all-around great human being,” said Pittman, who reminded the audience that radio stations are licensed to serve communities.

Yee’s background in rap and hip-hop mirror the emphasis on the real. “Rap and hip-hop are the most impactful music because it comes from the community and real-life struggles; people can relate to it,” she said. “It’s a cry: Let’s figure out how to make things better.”

Yee’s background includes interning at MTV when in college and years of work in the music industry with Wu-Tang Clan. She stressed how important internships at MTV and other outlets were to her success and getting her foot in the door.

Beyond that, the applicable message is the importance of hard work, or being the first in to the office and the last to leave, Yee said.

Sirius XM Satellite Radio before moving on to become co-host with DJ Envy and Charlamagne tha God on the Radio Hall of Fame show “The Breakfast Club” on New York’s WWPR-FM, known as Power 105.1.

“She’s an accomplished

Pittman said Yee’s work reflects this same passion as she always looks to do things that give back to the community through town halls, book clubs or educational efforts on important subjects such as finance.

Pittman asked Yee how radio

Yee also said she has been well-served by taking big risks at the lowest points of her life. “I feel that these are the times you are supposed to take these risks, the worst thing that can happen is that something doesn’t work,” she said. l

Bob Pittman and Angela Yee discuss how smart marketers cut through the noise.

Radio is very instant, and being in radio means you are ‘in’ the community and also ‘of’ the community.”

ANGELA YEE

HOST, “WAY UP WITH ANGELA YEE”

CONSUMING AUDIO

Podcasting Is Back as Number of Listeners Grow

A key driver in all age ranges is access to smartphones

By Jim Beaugez MIX

The numbers are in — and as you may have suspected, rumors of podcasting’s post-pandemic decline were greatly exaggerated.

Despite some reports suggesting the industry’s 2020 surge was a fluke, podcast listenership reached its highest numbers ever in 2022. According to the newly released 2023 Infinite Dial report, 90 million listeners consumed an average of nine podcasts every week last year.

CONSUMPTION

Listenership has risen steadily among all age groups in recent years, but 35- to 54-year-olds took the largest leap. Since the benchmark year 2020, listenership in that age range has grown by 13 percentage points. A key driver pushing numbers across all age ranges is access to smartphones; 91 percent of Americans 12 and older, or 260 million people, own one.

“We are seeing more consumption happening on mobile phones and more consumption happening in terms of on-demand rather

than live, particularly in terms of speech content,” said James Cridland, a radio futurologist and editor of the daily newsletter Podnews. “We are seeing, particularly with younger audiences, lots more listening to speech content over the last five years.”

Jared Easley, co-founder and vice president of content at Podcast Movement, sees that consumption trend continuing. “I think primarily people will still be listening to a podcast on specific podcasting apps,” he said. “You might see more people consume audio through live streaming, but for the most part, I think it’s going to continue to be some of the apps

that we’ve been using already.”

After more than a million new podcasts launched in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, data from Listen Notes shows that figure dropped to just 219,000 new podcasts in 2022. Listeners are pushing podcasts like “NPR News Now,” “Crime Junkie” and “SmartLess” to the top of the heap, ahead of an estimated three million other active podcasts.

MIXED MESSAGES

“We are seeing a few mixed messages in the press, one being that the total number of podcasts is down,” Cridland said. “Yes, absolutely it is, because all of a sudden we don’t have these weird ‘COVID-casts’ of people testing and seeing whether or not they can do a podcast while they’re locked down at home. But in terms of consumption of serious productions, that is still continuing to go up.”

Another notable trend, Cridland said, is podcasting’s continued influence on the linear radio world.

Cridland said, “We’re moving from a world where live and linear is the number one to a world where we are producing great on-demand content, which

we also happen to put on live in venue stations.”

The shift in emphasis to podcasting is also appearing in products designed for audio professionals. Microphones with onboard USB ports are offering an alternative to XLR-to-interface setups for recording, and AI is making less-glamorous tasks like show prep and transcription easier.

