The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, held annually in Las Vegas, Nev., has become a main stage for manufacturers to showcase technological advancements that impact a variety of audio-visual workflows through every phase of production, from prep through post. AC will be on hand during the run of the show, April 12-15, to take a look at a host of new releases as they take their place in the spotlight. Before the Convention Center’s doors even open, though, here’s a snapshot of what to look forward to.

1 Beyond, a leading provider of digital video editing and compositing systems, will unveil a portfolio of systems that eliminates the typical workflow and communications gaps between prep, production and post to create a powerful nonlinear 3-D workflow solution.

A wide range of content produced with 3ality Digital systems will be on display in the company’s booth as well as in partner booths throughout the show. 3ality Digital personnel will also be on hand to answer questions about the company’s 3-D production solutions.

AJA’s experienced staff will be on hand alongside industry experts and partners to discuss the company’s workflow solutions for every step of the production process, including acquisition, conversion and editing.

Alteran Technologies will introduce the ViTaDi product suite, furnishing all content owners with a cost-effective digital-migration solution. The ViTaDi flagship suite is an extremely rapid and scalable conversion solution that captures, transcodes and delivers video in multiple video/audio file formats to media servers, digital archives and asset management systems.

Anton/Bauer, a Vitec Group brand and provider of batteries, chargers, lighting and other mobile-power systems for the professional film, video and broadcast industries, will showcase its full product line while celebrating its 40th anniversary. The company will also introduce a new addition to its innovative Dionic HC battery line and debut the Tandem 150 Modular Power System and the ULHM-LED and Eledz LED light solutions.

Arri will be present with its full range of camera, lighting and post solutions, including the recently announced Alexa digital camera. The compact, lightweight and robust Alexa offers a base sensitivity of 800 ASA, low noise and approximately 13 stops of latitude. Compatible with 35mm cine lenses, the camera incorporates a single CMOS sensor with a Bayer mask and 3.5K pixel count, and it offers a generous number of output signals, including HD and ArriRaw.

Autodesk will unveil the latest versions of its visual effects, finishing and color-grading software products for film, television and commercial postproduction. Digital Entertainment Creation products on display will include Smoke and Smoke Advanced editorial finishing software; Flame and Flare for 3-D visual effects and design finishing; Lustre for digital color grading and look development finishing; Maya for 3-D modeling, animation, visual effects and rendering; and 3ds Max for 3-D modeling, animation and rendering.

In its booth in the Plug-In Pavilion, Automatic Duck will debut a number of key advancements to its family of timeline transition tools, including powerful new versions of Pro Import AE, which includes compatibility with Adobe Creative Suite 5, and Media Copy, which will emphasize project and bin file support for one of the industry’s leading NLEs.

Band Pro will showcase its latest cameras, lenses, monitors, accessories, 3-D production tools and more. One particular highlight will be the company’s recently announced PL-mount Mystery Primes, which boast unified distance and focus scales, common size and location of focus and iris rings, a 95mm threaded lens front and T1.4 aperture.

Barber Tech Video Products will be showcasing the latest version of its versatile Steddiepod handheld camera stabilizer and support. The company will also highlight its Ultimate Lighting Kit.

Cache-A will debut its Pro-Cache archive appliance for the digital film, broadcast and professional video industries. The small form factor Pro-Cache offers many of the advanced on-set and in-studio features demanded by media-industry professionals. The company will also showcase its Prime-Cache network-attached archive appliance, which is specifically designed to meet the archiving needs of small post houses and small-scale field productions.

CalDigit, a leader in storage solutions for the content-creation industry, has three major new products to show. The HDPro-24 is a rack-mount 24-drive RAID solution. The SuperShare allows users to share storage over an extremely fast PCIe-based network. The AV Drive is a USB 3.0 solution for the Mac capable of speeds up to 140MB/s.

Carl Zeiss plans to unveil its Compact Prime II lenses for use with EF-mount DSLR cameras. Modified from Zeiss’ PL-mount Compact Primes, the new set of eight lenses — with focal lengths from 18mm to 85mm — features a bayonet mount, allowing them to fit directly to the DSLR camera with no need for modification. 

Cartoni will showcase its entire line of professional camera supports, including a number of new products, such as the Action Pro HDSLR and Focus HD fluid heads, the Heavy Duty 2-Stage Tripod, a new set of rail wheels and the Low Mode 100mm mount for its extendable dolly system, and new accessories and integrated equipment for the E-REM 15 remote head.

In addition to a fully functioning “broadcast studio,” Christie will spotlight its HD projection systems and the latest 4K-ready digital cinema projector. The company will also introduce MicroTiles, modular display tiles that can be stacked and clustered to create display walls and stage sets of any shape and size.

