HD For Indies

Indie Film Live is a blog about the production of a VFX heavy movie called Spoon. Their about section reads:

On this site we intend to document the behind-the-scenes the technical aspects of the creation of a modern effects heavy independent film. The film being show-cased is the feature Spoon. Various companies will contributing to the discussion, lead by Atomic Visual Effects, CineForm, and Wafian.


...but most of the writing appears to be by David, as in David Newman, CTO of Cineform, not at all your average film geek.

Interesting reading for the Windows crowd - the Cineform codec is very high quality (Dust to Glory was filmed out from original HDCAM compressed captures) and offers some good options (such as a compressed 10 bit codec).

It goes into lots of geeky details about settings and stuff.

It also includes coverage of the Wafian recorder in action - Wafian is essentially a DDR (digital disk recorder) that uses the Cineform compression technology. They ran it out of the back of a car off of a UPS to get 15 minutes of recording at a time.

Desperate indie garage hack? Yes, but it totally works....in bursts (just turn off the damn "I'm unplugged!" alarm!).

: )

-mike

EditorsNet - The Daily Film & Video Editing Resource

Not new but interesting - a major editor on a major film using Final Cut Pro.

-mike

PS-thanks to frank Reynolds for sending in this link - Frank is presently cutting a Rosairo Dawson feature

CinemaTech: The Cuban/Wagner Report

The other week Scott over at CinemaTech had a nice update on what Mark Cuban of HDNet/Landmark Theaters/2929 Films was up to. For those that haven't been keeping up, Cuban is doing things like making films on HD, considering simultaneous PPV TV/DVD/theatrical releases, installing 4K projectors into theaters, etc.

There are links to a bunch of different articles.

This is recommended reading for those interested in the future of film distribution, since Cuban seems to be the one most aggressively exploring new options.

This is a "Mike gets hands on" review.

I recently received a review unit of the Trans International (transintl.com) miniG 4 drive SATA drive enclosure.

First off, the appearance - it looks like a little G5, as if you left your G5 in the tumble dryer too long and shrank it. It matches the industrial design of the G5 quite well. It is aluminum, it has drilled holes in the front and back just like the G5, and handles just like the G5 at top/bottom/front/back. I like the look, although I've heard some say its a bit cloying and overly cutesy. Whatever - a personal decision, but I like it and think it'd look fine and professional sitting on the desk next to the G5. Unless you have a super high end client, they'd probably think it was cool too sitting next to a G5.

The design is functional - all those drilled holes serve the same purpose here as they do on a G5, with air flowing in the front and out the back for excellent cooling.

A big advantage in my book is the size - this thing is TINY, especially as compared to the much, much larger MacGurus Burly drives that I have sitting around, that are probably 3 or 4 times bigger in volume. The enclosure is a hair wider than the drives mounted in it, and just tall enough to have them one over the other with room for airflow between. There is room in the back for the cabling and some fans to draw air out of the unit. To me, this is ideal - why have the enclosure take up any more desk real estate than it has to? I'm not trying to impress anybody with size.

One reason that the unit is so small, however, is the enormous external power brick that it requires - unlike some other enclosures with built in power supplies, this one is external and HUGE. It's about the volume of a good sized paperback book, and you can see it in comparison to the enclosure and a G5 in the lame-o picture I've got at the beginning of this article, taken on my home studio's floor. One complaint that I have is that the cord from the power brick to the unit is a fixed cable, and just barely long enough to go from the back of the unit on a desk to the floor (which is where you'd want to hide this monster of a brick). They should either make that cable a couple of feet longer or include an extender cable in the box when you buy it. Otherwise, if you have the enclosure on your desk, and there's any wire routing you've got to do other than a direct shot to the floor, it leaves the brick hanging in space, or pulling the enclosure towards the back of your desk. Not good. If you're putting it on the floor, you can probably hide it away behind the G5 or something to keep it out of site. Aesthetically, it interferes with the tiny coolness of the enclosure.

There are five lights on the front, one to indicate power and then one for each of the drives to indicate drive status. As with all SATA enclosures of this nature, there is one cable per drive, so you'd need 4 available ports on a SATA card to attach to this enclosure. When it comes to tidy/professional looks, a little cable wrangling is in order (as it would be with any 4 cable enclosure). My current favorite is the Sonnet lineup, they have a 4+4 (4 internal/4 external) and 8 port Tempo-X eSATA cards. Driverless and trouble free. The Firmtek/Seritek 4 port external cards are also good, but more finicky about what drives they work with (no SSC enabled drives please!). Also as with other enclosures of this nature, you can configure the drives any way your software will support - 4 individual drives, a 4 drive RAID 0, 2 RAID 1s, whatever you want - mix and match as you please.

Their sample unit had four 250 GB drives in it and performed as I'd expect any enclosure with four similar drives - around 250 MB/sec when empty. You can buy the enclosure empty for $499 from their website, or pre-built with drives in capacities from 1.2 to 2.0 TB of capacity at higher prices. This compares favorably with other products of similar looks and quality from other Mac centric vendors. The $600 4 bay hot swap that ProMax, Sonnet, and others sell is what pops to mind.

In use, the unit was reasonably quiet, but glancing in the case, I see they have fairly small fans. I'd like to see a quieter unit by using larger, lower velocity fans (which is how the G5 stays as quiet as it does yet still pushes so much air through to keep it cool). But I would say that it would certainly be "edit room acceptable" if you also had a G5 out in the open in the same room as well.

In real world performance, I can say this about it - I recently had a client that needed to get us a copy of their Avid based project to color correct but didn't have budget to rent a Digibeta deck to master to, nor for us to charge accordingly to capture from one. So I skipped the Digibeta and just went directly from her Adrenaline's SDI output directly into the SDI input of a G5 of mine (BlackMagic card). I needed storage to capture the footage (about 150 GB), so I toted the miniG with me over there. For one, the tiny size and weight made it a pleasure to tote around as compared to my larger MacGurus Burly Boxes or my equally small but too-many-pieces-to-conveniently-transport Firmtek Seritek 2 bay hotswap enclosures. I had the miniG set up as a 4 drive RAID 0 and it worked as I'd expect - perfectly! Not a dropped frame in capturing an hour and thirty minutes of uncompressed 10 bit NTSC video. After that I took it home and set it up again and did various edity and exporty things with it and it for a couple of days and it worked fine. One time it didn't mount at startup when I was hooking it back up, but that was most likely due to a loose SATA cable in a plug socket - a common concern with these one-cable-per-drive SATA connection setups common to most SATA enclosures. But nothing I'd single this unit out for above any other enclosure.