While podcast listeners’ voracious appetite for new content hasn’t cooled much since the pandemic, creators just arriving to the podcasting scene face the dual challenge of creating both a novel concept to attract listeners, and then developing compelling content to keep them.

“I think podcasting is still wide open,” Easley said. “There’s still a lot of room for growth and opportunity to get discovered for those who are creative and diligent. It’s not guaranteed for everyone, but I think it’s still wide open for anyone to come in and do something unique and have some success with it.” l

TO LEARN MORE

MY 23-YEAR-OLD SELF: TRUE STORIES FROM THE COME-UP (LIVE PODCAST RECORDING)

Today | 4:20–5 p.m.

W2051 | CAPITALIZE Inspiration

Join NAB Executive Vice President, Industry Affairs, April Carty-Sipp as she talks with host Zena Burns, senior vice president, Content and Special Projects, Futuri Media, for an episode of “My 23-Year-Old Self: True Stories from The Come-Up,” which focuses on what female leaders in media, entertainment and technology would tell their younger selves when just starting out in their male-heavy industries.

Jared Easley

James Cridland

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

SHOW SHOTS

Subaru and

Walking into the West Hall, you might be greeted by the sounds of an exuberant “crowd” as attendees shoot to score at the AWS Free Kick Challenge.

“Make the cone!” says Julien Navas dressed as a ghostbuster at the VLC Media Player/FFmpeg booth. Together, the free and open-source software companies have a large presence at NAB Show.

Richard Evans, a video producer at Vizrt Group, gives a presentation on Viz Flowics, a cloud-native, web-based platform for generating live graphics.

AT&T Global Video Solutions team up to broadcast from places where there’s no connectivity, says Bo Meador.

AI-MEDIA SMART LEXI LIVE SUBTITLING

W1267 | Ai-Media has inked a deal with GB News that makes the U.K. broadcaster first in the U.K. to simplify its subtitle delivery with its Smart Lexi end-to-end subtitling technology and infrastructure. Smart Lexi is a hybrid solution that combines ASR automation with human curation. Smart Lexi subtitles are delivered to screens via Ai-Media’s iCap Encode Pro SDI encoder and its iCap Network.

“We are extremely pleased that GB News has become the first UK broadcaster to subtitle its 24/7 coverage with Ai-Media’s end-to-end range of subtitling technology and infrastructure,” Ai-Media General Manager – Global Strategic Accounts Mark Lovatt said. “By partnering with Ai-Media, GB News will benefit from the best of our ASR technology, encoder hardware and subtitling infrastructure to simplify subtitle delivery and ensure accessibility for its millions of viewers in the U.K., Ireland and around the globe.”

DISGUISE/MOVE.AI INVISIBLE INTEGRATION

C6118 | At NAB Show, disguise is announcing a partnership with Move.ai, a markerless motion capture technology provider, to develop a custom AI technology based on the Invisible real-time markerless motion capture software. The integration of Invisible into the disguise platform is meant to redefine real-time motion capture by removing the need for restrictive and costly mocap suits.

Instead, the technology extracts natural human motion from video using advanced AI, computer vision, biomechanics and physics to automatically retarget data to a character rig, creating a virtual character that can mirror a person’s movements in real time. The combined solution can be used to power avatars in metaverse experiences, digital characters in virtual productions, AR players in broadcasts, gesture-triggered 3D graphics and scene changes and such movement-triggered particle effects as smoke or fire. The solution is set to become publicly available in May.

PLANAR CARBONLIGHT CLI VX SERIES

W2633 | Planar’s NAB Show booth is showcasing its CarbonLight CLI VX Series, a group of LED displays featuring an improved scan ratio that stops display-to-camera artifacts from being captured during a camera panning motion. The lightweight LED display is available in 1.9 mm and 2.6mm pixel pitches and includes models Brompton and Colorlight controllers. It features improved thermal management and uniformity, precise yet flexible color management and a wide color gamut. Its improved scan ratio provides greater flexibility in how video walls adapt to different cameras and effects.

