Nab 2008

[srproductions]

Hey Guys!

Anyone know when details for NAB 2008 will be announced? I have some things coming up early next year and I would like to make sure that I get to go. This will be my first time going. I have a few questions though...

1. How much does it cost to go to NAB?

2. Are there places to stay within walking distance, or do you have to rent a car?

3. Do you get coupons/discounts on the new items that release at NAB?

Thanks guys!

[David Jimerson]

www.nab.org

April 12-17

1) Depends on what you want to do. If you just want to walk the exhibit floor, you can always find plenty of places to get free passes.

2) :) It's Las Vegas. More hotel rooms than anywhere else on the planet. Gobs of transportation options no matter where you stay.

3) Depends on the vendor.

[srproductions]

Awesome. What else is there to do besides look at the exhibits?

[smelni]

gamble

[David Jimerson]

There are quite a few conferences as well.

http://nabshow.com/conferences.php

[srproductions]

Are the conferences pretty expensive?

Also, do you have to sign up in advance to go to things like ei P.J. short film with RED, things like this: www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/events/nab2007/webcast/, etc?

[srproductions]

bump

[David Jimerson]

Depends on what you do. You didn't have to sign up in advance to see the PJ Red short, but you did have to wait in line for a few hours. But the free exhibit pass was enough.

A full-access pass to everything usually runs in the $450 range.

[srproductions]

What else is there access to? The conferences?

[David Jimerson]

It's all on the website. http://nabshow.com

[David Saraceno]

Go to shows

Drink

Eat

Gamble

Sight see

Watch every body else

[BlackDogPro]

Question... If I goto NAB can I purchase new equipment for Demo prices? Or, does DEMO pricing only go directly to Distributors and Dealers of the product in question for purchase?

[David Saraceno]

Could you explain what you mean by DEMO pricing?

[Barry_Green]

There's very little being sold at NAB. It's not a market, it's a show. Sometimes you'll find a special here or there; I bought some Matthews equipment there because they were offering 25% off and, at the time, I lived there so there was no shipping. B&H publishes a catalog of "show specials", usually amounting to 5% or 10% off certain equipment. But for the most part no, people aren't selling lots of equipment on the show floor at cheap prices.

[Tom Marshall]

Go to shows

Drink

Eat

Gamble

Sight see

Watch every body else

You forgot an important one... check out the babes. ;)

[Jim Brennan]

Last year was my first time, and we had a laundry list of stuff to see. We didn't get to half of it because we kept finding new stuff to see (some of we didn't even know existed).

For us, the exhibit pass was enough just because of the size of it all. We spent no time in audio, and hardly any in the post-production exhibits, and we still ran out of time (2 days on the floor). The great benefit was actually seeing, touching and having demonstrated things that we had only heard of or seen pictures of.

Besides I got to meet TC, Barry Green, David Jimerson, Mikko, Jarred, Jan and a bunch of other people in person. Oh, and seee kick-ass RED footage.

We plan on going back this year, but spending more time. Last year we drove and stayed at the Hilton, because it was supposed to be close. It is right next to the convention center, but both buildings are so huge that it still took about 20 minutes or so to get from our room to the stuff we wanted to see.

If anybody has any experience with the hotels on the other side of the convention center, that would be appreciated. I checked the Embassy Suites (which was across the street, IIRC), but they are already booked the first half of the week.

[Barry_Green]

The Hilton is far and away the closest, being physically adjoining to the convention center. But that's not such a big deal, because most any of the larger hotels will be on the "bus line", meaning that you can walk onto a bus and get dropped off at the front door of the convention center. There's also the monorail which runs to many of the major hotels, but that gets extremely crowded during NAB week.

There are some hotels within a somewhat reasonable walking distance, like the Riviera, but overall I'd recommend that people look into the NAB shuttle bus system as probably the best/most practical way to find a hotel that provides reasonable (and free) transportation to the show floor.

[Jim Brennan]

Thanks Barry. Do all of the hotels on the NABshow site participate in the NAB bus service, and are they the only ones?

[Barry_Green]

Not every hotel is on the bus lines; you can probably find a pretty good list at www.nab.org.

[snowleopard]

Did anyone hear that Avid will not be there? No booth, no presence, nothing. Completely absent. Their interim CEO issued a statement (http://www.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0157/t.9658.html) that's filled with a lot of non-speak. If I were a shareholder, I'd be making serious demands, or dumping about now. FCP and Vegas are just killing them, and they need to do something major.

