HDTV products top broadcasters’ NAB shopping lists this year.

‘The HD rollout has accelerated faster than expected in Canada – not so much over the air, but rather via cable TV and satellite,’ explains Doug Bonar, CanWest Global’s senior VP of technology and broadcast operations. As a result, CanWest Global now needs HD recording and editing equipment to offer simultaneous broadcast of U.S. HDTV shows.

‘We also need to be able to integrate commercials into our HD feed to BDUs, which we hope to roll out by year’s end,’ Bonar says, adding that the broadcaster will also likely soon apply for an over-the-air HDTV licence.

Meanwhile, ‘HDTV is on the fast track at CTV,’ says Allan Morris, CTV’s senior VP of engineering and operations. ‘We’ll be looking first and foremost at master-control functions, including recording, playback and monitoring of HDTV content. Next will be studio production, which we expect to happen later on, subject to costs. HDTV over-the-air transmission facilities will likely also be a priority.’

Citytv, on the other hand, has already begun offering digital over the air for some primetime programming, and the net’s next goal is ‘to expand our HDTV lineup,’ says Lane Steinhauer, CHUMCity’s manager of engineering. City’s engineers will also be looking closely at NAB2003’s HD offerings. However, don’t expect any deals or even commitments to previous vendors, he cautions. ‘When it comes to HDTV equipment, the TV game is changing every year, as are the players,’ Steinhauer observes.

None of the broadcasters interviewed plan on adopting HD in their newsrooms anytime soon, however. ‘Looking at the content that’s coming in from international locations including Europe and the Middle East, some of it is barely VHS quality,’ Morris explains. ‘There’s no point upgrading our news to HDTV at this time when some of the video we have to use is not the same level of quality that we produce nationally.’

That said, CTV News will likely benefit from NAB, as Morris looks at advances in newsroom server systems and optical disk camcorders. ‘We are more concerned with moving news footage quickly into shared storage nonlinear editing systems, as opposed to getting it in a 16:9 aspect ratio, or in 1080i/720p,’ he says. At present, CTV News uses the Sony Beta SP and SX formats.

CanWest Global’s priorities are similar, and the broadcaster will be on the prowl for a digital server/nonlinear editing solution for news, and it might make some purchases, although Bonar won’t specify.

‘We’ve been following the progress of the main manufacturers and we feel that we can make a decision at NAB2003,’ he says. ‘Our plan is to do the Toronto newsroom first, followed a few months later by the Vancouver newsroom.’ CanWest Global plans to replace Sony Betacam gear ‘that has served us well.’

CHUMCity’s Steinhauer will be looking for asset management and archiving solutions. ‘We’ve got lots of content that we can use or sell – especially older footage – as long as we can find it and use it,’ he explains. As for shooting CHUM’s internationally syndicated shows in HD, Steinhauer says, ‘We have to have a money-generating reason to do it. Right now, HD is a money-losing proposal as far as show producers are concerned.’

CTV will also be on the side of the vendors this NAB. The net will be selling its Gemini-winning CTV Content Gateway software at the AASTRA booth along with Bell Canada. Gateway is an IP-based audio/video distribution system that allows sharing of video between broadcast facilities. ‘We’re moving in excess of 5,000 video files a month among our stations [over this network],’ Morris says.

Although Canadian broadcast engineers will be out in force at NAB2003, some will be mostly browsing.

‘With the noise level and crowds on the exhibition floor, it’s difficult to look at anything in depth,’ says Morris. ‘Our people attend NAB mainly to stay on top of new technology trends, as well as to meet the key people from various manufacturers. What we see there helps us later in formulating our buying strategies and decisions.’

-www.canada.com/globaltv/

-www.ctv.ca

-www.chumlimited.com/television