69 HAPPENING NAB
THE LONE VENDOR WORKING IN SECRET TO UNVEIL A SINGLE, GROUNDBREAKING INNOVATION IS BECOMING INCREASINGLYRARE
approaching the stage where cloud will be the default method for content preparation and delivery. Generally, technology around innovative formats, like 8K and VR, was modestly folded into vendors’ other offerings at the show. Even with NHK’s imminent 8K Olympics trial in 2020, the 8K buzz – outside of NHK partners such as Sony – was minimal, and you had to make an effort to find VR capture tech. VR and 360 was showcased in a few workflows – MediaKind debuted tech for multi-channel 6K 360° live streaming – but again, these were laid out as part of the product
portfolio, not highlighted as they might have been a few years ago, as the forward edge of production. It’s possible that as we enter a fully digitised industry with cloud at its centre, technological development will take the form of slow and steady upgrades, rather than focus on ‘the hot new thing’ that has traditionally grabbed industry headlines. The lone vendor working in secret to unveil a single, ground-breaking innovation is becoming increasingly rare. Taking its place is the influence of DeVops, where technology is in a continuous state of development, with steady iterations continuing into perpetuity. It’s not as exciting as a Steve Jobs pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but it is likely to result in an industry that is more responsive to the needs of content makers and customers than a lone tech genius trying to corner the market. HOWDY, PARTNER Partnership was a key theme in the DPP’s
2019 industry predictions, released earlier this year, and the awareness that there is no such thing as the ‘self-made man’ – or company – was very much in the air at NAB. There were the annual M&A surprises, the most shocking of which was Vizrt’s acquisition of NewTek. As FEED did the rounds (we met with 50 companies – whew!) we asked people how a partnership mindset was informing their business decisions. “We put a lot of effort into working with our competitors to ensure we deliver
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