Planar is also showing its CarbonLight CLF VX Series LED flooring, Venue Pro VX Series indoor fine pixel pitch LED video wall displays, TVF Series family of fine-pitch LED video wall displays and DirecLight Ultra Series premium fine-pitch MicroLED video wall displays.

Broadcasting is Here to Stay

For over a century, America’s local television and radio broadcasters have provided the most trusted news, emergency updates, weather, sports and entertainment to our communities.

We are evolving with the needs of our viewers and listeners, innovating to deliver our critical services anywhere you are on every device.

Our enduring legacy is our commitment to serve our communities – to inform, entertain and keep you safe.

We are America’s broadcasters, and we are here to stay.

GAME PLAN FOR SPORTS STEAMING

NBA Drives Advances in Cloud Streaming Architecture

Retooled League Pass app now offers a host of advanced features

By Mark Hallinger TV TECH

Among the big sports leagues, the National Basketball Association is a clear leader in fan engagement and streaming options, with its NBA League Pass offering recently rebuilt to include functionality not typically found in over-the-top sports streaming apps.

This was the subject of a case study session on Monday that included the NBA, Microsoft and MediaKind titled “How the NBA Rebuilt Their Streaming Architecture in the Cloud.”

The league utilized a new architecture in the cloud to scale up or down according to production requirements and achieve greater control of features while improving pure video quality. League Pass includes high-end features such as multiple feeds synchronized to the game clock and wall

clock, high-scale targeted ad insertion, lower latency than cable and support for an array of complex and dynamic entitlements to facilitate monetization and global enforcement of linear rights.

The NBA’s offering is lightyears ahead of the pack, said Simon Crownshaw, worldwide lead for media and entertainment at Microsoft. “I think the NBA app that they’ve created is almost a blueprint for future teams, leagues and others on how to engage fans and bring live content to life,” he said. “We’ve had conversations with several other leagues who ask, ‘How do we do that?’”

One fundamental of the NBA’s media strategy — specifically its digital plan — was always to control the metadata, including clock and score values, NBA Executive Vice President, Media Operations & Technology Steve Hellmuth said. The second fundamental was

to control video networks.

“In Microsoft and MediaKind, we found partners that wanted to share our ride, to get all that synchronous data combined in the cloud while improving video quality,” Hellmuth said.

One key to moving forward for Microsoft is continued investment and R&D in technology and partnerships, Crownshaw said. By this, he means hiring the right people in cloud, networking and storage spaces.

The company has also made a deep investment in AI. “From an archive process, it’s gone deep,” Crownshaw said. “It’s been phenomenal and we’ve grown leaps and bounds in this space through listening and understanding and partnerships, and from getting organizations like the NBA to trust us.”

He added that AI has really changed the “cloud conversation” in recent years, with the technology offering whole new ways to automate processes and use data in new ways.

The NBA is producing mainly foreign-language content in the cloud, said Hellmuth, but he sees this changing soon. “What I ultimately want to do is to hand Brazil a production tool in the cloud that allows them to produce and deliver a game in the cloud, which NBA can then deliver around the world,” he said.

Tracking what fans are doing in the app to adjust or personalize the experience is also key, Hellmuth said. One feature is the ability to sync statistics and see stats while watching. l

FROM THE SHOW FLOOR

From left: Erik Ramberg of MediaKind, Simon Crownshaw of Microsoft and the NBA’s Steve Hellmuth talk about the pro hoops league’s game plan for its League Pass app.

Over at Qumolo, Mark McCallister oversees the creation of a rather-angry looking orange via a MINGDA Magician 3D printer.

‘We Are Broadcasters’ Awards Set for Today

Staff Report

NAB SHOW DAILY

NAB Show award winners will take the Main Stage in North Hall today for the “We Are Broadcasters” awards ceremony, where winners of the NAB Crystal Radio Awards, the NAB Crystal Heritage Award, the Engineering Achievement Awards for Radio and Television and more will be honored.

