Broadcast Asia to return to Suntec City

Published: ASIA

Broadcast Asia to return to Suntec City

SINGAPORE: Broadcast Asia (BCA) itself mirrors a ‘lights, camera, action’ world, which tends to tick the right boxes with the latest 4K cameras from Canon, Ikegami, Panasonic and Sony. Within this, the audio exhibits play the role of a supporting actor/actress seeking placement for another short term casting role. Broadcast is a small dot in the bigger screen that is ibmX, incorporating CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT on levels 1-3. As Smart Nation and IT buzzes in the lower levels, it feels like déjà vu above where the broadcasting community has congregated. The chains between them, however, are being cut as it was announced that BCA would not only relocate back to Suntec City in 2017, but it would also be held over three days as opposed to four. This was ubiquitously welcomed as overdue, good news.

Once again, level five hosts the majority of audio exhibits on a clean open space, whilst level four’s exhibits are segregated into various rooms, which normally function as smaller self-contained conference rooms. Overhead signs cannot be hoisted and unless a visitor is armed with a directory, finding a booth is a hit and miss affair. As in previous years, exhibitors on level 5 patiently waited for visitors to enter as they were made to follow the arrows though the hall 4 labyrinth before being awarded with a special sticker entitling them to be allowed up the escalator. ‘We hardly saw a visitor upstairs for the first two to three hours,’ noted one exhibitor.

The crowds eventually made their way through level 4 and up to 5, where the clock counter ultimately registered 4,080 visitors by the end of the first day. Dante and Ravenna digital networking were popular highlights for many of the console manufacturers, including Yamaha who were demonstrating the QL5, Rivage PM10 and other models. ‘They’re all Dante networked and connected via one of our new Layer 2 switches,’ explained UK-based Yamaha manager of PA application engineering, Andy Cooper. ‘The AES67 protocol is the glue that binds Dante and Ravenna devices. I’d estimate that 50 per cent of the people who we’ve seen are locals and the other 50 per cent come from Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and India. Oddly enough after two days here, no one has approached us to discuss AES67, however.’ SSL was also showing a Dante link between the SSL Live L500 and System T console, for which the latter was making its Asian debut. Amongst the other consoles making a first appearance in Asia was Calrec’s Brio36.

Once again, some famous microphone manufacturers were absent from this year’s show, but Sennheiser was showing a wide range of products, flying in several leading colleagues from its German headquarters to assist the quest. Its working displays promoted clip-on microphones, handhelds and the latest digital products offering smartphone and tablet control. Visitors were particularly attracted to the 360-degree content production depicted from the Ambeo virtual-reality microphone and action camera microphone. Additionally, the Team Connect Ceiling conferencing system was being showcased on a booth in the basement of EnterpriseIT 2016 together with SpeechLine Digital Wireless microphone solutions, the MobileConnect audio steaming solution, Speakerphone, DW Office and Presence series. ‘It’s an important show for Sennheiser to exhibit at, giving us the opportunity to promote many new technologies in the region for the first time,’ explained marketing manager Ada Yen.

www.broadcast-asia.com

broadcast asia, 2016, bca