Eight Top Trends from NAB 2019

It wasn’t really a razzle-dazzle show at NAB this year. Production trends that seemed like they could be the future of media in years past — stereo 3D post-production, 360 video acquisition and VR-headset experiences — have faded into the background, becoming just another bullet point on a marketing sell sheet. Formerly eye-catching gadgets like handheld camera stabilizers have become a more familiar sight, and drones were nowhere near as prevalent on the show floor as in previous years. (Drone giant DJI didn’t even exhibit on the show floor this year.) And futuristic technology like light-field cinematography, which blew so many minds in 2017, was largely absent from the discussion this year. What took its place? Practical, short-term concerns. Customers were interested in sending video over IP networks, taking advantage of powerful GPU acceleration, and getting media into the cloud to leverage AI-based tools, such as Amazon Rekognition, that can help better identify, tag and monetize content.