Michael Cooney, chief technology officer at Beasley Media Group, will receive the Radio Engineering Achievement Award. The Television Engineering Achievement Award will go to H. Douglas Lung, vice president of broadcast technology at NBCUniversal Local.

The ceremony is open to any NAB Show attendee with an exhibits pass.

Crystal Radio Awards Finalists

The NAB has named finalists for its 36th annual Crystal Radio Awards, a program that recognizes radio stations for their year-round commitment to community service. Also, KTAR-FM Phoenix, Arizona, will be honored with the Crystal Heritage Award, recognizing the stations that have won five Crystal Radio Awards. Only 10 stations have received the Crystal Heritage Award. Winners will be announced during the session. The 2023 Crystal Radio Awards finalists are:

• KBCO-FM Denver

• KBHP-FM Bemidji, Minnesota

• KBXX-FM Houston

• KCYY-FM San Antonio

• KDWB-FM Minneapolis-St. Paul

• KFI-AM Los Angeles

• KIRO-FM Seattle-Tacoma

• KJEB-FM Seattle-Tacoma

• KKHJ-FM Pago Pago, American Samoa

• KKOB-AM Albuquerque, New Mexico

• KMVP-FM Phoenix

• KNDE-FM Bryan-College Station, Texas

• KOSI-FM Denver, Colorado

• KPNW-FM Seattle

• KPRR-FM El Paso, Texas

• KRLA-AM Los Angeles

• KRMG-FM Tulsa

• KSHE-FM St. Louis

• KSLX-FM Phoenix

• KSNE-FM Las Vegas

• KSTP-FM Minneapolis-St. Paul

• KUPD-FM Phoenix, Arizona

• KXLG-FM Watertown, South Dakota

• WALR-FM Atlanta

• WBZZ-FM Pittsburgh

• WCCO-AM Minneapolis-St. Paul

• WDSN-FM DuBois

• WEEI-FM Boston

• WFLC-FM Miami

• WHHH-FM Indianapolis

• WHIO-AM Dayton, Ohio

• WHO-AM Des Moines, Iowa

• WJBR-FM Wilmington, Delaware

• WJJY-FM Brainerd, Minnesota

• WKJS-FM Richmond, Virginia

• WKRQ-FM Cincinnati

• WLIT-FM Chicago

• WMMR-FM Philadelphia

• WNRP-AM Pensacola

• WREW-FM Cincinnati

• WSB-AM Atlanta

• WTAM-AM Cleveland

• WTAW-AM Bryan-College Station, Texas

• WTMJ-AM Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• WTOP-FM Washington

• WUSL-FM Philadelphia

• WYCT-FM Pensacola, Florida

• WYHT-FM Mansfield, Ohio

• WZTU-FM Miami

SPOTLIGHT ON: The Creative France Pavilion

Organized by Business France with the support of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image animée (CNC), here’s a short rundown from the exhibitors of what visitors to the pavilion will find and can learn more about there.

EZTRACK

W3426

BBRIGHT

W3127

BBright develops high-end software-based technologies, and focuses on the latest media innovations such as UHD, HDR, 8K, NGA and HFR.

CARRICK-SKILLS

W3422

Carrick-Skills provides an audiovisual file-based workflow orchestrator that allow customers to save time by automating their processing steps.

EASYBROADCAST

W3321

EasyBroadcast’s end-to-end OTT streaming solution optimizes video delivery on every screen, from ingest to delivery.

EZtrack is the hub for camera and objects tracking in real time, combining a small form-factor unit with an intuitive web app interface, to perform seamlessly live camera, object and talent tracking in real time.

IP-STUDIO

W3751

IP-STUDIO is an audio contents workflow for radio, TV and podcast market cloud compliance. Studio control, news production, live assist, logger, virtual console, processing, etc.

PERFECT MEMORY

W3221

Perfect Memory combines the best of AI to offer an efficient cognitive tool, which transcends information and knowledge.