As for HD performance, I'd expect it to be the same as any other 4 bay enclosure with the same drives in it - good enough for all 4:2:2 HD work if carefully partitioned and using only the fastest part of the array, good enough for all compressed HD work, good enough for 720p24 work uncompressed, etc. See other blog postings about detailed throughput requirements for HD work. (Try the FAQ, link at top right of page).

But there's no reason why you couldn't get two of these and connect them via a Sonnet Tempo-X 8 port eSATA card to get all the throughput you'd need for any kind of HD work you'd be likely to encounter, and that would make for a great looking, well cooled setup to hold up to 4TB of HD video - just enough to offline and online an HD feature if you're careful and plan correctly.

When it comes to SATA enclosures, drive performance is pretty much 98% dependent on the drives used and how they connect to the SATA card. This unit uses one cable per drive (standard eSATA implementation) and performance is right up there where I'd expect it to be, and that's a good thing. Thus the only things the enclosure does that I care about are:

-provide good clean power (God I'd hope so with that huge brick)
-look good (check)
-provide more than adequate ventilation/cooling (check and super check, excellent breathing room in there)
-be quiet in studio (it is 80-90% of what I'd want)
-be trouble free in operation (check)
-not cost an arm and a leg (wellllll....sorta)

The unit did occassionally exhibit a slight rattling noise, and upon examination I think it is because the sides of the unit are buzzing/rattling against the front (the air holed drilled part). They either need to put a small wedge of absorbent material in there, or screw it down, or something. It didn't always make the noise, but annoying when it did. This is easily user fixable but shimming some folded paper in there or something like that. But you shouldn't have to.

Also in the quibbly category, these are tall thin units (and small, and small is good in my book), but they wouldn't stack vertically in a way that I'd feel safe with (too much height, not enough width for stability). I'd love it if they shipped the unit with LRF support (little rubber feet) so that you could stack them on their sides. But if you did that, the handles would look a bit dorky. Sigh - such is life and the complications therein. You can always buy clear silicone LRF at Fry's or Radio Shack or whatnot if you wanted to do that, and if space were at a premium on my desk and I had more than two of these enclosures, that's what I'd do. Otherwise they'd scratch if set on their sides.

Overall, it is a nice enclosure. Good looking, well cooled, well powered. A bit pricey compared to some of the simpler options out there, but not unreasonable when surveying the other options on the market of similar quality.

The only changes I'd like to see would be a longer cord from the power brick to the unit (it is fixed and unreplaceable), elimination of the occassional rattle, larger/quieter internal fans, and a lower price (I'd love to see $100 to $150 less but that may not be realistic with this aluminum enclosure). All of these things are assembly line fixes and not huge changes, so perhaps some of these might be incorporated at a later date.

Overall: a solid B. Great looks, good technical performance (power, connecting, drive speed and cooling), kinda highish cost, slight noise issues (minor) and some quibbly engineering details (fan & occassional vibration noise, huge brick on short cord) are all that bring it down. If those issues were addressed, I'd give it an A. If they did that and dropped the price to $350, A+, and it would be my top pick for a fixed SATA enclosure.

-mike

EETimes.com - Fate of high-def DVD may lie with Microsoft

Great article updating on the whole HD-DVD vs. blu-Ray shindig. Microsoft, after first claiming agnosticity (??), now is so firmly pushing HD-DVD that they are reportedly offering financial incentives to computer manufacturers if they go HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. As well as including HD-DVD support in Vista, their next gen
operating system, and ZERO support for Blu-Ray.

Why? Microsoft doesn't want Java to make any more headway into the market as a potential threat against MS IP, Microsoft may want to prologng a format war for them to have time to get a high def strategy into their XBox 360 in time, and Microsoft may want to advocate for downloadable, rather than disc based, movies in the future, to be the "telephone company of the living room" with the money going for the service/s, not the tangible product/s.

Eek. More reasons MS makes me nervous.

I think Blu Ray has a superior technology, but betting against Microsoft has historically not been a winning play.

Lots of good details in the article, I'm just summarizing here. Go read it, and weep at how MS continues to interfere in the market. It is one thing to advocate, another to not support the competition, but quite another to pay folks to pick your favorite rather than the other.

Hulllooooo, Justice Department? Is there any kind of restraint of trade case to be made here, starting now rather than 6 years from now? Oh, wait, there's a Bush in the White House, never mind, that'll never work.

-mike

Thanks to Mike of B-Scene Films for sending in this link!

MacNN | FireWire Depot unveils new products

and there's a bunch of'em.

Useful stuff for the DIY crowd:

-port multiplier bridge board lets you send 5 SATA drives worth of data down on SATA pipe. Your card has to support it though, and so far only LaCie's bundled card supports this (and maybe a Highpoint card too? Gotta check)
-four SATA II bay hotswap enclosure with four SATA interface. Can get multilane/Infiniband interface, SATA, or eSATA. Perfect! Haven't played with the enclosure yet, so issues of connection style, noise, vibration, cooling, etc. unknown
-Infiniband 4x SATA ports PCI bracket if you had a card with 4 internal SATA connectors and an empty PCI slot, this would let you send a single Infiniband cable to a hard drive enclosure that also had a similar Infiniband to SATA thingy mounted in it. The advantage is one cable not 4.
-this would be the matching part to go in the enclosure - Infiniband on outside of box, 4 SATA inside of box
-and finally, a 5 bay SATA hot swap enclosure with port multiplier stuff so only a single cable to the Mac. If you had a 4 port SATA card (like the LaCie, and probably others in the future), you could hook up to 20 drives to a single 4 port card. Schweet.

-mike

AJA Video - Serial Digital Video Interface and Conversion, KONA Support

This is the AJA Kona support page, but if you scroll down or click here you'll see their white paper on HDV workflow, or if you click here you'll see their HDCAM Essentials PDF file.

Great info, good tech support from these guys.

-mike

AppleInsider | Sony lures Apple exec to lead software development

Sony hired Tim Schaaff away from Apple, where he worked on QuickTime and Interactive Media teams, and will now be Senior VP of Software Development.

Software is obviously a critical element in creating champion Sony products, and in increasing the value of Sony devices and services by ensuring interoperability.


It wasn't just that the iPod was a great MP3 player (it was), but the incredibly smooth and easy interaction between iPod and iTunes that really made it take off, I believe.

