Last week’s NAB Convention in Las Vegas is now history, and, for more than 90,000 attendees, this week is all about catching up on projects that sat idle during the week, combing through notes and new-product brochures, and sending e-mails to exhibitors whose products are worth a second look. This week is also the time when upper-management types ask the big question: how was NAB? The short answer? It depends.

At the 2012 NAB Show, Harris showcased several new products and features aimed at the HD mobile production trucks market, as well as an expanding roster of news, sports, live events, and broadcast/cable network customers. Harris Platinum integrated routing solutions continue to evolve, building new options into the frame to reduce space, energy use and costs — from Harris HView SX Pro multiviewers to multichannel audio distribution interface (MADI) solutions for higher-density audio routing.

Haivision’s KulaByte 4.0 software for efficient high-quality cloud transcoding received the 2012 STAR (Superior Technology Award Recipient) Award from the editorial staff of TV Technology magazine at the 2012 NAB Show. KulaByte is a software-based live H.264 video transcoder that delivers the highest quality RTMP Dynamic Streaming for Flash video and Adaptive HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for iOS devices. Now available for Linux, KulaByte 4.0 delivers significant gains in transcoding performance and enables cost savings.

Ericsson has been recognized as a leader for content acquisition and exchange with a TV Technology STAR Award at NAB 2012. Ericsson’s AVP 3000 Voyager was launched at the show in Las Vegas as part of the brand new AVP multi-codec, multi-function video compression and processing platform. The platform provides performance, scalability, flexibility, and efficiency for broadcasters and TV service providers.

MultiDyne’s SilverBACK II camera-mounted fiber transport solution received a Superior Technology Award Recipient (STAR) Award at the 2012 NAB Show. TV Technology STAR Award recipients are selected by a panel of broadcast industry experts who canvas the NAB Show floor and review a variety of products and services, examining their technical applications and overall contribution to the industry.

The lockout may be, thankfully, in the rearview mirror for NBA fans, but the work stoppage is still affecting the league’s schedule. With only one day between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, the league’s broadcasters, like Turner Sports, have had to scramble to get everything in place. TNT will televise more than 40 NBA Playoff games beginning Saturday with the Chicago Bulls hosting the Philadelphia 76ers at 1 p.m. ET.

Capping a record-setting regular season, NBA TV enters the postseason with plans to originally produce up to nine playoff matchups. For the first time since Turner Sports and the NBA partnered to jointly manage the league’s digital assets four years ago, NBA TV’s extensive coverage will include live productions of first-round games, in addition to live studio coverage, pre- and post-game analysis, press conferences, complete-game playbacks of every playoff game, and encore presentations of NBA GameTime.

ESPN finds itself in quite an enviable position going into the NBA Playoffs tomorrow. The network’s staple NBA studio show, Kia NBA Countdown, is produced just a stone’s throw from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where two of the most high-profile contenders will be chasing a championship ring in the coming weeks. ESPN believes this close proximity will give Countdown a valuable leg up in covering the Lakers and Clippers at the nexus of the Western Conference playoff race.

MLB Network’s Ballpark Cam system was named last night as the mass media gold winner in the Media/Visual Communication category of the Edison Awards, which honor the best in innovation and excellence in the development of new products and services. The Ballpark Cam system is a network of cameras installed in two locations at all 30 ballparks throughout Major League Baseball, controlled remotely from MLB Network’s studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.

LiveClips is involved in creation, digitization and real-time delivery of smart video clips to sports and fantasy league fans via Internet-enabled and mobile devices. The company recently announced that it has been chosen to power the delivery of live in-game video highlights from NCAA college football, Major League Soccer (MLS) and Euro 2012 soccer telecasts.

JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., announced that KTUL, the ABC affiliate in Tulsa, OK, has purchased 18 GY-HM790 ProHD cameras, as well as two GY-HM750Us, to produce its local newscasts in HD. The new cameras were first used in SD mode when they were delivered in March, but the station transitioned to full HD for ENG and studio production on Aug. 22.

AmberFin, a developer of file-based media ingest, transcoding, and unified quality control solutions, and its UK channel partner, ATG Broadcast, have announced the sale of AmberFin iCR HD standards converter systems to the Associated Press (AP). The project is part of AP’s global transition to HD operation with file-based workflows.

In a new, mobile twist to the 24/7 NFL Draft coverage idea, the Indianapolis Colts will have a live, mobile TV camera following top draft pick Andrew Luck from the moment he’s picked Thursday throughout his Friday welcome-to-Indy activities. Partnering with mobile camera technology supplier LiveU, whose camera modems are finding more fans in the sports world, the Colts will provide a Luck’s-eye-view to the hoopla surrounding the top draft pick.

Part of the celebration of Boston’s Fenway Park’s 100th anniversary comes in the form of an expanded audio system. The distributed PA system designed by WJHW and installed in 2006 by Boston Light & Sound at MLB’s oldest continuously operating ballpark has undergone several upgrades, including additional coverage for new seating areas in 2010 and 2011. This year, new speakers have been added to provide on-field coverage in the infield area around home plate between first and third bases.

Audio routers have become far more sophisticated in the past year. They had to: convergence with video-signal routing is making the move to the fully integrated multisignal router inevitable. Here are some of the choices that sports-broadcast professionals have now.