PERSISTANT STUDIOS

W3424

Persistant Studios’

PopcornFX is an innovative software company providing a suite of tools dedicated to real-time VFX.

QUANTEEC

W3327

Quanteec is a French startup offering to any broadcaster or OTT platform provider an innovative technology capable of solving above-mentioned issues… and more!

RAPIDMOOC

W3224

By simplifying the professional creation of video content, Rapidmooc is working to democratize the production of video and facilitate the digital transformation of organizations.

SPARKUP

W3220

Sparkup is the leading real-time engagement platform for live experiences, whether virtual, in-person or hybrid.

VIDEOLABS

W3323

Videolabs is the commercial continuity of the VideoLAN nonprofit organization, and the main contributor to the open source VLC media player.

WYPLAY

W3125

Wyplay is constantly proposing innovative solutions to its customers.

Whether it is based on blockchain or artificial intelligence, the proposed solutions allow operators to keep their subscribers engaged.

XD MOTION

W3121

XD Motion is an international company with expertise in aerial filming and multidimensional tracking solutions based on innovative gyro-stabilized systems.

CINEDECK CONNECTOR VISUAL WORKFLOW CREATOR

W3777 | Cinedeck is launching Connector, a visual workflow creator that requires no programming skill set to deploy. Connector can act as an ingest gateway from camera to MAM, joining up post-ingest workflows and streamlining the file check-in process.

Connector offers complete flexibility and can be used interchangeably in the cloud or on-premises depending on requirements. Users can prepare assets for post-production workflows by trimming video files, removing snippets and instantly updating metadata. Connector reduces time spent on file processing at ingest, allowing users to streamline repetitive tasks and make updates effortlessly.

Connector was built to slot into existing media architecture. This means companies can easily link up workflows without the need to re-architect their infrastructure or adapt their processes. It supports MOV and MXF video files and commonly used media compression codecs, such as ProRes, DNxHD/HR, XAVC (class 300 and 400), AVC-I, XDCAM, and JPEG2000.

DENSITRON DISPLAY & CONTROL INNOVATIONS

C1286 | In addition to showcasing some of its newest innovations, including control surfaces and haptics solutions, Densitron is at NAB 2023 to unveil a refreshed and simplified offering to support broadcast manufacturers, systems integrators and end-users.

Densitron’s solution delineates four main propositions and the channels to which they will be directed. Control Panels — including the flagship IDS Control System — will be targeted towards broadcast manufacturers, systems integrators and end users. The focus for the remaining three propositions — display screens, HMI modules and ODM products — will be on broadcast manufacturers, to whom Densitron will highlight its unique ability to partner on product development and supply the latest display and control technologies, including solutions based on haptics and tactile control.

The company will be emphasizing its latest control surfaces that incorporate the best of Densitron’s HMI technology into products available off the shelf for purchase or white labelling.

INTERRA SYSTEMS ORION 2110 PROBE

N3159 | The need for seamless interoperability, lower IT infrastructure costs and greater flexibility in the transmission of video — especially 4K/8K HDR content — is driving broadcasters to transition from traditional SDI infrastructures to IP-based video networks. IP networks offer better agility, stability and flexibility in building the next generation of video production and distribution facilities. Interra Systems’ ORION 2110 Probe supports the SMPTE ST 2110 standard and enables broadcasters to future-proof the end-to-end monitoring of video quality in IP environments. Offering comprehensive QoS/QoE monitoring of SMPTE ST 2110 essence streams, including SMPTE ST 2110 main and redundancy signals, and NMOS integration, the ORION 2110 Probe is a powerful solution that meets the diverse complexities and challenges of SDIoIP.

Interra Systems is also featuring OCM, which offers broadcasters and service providers enterprise-wide visibility by enabling the central management of multiple ORION linear and ORION-OTT setups, either in the same or diverse geographic locations.

MRMC POLYMOTION RELAY

C5325 | Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC), a Nikon company, is showcasing the worldwide launch of Polymotion Relay, a sports circuit-based tracking solution, along with its new Light Lift System and AJS-2 autoJib for enhanced live content capture production.

