TV TECH: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2024 NAB Show New York?
PAUL SCHILLER: AI. Without a doubt. We see AI becoming more and more useful in many fields, including language engines, content analysis and image and data processing, which are all built on the same initial, basic tools, but with totally different hardware requirements. For data processing AI will analyze statistics and uncover problems. For image processing, it’s more than generating images, it’s also analyzing images.
At TAG, we are committed to maximizing our customers’ business potential and streamlining their operational workflows by incorporating the latest technology into our platform, and of course that includes AI. TAG is in the perfect position to optimize AI tools, and we’ve recently made a significant investment in R&D resources by adding Noa Magrisso, a dedicated AI Developer to the team. Noa has hit the ground running and is working on ways to broaden the company’s AI capabilities. This investment reflects our focus on innovation and ensuring TAG’s platform incorporates the most cutting-edge AI technology. Stay-tuned for updates.
TVT: What will be your most important product news?
SCHILLER: TAG’s latest set of improvements reflect our mission to always provide customers with the tools that allow them to scale efficiently. At NAB Show NewYork we will be previewing our new advanced user management functionality that is structured to strengthen security and reduce human error. This user management component restricts, or permits, access to inputs, outputs, sources (or subsets of sources), and functionalities based on that person’s role in the workflow and the organization.
We will also be presenting a technology preview of Group Lens, an interactive visual tool that provides an at-a-glance overview of the entire network’s status, consolidating thousands of sources onto a single screen. A simple click on any group tile allows operators to effortlessly navigate through a structured hierarchy, filtering by various categories to pinpoint the exact source of the issue. This level of precision enables rapid, focused resolution, preventing minor glitches from escalating into major disruptions.
And we’ve also just introduced QC Elements (Quality Control Elements), a feature that enables a vast array of elements to be arranged on a tile for a comprehensive view of critical technical data, bringing engineers a built-in quality control station within the multiviewer display. Engineers can tailor the information presented on each tile, including details on codecs, frame rates, resolutions, closed captions, audio channels, transport streams and more, all of which will expedite the identification and analysis of technical issues, minimizing downtime and ensuring seamless content delivery.
TVT: How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?
SCHILLER: TAG really has only one product, our Realtime Media Performance platform, and it is consistently being enhanced with new features, functionalities, and enriched with partner integrations and support for emerging formats and protocols. Our mission is to provide customers with tools that give them the insight they need to intelligently grow their business by scaling efficiently as needs evolve, operate with the least amount of complexity possible, and keep them ahead of the pace of technology.
One of our major defining differentiators from any other monitoring and visualization solution is our Zer0 Friction customer experience. Zer0 Friction is an agile licensing model that fits both CAPEX and OPEX budgets and includes all TAG functionalities, in every application and workflow. With Zer0 Friction customers always have access to maximum asset utilization because licenses can be shared dynamically between functionalities, workflows and locations based on evolving needs. This level of flexibility ensures that customers can adapt quickly to changing requirements, using the same TAG license to visualize a production in one location today and monitor an OTT data point in a different location tomorrow.
TVT: What is it about NAB Show New York that brings you back every year?
SCHILLER: Trade shows are an opportunity to showcase our new technology to a live audience, gather responses and suggestions so we can finetune each feature and functionality according to market reactions. It also gives me, personally, an opportunity to check out other technology developments in the industry, so I’m reassured that TAG is on the right track with emerging trends. NAB Show New York, in particular, is a great show because it is in Manhattan, and convenient for the New York broadcast community to visit. I get to meet up with friends, colleagues, customers and prospects, all under one roof.
