NAB 2025 Breakdown: Virtual Production Advances, AI Integration, and Hardware Innovations

The 2025 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show has wrapped up, and the Denoised podcast team was on the ground to capture the most significant developments. In this episode, Joey Daoud reports directly from the convention floor while Addy Ghani joins remotely to analyze the trends that emerged during this year's event.

Surprisingly, virtual production remained front and center for the third consecutive year, despite expectations of a slowdown. Meanwhile, AI integration was less about standalone products and more about practical features embedded in existing workflows. The episode also covers how geopolitical factors like tariffs are impacting industry economics and highlights several unexpected hardware innovations that could change production capabilities for independent creators.

Virtual Production Continues to Evolve

Despite predictions of a gradual slowdown in virtual production development, NAB 2025 demonstrated the technology's ongoing momentum with numerous new solutions and updates. According to Addy, who tracked the show remotely, virtual production maintained its prominence for the third or fourth consecutive year.

Joey highlighted several notable advancements:

• Sony OCELLUS - A new camera tracking system

• Vu One Mini - A fully self-contained mobile LED screen with integrated lighting and built-in camera tracking that requires no calibration

• Lightcraft Jetset - Showing impressive improvements with interesting use cases in animation projects and short films

A clear trend emerged toward smaller, more accessible virtual production solutions targeting educational and corporate markets. As Addy noted, "Virtual production in the house of worship space, education space, corporate space" represents significant growth as these professionals "don't have any of our background, skillset and the training so they can just plug and play and get all of the benefits of in-camera VFX."

Key Takeaways on Virtual Production:

• The industry is seeing more complete, integrated solutions rather than separate components

• Educational markets are becoming a major focus for virtual production vendors

• Simpler 2D and 2.5D plate backgrounds are finding more practical use cases than full 3D environments

• Gaussian Splats technology was widely discussed as an efficient way to bring real-world environments into digital production

Vu One Mini: Integrated Virtual Production for New Markets

The Vu One Mini stood out as one of the most impressive virtual production innovations at this year's NAB. This system represents a significant advancement in making virtual production technology more accessible and user-friendly.

Addy noted that Vu has successfully transitioned "from a stage network and one that was focusing on services to now offering a fully fleshed out, a really usable product." What makes the Vu One Mini particularly notable is its integration and ease of use – it "literally rolls in, it's on wheels, and then you could use an iPad to just take whatever AI generated or user generated image, throw it out very, very quickly."

Joey elaborated on the impressive control features:

• Color adjustments and repositioning capabilities

• Depth extrusion to create "faux 3D" effects (sometimes called 2.75D)

• Image-based lighting that can average color ranges from the displayed image and send those colors to built-in lights

• Connectivity with additional lighting systems

This level of integration makes the system particularly valuable for markets beyond traditional film and television, including corporate environments, educational institutions, and houses of worship where users lack specialized technical training.

Virtual Projections: An Alternative Approach

An interesting alternative to LED walls emerged at NAB with Christie projectors demonstrating virtual production capabilities. At the JB&A pre-show, Christie showcased their projection technology working with Kino Flo MIMIK lights for virtual production applications.

The demonstration highlighted two key use cases:

• Using projectors for virtual backgrounds

• Creating green screen environments by having MIMIK lights illuminate the backdrop with green light

When asked about potential weaknesses of projection versus LED walls, Addy pointed out that "the biggest one that I can think of is interference with physical lighting. So if you have lots of lights on a set, you're easily gonna wash out the projector and the screen. Versus an LED wall, which can put out a much higher brightness value."

However, the cost difference makes this approach worth considering. As Addy explained, "The bulk of the cost in a VP stage is gonna be the panels and projectors, I think by surface area to dollar, like come at like a 10:1 or some insane ratio where it's just far, far cheaper to light something with a projector than it is with the LED wall."

