Discussing the latest technological news with our respected experts – Philip Grossman and Mary Ann Seidler.
Maria: Today we’ll be conducting a special edition of the show because of the freshly concluded NAB. We’ll be discussing the trends and cool things that Philip and Mary saw at NAB. So Philip, do you want to share your initial thoughts about what you experienced last week?
Philip: Mary spent a lot of time at the audio side and I’d like to know what her thoughts were about the audio world and what’s coming.
Maria: Last year it was all about the cloud and it was the first year because we missed NAB for a couple of years and we really saw a big presence of AWS in the audio space. This year, it was more of a hybrid approach, so people weren’t only talking specifically about the cloud but trying to figure out workflows, and then AI was the biggest thing over there. The other thing which made me curious -and I’d like to know if video customers look for this- is that this is the first time I heard every radio station asking about AES 67 because now they’ve figured out that to get all these solutions to work together, they have to prioritize compatibility. In the past, everyone would just stick with one little silo whether it was Ravenna or Livewire but now, the customers are pushing back saying “We want things that work together. ” So Philip, what did you see about this?
Philip: On the video side it’s the SMPTE 2110-30, I believe that the audio side is 30… which is AES 67 but it’s a little different from it. It’s got some changes so I think that there’s a push on the video side to normalize the audio side of it more. I’m working with a large customer that needs to conduct MADI gateways in between because interactions were a little complicated which was frustrating for them. But I think we’re starting to see that merger. As you said, last year was all about the cloud even at IBC everything was going to the cloud, but this year, from the manufacturers I spoke to and customers, there was sort of a step back from the cloud. It’s a component, but the question is, is it going to be the dominant component? Last year I would have said yes because that was what everybody thought, this year, I see it as being an adjunct to it which is interesting. It’s always neat to see trends at these events. A couple of years ago, it was 4K and there were drones everywhere, and last year, everybody had an LED screen. This year, I didn’t see an overwhelming trend, this felt like an evolutionary year as opposed to a revolutionary year. I think we’ve broken through the 4K barrier so you’ve got a 6K and 8K so no one’s touting. I didn’t see a 16K or 12K camera listed anywhere. I saw not quite as many LED screens and walls for virtual productions so those who do virtual productions did the virtual productions. There’s one new drone, DJI, which was 30 grand when it was fully outfitted so obviously they have gone in a different direction professionally. And to your point about AI, I was expecting to see a lot more because I was more involved in it in the last six months. You’re starting to see inklings of it and I think the video world is not quite sure where it’s going to fit at this point. Mary, did you see a lot of AI products or ideas and how did they present themselves in the audio side?
Mary: Honestly, it was all just big posters that said AI, and I’m not absolutely sure that every single manufacturer had an AI solution. I think they were just talking about how it could be powered by AI or could have AI in the future. So I think it’s much more future-oriented, and it’s a buzzword.
Philip: I saw it a lot in search, in the audio side, I think it’s a lot easier to listen to the words you transcribe and then you can do the text-to-search for words. Video hasn’t been that easy, but with the recent adoption of all the mid-journey and stable diffusion and those where they’re actually using text to imagery, you can type what you want it to look like and it builds the image. Well, the reverse now happens. The software vendors that I saw that were AI-specific were all around “search” where they can look and be trained on the video, to understand that it’s a red truck or a car wreck or a scary car chase. That, especially for large news organizations that have a huge inventory of archival material, I think is a powerful toolset in the AI world.
Mary: One thing I noticed was that SSL announced shortly before NAB that they bought Harrison, and when I was talking to those guys, they said, “Yes, this gets us into a niche we were never in before, and so it’s exciting because it brings back an iconic brand. Did you see anything like that in video? I’m not sure what mergers have taken place recently.
Philip: So I was expecting to see some mergers, I didn’t, but I saw some big partnership announcements about Imagine and Amagi working together.
I guess it’s more of a co-op edition because they do have some overlap in the master control world. I believe Imagine was also going to do some work with Viz. I saw an announcement around that. So it’s interesting to see the partnerships going on. I didn’t see any huge mergers or acquisitions on the video side. There’s that issue of things in the Apple world called getting Sherlocked… it’s where Apple decides to build a product exactly like a product you have, so that means the product has been Sherlocked. I see Adobe moving in that direction with its AI-powered stuff, Color AI is also going in that direction with some of its AI color stuff, but it’s going to be interesting to see where this stuff nets out. When I did a panel on AI, one of the biggest concerns I have is that the stuff that AIs are going to do are the things that the assistant editors did on set or in the edit facilities, and by doing that, they were working with the editor and learning how to become better. If they are not there asking those questions and doing that kind of work, how do we get editors in the future? I don’t know what kind of AI tools you have on the audio side, but I wonder, does it get rid of those internship-based roles, which are means of learning? And what’s going on in our industry around that?
Mary: That’s a very good point, and we are starting to see things like that over in audio when you don’t have younger people getting into the positions. How do you ever train them to take over? And I worry about the lack of creativity with just using AI.
Philip: I’ll make a prediction for next year. AI is going to be a big trend next year; you’re going to see it in everybody’s product, and it’s going to be the thing hanging around everywhere. I remember there was an organization years ago that said SDI is dead, and we still haven’t killed it. Next year, AI will only be stronger, and there are going to be tools implemented, doing jobs that we never thought of. I think in the XR/VR world especially, anything that can help simplify the task of camera tracking and motion capture. Pretty much like I said, it was evolutionary, not revolutionary. I didn’t see anything earth-shattering, but it was a good show. Another good thing is that the crowds were back. I would say it was close to a normal show but with 20 percent off.
Maria: Mary, do you have a prediction?
Mary: One interesting thing I saw over at the audio side was that all the big radio groups were present but not as many people from those groups coming. We saw a lot of smaller radio stations and groups, and those guys are energized, alive, local, and doing a fantastic job with moving things ahead.
Philip: Fantastic!
Maria: That’s all the time we have today. Many thanks to our experts – Philip and Mary! And don’t forget to comment on the news we’ve discussed. See you next Monday at the same time! Goodbye!
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Hosts Philip Grossman, Mary Ann Seidler, Maria Kholodova.
The live broadcast took place on April 25, 2023. Production – TKT1957 LLC.
The program can be watched every Monday at 19:00 UTC+4 by clicking on any of these links:
The next exciting roundtable of TKT1957 is tomorrow – April 26 at 4 pm ET. Subject – «XR / VR: The future technology is here».
Host and producer: Philip Grossman, Independent Advisor Providing Thought Leadership and Solutions Architecture to the Film and Television Industry Leaders and Organizations (USA).
Experts: Addy Ghani, VP of Virtual Production at disguise; Justin Wylie, Technical Director at Arc Studios; Nick Rivero, Co-Founder at Meptik.
Organizer – TKT1957.
APRIL 26, 2023
4:00 P.M. ET
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