If Sony is going to get back in the game, they've gotta do the same. Tim's a good guy to do it, because he Gets It. Or at least he should at that level. Although actually, I don't know a thing about the guy, but the IDEA of hiring a medium high level exec away from Apple shows their intent is in the right place.

This isn't HD or filmmaking related, but I bet it will influence the consumer devices we can distribute our content on starting in the next 2-5 years.

-mike

Been There, Seen That - Why is Hollywood so obsessed with remakes? By Gabriel Snyder

Why Hollywood is so obsessed with remakes - they're easy.

Script is done, "it worked before," it has name brand appeal and comfort, etc.

Mike's Comments: 14 of'em this year, after 4 in 2000. Mmmmmaybe this is part of why box office is down?

Think about that when you make your movie - are you in it to make art or commerce? Commerce says go with what works - or at least what has worked. Hollywood is about commerce.

AppleInsider | Sources: Intel developing next-generation Power Mac for Apple

According to AppleInsider, Apple is subcontracting out the design and possibly manufacture of their next generation Power Mac motherboards, speculatively based on the Conroe architecture from Intel.

Would "Intel Inside" appear on the units? In the end, leveraging Intel's efficiency of scale should drive some cost savings for Apple, how much of that might reach consumers? How will Apple maintain its usual level of secrecy? Are we truly entering a new era, where the external and internal design might differ from the past? Apple has done a MAGNIFICENT job of internal engineering on their more recent G5s - easy to open and work on, relatively quiet considering the cooling requirements, etc.

A couple of interesting quotes:

"The risk with this strategy is that it could make the Power Mac more 'open' than other systems as Intel's specs could be published for others to follow," said one Wall Street analyst who provides coverage on Apple, but asked not to be identified. "It'll be interesting how Apple retains its proprietary architecture -- which I assume will be more than software."

and also:

With Apple moving aggressively to introduce four Intel-based Mac models in the first four months of 2006 -- iMacs, 15-inch PowerBooks, 13-inch widescreen iBooks and Mac minis -- resources at the company's Cupertino, Calif.- based engineering labs have worn thin, sources said.


So maybe more stuff at MWSF after all? Wait and see...

-mike

Final Cut Pro: Dropped Frames and Loss of Audio Sync

Nice, long, detailed article from Apple about possible causes and fixes for dropped frames and loss of audio/video sync.

Having trouble? Read this!

-mike

DVD Studio Pro 3: Not compatible with Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) or iMac G5 (iSight)

It will crash on import of MPEG-2 item. You'll be sad.

Get DVD SP 4 (then update it), problem solved.

Macworld UK - RUMOUR: Intel Apple laptop-making deals agreed

MacWorld reporting EMS is reporting on new Intel based PowerBooks for Q1 production runs. But if they just recently inked the deal for production, then it will take them some time to ramp up.

The article MacWorld cites claims:

Apple computer stated it would exhibit its desktop and notebook with Intel processor at Mac World Expo in San Francisco, USA from 9th to 13th January next year.


Apple NEVER says in advance, as we all know. So something here isn't right, even if it is just misquoting the source - an anonymous Apple source might say they'll show product, never Apple officially.

So I think, unless Steve waaaaaay pre-announces it (which would kill off sales until the new stuff shipped, and THAT ain't gonna happen) I think we're still on track for spring/summer first Mac/Intel laptops....which is what Apple has publicly stated all along.

And why would Apple crow about "we're gonna have killer product in 3 months, so don't you buy nothin' until!"? Not gonna happen.

Of course, I will gladly eat crow over my new Intel based PowerBook or mini if they spill toys out of the Santa bag.

-mike

QuickTime Pro: DV format movies may require adjustment for iPod

Ok, this soooooo isn't HD, but I figured the readership would care.

Ya gotta adjust your DV for 4:3 display otherwise you'll get ovals not circles and unintended letterboxing. Click the link to see a nice visual example.

Hey all - I'm back, and what better way to dig into this than to share that Pioneer is expected to show Blu Ray optical disc drives for personal computers at CES.

This report is an amalgamation of reports from other sources listed at the bottom.

-on sale in Japan (pending two licensing issues)
-BDR-101A works without a cartridge or shell, single layer BD-R and BD-RW discs
-single and dual layer BD-ROM
-can write DVD-R and DVD-RW discs as well (but what about CD-R and CD-RW?)
-Japanese manufacturers only, end of January for now
-US first quarter (so probably not in Macs announced at MWSF in a few weeks, even though Pioneer has often been a vendor for Apple's bleeding edge optical technology)
-so likely 2nd quarter 2006 for inclusion of US based systems - so much for Steve Jobs' "later this year" quote at last MWSF 2005
-ATAPI interface, "33M bytes per second" transfer rate - that is almost certainly read speed, I'm very interested in write speed, which is likely lower (usually is with optical drives)
-no price quoted
-no stated plans at this time for direct to consumer sales
-this is the first shipping date for a BD-R drive
-DRM stuff (AACS) is holding up both HD DVD and Blu ray.

Mike's Comments: Welllllll.....so much for Steve Jobs' "later this year" comment last January at MWSF about being able to burn high def DVDs. At least Apple has had plenty of time to practice in the meantime. Japanese manufacturer's only for now, and not until end of January, and only if licensing stuff gets ironed out. So unless Jobs wants to really overpromise/underdeliver January 9th in San Francisco, no BD-R drives in Macs to ship at MWSF, or even "within 30 days" as the old euphemism goes about products that ship in 45-90 days in reality. Unless he pulls a rabbit out of a hat with some Apple only deal. Which has happened before. But the licensing stuff is out of his hands - it is up to industry consortia that he can't strongarm. But the good news is that right out of the gate Pioneer is going for a burner, not just a player. I see no support for CD burning mentioned (and they would, wouldn't they, if they had it?) nor mention of reading CDs (which I could potentially see them failing to mention as too minor a point).

Somebody with more time on their hands than I have - go back and check the specs for inclusion of reading CD/CD-R/CD-RW media, please. This whole thing has dragged on so long I've forgotten the specs.

Otherwise, we're back to dual optical drive days - a MegaDrive (Blu Ray and DVD) and a plain old CD burner IF CD burning isn't supported.

But this is all good news - sounds likely we'll have Blu Ray (MegaDrive, anyone?) burners in Macs by this summer.

Sources:

Macworld: News: Pioneer to launch Blu-ray Disc drive in January

Pioneer Prepares to Launch Blu-ray Disc Drive (from Yahoo! News)

Ho Ho Ho.

They're dorks and don't know how to link, so after clicking this link be sure to right click and Download Linked File to disk, otherwise you get a screenful of gibberish text.

