Content Insider #82

Technology: Page (1) of 1 - 05/07/07

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Content Insider #82 Content & The Screen(s) By Miles Weston

?Jus' gamble 'long. Just... keep what she give me.? ? Jett Rink (James Dean) ? Giant, 1956

Two events ? GDC (Game Developers Conference) and NAB (National Association of Broadcasting) ? set the stage, mark the trends we?ll see in a year or two in stores to fill our waking hours with entertainment content.

At NAB this year the ?buzz? was all about breathtaking cameras like The Big Red One that shot stuff so beautifully you really knew you were part of the TV/movie script. Not to be outdone Sony and Panasonic said they had similar beauties?in the works.

Then there were the symphonies of beautiful NLEs from Avid, Adobe, Apple (guess what Disney uses?) and others that really streamline work for the production and post production people to make content regular folks want to watch.

The new 3D tools which were perfected in gaming are becoming commonplace in content development with products like those from Boris that can finally deliver video that will get people off (and behind) their couch.

These things are all exciting not just for big iron networks and studios but because they are now within the reach of small stations and indie producers around the world. The stuff is so good and so economical that Tellywood might want to rethink Uncle Bawley?s (Chill Wills) recommendation? ?Bick, you shoulda shot that fella a long time ago. Now he's too rich to kill.?

Welcome to NAB ? There?s a lot to see during NAB because it is a big, wide open show. Lots of space as broadcasters and content producers/owners looked for new, better ways to produce, store, deliver, monetize, protect their creative works. Source ? Warner Bros. (Giant)

But like the cult-film Giant showed there?s a big, wide-open range out there just ripe for the takin?.

With the growing list of content options ? IPTV, mobile TV, downloadable video, TV set/PC monitor, theater and disc ? it seems that money available above and below the ground.

Theater viewing continues to be good considering people have so many entertainment options that it is becoming overwhelming. Disc content sales are flat but still respectable. Lots of folks like say the problem is the blue range war ? we tend to believe most of the problems are in the content being offered and the viewing options.

Content selling/rental opportunities and viewing options?

HighDef TV is rapidly replacing StandardDef around the globe and broadband content deliver is becoming standard fare (Figure 1).

All Those Pipes ? Broadcasters, content owners, content producers around the globe see a world of financial reward opportunities in delivering entertainment content to consumers in every land, every language. Regular and IPTV viewing continues to grow. Source ? iSuppli

At the same time, Tellywood is seeing a cocooning trend that they are definitely not happy with. People want to watch their content when they want to watch it, not when the content barons dictate it is entertainment time. Everyone seems to be interested in timeshifting and VOD (video on demand) (Figure 2).

VOD Growth ? People rely less on a TV schedule as they timeshift shows. In addition, video on demand of quality content is becoming increasingly popular. The Long Tail growth presents opportunities not just for the major network and Hollywood producers but also independents and niche producers. Source ? iSuppli

That ?might? be acceptable but networks, stations and studios still have to figure out how they can strike oil on this new landscape and monetize the trend.

As if this wasn?t enough to give the land barons sleepless nights, there?s another wind of change sweeping across the plains they have to deal with?content anywhere.

Entertaining yourself is a foreign concept to tweens and teens as the sale of portable media devices (Figure 3) and content enabled phone like units exceed every bullish forecast.

Entertainment On The Go ? The success of PMPs (portable media players) both audio and video has exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. People of all ages download and take their entertainment with them. They also are finding over-the-air content services keep them in touch with the latest music, up-to-the-minute news and shows of every flavor. Source ? Jupiter Research

To satisfy the video variety needs, NAB attendees are shooting and creating as much as 10X more content than they might use. They are using 8-, 10- and 12-bit converters like those unveiled by PYRO|AV to convert that content into every format you can think of ? MPEG-2, MPEG-4, SD, HD, DivX, H.264 and more!

That?s great news for people who make it their business to store stuff ? HP, Rorke, EMC, IBM, Verbatim, LaCie, Avid, Seagate, DAX and others that offer all shapes/sizes/prices of storage solutions (Figure 4).

