HDTV is surely the longest-running overnight sensation in the history of broadcasting. Cries of “HD's here!” have been echoing through NAB's exhibit halls for more than a decade, but this time, the show's 100,000-plus attendees were very serious about gearing up for high-definition production and broadcast. Part of this stems from awareness about the February 2009 mandate when the FCC will pull the plug on analog TV and usher in the new age of 100-percent DTV broadcasting. Another factor? Consumers seem willing to upgrade to 720p and 1080i/1080p systems, especially with prices falling on large, flat-panel LCD and plasma TVs — laying the groundwork for a substantial market of HD-hungry viewers.

Major broadcasters and content providers have been gearing up for this for years, but the real revolution comes when the mid-market stations and producers get onboard. Or as one observer put it, “Think about how many college football games are going to want to be in HD over the next three years.”

A popular item on everyone's NAB 2007 shopping list was digital surround consoles, but in a buyer's market, the emphasis was on more power, more inputs and more surround program outs — but in increasingly compact frames and at half the price, naturally.

Calrec (www.calrec.com) unveiled Omega, a new mid-level console that uses its award-winning, FPGA-based Bluefin high-density signal processing technology and features 160 mono DSP paths packaged as 48 stereo and 64 mono channels, and up to 24 full 5.1 surround channels.

Keeping with the theme, SSL (www.solid-state-logic.com) renamed its C Series to C100 HD and C300 HD, doubling the inputs to 512, adding MORSE routing capabilities, updating Centuri processing and incorporating the workstation control from its AWS Series. Harrison (www.harrisonconsoles.com) countered with the under-$150k, Ikis-powered Trion. During the past few months, the company has sold four in Germany and a few more in Taipei.

Derived from the System 5 Series, the Euphonix (www.euphonix.com) S5 Fusion digital console combines onboard DSP processing channels and extensive DAW control with 24 channel strips and optional motor joysticks. Each channel strip has a multiformat moving fader; touch-sensitive knobs for EQ, filters, compressor, expander/gate, aux and pan; and DAW plug-in control for TDM, VST and Audio Units. The high-res screens show metering, track info and routing display.

Studer (www.studer.ch) unveiled an optional I/O card that brings onboard Dolby Digital and Dolby E decoding to its Vista and OnAir 3000 digital consoles. Soundcraft's (www.soundcraftdigital.com) Vi4 console includes all of the capabilities of its Vi6, but in a compact package. Less than five feet long, the Vi4 offers 48 inputs on 24 faders with a total of 27 output buses and inherits the Vi6's Vistonics II touchscreen interface and FaderGlow features.

Merging Technologies (www.merging.com) gave us a sneak peak of Pyramix 6 — the first 48-channel DSD recording system. Merging also showed the new sharp-looking Ramses controller with its Oasis I/O boxes that offer DSD and DXD recording with optional mic preamps in the box. It all speaks back to Pyramix via MADI.

Throughout NAB, you couldn't escape the “workflow” catchphrases: “server-based workflow,” “integrated workflow,” “paperless workflow,” etc. It's not just better technology, it's easier. Avid, Apple, Adobe and Sony lead the way, but there are plenty of other contenders in this area, from workstation manufacturers such as BIAS and MOTU to SSL with its MediaWAN.

The big talk at NAB was the $1,299 Final Cut Pro Studio 2 production bundle from Apple (www.apple.com/finalcutstudio). Highlights include Final Cut Pro 6, which introduces Apple's ProRes 422 format for uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes, and Soundtrack Pro 2, a complete revamping of this audio editor/creator with new tools for multitrack editing, surround mixing and conforming sound to picture.

Digidesign's (www.digidesign.com) Pro Tools Version 7.3 adds support for high-def video workflows, including a secondary timecode ruler that displays HD frame rates for viewing positions in both HD and SD timebases, and nudging in half-frame increments. Also shipping this summer, BIAS' (www.bias-inc.com) Peak Pro 6 features a redesign of the GUI and enhancements to the playlist, including new crossfades and the ability to tweak volume envelopes.

