THE BIG PICTURE

Next month, I'm heading to Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, which runs from April 9-14. Many people have asked me why I'm going, since the annual event is aimed at professionals in the broadcasting and film industry, not consumers. Well, I believe that some parts of the show are, in fact, highly relevant to consumers, and here's why…

The ultimate audio/video experience depends not only on the gear in your home-theater system, but also on the signal that gear receives. What new compression schemes are being developed to improve the quality of online content? How is stereoscopic 3D evolving? What's happening with 4K and UltraHD? These are just a few of the consumer-relevant questions that are sure to be addressed at NAB.

I believe it behooves all A/V enthusiasts to understand something about how the content we all enjoy is created and delivered. Of course, some aspects of that process are relatively unimportant to consumers, such as workflow management, broadcast switchers, and color-grading systems. But other topics are of great interest—for example, there will be lots of info on 3D as well as computer-generated animation and online media-streaming that could have a direct impact on the consumer experience of A/V content.

And I'm not the only CE journalist who thinks so. I'll be covering some of the show with Leo Laporte, host of The Tech Guy, an international radio talk show aimed at technology consumers on which I'm a regular guest. In addition, Leo's company, TWiT (This Week in Tech), produces many consumer-oriented podcasts, including Home Theater Geeks, which I host each week. In fact, the April 11 episode of HTG will be recorded on the convention floor as Leo and I visit several booths; you can watch the show streamed live from 10 AM to 12 noon Pacific time at live.twit.tv. Leo will also be moderating discussions from a stage at NAB from Monday April 11 through Thursday April 14, which you can watch live at the same online address or download as podcasts later at twit.tv.

My trip to NAB is an experiment—this will be the first time I attend that particular confab. To help me prepare, I really want to know what you would like me to cover. Visit the NAB Show website to see what will be happening there, and take a moment to think about how the content you enjoy is created and delivered. Then, post any questions or concerns you have about that process in a comment to this blog. I look forward to reading your thoughts and bringing you some interesting information from the other side of the looking glass.