Feed Me ? Content producers around the globe are shooting, capturing and processing entertainment materials in increasing quantities. In addition to worrying about production and post production work they also have to be concerned with content delivery in a new range of formats as well as in archiving, protecting the content. This spells major opportunities for every storage solution provider. Source ? Coughlin Associates

It wasn?t that long ago that 1TB was huge and expensive. Now it is the starting point for every prosumer videographer, indie producer and post production facility.

Storage has become so fascinating in the industry you couldn?t fault one NAB attendee repeating Giant?s Adarene words to an exhibitor, ?Why, Luz, everybody in this county knows you'd rather herd cattle than make love.?

The new content format mix has Tellywood IT people talking in terms of PB (Figure 5) while production houses (and probably a few YouTube ?producers?) consider 50 ? 100TB a good starting point.

Digital Growth ? When content IT people used to be concerned with storing a few MB or GB and perhaps an occasional TB of content, new highdef cameras and the trend for multiple camera angles and multiple scene captures has pushed storage requirements to the TB+ and PB range. Storage, storage management and content management have become major concerns for Tellywood, post production houses and indies alike. Source ? IDC

Fortunately storage no longer costs a gazillion dollars.

Of course the pipe between the storage and the dual quad-core Intel Xeon processor systems is a hurdle.

Now we?re talking thruput!

That means you choose FC multipathing; high speed SAS, SATA and eSATA II; as well as plain old FireWire and USB 2.0 connections.

All depends on the number of people involved in the production, post production operation as well as content delivery (revenue streams) options.

Even though most of the folks focused on the NAB eye candy, operations people spent their time in sessions and on the show floor looking at the ?mundane? stuff ? workflow management that Avid, HP, SGI and even Apple were touting to the money managers.

Getting the content efficiently and effectively from camera to some viewing screen is still the name of the game. The industry has gotten deadly serious about integrating the creative process with the business side of the house (even when it is only a couple of people).

The technologies have become so reliable and scalable indies, companies that produce their own videos, religious houses and educational institutions can (carefully) choose a solution today and have it grow with them.

The one area that is still a work in progress is the management of those 10X video assets and different flavors of distributed content.

SMPTE has recognized that this is a problem that is only growing in magnitude as more and more content starts and stays digital from its inception to its consumption.

While Apple made a lot of noise at the show regarding their asset management solution we did see a number of more intriguing, universal platform solutions. One from a company called Square Box ? www.squarebox.co.uk ? was very interesting because they showed a solution that is affordable for prosumers/indies and yet scalable for a bunch of production seats.

These asset management products are very good at searching across the content storage mix in a textural form. But all of them will look better in the next generation (we believe) when they are able to ?read? and select based on precise rather than broad visual elements.

Finding a single image ? or sequence ? of say James Dean bathed in oil from his gusher still requires some software breakthroughs or someone sitting down and going through as many as 50+ clips.

No big problem when all you have is 1TB of content but cripes some operations already a couple of hundred + TB of content they?re managing across a range of storage technology that keeps growing (Figure 6), not shrinking.

No Storage Left Behind ? Things would be a little simpler for Tellywood and content producers/owners if one or two storage formats would fall by the wayside. But this simply isn?t happening. Present, past and future formats seem to have a life of their own as content managers fill large and small digital bit buckets. Source ? IDC

It?s a pain on our home 1TB NAS and 400-disc CD/DVD library. We shudder to think if we had to find a couple of clips in a small station news department, ABC-TV?s news cavern or Disney?s treasure trove.

But then that?s why the producers as well as production/post production people get paid the big bucks.

Drilling for Dollars ? Content owners, producers and almost anyone even remotely involved likes to think of their audio/video creations as a never ending source of profit. They want to monetize every drop of creative content by preparing it in as many different formats as possible, selling/renting it to everyone possible and still retain mineral rights. That?s becoming a big challenge in our digital environment. Source ? Warner Bros. (Giant)

For the rest of us, it?s sorta like what Jett/James Dean said when Leslie/Liz Taylor said money isn?t everything...?Not when you've got it.?

Quickly searching for and finding that specific media asset is everything!

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Undercover author Miles Weston has spent more than 30 years in the storage, software and video industry, indulging in, among other things, marketing activities in promoting PC, CE, communications, content technology and their applications . Contact Miles through his editor by clicking here.

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