CineBags will introduce two new products during the NAB show. Designed for the Red battery, the CB-80 Battery Pack is an easy-access pouch that can attach to a belt. Designed specifically for the Red 5.6 LCD screen, the CB-90 Monitor Pack uses high-impact foam to protect the LCD monitor while being transported; additionally, a zipped pouch keeps cables and the monitor arm organized.

Cinedeck will debut a camera-mountable HDMI/HDSDI recording, monitoring, playback and editing device for the production community. Designed by cinematographers for cinematographers, Cinedeck defines an entirely new category of extremely portable, affordable, platform-agnostic, cinema-grade recording and monitoring solutions for anyone with an HDMI, HDSDI or LAN camera.

CineForm will be emphasizing end-to-end 3-D workflows in its booth, shared with Cinedeck. The company will show direct 3-D acquisition into CineForm stereo files from 3-D sources, and for post, the company will demonstrate new features of the upcoming Neo3D revision for both Windows and Mac, including keyframeable convergence adjustments, floating windows and ghost busting. CineForm will also extend its NeoHD/Neo4K family to be 3-D capable. Also look for CineForm in the Panasonic and Nvidia booths, where the company will demonstrate 3-D editorial workflows that leverage innovations in camera, display and graphics technology.

Cine-tal will demonstrate its latest product releases, including version 2.8 of its cineSpace color-management software suite and the Color Processor for Dolby 3-D projection systems. The company will also showcase its Davio product line, which provides precision calibration to Plasma display systems and offers a host of stereoscopic workflow solutions, as well as version 4.1 for the Cinemage 2000 and Cinemage B Series product lines.

Cintel will demonstrate the new Ditto Evolution 2K and 4K film scanner, which can be instantly switched from pin registration to non-pin registration. The scanners also include film-grain management and image-stabilization tools.

Cooke will turn the spotlight on its 5/i prime lenses, which boast T1.4 speed and a focus ring that illuminates when needed. Supplied with /i Technology, the lenses provide data per frame for postproduction. The company will also showcase the new Panchro by Cooke lenses, a smaller, lighter series offering the same resolution, optical quality and reliability as the S4/i but at a lower price. Cooke will co-exhibit with ZGC Inc., the exclusive North and South American distributor for Cooke, P+S Technik, CCG and Putora. Cooke will also reveal the details surrounding a recently announced working partnership with Thales Angenieux.

Digital Anarchy will showcase the Beauty Box plug-in, a new skin-smoothing software solution for video, HD and film. The plug-in smoothes skin wrinkles and blemishes in footage within After Effects, Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro.

Digital Vision will spotlight the new features in its upcoming 2010 software releases. In particular, the company will showcase its Nucoda Film Master system, featuring a stereoscopic grading toolset, native camera support for major new cameras and full Avid workflow integration; the Phoenix platform for advanced restoration, repurposing and remastering; and a preview of the next generation of the DVO noise- and grain-reduction technology.

Dolby will showcase its new Professional Reference Monitor PRM-4200. The 42" LCD-based video reference display boasts the accuracy of previous CRT monitors with the versatility of flat-panel displays.

A driving force in collaborative workflow management and shared-storage solutions, EditShare will demonstrate innovative technology enhancements to its award-winning Complete Collaboration product line, which now includes the recently acquired Geevs broadcast playout systems and Lightworks editing solutions. The company will also showcase EditShare Flow, a multi-channel SD/HD ingest, log, browse and asset-tracking solution; EditShare Storage Series and XStream Series solutions for standard and large user workgroups and digital-intermediate workflows; and EditShare Ark, offering purpose-built media protection for broadcast and post.

Enhance Technology will introduce its latest high-performance storage products for the digital video and audio markets. Among the highlights are the company’s first Dual Active Controller RAID Array, the new 16-disk Enterprise SAS Expander storage array and the next-generation EnhanceRAID E400 FR cable-less desktop RAID storage solutions designed for media libraries, postproduction and more.

Eyeheight will showcase ComplianceSuiteFC, a set of plug-in software modules for Apple Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Express. Two modules being introduced are the LegalEyesFC video legalizer and the SafeEyesFC safe-area generator.

Facilis, a provider of shared media storage technology for postproduction and content creation, will showcase new software that improves the collaborative power and flexibility of the company’s TerraBlock product. The Shared File System offers users read/write access to project-based Virtual Volumes over 8Gbit Fibre channel and 1Gbit Ethernet, seamless integration between Windows and Mac OS X mixed environments, simultaneous access to all media without per-seat license fees, and easy upgrades for existing customers.