Polymotion Relay is a cost-effective, single-operator, multicamera control solution for circuit-based sports. Driven by a computer vision engine, Polymotion Relay is set up to follow the layout of a track at a predefined speed; one operator can use Polymotion Relay to manage all camera angles, making adjustments where needed to speed and framing, while the system makes intelligent modifications on-the-fly.

The LLS-1 Light Lift System expands MRMC’s PTZ enablement solutions by adding a vertical lift. With a range of height configurations, the LLS-1 can comfortably capture sitting and standing shots using the floor-based option.

The AJS-2 Auto-Jib can be deployed with either a PTZ or a robotic head and controlled manually, through two degrees of semi-automation or through full automation.

STREAMGUYS VIDEO & AUDIO WORKFLOW CONVERSIONS

W1743 | Adding new tricks to its workflow-management and ad-insertion capabilities, StreamGuys is unveiling new video and audio conversion demos that prove how radio broadcasters can expand their business models to visual radio and other video-centric workflows and offer OTT service providers, video content creators and other customers ways to replicate and monetize audio streams from their existing video streams.

StreamGuys’ new video and audio conversion capabilities evolve from its SGrecast podcast-management platform, which features tools to repurpose live streams as podcasts or rebroadcasts. Like SGrecast, StreamGuys’ SaaS toolset will automatically convert and republish live content and expand users’ distribution and monetization footprint to reach new audiences.

XYTECH MEDIA OPERATIONS PLATFORM UPGRADE

W2949 | Xytech is unveiling the upgraded version of its Media Operations Platform, showcasing the latest Granite software advances. These new updates ensure Xytech can deliver the critical media operations resources that customers need to manage and deploy end-to-end video content lifecycles. In addition, customers looking to take advantage of workflows in the cloud can now make use of all the benefits that SaaS offers, thanks to the 400-plus new features and 1000-plus operational improvements implemented.

The latest enhancements and additions to APIs, as well as integrations with OpenID, Azure AD, MS Exchange, Google Calendar and MS SharePoint, also mean production teams no longer need to switch programs while completing critical tasks. The solution enables them to work in a single platform to trigger workflows across the content lifecycle of production, from scheduling, crewing, asset management, billing and accounts receivables, saving time while increasing productivity.

LIFECYCLE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

The PILOT Innovation Challenge Showcases 2023 Winning Teams

Staff Report

NAB SHOW DAILY

PILOT, the technology innovation initiative of the National Association of Broadcasters, announced in March that Hour One, Backlight and TSV Analytics were the winners of the 2023 PILOT Innovation Challenge.

The PILOT Innovation Challenge specifically sought products or prototypes that align with three focus areas of the 2023 NAB Show associated with the content lifecycle: Create, Capitalize and Connect. Winning submissions provided compelling solutions to key challenges and opportunities facing broadcasters over the coming two to

EXHIBITOR SPOTLIGHTS

three years.

“Hour One, Backlight and TSV Analytics stood out from an exceptional pool of Innovation Challenge applications that deliver practical and business benefits our industry can use today,” said PILOT Executive Director John Clark. “These startups stood out as exceptional to our judges for the direct way in which they tackle immediate and future challenges with specific, ready-to-use solutions that can help broadcasters tell compelling stories.”

The winners are here on the convention floor to demonstrate their products to potential customers, investors and partners.

THIS YEAR’S WINNERS ARE:

Backlight: Iconik, a Backlight product, is a cloud-native solution that gathers and organizes media securely from any storage, providing a central point at which teams can gather, find assets and collaborate using any device. With hassle-free media collaboration and powerful automation features, iconik enables teams to streamline and accelerate editorial workflows.

Hour One: Hour One enables a single person to generate video quickly at low cost and high scale. The solution provides an AI-driven, entirely virtual broadcast video platform, complete with lifelike

virtual news anchors and customizable 3D news studios. It includes script- and image-generation features to further remove friction from broadcast news creation.

