Any good classes at NAB 2007?

[spikeman256]

I thought it would be helpful to others to share my class experiences from NAB 2007...


=======
SATURDAY
=======

Saturday - Video Production Technologies - Basic Class.

: "Technologies for Worship" Section
(although I wasn't there for religious reasons...it just so happened that
they had the best topics for me).
: $295 ; 10 hours.

: Great class...VERY techie about signaling, cabling, and hands-on cabling.
: Only about 12 people in the class...this was AWESOME! TONS of personal
attention.
: Highly recommended.


=======
SUNDAY
=======

Sunday - Video Production Technologies - Advanced Class.

; $295 ; 8 hours.
: Good class...hands on filming, lighting, and editing.
: Only about 8 people in the class...very nice.
: Recommended.



==============================
POST / PRODUCTION WORLD CONFERENCE - waste of time.
==============================

I also had paid $295 or so in order to attend any Post/Production World Conference class (including Director of Photography classes). These classes stretched from Saturday thru I think Wednesday).

In my opinion the PPW class fee was a total waste. During a couple of short breaks on Sat & Sun, I would run across the North Hall, upstairs and into the section where all of the PPW classes were being taught.

It was quite the difference from my other classes...I must have popped in for 15 or 20 PPW classes on Sat & Sun, and they were all very similar...they had anywhere from 50 to 150 people in each one!!! They were huge classes...instructors had to use a mic and most of them were very difficult to understand...almost zero personal attention in any of the classes.

People obviously asked questions, but when some is sitting 100 feet away *without* a mic, then you can't even hear what they are asking.

I was hoping that for the $300, I'd be able to sit in on any of the 200+ PPW topics that I wanted over 5 days, but I chose not to...classes were WAY too big.


==============
MONDAY & TUESDAY
==============

So, Monday and Tuesday, I walked the floor ALL DAY LONG and it was awesome!

Next year, I'll probably just walk the floor for free and that's it.


-shannon

[spikeman256]

For anyone interested, the following is a more detailed list of what was actually covered in the Video Production Technologies classes...I only list the details because it was a very good class.

================================================== ===

Day One - 10 hours - $295 student rate.
-----------

The first day was great...mainly tech stuff in regards to video and cabling.
Details about NTSC/S-video/High Def, Digital vs. analog, baseband vs. broadband, composite cables vs. component cables, details about 4:2:2 color sampling, and chroma vs. luma...even a demo of how to use a Vectorscope & Waveform monitor.

The above stuff wasn't just touched on, but probably covered over a period of about 5 or 6 hours.

The second half of the day or so was more about hands-on cabling...
: the difference between balanced & unbalanced cables (twisted pair & coax).
: hands on for a couple of hours to create our own cables...CAT-5, XLR, coax, BNC connectors, etc...stripping, crimping, etc...very useful.

The last two hours was a presentation by Steve Lampen of Belden cables...I expected it to be a lame sales pitch for 1/2 hour...instead it was ZERO sales pitch and instead TWO hours of a cable guru dumping his brain about anything and everything to do with cabling.

I've been into cabling pretty heavy for about 12 years, and this guy knew his stuff...I liken him to a Barry Green of cabling! ha.


Day Two - 8 hours - $295 student rate
-----------

Day two was hands-on lighting, shooting on Sony High Def, and editing with Final Cut Pro...although due to computer snags, that editing was cut short.


I would highly recommend each day to anyone who has limited experience in that course material...it was about $500/day, but I qualified for the $295/day rate since I'm a student (ie, even taking one class at your community college qualifies you as a student).

Worth $295/day? Yes. $500/day? not really.