IMAX makes award-winning debut at NAB Show
April 25, 2023
IMAX Corporation made a memorable first-ever appearance at the 100th annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, bringing to life its vision for preservation of creative intent across any device and winning the prestigious Product of the Year honours for a core video quality innovation.During multiple thought leadership sessions at the four-day conference, executives from IMAX and video optimisation subsidiary SSIMWAVE, a leader in AI-driven video quality solutions for media and entertainment companies, discussed how the ability to bring IMAX experiences to new screens can benefit content creators, the streaming community, and consumers. VOD Monitor, an automated video quality assurance tool developed by SSIMWAVE that was named an NAB Product of the Year, was among the existing and emerging products showcased that are spearheading that effort.
“Connecting with audiences and technology peers at NAB offered the perfect opportunity to showcase our suite of Emmy Award-winning AI technology that’s pushing The IMAX Experience beyond the theatre and into new streaming and broadcast realms,” said Vikram Arumilli, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Streaming and Consumer Technology at IMAX. “We’re thrilled to be recognized with the Product of the Year award for our work in preserving image quality. IMAX has a long legacy of preserving creative intent in our theatrical business working with the world’s biggest filmmakers, and this tradition continues on the small screen with our at-home entertainment technology business.”
When asked about the challenges he faces in delivering streaming content following its theatrical window, Bill Baggelaar, Executive Vice President and CTO, Sony Pictures Entertainment and a co-panelist with Arumilli at the headline “IMAX Beyond the Big Screen” session, said “The hardest part is ensuring that we are providing the consumer the right quality. This is where SSIMWAVE is an interesting technology that can really help the industry to better understand what’s actually getting to the consumer. We can see…how close we are getting to that experience that we are trying to really offer.”
In addition to the headline “IMAX Beyond the Big Screen” presentation, memorable moments during IMAX’s NAB debut included:
- Introduction of Stream Smart technology that ensures preservation of intent within the bandwidth constraints of individual operators and subscribers, improving the economics of streaming.
- Bill Mandel, Vice President, Visual Solutions Lab, Samsung Research America, a co-panelist with SSIMWAVE Principal Video Architect Hojat Yeganeh in a session about HDR video streaming, said: “SSIMWAVE had been pretty public about showing their technology and we got to try it out…it provides a much more detailed analysis of the quality than any single number metric does.”
- A series of productive conversations and practical demonstrations of IMAX and SSIMWAVE technology to a variety of different partners and potential clients in the streaming and home entertainment space.
“Content and content delivery have been inextricably linked for the 100 years of NAB shows,” said Chris Brown, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Global Connections and Events for NAB. “This year was no different – as we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the show, we welcomed a broad range of technology and content partners, with over 1200 exhibitors, including first time exhibitors like IMAX. As we move into our second century, the continued involvement of IMAX will help us forge new connections between Hollywood and the streaming industry that will raise the bar for viewers worldwide.”