IBC 2011 in Amsterdam last month was by all accounts a success — the post halls were buzzing, exhibitors had smiles on their faces, and according to IBC itself, more than 50,000 people attended the show, making it the biggest one on record.
And there was interesting new product news, as witnessed and documented by our wonderful bloggers — Russell Dodgson from Framestore and Sam Johnson from The Lab, AMV BBDO’s post facility. Both are based in London. To read their thoughts from the show, visit http://www.postmagazine.com/Post-Blog.aspx.
Speaking of products, Post called on a small but very hands-on group of post pros who were walking the show to vote on our “Best of Show” awards for IBC 2011.
The winners are as follows, in no particular order: The Foundry’s Hiero, a DIT/Conform tool for Nuke; AJA’s iO XT, a portable video I/O product offering two Thunderbolt ports; Blackmagic’s Intensity Extreme, a Thunderbolt-based HDMI and analog capture and playback device; Atomos Ninja, a portable touchscreen HD recorder, monitor and playback device that captures video direct to Apple ProRes from cameras with an HDMI output; Flavoursys’ Strawberry asset management tool, providing basic project sharing and storage virtualization in relation to an open project in the database; and Tangent’s Element panel, a compact color grading control surface.
Honorable mentions include Assimilate Scratch with Kona support; FilmLight plug-ins; SGO’s Mistika with new stereo tools; Pixel Farm’s PF Track 2011; Arri’s Arristudio camera; Sony’s OLED monitors; and Maxon’s Cinema 4D R13. There were many cool tools at the show, I urge you to check out www.postmagazine.com for more.
Why is a show like IBC so important to product-makers? “An ever-shrinking world demands that vendors participate on a global stage,” explains Xytech’s Greg Dolan. “IBC, as a venue, brings together all the top broadcasters and post houses with a specifically European point of view. Understanding this point of view is critical in crafting a product and service strategy that is relevant for Europe, the Middle East and Africa clients.”
Matrox’s Janet Matey says, “IBC is important for Matrox because it is the only show that many of our customers, industry partners and resellers attend. We use the opportunity to expose new Matrox technology in private meetings and to launch new products and updates that show our commitment to the broadcast and pro A/V markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”