Thursday, April 12, 2007

Silverado at NAB...

I'll be at NAB starting Sunday at 7:30 AM representing our company, Silverado Systems.

SUNDAY

On deck for Sunday is the Apple NAB event at 11 AM. Speculation has it that Apple will be releasing a new version of Final Cut Studio. There are also rumblings about a version called Final Cut Pro Extreme that may include hardware support for 4k and goes head-to-head with the higher end offerings from Avid.

New displays have been talked about, too. Apple's current crop of displays don't have HDCP--which is required for digital display of encrypted content from both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs.

So, if new Blu-Ray burning capabilities come out at NAB for Mac Pro towers, you won't be able to watch commercial Blu-Ray discs unless you have an HDCP-compliant monitor.

Also, there may be announcements regarding Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but I don't think NAB is the likeliest of venues for this.

One wildcard to watch is how Apple has integrated technology from Proximity (Artbox) and Silicon Color (FinalTouch HD) into Final Cut Studio--or if they did at all. Shake has always been a separate product when it was acquired. Its possible that Artbox and FinalTouch HD will also be distributed as separate products, too.

AJA has an event planned for 2:45 PM later that day. Looking forward to seeing some new gear from them, too.

FYI--Apple and AJA usually exhibit right near one another. However, this year RED Digital Cinema is also right next to them. I am hoping the proximity isn't coincidental, but portends a high degree of cooperation in developing a compelling workflow for RED's new 4K camera.

Going to hit Adobe's NAB reception at 6:00 PM that night before retiring to the hotel room to answer what will probably be a zillion e-mails...

MONDAY

We'll be hitting the show floor on Monday to check out the goods from all the vendors and meeting with clients.

We have RED Digital Cinema reservations #20 and #21, so that will probably be the first booth that we hit to check on the status of delivery. I anticipate it will be fairly soon based on comments made recently by Jim Jannard regarding the first 100 cameras (on deck by June?)

Lunch with a great client from Dallas who is with a new company and talking about a really cool new product doing storage differently than I'd ever heard proposed before. We'll see what happens on that front..

I'll be working at AJA's booth SL6113 from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM talking about Kona, IO, and other products. Our friend Eric Maddox will also be hand at the booth to talk about the workflow he just used on a video recently released to MTV.

Apple has a reseller event Monday night at 6 PM that we need to attend as well.

TUESDAY

We have a client from the mid-west that we are showing around on Tuesday. We'll be traveling to Ross, Miranda, Tektronix, Apple, and Panasonic--among others.

Also on deck for Tuesday are meetings with our strategic business partner Marmins Group LLC who will be on-hand to review the pro video market.

WEDNESDAY

At the AJA booth again--this time from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM.

Then, meeting with a filmmaker from the Bay Area at the RED booth to go over workflow and a possible project going forward this summer.

Later that night, the FCPUG Network is hosting the Sixth Annual FCPUG SuperMeet. Doors open at 5:00 PM and we'll be there through about 7:45 PM.

I am going to scoot early from the SuperMeet because our good friends and professional associates Matt Geller and Scott Murphy at Meta Media Creative Technologies have graciously extended us an invitation to dinner that night. It will be the highlight of our week.

THURSDAY

Back at Sacramento International Airport by 8 AM that morning...

If you would like to meet with me at the show floor to talk about systems or workflow, I'll have my cell with me at (916) 806-7189. I will also be checking e-mail's nightly at tloomis@silverado.cc

We'll also have all the new products released for sale posted up at our website.

I look forward to seeing everyone there!