AI Integration: Features Not Products

Despite expectations that AI would dominate NAB 2025, the reality was more nuanced. Joey observed that "most of the AI applications here are features not products. They are additional tools built in" to existing workflows.

Unlike the buzz that followed announcements like Sora in previous years, this NAB showed a more practical approach to AI integration:

• DaVinci Resolve 20 introduced several AI-powered features, including IntelliScript, which can create rough cuts based on scripts and automatically stack multiple takes; AI Multicam SmartSwitch for easy podcast edits with scene detection; and AI Audio Assistant for audio mixing.

• Avid demoed Quickture, an AI-driven tool that helps video editors quickly assemble rough cuts

• Adobe Premiere added AI-powered footage analysis capabilities

Joey highlighted that "everything around AI is, you know, these are features and additional things to help you. Nothing that's like launching or big that's like, we're gonna edit your videos for you or like, we're gonna generate your movies for you."

Addy noted the absence of major AI companies at the show: "When generative AI first launched a couple years back... we saw a lot of generative AI images up on walls. And then last year we did as well... we're missing the big company presence there, we're also missing really useful applications and practical implementations of AI."

Notable AI Companies Present:

• TwelveLabs - Has grown significantly since last year, with video-specific foundational models integrated with various media tools

• Beeble (formerly SwitchLight) - Showcased their AI-based relighting tool now available as a full web app that can integrate with Blender and Unreal

Tariff Impacts on the Industry

An unexpected topic of discussion at NAB was the impact of tariffs, particularly how they affect equipment manufactured in China. This issue is especially significant for virtual production, as Addy pointed out: "The China tariffs, which are now at, I believe 104%... where do you think all of the LED panels in the world come from?"

The uncertainty created by these tariffs adds complexity for anyone planning long-term investments in technology:

• Equipment prices fluctuated throughout the show as companies assessed tariff impacts

• Companies like Blackmagic Design adjusted their logistics to mitigate pricing impacts

• The situation creates planning challenges for those building virtual production stages meant to last 5-10 years

Addy noted that this situation could give companies like Christie (with their projector-based solutions) a competitive advantage, and mentioned that "Planar is probably the only manufacturer that has any manufacturing capability to make a panel here in the US."

Hardware Innovations for Independent Creators

Beyond the major trends, NAB 2025 showcased several exciting hardware developments that could make high-end production capabilities more accessible to independent creators:

PIXBOOM High-Speed Camera

• Shoots 1800 frames per second at 2K or 1000 frames per second at 4K

• Expected to be significantly less expensive than traditional high-speed cameras

• Designed by a Chinese company with a background in scientific imaging

Motorized Precision Cinema Robot

• A $10,000 cinema robot arm

• Offers capabilities similar to systems that traditionally cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

Atomos Expansions

• Released their own wireless transmitter set to compete with Hollyland and Teradek

• Introduced a PTZ camera

• Launched their own headphones following an audio company acquisition

• Announced a cloud storage service that integrates with their monitors

Blackmagic Design Updates

• Released the ATEM Mini Extreme G2 with two XLR audio inputs, addressing a common limitation

• The PYXIS 12K camera generated significant interest throughout the show

Conclusion: The State of Media Tech in 2025

NAB 2025 painted a picture of an industry focused on practical improvements rather than flashy innovations. Virtual production continues to mature and find new markets, while AI is being thoughtfully integrated into existing workflows rather than attempting to replace them.

The show highlighted how technologies once reserved for high-budget productions are becoming increasingly accessible to independent creators and educational institutions. From affordable cinema robots to integrated virtual production systems, these tools are expanding creative possibilities across the industry.

Simultaneously, external factors like international tariffs are creating new challenges that could reshape supply chains and partnerships in the coming years. The partnership between Vu and Samsung, for instance, represents how manufacturers and technology providers are adapting to these changing conditions.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the personal views of the hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of their respective employers or organizations. This show is independently produced by VP Land without the use of any outside company resources, confidential information, or affiliations.