NAB had no end of software apps designed to increase efficiency in the production and broadcast environments. Virtual Katy's (www.virtualkaty.com) VK Connect bridges the gap between the sequence-oriented picture editing and session-structured audio post. The company also unveiled VK V. 2.5, now with expanded format support. Dolby (www.dolby.com) is now shipping its Dolby Media Producer suite of encode/decode/media tools. DMP supports all Dolby audio technologies for disc-based media formats, such as HD-DVD and Blu-ray, as well as standard DVD-Video and DVD-Audio formats. Minnetonka's (www.minnetonkaaudio.com) Audio Tools Batch Pro offers an automated processing environment for many audio-related tasks, including editing, encoding and plug-in processing. Studio Network Solutions (www.studionetworksolutions.com) showed Postmap, a Mac/Win search/management app that helps users instantly locate files on their entire storage systems: SAN, LAN, CD/DVD and FireWire drives. The company also showed Evo, a shared video-storage system that incorporates Fibre Channel, iSCSI and NAS.

With as-yet-unresolved FCC frequency allocation changes in the wind (see the April 2007 Mix), NAB attendees were interested in new wireless developments. Sony Pro Audio (www.sony.com/pro audio) showed its digital wireless system featuring a digital modulator and encryption scheme. A Sony codec chip helps the system deliver 24-bit/48kHz digital transmission quality. Mipro (dist. by Avlex, www.avlex.com) is shipping its single-channel ACT-81 and dual ACT-82 digital wireless systems. Both use a sub-band ADPCM algorithm that's said to eliminate compander noise.

Ideal for use with shotgun mics, the plug-on Zaxcom (www.zaxcom.com) TRX700 recording transmitter stores up to 12 hours of timecode-referenced audio on a removable miniSD card. Offering some safety in these days of crowded airwaves, this patent-pending feature provides automatic backup of the system's RF transmission.

Audio-Technica (www.audio-technica.com) touted its 1800 Series dual-channel UHF wireless system featuring a camera-mount receiver with a built-in mixer that lets users mix two input sources in the field. Some 996 UHF frequencies are available and single-channel systems are also offered. Sennheiser (www.sennheiserusa.com) showed its EK3241 camera-mount portable receiver with 32MHz switching bandwidth and 7,200 available frequencies.

NAB featured a multitude of new mics for high-res and multichannel production. DPA (www.dpamicrophones.com) displayed its first shotgun: the 4017, an 8.3-inch, 2.6-ounce unit with 130dB SPL handling, built-in 50Hz roll-off and switches for a 300Hz roll-off, and a 5k to 8k boost. HHB (www.hhbusa.com) showed its DRM85-C FlashMic in a new cardioid pattern. Both FlashMic models offer 1GB Flash memory, USB audio data transfer. Sony unveiled the feather-light ECM-680S, which can function as a shotgun, stereo or mono mic. If one side of the stereo feed goes out, then the mic adjusts and sends the output as dual-mono for worry-free field recording.

A new, affordable model from SoundField (www.soundfield.com), the SPS200 can produce simultaneous phase-coherent stereo and 5.1, decoding its output to the required formats via two cross-platform plug-ins. The mic also features remote control over pickup pattern and orientation. Sanken's (www.sanken-mic.com) WMS-5 delivers phase-coherent surround sound with five discrete outputs (L/C/R/Ls/Rs) from one compact 9.25-inch/8.3-ounce body.

The MCE 72 PV CAM from Beyerdynamic (www.beyerdynamic.com) is a camera-mountable stereo mic. Based on the consumer MCE 72, the new MCE 72 PV CAM runs on 11 to 52-volt phantom power for a hotter output signal.

Developed with PMC, Digidesign's RMS Series active monitors are offered as 5.5-inch two-way (RM1) and 6.7-inch two-way (RM2) versions, both with DSP-based digital crossovers and XLR analog and AES/EBU digital inputs. The RM1s are $1,249 each; the RM2s are $1,749 each.

Now available for PC and Mac is Genelec's (www.genelec.com) speaker-management software for its DSP-driven monitors. The software lets users run Genelec's AutoCal room correction and control up to 25 8200 speakers and five 7200 Series subs via standard Cat-5 cabling.

A “different” kind of monitor, DK-Technologies' (www.dk-technologies.com) new Starfish display for its MSD600M audio meters shows levels for each of the surround channels, along with the correlation between neighboring audio channels, making unwanted effects easy to track down.

We'll provide more coverage of new products from NAB in future issues and online at www.mixonline.com. Stay tuned!