Electronic Media 

Published: 04-24-95 



DISK-BASED NEWS GEAR MAKES  STRONG SHOWING AT NAB '95    



Byline: Joe Fedele 



 Well, it's that time of year again, when I sit back and reflect

on my impressions of the National Association of Broadcasters

convention.

 I am always fascinated by the claims, hints and-dare I say

it-promises made by the sales reps at conventions such as NAB.

And, being the guy that I am, I take great pleasure in holding

their feet to the fire.

 First, the promises kept.

 Last year, the Avid-Ikegami alliance promised to deliver a

disk-based ENG camera to the convention.

 Not only did they keep their word, but they also managed to

provide broadcasters with the most popular traffic jam on the 

convention floor.

 The introduction of this camera was an ``in-your-face'' jab at

all those naysayers who said it couldn't be done. The camera

looked and weighed like a standard ENG camera with one big

exception: The usual tape slot was replaced with a removable

hard disk about the size of a small ``brick'' battery pack. 

 The camera will cost between $30,000 and $50,000, not including

the lens and depending on what CCD block you purchase.

 The disk packs cost $2,000-plus each for a total record time of

between 15 to 20 minutes. Esti-mates are that your camera

operator will need about four to six of these packs for an

average day of ENG shooting.

 One nice feature about this camera is its ability to perform

simple straight cut edits right on the camera. And four

independent channels of audio allow for maximum flexibility when

laying voice-overs and natural sound mixes in the field.

 I was happy to see the folks at Sony come through with their

promise to enter the ``real world'' of disk-based television

this year. Their digital TV station featured an entire

television facility whose core functions were performed

primarily on keyboards and hard disks. 

 The only thing missing was the disk-based cameras. I happily

pointed this out to several red-faced sales reps who, a year

earlier, had claimed that disk-based cameras were a pipe dream.

 Off-line editing systems came into the real world this year as

several manufacturers tried to steal a chunk a business from the

Abekas and ADO market.

 I was truly impressed with  these systems. No longer are page

curls, titling, and ``flying'' 3-D stills the sole arena for

high cost, stand-alone, special effects equipment.

 I priced an entire super edit system for about $70,000 minus

the tape machines. A comparably equipped room with all the

stand-alone features would easily have run two and three times

that.

 And look out all you Hi-8, SVHS, and VHS proponents because the

latest in digital technology is about to blow your socks off. 

 Both Panasonic and Sony introduced new 6 millimeter videotape

record systems that are expected to replace these analog

formats. 

  Looking ahead to next year, the folks at Tektronix promise a

complete digital library management system whose storage medium

would consist of off-the-shelf, inexpensive computer data tapes

and hardware.