Magic or monster?

I am a technology junkie but only to a point, as long as it doesn't hurt. When you walk in the door of the geekiest conference on earth it's with a sense of wonder at the magic and dread at the sheer overwhelming task ahead. Just walking a show like this takes a toll, physically it's like you are lost in an endless maze, with no way out.
As yesterday was about acquisition, today is mostly about post production. I visited with our switcher partners as we own both a Broadcast Pix switcher and a Tricaster studio in a box. Both were offering incremental upgrades for nominal fees which is good. As we know, it's all about the upgrade as that's how companies keep you tethered to their product. BPix now brings virtual sets into their software and Tricaster now features a range of new features not the least of which is a control surface. These kinds of features are not surprising given that the competition is fierce. For example Blackmagic Design now makes a software switcher as well and it starts at $5k for the software/control surface. Couple that with a good Mac / display solution and for about $10k you have a studio in a box capable of cutting eight cameras and two DDRs. Our Tricaster is only a four camera but also handles live graphics, internal recording and streams on the fly, all in HD. We'll be looking for our students to be trained on the unit and hope to give them more experience in this area in the next year or two. Ideally we should have a three or four class training module around this.
Blackmagic also showed their own Cinema camera, a 2.5k RAW capable of using a range of lenses such as canon and Pl mount. Priced at $3000 it's aimed squarely at the DSLR market. Strangely, they were not monitoring the cameras to a large monitor so results were not really that clear. I suspect they may have a way to go, and we will wait for the bugs to shake themselves out. Given the Ikonoscope and the promising digital Bolex this is another similar product that offers yet another flavor of image capture. It has a very simple interface so this may attract some users.
At the Red booth, many changes are in evidence. It's interesting that they have positioned themselves in the post area of NAB. This is partially because they are actively promoting their laser projector. In the Red theatre, the film 'Loom' plays, a featurette directed by Ridley Scott's son Luke. This 3d story is a dystopian vision of a genetically engineered future where a lab tech steals some growth hormone. Shot on the Epic 4k it does look beautiful. Although the flaws in the 3d are distracting, the laser system supplies super bright imaging to both eyes simultaneously. I never once felt my brain getting weary from left/right processing. Afterwards, we demo'd the Scarlett and were pleasantly surprised. The camera is remarkably friendly to use. The image is lovely and the company is promising delivery in 5 - 7 days on average. This is a far cry from the six month long waits that owners have endured for their first generation Reds. After seeing all the cameras at the show, I am strongly in favor of a Red for the college. I believe it will give senior students a strong edge of experience that employers will notice. And this will serve them well in production and in post workflows.