Season's greetings, ya'all!

Postings will diminish greatly over the next few days unless I get energetic and have spare time on my hands to link to the 20 or so open Safari windows I've got right now.

-mike

Mike Note: I woulda posted a link to unrecompressed source footage of a yule log burning shot simultaneously with DVX100B, XL2, SDX-900, HVX200, Z1U, XL H1, GY-HD100U, F900, F950, Viper, D-20, Genesis and RED, but I didn't have space on server. Too bad. This proxy will have to do. Pbbbbbbt!

; )

macosXrumors.com: news and rumors related to Mac OS X and Apple

MacOSXRumors is reporting that a French site reports that PowerBook 15 is now listed as EOL (End Of Life) on some stores. Same for the Fnac Belgium stores for the 12" as well.

End Of Life typically precedes new releases. So IF Apple is about to come out with new laptops, would these be Intel or PPC? Since mid 2006 was the official release date of Intel based Macs, PPC speed bumps at MWSF wouldn't be out of line - if Minis were the first new Intel based Macs, that would leave room for a summer/fall or later Intel laptop release.

So I could see it going either way, but I see PPC speed bumps as the more likely scenario. But if Steve surprises us with "one more thing" of Intel based Mac laptops, I won't be a cryin'.

Again, this is all speculation based on rumor wrapped in an enigma wrapped around a question several light years distant from the actual truth rattling around Steve Jobs' brain.

-mike

Basketball footage (new) 720 60fps - DVXuser.com - The online community for Digital Filmmaking

The first post from Jarred has some clips. I'll update & comment once I download'em and check'em out. The thread will have commentary on the footage, too.

-mike

Three articles today -

Macworld UK - Apple, Intel cooking up PC/TV connection standard

and

MacNN | Apple, Intel look to improve PC-TV link

are both about the effort between Apple, Intel, Samsung, National Semiconductor, and Silicon Image.


The Unified Display Interface (UDI) is likely to replace the analogue VGA standard. UDI will be compatible with most existing digital screen standards, a report on EE Times claims.

It will also be able to use High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology, meaning host platforms will be able to plug into so-equipped screens "with full content-use rights management and high-definition video compatibility", the report explains.


and also

The report says that UDI will support a content-protection technology that now works with HDMI, and is supported by movie studios worried about piracy of high-definition movies.


This is this HDCP stuff I've been talking about for a lot of this year.

I've been talking for, gee, about 6 or so months about how Apple's move to Intel is less about processor performance and low power consumption and more about getting onboard with this consumer technology.

Apple's ability to expand market share in the home, small business and enterprisse markets has shown to be a tough nut to crack.

But Apple's ability to expand market share into the consumer electronics space (similar and overlapping to home computers at times but not the same) has shown to be a big hit so far - look at iPod & iTunes. Now they are lining up to go for a living room TV play. First it was downloadable music videos, then downloadable TV shows. How soon until a made for TV movie is promptly available? How soon until a theatrically released movie is released on the iMovie Store or whatever it is to be called around the same time the DVD is? And before/same/after DVD release?

I hadn't been planning on attending MWSF this year in early January, I may have to.

-mike

Macworld: News: HP no longer feeling blu, to support HD-DVD

HP is now supporting both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, instead of just Blu-Ray. The big news here is that Mandatory Managed Copy looks like it WILL go into the Blu Ray spec for sure, which is news to me.

That right there should hopefully also bring Intel and Microsoft back into the fold, since that will allow for the Viiv platform initiative to reach it's full potential (allowing movies to be safely/protectedly/non-piratedly to be copied to user's hard drives for media libraries).

We'll have to see if new announcements from Intel/MS come out.

If they don't, I'd be surprised - so what ELSE were Intel/MS wanting from Blu Ray? Or was it all always about only supporting the interactivity layer that MS designed and shutting out competition? PS3 will make it hard to ignore Blu Ray as a format.

I read the other day, but didn't have time to report (too busy with RED), that HD-DVD looks like it'll be pushing back it's release. Later into spring, into summer? I didn't have time to catch all the details. That surely makes more sense now why XBox 360 forewent HD-DVD this time around - I've already seen and played (and had my ass handed to me by a 14 year old) videogames on an XBox 360 - no way they'd delay launch 6 or more months for the optical disc format....it'll just be a different version (Xbox 361? : ) ) when they ship one with HD-DVD. Which is another reason to ask, that I could look up if I had time - how much money, as a percentage of gross income related to or influenced by optical media, does Xbox 360 and Viiv tie-ins represent for the company? Is it worth skipping Blu-Ray and ticking off a ton of people in order to get their interactive standard out there and hurt the competition? It would certainly be in line with their prior behavior of Conan like business model interactions.

-mike

Macworld: News: Autodesk releases Combustion 4, Cleaner 6.5

Headline summarizes nicely. Read the article for key new features. Nothing earth shattering at a quick skim, but I'm curious to see how combustion's time remapping capabilities compare to Shake's Optical Flow stuff - both are trying to do the same kind of time remapping. How does quality compare, and how does speed compare between the two?

I'm amazed that Cleaner is getting an upgrade. Looks like bolt-ons, not core upgrades. I heard the deep geek, in-the-guts development team got axed a year and a half ago.

I haven't used it much, but talking to one of Compression Master's execs at NAB sharing a cab last year, it sounded awfully good and worthy of consideration as a competitor to Cleaner, which was the golden standard for yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaars that I used it.

Of course, Apple's own Compressor has taken much of the wind out of both of their sails.

A better, more detailed synopsis of combustion features can be found here.

-mike

Think Secret - Intel readying multiple versions of Yonah processor

Latest rumors of the "who knows if true" variety.

In summary, rumor boards are speculating on new lower end iPods (shuffles and nanos), Minis & iBooks.

1GB iPod shuffles are entirely sold out for Christmas - mid January is next shipment expected.

Anyway, rumor rumor rumor time is spinning up, big time. I tend to suspect that the rumor board guys may just fling out all kinds of crazy rumors just to drive up their traffic during the few weeks before big events like MWSF and WWDC.

In any case, I'm most expecting some Apple media device, video type device announcements. Correction - not expecting, hoping for. No evidence.

-mike

RED Digital Cinema - The Digital Video Information Network

DVInfo has a RED thread that you can geek out on. Some knowledgeable folks, like Graeme Nattress, are posting on there, and um, otherly knowledgeable folks are too. Typical poster board wheat/chaff ratio.