Avid reminds me of Quark. Anybody remember them?

[Jeff Anderson]

hah - we finally just made the decision to dump quark and jump on the indesign bandwagon. tis so nice to not have any more compatability issues...

[Jim Brennan]

I was under the impression that AVID was aggressively going after folks like us by paring down the hardware demands and costs of their systems. But I could be wrong. They have to know that as more up and comers are weaned on FCP and other less expensive NLEs they are going to continue to lose market share without bringing a less expensive product to the market. The guys that are the most married to AVID (IMHO) seem to be the guys who are used to using it for film and have just shifted to NLE. Eventually most of them will be gone and then what?

I'm shocked that they aren't going to be at NAB. Although their booth looked fairly deserted last year compared to the Apple booth.

[dpavid]

Did anyone hear that Avid will not be there? No booth, no presence, nothing. Completely absent. Their interim CEO issued a statement (http://www.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0157/t.9658.html) that's filled with a lot of non-speak.

http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=312

Doesn't look like Avid will be there however, I just attended an Avid Demo (Nov 27) and they said they had something big to announce in 60 days. Better be good?!?!?

I have been an Avid editor since 1992 and owned 5 systems since then (media suite pro, xpress elite, xpress dv, media composer 9000xl, and media composer software). In 2004, I made the jump to FCP for one reason. PRICE!

I bought media composer software and love it. The only thing it lacks is i/o support. Who's going to buy adrenaline for $25K? You can get a decklink or AJA for 10% of that.

[snowleopard]

Avid...said they had something big to announce in 60 days.

They're filing for bankruptcy?

[dpavid]

They're filing for bankruptcy?

LOL! They better drop prices fast or release new i/o hardware competitively priced to the others.

[Andrew McCarrick]

The guys that are the most married to AVID (IMHO) seem to be the guys who are used to using it for film and have just shifted to NLE. Eventually most of them will be gone and then what?

That's not true.... All I'll ever use is Avid (or Adobe), I hate the crap Apple produces. And I can't stand film.... Never liked it, never will.... thankfully within 5 years most of the industry will be completely digital.

[snowleopard]

On that note, a LOT of people in TV and TV news are still cutting on old Avid systems. Yes, FCP has chewed into that, and at the rate things are going... but there are still a ton of Avid systems out there.

Interesting that you can't stand film. Though I see your point as I agree that eventually most everything will be digital. It's only a matter of time before digital media surpasses even IMAX. Actually, the Vision Research Phantom 65 camera is arguably close already.

[Jim Brennan]

We are looking to book at Circus Circus. The rates are only 107 per night and it seems pretty close. Anybody ever stay there?

[mikkowilson]

I've stayed there the past 2 years.

Nothing wrong with it in my experience. Bonus is that it's only a 15min walk to the convention center if you don't feel like standing in a bus line.

- Mikko

[Jim Brennan]

Excellent. Thanks Mikko. Maybe we'll see you wandering the halls.

Last year we only got there Sunday night and let Tuesday afternoon. This year we plan to stay until Wednesday.

[mikkowilson]

Not sure I can make it this year. :(


- Mikko

[dpavid]

We are looking to book at Circus Circus. The rates are only 107 per night and it seems pretty close. Anybody ever stay there?

CC is ok but the hotel is a dinosaur relative to everything else in LV. You can stay at nicer places off the strip for cheaper and include a rental car within the same price.

I drive into the strip in the AM and free valet at the Bellagio or Wynn and catch the free shuttle over to the LVCC. Then we take the free shuttle back and spend the evening dining and playing at these fine resorts before we drive back to our hotel.

I gotta admit. I stayed on the strip one year for a ridiculous rate and you get spoiled fast from the convenience.

[Jim Brennan]

AS long as it's clean, I'm good for 107. I don't gamble and won't be in the room most of the time. I don't care much what amenities the other hotels have. We stayed at the Hilton last time. It was fine, but the fancy lobby didn't help me much.

[eureka]

Hi all
Shall me make a concious effort to meet somewhere, a massive meet/party some bar, with lots of ladies??, and you guys too of coarse.
cheers

[TedRR]

I'll be at NAB for sure.
The Excalibur's Craps tables have helped me buy a lot of video gear at the show over the years! So that's where we've been staying the last few years.

[smelni]

ill be there and staying at mgm grand