TSV Analytics: TSV Analytics is an analytical social media management platform designed to make social media content more effective. Designed to help social media managers across all stages of the content creation process, from content ideation to creation to distribution, the platform streamlines and optimizes the social media management process. l

AJA VIDEO SYSTES HELO PLUS

W2600 | AJA Video Systems is at the show with its HELO Plus, a compact, advanced H.264 streaming and recording standalone appliance. HELO Plus offers both SDI and HDMI I/O with the capability to stream up to 1080p60

to a content delivery network and record simultaneously.

Two separate streaming destinations can be set up, or a combination of recording to SD card or USB storage as well as to NFS or CIFS network storage. HELO Plus also provides Picture-In-Picture and graphics functionality in hardware for simplifying presentations.

The company says HELO Plus offers high-quality streaming with ultra-reliable performance for any critical streaming service needs, including esports, news, sports, education, creator, live events and beyond.

HITOMI BROADCAST MATCHBOX UPGRADE

N2860 | Hitomi Broadcast is showcasing its latency and synchronization tools at NAB Show. New for this year: A lip-sync measurement in the cloud. Attendees will be able to see a live demonstration of a file-based version of MatchBox.

Now widely recognized as an industry standard in lip-sync measurements, MatchBox, via its latest MatchBox Glass iPhone app, makes it even simpler to very quickly line up each camera feed. With remote productions like major sports sending very large numbers of feeds back to the central control room, managing lip sync is critical.

The latest addition to MatchBox is the ability to measure end-to-end latency over a broadcast path. Given the need for minimizing latency, Hitomi now recommends using MatchBox Latency to establish the delay over each circuit before using MatchBox to synchronize pictures and sound. The same MatchBox analyzer provides highly accurate readings of latency and lip-sync shift, ensuring precision alignment based on data rather than trying to match them by eye.

Audio Over IP Enables Virtual Mixers

Benefits to broadcasters include savings in capital and operating expenditures

By Steve Harvey TV TECH

Technical innovation surged across the media and entertainment world over the past couple of years as people found ways to keep working during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, audio over IP (AoIP) is enabling the audio industry to tackle the next frontier: virtualization.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Cloud mixing can reduce CapEx and OpEx costs. Systems can be designed using commercial off-the-shelf computing equipment. Cloud computing and virtual software are well established and reliable, and services handle maintenance and upgrades. Cloud deployments are scalable and will run multiple virtual mixer instances. Functionality is not strictly defined, enabling customization opportunities and experimentation.

offers savings in both capital and operating expenditures, from minimizing hardware and maintenance to reducing staffing, travel and overtime costs. Plus, deployments can be temporary and scaled as needed.

Owens points out, “We are now able to direct a stream from anywhere in the world as a cloud instance that can be brought up in a second and torn down in a second. The best part is that you don’t have to pay for it until you use it.”

It’s still early days in the development and use of cloud-based audio mixers, but the last couple of years have seen companies including Grass Valley, Telos Alliance, Wheatstone and the Audiotonix group’s Calrec and Solid State Logic brands release or announce virtual mixing platforms. These emerging cloud audio mixers, typically Linux- or x86 processor-based, range from relatively basic platforms to fully featured broadcast systems.

“We see more and more interest in virtual mixers, and in general, being able to mobilize production from a laptop or tablet,” said Phil Owens, senior sales engineer at Wheatstone. “With that comes extending streaming, processing

and, to some extent, mixing from a data center, either a local private one or a public cloud service such as [Amazon’s] AWS.”

The broadcast audio product manufacturer introduced its Layers Software Suite cloud/server technology at the 2022 NAB Show and has integrated it into the WheatNet-IP audio network. “This is ideal for multiple operators sharing board duties remotely over an IP connection with fader tracking and synchronization of buttons and controls, making is so much easier to work collaboratively on sports or other fast-paced content,” Owens said. “Being able to spin

up or down streaming as you need it has great value to broadcasters.”

