I came across this video from the Philly chapter of the SMPTE, the ol engineers group down there. This video is basically goes through a bunch of talking points about how the future is here, and you’d better accept-it-or-GTFO. Futurism such as a cashless world, Apple not selling as many iPhones; more people [are holding their noses as they] adopting Windows 10; People are streaming and cutting the cord, and appears to throwing away plastic like vinyl 40 years ago; and elitiest attitudes against Kodak’s reattempting to become relevant again.

How did the NAB Show come up?

Because they did a recap of the two major shows, the CES (that happens after the New Year) and the NAB Show; the latter had lost about 12,000 attendees from the high of 103,000 or 11% overall, this data was made available, when this stream happened about two weeks after.

I fear the NAB Show is becoming unnecessarily irrelevant by obsoleting themselves as the technologist types are eating themselves alive for survival.

2017 was my first one, and was well documented on The Clickford Zone, as well as 2018 to a smaller degree, to friends-only on my Facebook. My first year was also the first year where the seminars fused IT and the traditional engineering. In April, I decided to avoid the hot air of the future and stayed on the show floor, and the sentiment in the video of services over hardware, and the Op Ex over Cap Ex seemed to be consistent. Canon’s booth shrunk, and many of the traditional broadcast grade hardware (and I mean accessories) had few people walking around then say the South Hall where Avid, Ross, ChyronHego and alike were at. Whirlwind, Wheatstone, and other names I can’t come up with in my July state of mind was very quiet. While I attended the tradeshow from Tuesday to Thursday, it was mostly quiet from North, more busier in Central, and deafening loud as of late Thursday at the South Hall. Hippies that look like they are casted to Google, were still very prominent. (Before Tuesday, I was in California since the previous Thursday staying at Legoland and happened to reunite with family I never met in modern history, without crashing or cramping their style.)

White collared, business types with the engineering mindset were M.I.A. This Instagram post by moi may tell the rest of that story

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzlfF0dlfqS/

In 2017, the theme was focusing more on IT than engineering. The one that reminds me the most was the VICE News ops for HBO and how the technical director also acts as their network engineer and in a “standards based” plant, they’ll just be fine. That same year (and I am regretting hard for not meeting with the) guy that spoke about grounding and the experiences in Florida, the Lightning Capital of the World… I do not recall too many IT types looking at those on screen foils.

At another seminar, the focus on SIP telephony was a big deal and how ITN went to SIP, dumping a legacy Mitel for Asterisks on Raspberry Pis. I so want to facepalm, and wonder for a large operation why that was even thought of. The ENG and 4G integration was one of the few sanest and more reasonable, because that can enable a lot of possibilities without reinventing the wheel. Don’t forget being “Catfish”‘ed by a speaker on virtualizing radio studios!

Last year, it was IP/IT-or-die attitude. Obviously I am stealing the metaphoric “innovate or die” statement. No devices were harmed by making the following statement. 🙂 It was in 2018, it was forced by the speakers, many working for vendors preachin to the choir about adapting to a bleeding edge future. AoIP, meaning Anything over IP, some speakers on Audio over IP, and other concerning subjects such as wireless spectrum opening up… the cynical side of me was thinking, opening up for more issues in the future?

Now, as a content creator or (whoever the hell I really am lately), I have a different perspective. Most of the engineering attendees are going there for “free” meaning their employer is paying them to go at least for a few days. If the people with the great minds of a discipline of stability, five-nine reliability are getting lectured away, especially with conflicting messages of adapting risk-on bleeding edge methodologies  and risk off (security, lock down, rendering IP devices to be unworkable) why go to Las Vegas and get together and listen to this crap?

As I have gotten older and wiser, I feel that one can’t fight change. But one could adapt the past (i.e. ideals that worked) to apply to the bleeding edge methodology. But the problem is the IT and (IP) Networking mindsets are not open to adapting ideals to mold and form into “what used to work”, rendering the engineering group to be old-fashioned-and-useless-head-to-retirement attitude by the IT world.

Preachin to the choir about adapting to a bleeding edge future.

(Sentiment of the 2018 NAB Engineering and IT Conference.)

I, have no affiliation with the NAB or have any inside knowledge to any vendor, but from a complete outsider looking in, from the first three I attended; and all three have included the combined engineering and IT lectures, I fear the NAB Show is becoming unnecessarily irrelevant by obsoleting themselves as the technologist types are eating themselves alive for survival.

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