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NAB 2008 Summary

If, like me, you couldn't possibly keep up with all of the goings-on at NAB and decided to wait it out until the end, here is a short summary of the biggest announcements (or the ones most interesting to me anyway) in bitesize form.

RED
New low-end portable camera Scarlet

• 3K
• Around $3000
• Early 2009 release
• New Mysterium X Sensor
• 1-120 fps (180 fps burst)
• 100MB/sec Redcode RAW and RGB recording via dual Compact Flash
• 4.8 inch LCD
• Fixed 8x T2.8 lens
• Auto and manual shooting modes
• Wi-Fi control - this one opens up many possibilities

PVC Scarlet write-up

New high-end camera Epic

• 5K (up from 4K)
• I have heard both $30,000 and $40,000 quoted (up from $17,500)
• Early 2009 release
• New Full-Frame S35 Mysterium X Sensor
• 1-100 fps (up from 1-60 fps)
• 100MB/sec (up from 36 MB/sec) Redcode and HDMI recording
• 6 lb body (down from 10 lbs)
• RAW and RGB recording to Red Flash
• Wi-Fi control
• Fully upgradeable
• You can get a full $17,500 credit for your Red One if you upgrade

PVC Epic write-up

New playback device RED Ray

• Early 2009
• 4K in
• 4K, 2K, 1080p, 720p, SD playback
• Can play back content from a regular red laser disc
• Plays native R3D files from Compact Flash
• 4 HD SDI and 4
  HDMI connections for 4K
• 2 HD SDI and 2 HDMI connections for 2K
• 2 hrs of 4K with 5.1 audio on a regular DVD
• FireWire 800 for connecting external hard disks or cameras
• Under $1000

PVC RED Ray write-up
Scott Simmons at the Editblog has several photographs of the various RED products.

Sony
PMW-EX3

• Around $13,000
• Uses SxS cards (similar to P2)
• Removable lens
• 1080i / 720p switchable
• Genlock and timecode inputs
• Shoulder-mounted
• Available late 2008

F35

• S35-sized sensor
• Extensive depth of field controls
• Greater dynamic range than the F23 (800% more)
• PL lens mount allows regular 35mm film lenses to be used

Panasonic
P2 Varicams (AJ-HPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700)

• Now uses P2 cards exclusively. 5x P2 slots available on each camera
• 2/3" CCDs
• Full-res 10-bit 4:2:2 AVC Intra-100 recording
• Variable frame rates in 1-frame increments
• Available fall 2008

AG-HPX170 solid-state camcorder

• Improves on the successful HVX200
• 1/3" premium-quality CCDs offering increased sensitivity and lower noise
• 13x lens with 28mm wide-angle setting (widest in its class)
• 12-60 fps in 720p-mode
• P2-only; no tape deck
• Much smaller and lighter than the HVX200
• Available fall 2008

Here is a great summary from DVXUser.com.

AJ-HVX200A camcorder

• Successor to the hugely popular HVX-200
• Incorporates the same lens and CCDs as the new HPX170 but with a tape deck for transitioning from a MiniDV workflow

Here is a great review from DVXUser.com.

64 GB P2 card

• More than 4 hours of DVCPRO footage
• More than 2 hours of DVCPRO50 or AVC-Intra 50
• More than 64 minutes of AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD
• Available fall 2008

AJ-PCD35 ExpressCard P2 drive

• Allows P2 cards to be used in machines with ExpressCard ports
• Can transfer from up to 5 cards at once
• Available late 2008

Imagineer Systems
High-end finishing system mogul

• Monthly subscription includes hardware, software and maintenance. Annual hardware upgrades
• Open platform allows content sharing and management between multiple applications
• Editing, compositing and grading integrated to allow you to switch from one to the other without rendering
• Software "plugs in" to the architecture to perform certain tasks such as mogul/roto and mogul/comp with similar interfaces
• mogul/serve shipping at NAB, other products to be determined

Studio Daily mogul interview

Matrox
MXO 2

• Inputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, XLR audio, RCA audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio
• Outputs: Component HD/SD, SDI HD/SD, Embedded SDI audio, Y/C, Composite, RCA audio, XLR audio, AES/EBU, HDMI, Embedded HDMI audio, Direct 5.1 surround monitoring
• This does not have a DVI output like the MXO so it cannot output to a Cinema Display
• Dynamic RT acceleration and hardware up/downscaling
• Designed for HDMI monitoring with calibration and 1:1 pixel mapping
• Black burst and tri-sync for HD
• $1600
• Released July 2008

Differences between the MXO and MXO 2 (PDF)
Shane Ross's write-up