Indeed, working in the cloud

“The access to cloud resources forms a key and powerful component within the distributed production tool kit and promises greater agility

We see more and more interest in virtual mixers, and in general, being able to mobilize production from a laptop or tablet.”

PHIL OWENS

Above: Wheatstone Layers GlassLXE

Left: Phil Owens of Wheatstone

Above: Calrec Assist screen

Above right: Henry Goodman, Calrec

in the utilization of both technical and human resources,” said Henry Goodman, Calrec’s director of product management. “Over the past 12 months, we’ve been working closely with a number of key clients to prove our technologies and together develop a greater understanding of cloud workflows and the challenges they present.”

Goodman said, “Distributed production has already been proven for a good number of use cases,” facilitated by Calrec’s RP1 Remote Production Unit, which supports edge audio mixing under remote control, and the Assist virtualized application. “Arguably, the next key step is the access to

cloud resources, whether hosted on public or private hardware.”

SSL, too, has been trialing a cloud processing engine proofof-concept, developed within the Audiotonix group. The virtualized solution uses real-time transport protocols to provide flexible connectivity, with transport wrappers providing the necessary integrity. “Advancements in technology take time to filter through,” said Berny Carpenter, product manager, SSL broadcast systems.

“The distributed, modular design of System T means we are well placed to meet the audio requirements of broadcasters, whether requiring hardware-based, software-based or hybrid solutions.” System T’s building blocks — control surface, processing engine and I/O — can be distributed across IP networks as required, to a global scale if needed. l

Distributed production has already been proven for a good number of use cases.”

HENRY GOODMAN

Above: SSL System T screen Right: Berny Carpenter with SSL

Advancements in technology take time to filter through.”

BERNY CARPENTER

Exhibitor Showcase Features Multiple Companies With New Offerings

By Craig Johnston TV TECH

A poolside event at the Renaissance Hotel on Monday morning featured a number of exhibitors who unveiled new products being demonstrated in their booths.

Backlight Creative has a product lineup designed to improve every stage of the video and entertainment content lifecycle from creation through monetiza-

tion, according to the company. Featured were its conik, ftrack and Celtx product lines.

CGI touted the latest updates to its array of media solutions that are helping solve the critical challenges of modern broadcasters and radio stations as TV meets radio and merges with online and social.

Clear-Com celebrated its 55th anniversary at NAB to show off new product features of its flagship Eclipse HX Digital Matrix

FROM THE SHOW FLOOR

Intercom System. They include Dynam-EC real-time production software and IP-based V-Series IrisX user panels.

GhostFrame touted making the “impossible” possible for film, broadcast and sports. The company presented its virtual production toolkit. It combines hidden chroma key and tracking, and multiple source video feeds into a single production frame.

Signiant is demonstrating new

platform capabilities including enhanced support for Growing Files, which are widely used in live sports productions, Cloud to Cloud Operations to support the demand for aggregation and distribution workflows.

TMT Insights is featuring its professional services and software development, delivering capabilities in the digital supply chain, including media content management, cloud technology and SaaS/ D2C experiences to global media companies.

OSA presented its entertainment technology, event production and systems integration to the live events, audio visual and broadcast markets. For more than 40 years, the company has helped content creators produce and deliver unprecedented experiences.

Megapixel VR presented itself as an innovative technology partner dedicated to delivering fast-tracked, customized LED processing and monitoring to the entertainment, film, TV and architectural applications.

LCEVC (V-Nova) MPEG5 LCEVC, the video codec enhancer, evidenced the rapid growth of its ecosystem, featuring practical examples of its use across broadcasting, streaming, social media and VR. l

FROM THE SHOW FLOOR

Over at Black Box, Jonathan Cox checks out the Emerald DESKVUE receiver, which allows users to simultaneously monitor and interact with up to 16 systems (all from one keyboard)!

Nora Clark at Thomson Broadcast test drives some of the NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 solutions.