HD For Indies

This one's short and sweet, but I wanted to get it exactly right and have it be its own freestanding article.

FACTS

Aside from new accessories coming from Red (separate article coming), Red announced 3 new classes of upcoming products. To be precise and accurate, I'm going to directly quote Ted Schilowitz, the spokesperson for Red:

1.) A "professional pocket camera" - also referred to elsewhere as a handheld camera

2.) A "new line of 4K projectors"

3.) A "new line of 4K displays"

I asked "Plural on both?" he said "Plural on both."

No timeline, no pricing, no features on any of that beyond the obvious. At this point, I think they've learned about saying too much too early, so they are just putting it out there.

100% SPECULATIVE CONJECTURE

My tea leaf reading based on those statements:

1.) "Professional pocket camera" - Ted was clear to point out "PROFESSIONAL" - NOT a prosumer camera, a professional camera. I think he said something about not plastic, too. Therefore high quality and not cheap. "Pocket" - not handheld, not small form factor, the word "pocket" was explicitly used, so that implies a pretty small camera to me. So if it is small, I'd guess that would imply it has to fit in your pocket with the lens on it, right? And if the lens on it (presumably fixed I'm guessing, otherwise what mount is small enough to fit a lens on it in your pocket?) is small enough that the whole thing fits in your pocket, would that not imply a smaller sized sensor? And if a smaller sensor, wouldn't that imply lower res? If Red One is as small as they could make a 4K camera, wouldn't pocket sized have to be lower capability anyway with fewer electronics/power/image processing? Therefore lower res as well? All conjecture based on "pocket" - I dunno if that will all logically follow from there...

2.) 4K projectors - man, that's takin' the fight right into Sony's face, as they are the only 4K projectors presently on the market (although I keep hearing rumblings about others under development). I didn't get a chance to research projectors at NAB. But if the pricing of it is in line with how Red prices other stuff...is it possible to build a 4K projector for under $20K-$25K? I hear the bulbs are wickedly expensive, some $1000s of dollars apiece for a high intensity Xenon lamp, which spectrally is the way to go. And a LINE of 4K projectors - we don't know if they are talking about something powerful enough for theatrical applications, or business applications (DI work, medical & industrial visualization?), or even home applications (based on the arc angles of human vision, how big a screen do I need to even SEE 4K if sitting 10-15 feet away?). And other than theatrical distribution, where would 4K footage be coming from? Video cards are soooooo not up to doing 4K at decent frame rates these days, which leads us to...

3.) 4K displays - for editorial and VFX work, these'd be great - to FINALLY see all the res of what you're working on. Wait a minute, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself - are these computer displays, video/image displays, or both? Unknown at this point in time. An especially large concern of mine would be what the interface is - the only known video interface for 4K at this time is a big fat wad of HD-SDI dual links - a total of 8 to be exact - Sony's 4K projector is actually 4096x2160, which is the DCI spec for 4K, which is four dual link 2048x1080 images set up in quads. Kind of a hassle. Is that what we'd have to use for an interface for video stuff? That'd require some new hardware, to say the least. And when they say line of displays, my eyes light up on that one - I'd love to see a 32"-36" 4K display for doing post work, and a bigger (50-80 inch) display for client, coloring and living room viewing. The thought of the price point on that could get pretty scary, too. For computer displays, there are twin dual link DVI to drive 3840x2160 (or is it x2400?) displays, but frame rates can be an issue - I think we had something like 16Hz at best at IBC trying to drive a 3840xwhatever display from a computer video card. DEFINITELY takes a high end, specialty video card.

Notice they haven't said diddly about display tech either - LCD, LCoS, plasma, etc., just "4K," "displays," and "projectors" - the rest is all speculation.

If they had announced these kinds of things last year at NAB or even IBC, they wouldn't have been taken seriously. But to have working cameras in the booth, a Peter Jackson demo, nearly 2000 (I'm guessing, was around 1700 on morning of day 2 I think) cameras on order, working software, Final Cut native support already working....Red's level of credibility is MUCH higher now.

Considering the new markets Red is entering, Sony (in particular*), Panasonic, JVC & Canon won't be resting quite as comfortably post NAB as they have in years past. While Red has yet to ship reliable cameras in bulk, they are right on the cusp of shipping first cameras to clients. The next 6 months should be very telling for Red, and very informative for their competitors.

I would hope/expect that the pricing on all these new items would be as similarly aggressive as the Red One is compared to other professional HD+ cameras. Will this NAB put a dent in other high end camera sales/rentals this year? Will anybody decide to wait on buying a 4K Sony projector to see what Red comes out with, considering how aggressive the Red One's pricing is in comparison to, say, the F23 (at roughly 10x the price)?

Push the Big Red button, indeed.

-mike

* - since Sony makes 4K projectors, the F23, the F900R/F950 cameras, small professional cameras, displays, etc. - all stuff Red is taking on now

Update - somebody pointed out this:

In the comments somebody pointed out this:

Westinghouse's 56-inch 4x 1080p LCD - Engadget

...at about $10K estimated price point, minimum.

Labels: NAB, Red