Reflecting On IBC2013...

Peter Savage, MD of Azule Finance, looks back on this year's IBC show in Amsterdam...

Another year, another IBC, and 2013 was the biggest one to date. 4K was the watch-word of the show, but this wasn’t the only exciting topic of discussion in the RAI. Despite new product announcements being thinner on the ground than in previous years, there were still a few new pieces of kit that I’ll be keeping an eye on.

Cameras
There were murmurings of new cameras in the lead up to this year’s show, but perhaps not as many as there have been in previous years. The rumour mill had thrown out the possibility of a new ‘baby Alexa’ from Arri - a 4k camera, supposedly - and while it turned out to be 2K rather than 4K, we’ve still heard plenty of chatter about the Amira since its announcement at the show. With this new product, many who were looking to invest in new cameras may now be hesitant and decide to wait until the Amira ships next year. This isn’t surprising, as it seems to be a very good camera and will undoubtedly be another highly popular Arri, but with dealers already being pushed by manufacturers to run promotions and move existing stock, this new arrival may not help the situation.
In the meantime, Sony has launched two new cameras – the PXW-Z100 and the FDR-AX1 – which are both 4K-capable.
While the former is aimed at the professional market and the latter at the consumer, it’s safe to say that these really bring 4K to a ‘prosumer’ or entry-level market. While we expect to see Sony doing well with higher price point 4K cameras, this move to bring ‘4K to the masses’ is an interesting one.
One manufacturer who seems to have fallen a little off the pace recently is Panasonic. I remember when the P2 was announced, Pana was leading the pack, but the news that the 4K VariCam is slated to ship this time in 2014 suggests that this Japanese giant isn’t quite the leader it used to be. Will this be too late to join the 4K fray? We’ll have to wait and see.

Storage
We’ve seen a lot of buzz around post houses in the last few months, with several setting up, such as Milk. This seems to be a good time then for Avid to have announced its latest shared storage system, the ISIS 5500. Apparently shipping just about now, this should be ideal for the TV post market, where Avid is doing well at the moment with both long and short-form programming.
Storage is undoubtedly set to be THE next growth area in our industry, as broadcast media converge with IT platforms. Half of Hall 7 at this year’s show was filled with storage applications, and this is only set to continue expanding. But with an increasingly competitive marketplace, there’s bound to be a shake-out sooner or later, and it will be interesting to see which of the numerous ‘disruptive’ tech companies of today will be left standing tomorrow. ISIS has a very solid standing in its market, but which of its competitors will survive with it?
Other highlights
Having already spoken about the post market briefly, it’s worth giving credit where it’s due in a specific area of post, namely VFX. As mentioned before, we’ve seen a surge of new post houses set up recently, and in almost every one, Foundry software makes an appearance. The company’s going from strength to strength in VFX post, and Nuke 8 is sure to be a vital tool.
On the audio side of things, Avid’s S6 control surface should also have plenty of fans, as it builds on the industry-leading ICON. It seems pretty clear that Avid is keeping editing and post pros in its sights with this.
Amongst all of the excitement around new cameras that inevitably comes with each IBC, this year I was particularly looking forward to seeing new peripheral products – the supporting that’s essential to cameramen and cinematographers while they’re capturing ever more impressive images. There was plenty to see, but one company which jumped out in particular was Codex, which was showing a number of very clever products, particularly one called Vault 2. This impressive piece of kit allows for on-set management of multiple recording formats, and should make ingestion and workflow that bit more manageable, all while being very affordable. A company to watch.

Looking back on IBC 2013
I always look forward to IBC. It’s a chance to catch up with industry friends and it’s always good fun. But while it is quite a useful trip to make, you could make the argument that it’s more of a holding show now rather than the dynamic heart-of-the-industry event that it used to be. It’s become a little bland and far less transactional than it once was.
It seems that regional shows like BVE and SATIS are becoming more effective, and are more reflective of the industry. If I were a manufacturer, I’d invest more in the regional shows. IBC’s become too large and unwieldy, too expensive, and it’s lost its way a bit. That said, I’ll definitely be there again next year.
www.azule.co.uk
(IT/CD)