Who is going to NAB 2006?
 

Does anyone know if any manufacturers are comping passes to NAB this year? Plan on attending and would like to avoid the $150 fee. TIA

Always, every year. You should never have to pay to get in. I'll poll our site sponsors for free exhibits pass codes. Now would be a good time to determine who all from here is going... I've already made my hotel and flight reservations.

I'll definitely be there. I should be there all Wednesday and Friday but, because of school, I won't be able to go on Tuesday and Thursday unless I get some cancelled classes =P, so much for my attempt at NAB reporting this year. Too bad they didn't have exhibits start on that Monday, that's one of my free days. But I'll be there nonetheless.

I'd love to go to NAB one of these years. Won't be able to afford it for awhile, though.

I am planning to stop by this year. Any advice for getting a decent rate for an airticket and hotel?

Hi Aanarav, if you don't mind taking the train to Philadelphia, you can fly from there to Las Vegas and back on non-stop flights for $200 round trip on SouthWest Airlines (the DV Info Net corporate jet). That's a great price for airfare.

If I add $100 to that I get a return ticket Holland <-> LV

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the tip. Philadelphia is about an hour away and I save $150! Thanks!

Hey gang.

I'll be going Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It'll be my first time attending NAB. My boss and I just registered for passes today comped by someone that I can't remember. I'll try to find out who it was and post back.

We are flying SouthWest Airlines from Raleigh non-stop and I think it was around $200 round trip.

Anyway, I'd like to meet up with anyone from these forums that might be going as well. It would be great to meet some of the people who have taught me so much and given some great advice.

I want to maximize my time there and soak up all that I can learn. Maybe those of you who have been before could give me some pointers on how to make the best of it. How does one go about getting permission to shoot video there?

My contact info is in my sig and I hope to see some of you there.

Dave, see http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/buyersguide/nabtips.php for some NAB tips.

I plan to go. I love Vegas, plus it's my B-day that week - I'll be a mess...

Would love to run into some of these familiar forum names out there - hope you like a guy that rambles, asks a bunch of questions, and turns into a long haired drunk at night ;)

For anyone close to their hubs, I flew to Vegas on Allegiant Air 4 times last year (www.allegiantair.com). They used to be dreadfully cheap, but the rates went up just after Katrina. You can still catch some very good deals, and the big plus is that it's all direct. You can fly there on Super Bowl Sunday for $21...

See ya,
Shawn

Hey DP, I worked in the Roanoke market... you still got that star thing on the hill? I spent my last night there with a 'female' photog, but that was in a different life.

What great country!

I'll be at NAB, and I'm looking for innovative jib construction... lightweight and portable. Gotta to hold weight too.

Plus other industry research, like good and dependable leasing houses.

Can't wait.

I'll be there, as always, Sunday through Thursday. Apple usually does the big rollout of new products Sunday morning. Last year I happened to sit right behind a formerly PC-centric forum owner who shall remain nameless (hope I'm not outing anybody here).

Also, there are 2 evening events which are now staples for me at NAB. The ProMax Digital Cafe and the Final Cut Pro User Group events are both a sight to behold. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but those have to be the largest NAB gatherings outside of the show floor itself. They each attract thousands of attendees. There's food, drink and door prizes, as well as presentations from some heavy players, all in a very relaxed atmosphere. Keep an eye out at the ProMax and LAFCPUG sites for registration info.

I don't know about anyone else, but it always seems I end up at the cafeteria at the LVCC main concourse Monday morning, waiting for the exhibit floor to open. The breakfast there is at least 2 notches above gross - not bad for a cafeteria, and there's always the adjacent Starbucks if you prefer. How about we call it an informal DVInfo.net breakfast? 1 hour or so before the show floor opens?

I'd like to suggest someplace better, but there's really no good eats near the LVCC or Hilton that I know of. Also, there are so many special events that go on later in the week that it might be tough to get everyone together. Tell you what, all. I'll be sitting on the left side of the cafeteria, near the back if anyone else wants to stop by and say hello. What do you say, Chris? We'll have a little bulls**t session and compare shopping lists before hitting the show floor?

Hey Dave,

Yes, the Star is still there. I can see it from my house actually.

Who was the photog? Maybe I know her. Or maybe that's info you would rather not divuldge :) I, too, had a "different life" at one point ;)

Chris, thanks for the link to the DVinfo article. Quite helpful.

I think Scott has a great idea and I, for one, will make plans to meet up with him and anyone else who plans to do the same. Looking forward to meeting some of you folks!

dp

DP- I've changed the names to protect the innocent.

