The annual NAB Show is upon us. More than 100,000 attendees will flock to Las Vegas April 23 to 26 to see and hear the latest information and the tools of broadcasting pictures and sound. Once the province of radio and television, the show now includes webcasting and multimedia - not to mention satellite services - as the lines among television, computers, motion pictures and the web continue to blur. The NAB Multimedia World - an exhibition within the exhibition - provides a showcase for a variety of display and video production products.

In the past, internet streaming audio and video applications have been a growing part of this show; NAB will offer a completely separate streaming media conference called NAB Xstream, later this year in New Orleans.

It was only twenty years ago that the first digital video effects generators were first shown at NAB. At a tiny booth, people from New York Institute of Technology's Computer Graphics Laboratory demonstrated the possibility that creatures might be animated by computer. In later years, upstarts using the Amiga personal computer and the Video Toaster proved that high-quality video production could be achieved with low-cost hardware. And computer hard drives began to replace videotape in applications from image storage to cameras.

Later, high-definition television showed up at the NAB show, as did electronic cinema and web broadcasting of streaming media. Hidden in corners at NAB were some of the earliest breakthroughs in video projection, while giant booths showcased dozens of new thin plasma display panels as space-saving programmable message boards and video displays.

Today, the NAB show is a place where broadcasters and non-broadcasters can see all that is possible using high-end video production tools. And history has shown that these tools will rapidly move down in cost and out in their applicability to a broad range of video and audio services.

While large-venue projectors - such as those intended for electronic cinema - will be found at NAB. Most churches will benefit from increasing light output and falling costs in the mid-range of the projector market. New products in this range can be expected to be introduced at the NAB show by firms such as Barco, Christie Digital Systems and Digital Projection, Inc.

"Most church administrators recognize the importance of a bright display to support mid- to large congregations," says Digital Projection, Inc. CEO Mike Levi. However, very few anticipate the cost associated with integrating high-performance projection systems which are necessary to combat the ambient light created by stained glass windows and sanctuary lighting. (We) will launch three new products under $50,000 at NAB, all based on three-chip DLP technology by Texas Instruments, that offer a competitive cost of entry to this level of
performance."

Barco will be offering increased light output from its high-end projectors, "suitable for larger churches of 3,000 seats and up," according to Projection Product Manager, Lee Wolloff. "Also (Barco) will have a mid-range 5,000-lumen three-DLP/XGA projector at the $50,000 price point."

Also, according to Wolloff, a new "Nexis" division of Barco will show "an interactive control room for distance communication and interactive scenarios, using ultra-high-resolution, 6,000x4,000-pixel displays based on Barco stacked wall cube technologies, pulling together aspects of the IP environment and projectors."

Pete Zeidler, director of business development at JVC says, "NAB is a broad show. We will be exhibiting projectors that are appropriate to the church market, as well as video recorders and a pro-quality camera under $5,000."

"The lowest-priced SXGA projectors using D-ILA (have been) around $9000," according to Dr. William Bleha, JVC's director of projection technology. "A new 13-pound (SXGA unit) is coming that will drop the price a couple of thousand, at around 1,000 lumens."

Janné Fielding, director of channel programs and marketing at In Focus Systems, told Church Production that "We have merged into one corporation with separate brands (In Focus and Proxima) as well as ASK in Europe. We will sell both brands into the same channels."

Fielding adds, "We won't be exhibiting at NAB, but we will have a training seminar for dealers and potential partners. We don't offer products at the really high end, but we have a bit of crossover with a 5,000-lumen, four-lamp product. And we have targeted marketing [brochures etc] for our partners for the church market."

Christie Digital Systems will be at NAB, according to Wayne Bickley, who supports the firm's activities in the church market. "We will launch a product at NAB...It will be aimed at the church market."

So the NAB show serves many masters. It is a place to window-shop for the latest trends in video production equipment, and quite a few projector manufacturers will be there, too. Such firms as Hitachi, JVC, NEC, Panasonic, Pinnacle, Play, Inc. (Trinity) and Sony will be showing their wares for a range of video applications from small institutional studios to full-scale broadcast operations. Hundreds will attend the reception for radio amateurs - a graying population of people whose hobby and life work in television and radio are inseparable. High-level participants - in some years including even the President himself - will restate the importance of radio and television to our society. Some will go to shop for equipment. And others will go just to keep up to date...