As Chris said the other week:

"Ready, set, speculate!"

: )

-mike

This Final Cut Pro 5.0.4 PDF gives a bit more info than the maddeningly brief Software Update, that merely states "Final Cut Pro Update 5.0.4 delivers improved reliability. This update is recommended for all Final Cut Pro 5 customers." which is the software developers version of the school nurse saying "Them's vitamins. Eat'em. They're good for you." ...and then staring intently at you until, during, and after you cautiously swallow them, wondering what they taste like and what it is going to do to you.

The details, as far as I can tell:

-it is a maintenance release
-improves performance for sequences that last over an hour or contain many markers (that's us, as indies)
-addresses an issue when capturing 720p with PCI card captures (again, us)
-resolves audio/video sync issue with DVCPRO50 when capturing over Firewire that had previously resulted in sound drift up to 1.5 frames (eeewwwwww!) - again, applies to us
Panasonic AG-HVX200 support - works with log & capture, print to video, using the camera as a P2 card reader over FireWire, capturing over FireWire as if P2 were a VTR, using PC Card Slot on Powerbook to read P2 card, using USB 2.0 P2 Card Reader or P2 Store Drive. All these are the basics, so nice to see support right from the get-go - the camera doesn't officially ship until the 29th, so Nice Job Apple! (assuming it all works correctly)

There are some details about capturing from P2:
-gotta config in Camera mode before you use it to capture or import P2 media
-camera's record mode must match mode of data you're kicking out - so it doesn't auto-detect incoming frame size etc.
-PC Mode settings have to be correct, too (select USB, FireWire, etc.)

Tons more details, I'll have more to say later, but go read for yourself.

I expect to have an HVX200 to play with for a couple of days starting in a week to ten days from now. I'll post all about it then. I'm not much of a shooter, so I'll be recruiting help for that, but I'll be all over the post workflow options, P2 and FireWire. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to test some other stuff too, like capturing over the analog component outputs directly into the Multibridge Extreme into the G5.

-mike

I finally got the Quad G5 set up (mostly). So far I've got the G5 set up, RAM installed, Final Cut Studio, After Effects, and Final Touch HD installed. I still need to install the fibre channel card and the PCIe stub for the Multibridge Extreme. One step at a time.

It's the simple things in life...I can't tell you what a nice big grin it put on my face to see four bars from the Activity Monitor.

"Hi, my name is MIke, I'm a hardware geek."

All together now: "Hi, Mike..."

OK, so now that we know the RED is real, and we know that I know those guys, what features do YOU want to see on the RED?

Think camera features, think workflow, think accessories, think how you'd shoot your winged monkey space battle with it, "whatevah."

Just click on the comments link below.

Will these features be implemented? No guarantees, but I'M sure interested in what you folks think - if you don't make your opinions known, how ELSE are you gonna get those features?

-mike

RED camera ( a message from the founder ) - DVXuser.com - The online community for Digital Filmmaking has a thread that starts with comments from Jim Jannard (the founder of Oakley, and driving force behind the RED camera) has more to say about their plans, including "We are giving our best effort to deliver the RED camera as shown on the www.red.com website sometime late in 2006."

-He also talks about why he started the project (couldn't find what they wanted commercially)
-talks about 35mm DOF, flexible/versatile/small gear
-talks about the resources they bring to bear to make this project happen
-"expect us to present a machined or liquid laser NON-working prototype at NAB 2006"
-says price and sensor are the things that won't be discussed in detail, and then says why

Read the whole thing, interesting stuff. There are a number of discussion threads about the RED on DVXUser.com, so have at it.

-mike

RED article at HD For Indies - Page 2 - The Digital Video Information Network

Over on the second page of the DVInfo.net discussion of the article I put up, Jim Jannard himself chimes in several times with his hopes for the camera. A guy named Steve Gibby puts in a beautifully concise description of digital's evolution and the revolution potential it offers for creatives. I especially like how he points out that those creatives (right brain skills) must learn all these rapidly evolving digital tools and workflows (left brain skills) in order to be competitive. He totally nails, in a few paragraphs, the exact ethos of why I started HD For Indies - master your tools to make better art (I just focus on the left brain side for the most part).

Jim Jannard himself says that they will have a non-functional prototype of the camera at NAB.

Go read the rest of the thread (and start with page one to catch all the details from the start, and read on as it evolves (it's up to three pages now).

Labels: Red

Hey all -

Some posters have criticized the tone of the information presented on the RED article below. The tone has been misconstrued, but that is entirely my fault - the tone of the article was presented as a Q&A, but I should have been more clear about what was going on in my head due to my interest in getting information online - I realized readers were going to have a prompt list of questions that they'd want answered, so I wrote it as more of a FAQ style document than an actual sit down interview. My apologies for not being clear about that.

As for the tone of the questions, I was just having fun with what I perceived as a typical reader's excitement and questions about the product - I'd received much email to that effect already, and decided that was a logical format for the information presentation rather than a list of facts.

My apologies for presenting it as a glib moron interviewing first and third person entities.

-mike

UPDATED - see below

OK, so here's the scoop on the RED camera:

It's real. Jim Jannard, founder of Oakley, is the guy behind it, as the web rumors have suspected.

I got a chance to have a long conversation with Jim Jannard and a bunch of his engineers about the RED camera that they're making. After hours of conversation, you can color me a believer in what he's doing, and what he wants this camera to do and be.

UPDATE: this is NOT an interview. I wrote this in a hurry and realized a Q&A between a hypothetical reader (and the questions and tone they typically would have) and myself, knowing what I know about the camera, would be a good format to present the information in. For instance, my comment about "da bomb" was me having fun with some of the reader inquiries I get. In my hurry to get it online, I failed to define that. My bad. Read this more like an FAQ on a website than a sit-down interview with anyone in particular. Answers provided are my answers, based on my opinions and knowledge of Jim and the RED. My apologies if I inadvertently gave the wrong impression.

OK, on to the good stuff:

Q&A on RED the company:

Q: Is this thing for real?

A: Yes, it is. Wholeheartedly.

Q: So who's behind it?

A: Jim Jannard, founder of Oakley. Jim is a HUGE camera nut himself, owns about 1000 cameras himself - digital, film, motion, still, all of it. He shot all of Oakley's ads himself until the early 90s. This guy is hands on about cameras, and has changed his role within Oakley to allow time for the new company, RED.

Q: But they make sunglasses and stuff. What are they doing making a camera? Why?