Those were great days; I did a news story about a triple drowning on the James River, December 1983. I was just out of college and the story led to my first career break. God was it cold that day, I did not think we would ever get that piece to air.

Spent a little over a year in the Land of Jefferson (or is it Presidents), I still work with people from that part of Virginia all the time.

I love Virginia, and fortunately, she loved me.

Southwest has some good round trip fares out of Baltimore/Washington International also. Internet fares with a single stop each way..round trip for at or under 300.00
this would be my first NAB, so any help on tickets would be appreciated. I'd even wear a Tshirt, I have enough girth to get plenty of words on it, hehehe.

Also, any advice on non smoker friendly hotels would be nice. Last August when I stayed at the hilton, it was so bad I almost lit up again.

Vegas is the smoker's mecca. It can be very difficult to escape that aspect. Try to avoid hanging out on the casino floor if you can help it.

Jack, you said that Moday is a free day for you. Exhibits start Monday, April 24th and run through Thursday, April 27th. You lucky Vegas residents - you get to just drive home from NAB every night.

Joe, as I understand it the newer hotels have much improved air-handling equipment, making it a much more pleasant experience for non-smokers. Hard for me to be objective while I'm puffing away like a fiend. The Hilton is pretty old, but you can't beat the location. Also, as Chris said, you should never have to pay to attend NAB (exhibits only, not the seminars) NAB lists the exhibits-only pass at $200, but nobody ever pays that. Any major video-industry vendor can give you a code you use at the NAB website to register for free.

As soon as I can manage, I'll gather all the free exhibits pass codes from our sponsors. Listen to Scott (and me): nobody should ever have to pay to get access to the NAB show floor.

if possible i want to attend too....my folks attended NAB about 2 years ago, they got in for free....i dunno how...but i want to go this year......how can i get in?

Darns yous! Darns yous all! I already paid for NAB =P. Oh well! =)

Really? Exhibits start on Monday? I could have sworn that I read something on the websites about exhibits not starting until Tuesday, well I can always go and see, not like I have anything else better to do on Mondays except sleep and watch TV! =)

I guess I can get there early and take some pictures and get info, but I'm only one guy, I can't attend every show floor seminar and press announcements and my brother isn't going to be much help since this will be his first NAB trip and he isn't a tech-head like me, I'm taking him so I can finally show him the difference between 24p and 60i and SD versus HD.

Hi Chris, my brother and I are also planning to attend this years NAB, neither of us has ever been, but we are making the pilgrimage to see the RED booth (hopefully with a working prototype). Is there a specific day that they will be showing? I also would be very interested in getting a pass so as to avoid paying the high price of the show floor.

Right now we are scrambling for a venue for our big FCPUG bask April 26. We lost the Stardust so are now in the throngs of being pummeled by the high prices of all the rest of the Hotels. We hated the Stardust staff and will not miss them in the least and glad the place is being burned down, but it was the only affordable place left in Vegas.

If any of you folks who live in Vegas got any ideas where we can go and fit 800-1000 people into without losing our shirts financially, give me a holler. Would not be the same with out the FCPUG SuperMeet

Michael Horton
lafcpug
http://www.lafcpug.org

Holy cow, Michael! That's a lot of people!

What kind of pricing are you looking for? I've stayed in nearly all of the hotels in Vegas at one time or another, is there any space at the Hilton that's available? If you want to save money, you should aim for a hotel that's not on the Las Vegas strip. The Orleans hotel seems to be a nice hotel for conventioneers to stay in and it's the only hotel I know of that has a videogame arcade, bowling alley, movie theatre, convention arena, and Nathan's Hot Dogs all in one place! =)

Other than that, you can try looking for smaller hotels that pepper the surrounding Vegas strip area, maybe you can break your group up into four or five groups of 200?

For hotels on the strip, when my mother comes to visit, she usually stays in the Aladdin hotel, nice rooms and all-around good hotel to stay in, I'm not too sure if that's too pricey for your group, but that's where my mom finds the cheapest deals for her. She's visiting right now actually and is staying in the Monte Carlo, Lance Burton is my cousin, so she likes to stay there sometimes. I remember her telling me about how she found some pretty good deals at the Monte Carlo for around this time, but since NAB is a few months off, I don't know how things will be. The MGM Grand is another frequent haunt of hers, but I'm pretty sure that there wouldn't be space enough for that many people.

I wish I could think of more hotels off the top of my head for that kind of group size, but I can't at the moment. So, good luck with that man and hopefully we'll see ya at NAB.