Bexel is continuing its commitment to offer large routing systems as part of the company’s turnkey broadcast capabilities with a recent two-million-dollar purchase of digital broadcast equipment from Evertz Microsystems. Last year, Bexel purchased an additional two-million-dollars’ worth of Evertz routing and processing equipment. The gear made its debut at the 2011 US Open Tennis Tournament.

The Sports Video Group is pleased to announce that Game Creek Video and Mansion Mobile have renewed their mobile sponsorships. Both Game Creek and Mansion Mobile are leading providers of mobile production units.

The NHL Playoffs have gone gangbusters thus far on in both the national and regional ratings games, highlighted by Wednesday’s Game 7 between the Washington Capitals and the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, which was watched by 1.32 million viewers on the NBC Sports Network, making it the most-watched NHL Conference Quarterfinal game on cable in 12 years.

NBC has unveiled the on-air talent lineup for its ocverage of the 2012 London Olympics Games, with 22-time Emmy-winner Bob Costas once again leading the way as primetime host. Al Michaels, who hosted daytime coverage at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, and Dan Patrick, making his Olympic hosting debut, will host NBC’s live weekday and weekend daytime coverage, and Mary Carillo will once again host the NBC late night show.

HBO’s reality series 24/7 is coming to TNT, which will air replays of the all-new four-part series 24/7 MAYWEATHER/COTTO on four consecutive nights, beginning Tuesday, May 1. In the lead-up to the blockbuster HBO Pay-Per-View telecast on May 5 in Las Vegas when Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto battle for Cotto’s world super welterweight title, TNT will replay a different episode of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/COTTO from Tuesday, May 1, through Friday, May 4.

Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of London 2012, revealed on his blog that BBC will deliver a total of around 2,500 hours of live sport. Highlights include 33 hours a day of live television across all three BBC networks, the first ever 3D broadcast coverage of the Olympics to include the ceremonies and the 100m final live on the BBC, the first Super Hi Vision test transmissions in Glasgow, Bradford and London, and more online and mobile services than ever before.

Going for 1 in 6 in sports isn’t good. But for executives on Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue, Rockefeller Center and Penn Plaza, that ratio wasn’t just good, it was great on April 26. Especially when an O for 6 would have meant Ottawa. Had the New York Rangers and netminder Henrik Lundqvist not staved off the Senators, the NBC Sports Group in the first of its 10-year, $2 billion deal with the National Hockey League would have provided exclusive second round coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sans any Original Six members.

St. John’s University currently produces HD coverage for its athletics home games with HD camcorders from Canon U.S.A. The St. John’s Television Network (STJ-TV) uses Canon XF305 and XF105 professional tapeless HD camcorders to produce sports coverage not only for its official athletics website (www.redstormsports.com), but also for national and regional cable networks, and for Internet and mobile platforms.

XOS Digital has announced that it is providing HD officiating technology to three more collegiate programs among its more than 80 hockey partners. The University of Notre Dame, Quinnipiac University, and Boston University hockey programs have now incorporated XOS HD Replay into their arenas.

Major-college football will have a four-team playoff following the 2014 season if conference and campus leaders approve one of the versions discussed this week by Bowl Championship Series officials. It would be the first playoff at the sport’s top level. “If this happens, it will be a seismic change for college football, obviously,” BCS executive director Bill Hancock said.

The NHL, which already has an official iPad app, is jumping further into the second screen trend with what it calls the first sanctioned predictive gaming app for a major sports league. The free NHL PrePlay app, which just got approved, allows TV viewers to play along with a game by making live predictions on the action.

MP4 is the leading video format video professionals employ to distribute content on the Web and to mobile devices, according to survey results released April 15 by Sorenson Media. The survey found that 69 percent of users employ it regularly for the Web, and 58 percent use it for content destined for mobile devices.

Apple once again topped Wall Street's estimates with its second-quarter earnings, bringing in strong profits and selling more iPhones than expected. This slightly overshadowed the first major sales numbers of the new iPad, which launched last month. Apple has sold fewer units of the device than analysts had estimated it would. Apple reported revenue of $39.2 billion and earnings of $11.6 billion.

CBS Sports has named Mark Wolff coordinating producer of college basketball, responsible for the day-to-day planning of the Network’s coverage of NCAA Basketball. Wolff joins Bob Fishman as the lead basketball production team working the regular-season and the NCAA Tournament, including the Final Four and Championship Game. In addition to basketball, Wolff will continue to serve as a producer for the NFL.

Chyron has appointed Sergio Amuchastegui as the company’s regional sales manager of Mexico. As part of a strategic expansion, he joins the Latin American sales team to work with authorized dealers and channel partners to drive the sale of Chyron products, solutions, and professional services.

The mudslinging has got to stop. Negotiating through the media has to end. It's time for officials from Fox Sports San Diego, the Padres - who own 20 percent of the network - Time Warner Cable and satellite providers AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS, and Dish Network to barricade themselves in a room and not come out until a deal is reached to carry Padres games.

By letting broadcasters share channels and not relinquish must-carry rights, the commission hopes to entice weak stations to double up (or even triple up) on channels, turn over spectrum to the FCC and participate in the voluntary "incentive" auction.

Congress moved toward gridlock over how to improve the security of the nation's computer networks when the House of Representatives approved a measure opposed by the White House and at odds with Senate efforts on the issue. House passage of its measure, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, came on a 248-168 vote Thursday and was supported by both Republicans and Democrats.