A: Two reasons:

1.) Jim is a huge camera nut, as I've said, and

2.) Jim has a long history of entering markets that others have dominated and disrupting those markets. Jim's original vision when he started Oakley was to marry art and technology.

2 1/2.) Oh, and probably because he thinks it'd be fun and cool, and Needs To Be Done. The established players are reluctant to come out with disruptive technology, because, frankly, it would disrupt their business models and make their existing client base cranky. RED isn't.

Q: Can they do this? Jim? Oakley? Huh? After all, they make sunglasses and clothes and stuff.

A: They have, time and time again, entered new markets different from where they started and done well with it. At first that was a motorcycle handgrip, then goggles, then sunglasses, etc. etc. etc. I was very impressed with how serious they were about the technology and material science parts of this. Oakley is a big believer in being self contained, they have extensive tooling, testing, and machining capabilities inhouse. They are big believers in best tech for the job, and were the seventh delivery of a rapid prototyping system back in the early 90s for example. They are big on being early tech adopters where it pays off, and aggressive about incorporating latest advances.

Q: Where's the money coming from?

A: Jim and Oakley have tremendous resources, both financial and technical inhouse, and this puts them in a different league from all the other camera wannabes.

Q: Dude! So what about the camera? Is it da bomb, or a bomb?

A: As for the camera itself, there's a lot of information on the RED website itself, go check it out. I wrote about the specs a couple of times already here and here. But it says right there on the website that "This information is preliminary. It could change at any moment."

Q: When's it coming out?

A: Unknown. If you read their contact page on the site, it says they'll be making a presentation at NAB 2006 (that's in April in Vegas for those not keeping track). It doesn't say shipping product, it doesn't say announcement, it says presentation, which is ambiguous. And see above Q&A about preliminary specs - sounds closer to malleable dough than cooked bread. Engineering takes time.

Q: What good is it going to do non full-on Hollywood productions if it is only fiber channel out? Isn't that ultra expensive and big and heavy?

A: You'll notice they state a variety of output options on the camera on the website:

"RAW 4:4:4 through the dual fiber channel outputs, 4:2:2 out of the HD-SDI output, or record to RED codec. Full raster 2540p, 1080i/1080p, or 720p" Lots of choices. Also, RED Flash system is mentioned for recording, this sounds like some kind of solid state recording to me. Hard drives are also mentioned. It sounds like they are trying to offer a variety of options to a variety of users. Uncompressed RAW, as I wrote about the other day, would be a deleriously huge amount of data, and quite expensive as well. The RED codec, described as available at data rates from 100 down to 19 megabits, sounds like it would serve a variety of markets at a variety of price points. How high for the high end users? How low for the low end? Unclear at this time.

Q: So what's up with this Mysterium sensor?

A: I don't know, but the specs are pretty amazing. Mysterium is still just that - a mystery.

Q: What tape format does it record to?

A: I've seen no tape format mentioned on their website. I've seen lots of data storage devices mentioned, but no tape. There is an HD-SDI tap for those who want to go old school to a tape deck. But it sounds like they want to go "New Skool" and skip tape altogether except for legacy support (and live broadcast type situations, if this camera is applicable there?).

Q: What about lenses?

A: PL mount and custom RED mount, with their own Ultra High Def Lenses. So keep in mind, that opens up all kinds of doors to use existing film lenses. One of the reasons HD lenses have been so expensive is because the biggest sensors have been 2/3 inch at best. The smaller the sensor, the better the glass has to be to focus accurately on that smaller target. Costs go up as tighter tolerances are required, etc.

Q: So, can they REALLY pull this off?

A: Time will tell. If they can draw on Oakley's resources, then yes - they have experience in optics and designing products for use in the harshest conditions. Jim has extensive camera experience and interest himself, and clearly has the personal resources and connections to recruit and support some high level talent for what they don't have inhouse. Before my conversation with them, after I knew Jim was involved but before I'd spoken with them, I felt the biggest obstacles were going to be the expertise to manufacture the serious glass involved in the lenses, and the electronics expertise to pull off the guts of the camera. The only electronics product I had been aware of were the THUMP sunglasses with MP3 player embedded.

But I was extremely impressed with what they had to say, and I heard a lot of good answers back when I expressed doubts and had questions about some things.

This looks like they want to make a radically different camera than what is presently on the market. Others have tried, or are in the process of trying, to get a camera out that will be IT centric, small form factor, large imager, etc. But this looks to be the best funded effort out there.

In summary: if there is going to be a seriously disruptive technology, I feel it pretty much has to come from an outsider company, with no entrenched architecture, infrastructure, or client base to protect. To be successful and long lasting, it also helps to be a well backed venture, with strong engineering and brains behind it. And a marketing machine like Oakley can provide surely can't hurt.

Jim and RED fit the bill to take a serious swing at it.

Based on my conversations with them, I think RED is going about it the right way, and will make exactly the kind of camera that I'd LOVE to work with.

-mike

Labels: Red

AMUG WiebeTech TrayDock eSATA Four Bay Review is long and very very thorough review of this somewhat pricey ($450 with no drives) 4 bay hotswap enclosure. But it is a very nice enclosure, and I like a lot of the details that they've done right, like direct backplane attachment enclosure, and nice solid design. However, it is louder than I'd like to see, and while the article gives very specific advice on how to modify and silence the unit, not everyone is going to want to work that hard. Weibetech, in my opinion, makes really solid, really well supported, well designed stuff (audio complaints aside here) that tends to be a bit pricey. Worth including on your list of possibles if shoppping for hotswap 4 bay SATA enclosures.

-mike

found via AccelerateYourMac

UPDATED AGAIN THURSDAY - David Newman of Cineform emailed to tell me they've been playing with the cameras for a while, that 24F works as expected (1/48th shutter and 1/24th sec time base), and that the Canon demo footage is KNOWN to have been posted poorly, and is not indicative of what the 24F stuff should look like. So FULLY disregard my comments about bad cadence issues with the 24F footage.

UPDATED THURSDAY: I've been informed that the Canon demo footage is known to be messed up, so my 24F comments below are not a fair assessment of the 24F mode. More as I know more.


Saw a Canon XL H1 in the flesh the other day, as well as the little remote LANC based controller and the remote viewfinder that snaps onto it.

Some thoughts, in random bloggy order (no time to organize, sorry):

The camera itself:

-very very much like the XL1/2 series, just more buttons and ports
-blacked out body looks kewl
-HD-SDI port and reference signal ports and timecode ports make me happy
-weighs about a pound more than the XL2
-putting it on my right shoulder, the thing BADLY wanted to tip inwards - very annoying, had to use waaaay to much hand strength to hold it upright/level. Am I doing something wrong here? Didn't seem correct at all for that to be the case. Keep in mind, I am soooooo not a shooter whatsoever.