Thanks for the reply Jack. Good suggestions. Been looking off the strip today and made about 10 phone calls and no human being answered th ephone. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some luck.

Yeah, these shows are big and do attract a lot of people. Can't really break them up. No logistical way.

The monorail opens lots of possibilities, so staying at the Hilton isn't a requirement. I guess I better get off my butt and make a reservation while I can. btw, Airwest flies out of both Reagan and Dulles and has great non stop roundtrip fares to Vegas.

Any Vegas users going?

Also, the dining facilities at the Hilton are easily overwhelmed during a convention. Any advice on good/affordable restaurants that can be accessed via
the monorail and a short walk would be appreciated.

hello!
 

Iwish i could go to NAB 2006 so i can talk to the RED camera guys about getting a job, any job!(grasscutter, dishwasher whatever it takes)
I just think being part of the RED team would be the coolest job ever.
Jimi :)

One rail stop from the LVCC is Harrah's / Imperial Palace. Plenty of good restaurants to be found right there in that area, including Ming's, one of my favorite places for Chinese not costing a lot of money.

I'll be at NAB this year. I'll be on the RED booth - stop by and say hello, and the SiliconColor booth with my new plugins for FinalTouch. I'm getting Nattress shirts made up this year, so you can spot me easily.

Graeme

Free tix?
 

So Chris -- what about the VIP Code for the free tix? Anything on that yet? Thanks.

Hot of the press: I'll be joining in on the fun! You might see me hanging around
a lot at the RED and DVInfo stand, oh wait, no DVInfo stand. Bummer.

See you all there!

Graeme: for us foreigners, how do you pronounce your first name?

Admission Tickets
 

Chris,

Kindly forward what you have regarding passes. Despite my best efforts and spending several 10's of thousands of dollars with B&H in the past few months, they have been unresponsive to my inquiries. I did splurge on some very nice accomodations at the Bellagio and I'm counting down the days.

Jerry

I hope to be there. I am looking forward to the RED booth

This week I'll hit up our DV Info Net site sponsors to see if any of 'em will offer an exhibits pass.

For now, you can use this code courtesy of Quantel:

RC1717

Or from Graham-Patten:

RC1313

Attending NAB
 

Hi All,

My name is David and I am a newbie here. One of the small benefits of living here in Vegas is it makes going to NAB very easy. Also, since I almost never actually meet my clients during the time of their projects, NAB give me a chance to meet and greet about 90% of our clients, time permitting.

Anyway, I don't know any names around here, but I am jumping in to get my feet wet. So if some central meeting point is set, would love to stop on by.

Dave

I and a lot of other Australians will be making the trip from Sydney again this year, looks like our group will be at Circus Circus. We'll be there ever day and two more days for some sight seeing around Vegas. Did the copter ride to the Grand Canyon last year, highly recommended.
We're flying with Hawaiin Airlines (again) so having a few days in Hawaii on the way over, great place also.
Hoping Sony have another Vegas users party this year, the ranks seem to have swollen since last year and even then we barely all fitted in.

1st Timer for NAB
 

This is going to be my first trip to NAB, pretty pumped to say the least. Have been working directly with video for close to a year & a half (mostly broadcast commercial production for both the telecom company I work for, as well as cable system advertisers). My background was mostly audio prior to this (with radio/commercial production experience), so looking forward to taking in some of the seminars to get exposure to advanced video and audio production techniques.

Anyone have suggestions or a small list of "MUST VISIT" spots and booths?

Well, you want to go to the FCPUG event at the Rio Hotel, Wednesday night, thats for sure. Chris Hurd will be there and will sing the national anthem to open the event

At least we think he will

http://www.lafcpug.org/nab_2006.html

Plus the ProMax digital Cafe on Tuesday night is a must attend event. Lots of networking opportunities at both and a good time had by all.

Michael, I'm so glad that the Rio came through. It's going to be a huge improvement over the Stardust from last year. My only concern is that we're no longer within walking distance from dvinfo.net secret headquarters.

The FCPUG event is most definitely a must-see. It seems like everybody, and I do mean everybody was there. It was the most fun I had all week at NAB.

And believe it or not, I still have that bottle of Raspberry Hangar One Vodka in my freezer, courtesy of AJA Video. Why do I still have half a bottle left from last April? Why, because that vodka's made for sippin', not for chuggin'....

http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=166&c=11

(do I look tipsy?)

Geat pics Scott. And yes you look tipsy. Not as much as Chris though