IS IT WORTH VISITING IBC?

by Christina Fox

I've been going to IBC on and off for the last 15 years, and have no doubt it is one of the best ways of keeping up with the latest technology and spotting emerging trends. It was probably the best place to see the first tentative steps into High Definition, the growth of non-linear editing suites (which have now shrunk to the size of a laptop), and watch the gradual move from analogue to digital. What was that curse about living in interesting times?

So, was IBC2002 worth a visit? Many of the exhibitors felt that visitor numbers were down this year. Probably because there just isn't the cash to splash around at the moment. Plus, we are not seeing any great upheavals in technology. Most bits of kit on show were the same as last year with slight upgrades in their software and performance. But, there are always interesting developments - you just have to look for them.

The most impressive improvement this year was in wireless cameras. Cable bashers beware. Last year, all those exhibiting digital wireless cameras (Gigawave, the BBC, Tandberg and Live Tools) had a major problem to overcome - at least for live applications. Most of the systems on show experienced significant delay - up to one second. This year they have all made massive improvements, with the best boasting a delay of just a few lines- even at the best quality they are only a few frames out. With a nifty bit of vision mixing no-one should notice that. Just think - no more cables. [For the full report check out: Digital Wireless Camera Round-up]

One of the things I love about IBC is that you get to be among the first to see a piece of kit launched, and if you keep coming back, improved. A good example is Ikegami. They've been developing their expertise in recording pictures onto a hard drive, rather than tape, with the Editcam. Disk space is getting more robust, cheaper and in the case of Editcam II smaller. I think recording on to hard drives is about to come of age and I hope Ikegami gets some credit for starting things off.

Ikegami is also to manufacture a new HD magazine for Joe Dunton Cameras - initially with an SDI out, but by NAB they should have a disk pack too. What Dunton has designed is the world's first digital video magazine for a film camera (an Arri 16SR - with 35mm to come). When I first went past the stand, I thought they were trying to flog another glossy publication. Not quite. Dunton's magazine allows the cameraman to record onto either film, HD or both. One minute you could be using film for varispeed effects, the next scene recording HD for bluescreen, and all with the same lenses. Keep an eye on this bit of kit, with Hollywood discovering video it could give Kodak a few headaches.

And those hard drives are not confined to cameras. The people at HHB were showing their prototype portable location multitrack hard disk recorder. When it goes into production, the eight-channel Portadrive could have 30GB, enough to record more than five hours on eight tracks at 24-bit/96kHz quality. See, this trend spotting is fun.

But, IBC isn't just about the exhibition. There are the conference seminars and workshops. Usually I try and go to several seminars. In the past I've had fun learning about widescreen from Ian Dow (from BBC OBs) - not a natural speaker but an entertaining one. I've found out how ITN were re-purposing their news to 13 different platforms and learnt more than is good for me about metadata. But, if you really want to be in at the start of things, you have to go to hear the engineers read their technical papers. Even for a technophile like me, some of these papers are deadly dull. But, someone sat through them all and nominated the paper on the HDTV Axi-vision camera for the IBC President's Award. Some train…, sorry, I mean trend spotters take this stuff seriously.

Ok, so, maybe you're not into the theoretical stuff. Visit IBC to get your hands on the kit. The exhibition is one big toy shop. My vote for the best boy's toy must be the six wheel drive, gyroscopically stabilised steadicam mount. With a 45mph maximum tracking speed, it's street legal and gleaming with aluminium. The boys at Griptech hire will let you play with it for £1,500 per day.

Of course, if you want to show off in that "my lens is longer than your lens" kinda way, you'd need to speak to the guys at Aaton with their Elite Zoom lens 120-520mm f2.8. But you know what they say about cameramen with long lenses.

You see, IBC isn't all serious stuff. Another trend this year was injecting a bit of fun into proceedings. Tony O'Connor at IDX managed to get a job lot of high-caffeine energy drinks in a ring-pull can which looked like a large battery. I hear the guy who sat through all the technical papers had them fed intravenously.

Canford Audio are known for their light-hearted approach and this year they had a bit of fun on the stand. Forget gold plated connectors, these guys connected a CD player to a set of speakers with - wet string. It was playing music by Steely Dan, although Handel's Water Music might have been more appropriate - played, no doubt, by a string quartet.

Of course IBC is also a good place to catch up with old friends (the place is packed with ex BBC folk). You can do a bit of networking at the exhibitor's parties and make new contacts - don't forget to bring plenty of business cards. Just remember, not all visitors to IBC are what they seem.

On the Polecam stand, exhibitors Andrew Nonnymouse, is more famous for his poetry, while Vladimir Theimpailer works part time at the Steak House. Their easy going boss is Polecam's owner and designer, Steffan Hewitt, who brought along a couple of extra helpers - presumably to cover the night shift.

However, if you register for the show expect the inevitable junk emails. No doubt any messages sent to vladimirtheimpailer@polecam.com will receive the gravest attention.

See you at next year's show.

OCT 2002

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