Remote viewfinder/controller:
-remote controller (tethered via LANC) is very very cool
-remote viewfinder is very cool, a tiny flat thing that could clip onto the remote controller, and I loved the concept. Too tiny to show full HD by a longshot, but a great idea.
-I think about a $500 option. Worth it for those circumstances

Some thoughts on the camera - it is pretty much EXACTLY like an XL2 at first glance, but black, about a pound heavier, and has more ports, buttons, and whatnot on it.

The Footage:

-a little context - we were watching the footage about 6 or 8 feet wide coming off of an $5000 LCOS 3 chip projector, and I heard the tech guy say 1440x1080 resolution. Was that in reference to the projector or camera? 80% sure that was in reference to the projector. It was definitely an HD projector, and for $5K I was very impressed with it.

-a guy I was sitting next to was not impressed, and kept wincing at all the whites blowing out and saying "dammit" - clearly he was hoping for more from the camera. My guess is he's a shooter.

24F "Frame" Mode.
-my own impression - the 24F mode is not the sh*t, it is sh*t. "The F in 24F stands for FAKE" was spoken in my presence by another attendee. As far as I can tell from watching it in 60i mode, this on footage Canon produced, I didn't like it. I heard somebody in the room say that they shot on 24F mode and recorded to DVCPRO HD in order to edit the footage we were watching together, since FCP doesn't support it, so perhaps doubly compressed. If edited DVCPRO HD and then recompressed to HDV, a LOT of compression cycles. Not how I'd do it at all if that were the case. I have no factual data on that.

It seems, based on the footage I saw, that 24F is very very much akin to the motion characteristics of the CineFrame mode on the Sony. It might be sharper, using some better field blending characteristics, it might be doing some different exposure timing, but watching the 24p footage at 60i (as it is recorded) was not Not NOT a cool thing. The motion was inconsistent in a painfully obvious way to my eye. Steady pans had a gallopy nature to them. Now, if I tried to do reverse telecine, would it look better? That is a question to be answered, and I could not obtain a copy of the footage that I saw in order to analyze it. There is some wiggle room here, though, that maybe it isn't as bad as it seems (because the motion cadence temporal artifacting was baaaaaaaad), maybe it was shot with Advanced Pulldown mode and needs to be played back with regular 3:2 pulldown. But I'd just be AMAZED if the post house that did Canon's work for them blew it and didn't process it right - I can't see a company that large letting something this bad out the doors as representative of their $10K product.

So this isn't an end-all, be all opinion on the camera, but I'm just not impressed with the footage I saw.

There is also a PC based application that lets you remote control everything - VERY cool! Not the greatest UI, HUGE time latency issue (HDV compression/decompression cycle), but the abilty to put it on a boom or jib or crane or whatever and remote control it is VERY NICE!

For NOW, based on my LIMITED experience and exposure seeing footage somebody ELSE shot (and it was Canon's own hired crew!), I'm utterly underwhelmed with the 24F mode as shown on the Canon demo footage - gallopy stuttery motion. Yuck. Now, perhaps removing Advanced Pulldown and playing at 24p would fix that issue, or maybe not. I don't know until I play with it more. So disclaimer disclaimer, not the end-all commentary, but so far:

- I am NOT impressed with 24F as I've seen it used on Canon's own demo footage
- exposure lattitude is dissapointing -especially highlight blowout
- the detail is VERY impressive, however that this captures.
- HDV, especially if this is second or third recompression, was alarming - skies had a dance to them, a compression flicker, ALWAYS.

I'll need to have a DP shoot some stuff and let me play with it in FCP and FTHD to really tell, but the Sony is holding it's own surprisingly well in the light of the JVC and Canon competitors. We'll have to see HVX200 footage to see how it fares.

I later spoke with Toronto based DoP Kevin C.W. Wong, here are some notes I jotted down whilst talking to him about the Canon XL H1. He apparently saw the same exact official Canon demo footage that I did. These aren't quite quotes, but definitely capture 80+% of what he was saying:

A DP's opinion:

XL H1 -

from what he saw, there was a lot of extreme wide shots to show detail - showing off the ability to show detail
-nothing to do for extreme wide shots to manipulate/control the light
-you depend on the camera to get the range
-"I find that the footage there was just unnatural in a way - the highlights were blown out when they shouldn't be"
-"Compariing this to shooting with Z1 or something, which has great lattitude, certainly more than the H1. The latttitude on the Z1 looks more natural, more like what the eye sees. "
-"would like to play with it and mess with the shoulder and knee to see if that was the optimum stuff" (and this was Canon demo footage)
-right off the bat - "this is HDV" - there's no moment of "ooh, what was that shot on?" - it shows itself as video based HDV immediately, no moment of "could that have been shot on film?"
-"the highlights were just popping out"
-"the shot of the bike riding past the bridge - because the highlights were so unnaturally blown out it made the perspective look odd -- because the blown highlights it altered the pereption of depth"

-WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE 24F - thought it was very noisy,

-watching it on an HDV tape, we wondered if all of it of it had been recompressed too much - there was a logo embossed. Poor processing and re-encoding back to HDV?

-skies were consistently dancing due to compression blocks

-late afternoon heading towards magic hour, it should look great - it didn't

-"the idea of the improvements they have, such as operating the camera - the remote focus/zoom module with LCD attachment is clever"

-"I always run into that problem when shooting on a jib - even Glidecam or Steadicam - have to shoot wide with a set focus because you can't control it readily enough." The remote control and viewfinder will open up new shooting options there.

One of the most common limitations on shooting digital video - it's not always just a budget thing, if you can only get your hands on that digital lens, there's hardly anything you can do, such as put a follow focus on it, etc.

Thanks Kevin! I appreciate you writing in.

Stay tuned as I find out more. So far, not thrilled, but open to improved opinions IF AND ONLY IF:

- the test footage was shot non-optimally, or lighting/camera setting choices were made to let highlights blow out
- the 24F mode stuff I saw requires further processing to look smooth, and at 24p playback would be groovy. But the temporal anomalies were "Woah! What is THAT!?" distracting on the footage I saw being projected 60i on an HD projector.

-mike

"Gee, Mike hasn't blogged for a day and a half - is he dead?"

No, my attentive friends, my heart still beats, and in point of fact, goes pitter pat.

All I can say for now is that it has been a good week with some surprising twists.