Building on a solid base of award-winning digital-video recorders, FFV will showcase both new and legacy products. The new-product spotlight will be on the company’s HD3 — a compact, versatile, all-in-one DVR designed for on-set motion-picture and television production — and Micron HD, a powerful, cost-effective solution for recording and playback. Legacy products on display will include the Omega HD, for high-end recording and playback, and the Elite HD, a camera-mounted DVR and player that harnesses the JPEG2000 compression codec for recording lossless HD-SDI video signals.

Fresh from winning four Sci-Tech Awards, FilmLight will demonstrate the latest additions to its Northlight, Baselight and Truelight systems. The company will be on the show floor in the Sony Electronics booth.

For-A will introduce the VFC-7000 HD Variable Frame Rate camera. The super-slow-motion camera offers high-speed playout and recording in full-frame HD (1280x720), with variable recording speeds from 125 to 700 fps.

The Foundry will discuss its collaboration with Weta Digital to bring to market the highly regarded Mari 3-D texture-painting technology. The company will also announce the latest version of Nuke and a new range of Adobe After Effects plug-ins.

Front Porch Digital will debut new versions of its Samma V.4 core products, the Samma Solo, Samma Robot, Samma Prep and Samma Clean. With the new releases, the company has enhanced the global versatility, interoperability and functionality of the Samma family, designed for migrating media content from videotape to safe, secure and readily accessible file-based formats.

Fujinon will show its series of PL-mount zoom lenses, featuring fast T speeds and color-matched 4K optical performance. The family comprises the 18-85mm T2.0, 75-400mm T2.8-3.8, 24-180mm T2.6 and 14.5-45mm T2.0, all of which are similar in size and weight and feature uniform gear placement and front-barrel diameters. The company will also introduce six B4-mount lenses in conjunction with its 3-D Synchronous Control System for 3-D production.

FMC, an authorized digital media training organization for postproduction, broadcast and content creators, will have both management and instructors on-site to highlight recent course offerings from the company’s award-winning curriculum. NAB attendees can also stop by the FMC booth anytime during the convention to be entered for a chance to win a free FMC training course at any FMC branch location or through FMCIOnline.

Gekko Technology will introduce two major additions to its range of high-efficiency LED lighting systems for film and television production. The Kezia 50 and Kezia 200 are both hard-source LED luminaires based on Gekko’s kleer-color light engine, with variants for film and television as well as entertainment.

GenArts, a provider of specialized visual-effects software for the film, television and video industries, will present a number of product demonstrations and sneak peaks at new software products, including Monsters GT for Adobe After Effects, Sapphire 5 for After Effects and Sapphire for Autodesk Smoke on Mac. Additionally, Jeroen Schulte of Industrial Light & Magic will be on hand to demonstrate how GenArts software has been used to create visual effects in blockbuster films.

In addition to showcasing its full line of storage solutions for video production and post professionals, G-Tech will unveil a new storage solution designed for professional content creators.

While celebrating its 100-year anniversary, Hitachi Kokusai will exhibit several new products driven by customer input over the past few years. The offerings on display will range from cameras, encoders and digital microwave systems to ISDB-T transmitters.

Ikegami will exhibit its innovative line of HDTV cameras, monitors and production equipment. Highlights include the tapeless GFCamT HD camcorder with Flash memory and cameras and monitors for 3-D HDTV production, ultra-high-quality 3G-SDI 1080/60p HDTV capture and display, and more.

In its booth in the Plug-In Pavilion, Imagineer Systems will debut its completely reengineered flaghship planar-tracking and roto station, Mocha v2. Built on Imagineer’s unique 2.5D planar-tracking technology, Mocha v2 adds such enhancements as 64-bit support; a newly enhanced, streamlined user interface; improved licensing activation; and support for Nuke 6.0, NukeX and Apple Motion.

JMR Electronics will unveil the BlueStor DigiLab and RapidEncode Video Servers. The BlueStor DigiLab gives cinematographers, directors and producers the ability to view RAW 2K/4K shots and make digital dailies in the field. The BlueStor RapidEncode offers tremendous control in creating files for electronic distribution.

JVC will showcase its ProHD line of camcorders, which deliver outstanding image quality while using affordable, non-proprietary SDHC media and offering Apple Final Cut Pro native file recording; the new flagship of the line, the GY-HM790 camcorder, will also be unveiled. The company will also exhibit its range of professional LCD monitors for studio and field use, including its new Vérité G Series professional LCD monitors, which feature 3G and dual-link HD/SD-SDI (1080p/60 4:4:4) inputs.

Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand, will introduce a new family of focusable LED Fresnel fixtures that utilize 1/10 the energy of conventional tungsten Fresnel lights. The company will also showcase the MicroPro Hybrid on-camera LED light, capable of continuous and flash lighting.

