LAS VEGAS -- NAB 2007 -- Our coverage of all things IP brought us back to the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference. The show had an estimated 105,000 attendees, all witnessing pitches for everything from IPTV middleware to TV weatherman special effects. (Really.) Click on the photo below to start our NAB slide show:

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading

Welcome to the MachineNAB means video, video, video. It also means
a big, darkened exhibit hall that's just hell on amateur photographers. Climbing the LadderA typical display from Sony attacks you with video, video, video.Closed SetWe weren't invited. And then Cathy Blandino,
Sony's hired muscle, beat up our photographer.Drive My CarEscaping to the outdoors, Carisa Sheely helps the NAB
spread word about the digital TV transition.Talk TalkQuick, someone say something new about IPTV! From left to right: David Jensen, Tandberg Television; Jennifer Kyriakakis, Oracle;Peter Lee, Walt Disney Co.;Bob Saffari, LSI;and Russ Schaefer, Yahoo.It Ain't MemorexHD is so clear, it makes a fake fishtank look real.
(Note the camera, bottom center.)Look It UpJay S. Bryant shows that TV Guide's new video search engine,
powered by Microsoft, hasn't crashed yet.Bite MeDarkness and bad framing obscure the fact that Apple's demo area was really, really big.Fabulous PrizesThe Wall of Scopus, as shown by Taka Hirano,
the firm's country manager for Japan.Video FatigueAs show hours wind down, Tandberg TV staffers take a quiet moment.How It WorksTo show off camera equipment, NAB exhibitors use models sitting still. This particular exhibit
used a blue screen (built by Pro Cyc Inc.) to show off video compositing from Ultimatte Corp.The Full Picture...and here's what the image looks like with background edited in. Ah, the magic of video. Going GreenPro Cyc founder Fritz von Tagen. Not to overdo it, but we just love
that there's a whole company for making these backgrounds.Cattle CallIt's not the lunch line, just the post-show, pre-security queue
at Las Vegas-McCarran International Airport.