Formerly known as Bogen Imaging, Manfrotto Distribution will announce new camera supports and accessories from several of its manufacturers as well as new bags and cases from Kata.

Marquise Technologies will introduce RAIN (Radically Advanced Imaging Ngine), an advanced color-grading solution powered by the Nvidia Quadro Digital Video Pipeline. The company will also spotlight an easy-to-navigate Red workflow using the MIST playback and conforming solution. Additionally, with Sondor, Marquise will showcase the OCEAN universal telecine controller.

Matthews will introduce Hot Flags, which allow precise cutting of light at relatively close distance to large heat-producing HMI and tungsten fixtures. Available in four sizes — 18"x24", 24"x26", 48"x48" and 24"x72" — the Hot Flags will be featured alongside several other new products.

Maxon, a developer of professional 3-D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions, will showcase the full range of capabilities of its Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D software applications. Furthermore, the company has arranged for guest appearances from some of today’s most inspired digital content professionals, who will showcase 3-D motion graphics created with Cinema 4D.

Miracube will showcase its line of high-quality 3-D stereoscopic displays, which support 3-D post solutions. The company offers both auto-stereoscopic and stereoscopic versions with resolution up to 1920x1200 and extra-wide virtual view angles. The displays also boast a four-format built-in system (interlace, frame sequential, sub-field and side-field) and two-camera view.

Nila, a manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, will showcase several new products, including the Boxer LED Series, designed to replace 2,000-watt tungsten or 1,200-watt HMI fixtures, and the SL LED Series, designed to replace 6,000-watt tungsten space lights while drawing only 850 watts.

Nvidia will showcase its latest breakthrough technologies for 3-D broadcasting, including a new Digital Video Pipeline that integrates live-action 3-D acquisition, real-time 3-D graphics, 3-D encoding and 3-D distribution for home theater or PC-based viewing. The company will also demonstrate how its GPUs power Adobe’s Mercury Playback Engine, a powerful solution for film and video production from SD through Red 4K.

OConnor, a Vitec Group Brand, will introduce its line of professional camera accessories, including the Follow Focus CFF-1. Additionally, the company will spotlight its range of fluid heads, including the popular 120EX.

Omneon will demonstrate its media storage, processing and distribution infrastructure for enabling efficient content production workflows and distribution of content across multiple platforms. Products on display will include the MediaGrid Active Storage System, the Spectrum Media Server System, the MediaDeck GX Channel Playout Solution, the ProXplore clip and metadata management application and the Media Application Server.

P+S Technik will showcase its full product range, including the Pro35 and Mini35 image converters and the 35Digital and 16Digital lens sets. The company will also demonstrate the Freestyle Rig, an improved Standar Rig, the SI-3D Recorder, the recently released 16Digital SR Mag with new workflow solutions for the Mag and the SI-2K camera, and the Automatic Splice Repair Module for the SteadyFrame Scanner.

Panasonic’s booth will spotlight the company’s extensive product range, including a host of new products. Highlights will include the AG-3DA1 Full HD 3-D camcorder, the AJ-PCD2 single-slot P2 memory card drive, the portable AG-MSU10 P2 Media Storage Unit and the BT-3DL2550, a 25.5” 3-D LCD production monitor with full 1920x1200 resolution.

Pelican Products, a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced lighting systems and virtually indestructible cases, will exhibit the new 1740 and 1770 Long Cases, perfect for light kits, C-stands and power packs. The 1740 and 1770 cases feature 6,600 and 7,300 cubic inches of usable storage space, respectively, and both cases feature an open cell core and polymer wall construction-engineered to protect sensitive equipment.

Penta will introduce the HD2line Pro, the company’s new family of HD2line LCD monitors. Building upon Penta’s success with advanced display technology and the company’s state-of-the-art processor engine — an advanced, multi-standard, calibrated monitoring system — the new monitors will deliver even greater accuracy. As an exclusive representative of the Lux Media Plan line of high-end specialty cameras in North America, Penta will also introduce the Lux Media Plan HD 1200 remote-control HD camera system, one of the smallest HD cameras currently available.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Petrol Bags, a Vitec Group brand, will introduce the Black Deca line. Black Deca professional bags boast a sleek, practical design packed with a host of industry-leading advantages.

Plasticase will showcase its complete line of injection-molded cases, including the Nanuk line of extreme carrying cases. Engineered and manufactured to military specifications, Nanuk is designed to protect the most sensitive equipment in the harshest environments.

Polecam will demonstrate its 3-D HD capture and storage solutions. Responding to rapidly increasing demand for 3-D HD video content, the company recently announced that its 3D-Narrow pan-and-tilt head will be supplied as standard with all new systems, and users will have the option of choosing a new 3D-Wide head.