How good was it? The fact that I got to play with a Canon XL H1 and see footage from it projected off an HD projector 8 feet wide was the "Oh, that was nice, thank you." part of the week. The hotel-pillow-mint moment of the week, if you will.

Nice to have, but not Special.

Other parts of my week? Very, VERY Special.

Patience will be rewarded, I'll post more as I can. For now, let us just say the color red is involved.

: )

-mike

PS - I'll be skipping a lot of industry news I bet from the last couple of days, such as Toshiba making noises about delaying HD-DVD, the mainstream press cluing in to the Intel Viiv/Apple living room offerings that are possibly imminent at MacWorld, the attendant further downloadable movie stuff, Paramount's buyout, etc. Necessary evil.

Quad Core G5/2.5 versus Single Core Dual G5/2.5

BareFeats has updated their page on Pro Apps stuff. Looks like a 7800GT card edges out a Quadro FX 4500 under 10.4.3. Rumor boards are saying updated drivers are coming with 10.4.4, so we'll see if that changes the game. I hope so. Don't know so, but hope so.

A Quad G5 works handsomely for After Effects 6.5.1, but other apps don't always fare as well.

There's also more details about what kinds of things do and don't get accelerated with these machines.

This is an updated version of an article they'd previously published.

-mike

Deluxe to Open EFILM Facility at Industrial Light & Magic

Deluxe Laboratories today announced an agreement with Industrial Light & Magic, a Lucasfilm Ltd. company, to open an EFILM Digital Laboratory at the new Letterman Digital Arts Center (LDAC) located in San Francisco's historic Presidio. LDAC serves as headquarters for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). This pairing of the industry's leading visual effects company and the industry's leading digital lab on one campus presents outstanding digital filmmaking solutions for studios and directors.


Read on for more.

Found via Scott Kirsner's excellent CinemaTech website.

Reader Mail time:

Can the JVC DT-V1910CGU monitor handle the 24p output of the Panasonic HVX200 camera? The info on the JVC website says that the monitor can handle 1080/24psF, but would the DT-V1910CG also be able to support the 24p output of the HVX200 in 1080 and/or 720 modes?


Great question - short answer YES.

The DVCPRO HD spec is built around video framerates like 23.976, 29.97, and 59.94, all of which are supported by that JVC 19" broadcast CRT I've been talking about. There may be other monitors worth considering, but this is what we bought and have been using at the color correction business with good results.

Let's break down that question piece by piece:

1080p mode on HVX200:

It'll be 23.976 1920x1080 analog component output, with 3:2 pulldown added to make 1080i60 playback (59.94 really). Assuming you have the RGB/component board installed in the JVC (a few hundred bucks), you could plug the camera directly into the monitor and it'd play that content at HD res just fine.

If you're pulling that footage into the computer over FireWire or USB 2.0, and you have a BlackMagic or AJA HD card, you can play the footage out of the computer into the monitor just fine as well. If you remove 3:2 pulldown to get back to 1080p23.976p, the monitor will play it at 48Hz (no 3:2 pulldown, just double buffering the progressive frame to reduce but not eliminate flicker). The BlackMagic DeckLink HD stuff can add 3:2 pulldown on the fly to displays that don't support 23.976p, I'm not in a place to double check whether our AJA Kona2 does that as well.

720 mode on HVX200:

If FireWire ingested, you've got 24p (23.976) or 30p (29.97) or 60p (59.94). Again, the BMD cards will add 3:2 or 2:1 pulldown on the fly as needed, the Kona stuff will as well.

So no problems there - either captured, or plugged directly into the monitor from the camera, all formats will play on that JVC just fine that the Panasonic HVX200 can shoot. No kidding, a very good fit, and not a bad price at all, considering all it will do.

Hey all -

so Friday I sat down with my brand new toys - the Quad G5 and the BlackMagic Multibridge Extreme, but had no RAM to fire it up and use it in any meaninful way.

In the meantime, Friday evening I had a long talk with a (name hidden to protect the innocent) developer about the status of their product, and he was saying how slow it was to do development when Apple announced PCIe Macs in October and they weren't getting theirs until December. He said they were STILL waiting, as of Friday December 9th, on a Mac with a 7800GT card to REALLY put their product through its paces. I said those were shipping and he said his latest info was that they were not. I said they were, since I was staring at mine, still cold from coming off the Fed Ex truck.

So he asked, and I agreed, to send my 7800 GT card in the mail to him FedEx for the time I'll be out of town next week on bidness, since I wouldn't have RAM in time to play with it anyway, and then I'd be gone.

So that means that development will hopefully move a bit faster at that shop, and I'm not out anything I wasn't already out of anyway. So by the time I get RAM here, and the card back, and I'm back from out of town, and get a day to catch up, and some time to get gear set up, it'll be next weekend I'll bet before I have meaninful stuff to say about Quad G5, FCP/Motion/Compressor/FTHD performance, etc.

So Apple, please, if anybody is reading this - please pay attention to getting hardware out to the developers that need it, especially the ones trying to develop software for high end performance video applications. They can't get new versions out unless they have the hardware to develop and test on. This isn't the first time I've heard complaints about these things, not by a longshot.

-mike

UPDATED TWICE: first time I noted I'd mis-stated Kona LH/LHe specs (it does NOT do uprez, just downconvert), second time see bottom for details on AJA HDP vs. BlackMagic HDLink

OK, in no particular order:

-as I briefly mentioned when talking about the Multibridge Extreme, I see three logical price points for HD board purchasers:

1.) BlackMagic DeckLink HD Pro Single Link - for $1000, you get digital SD & HD over SDI and HD-SDI, and component analog out for both SD & HD, with realtime up/downconversion. Nice.

2.) The Kona LH and Kona LHe for $1800 will do analog and digital, SD & HD, in and out. Helluva deal for the money. LHe is same as LH, just PCIe not PCI-X (PCIe is newest Macs)

3.) For PCI-X users, DeckLink HD Pro Dual Link or Kona2; or for PCIe users only one choice at the high end: Multibridge Extreme from BlackMagic designs for $2600 list. Analog/Digital, SD/HD, in/out, DVI/HDMI monitoring. 4:4:4 RGB I/O, standalone up/down conversion features, etc.

Next point - there's only two HD boards out for the PCIe Macs at the moment - the AJA Kona LHe at $1800, and the BlackMagic Multibridge Extreme for $2600 (or is it $2700?). Both do SD & HD in and out, analog and digital in and out, and up/down conversion stuff (update - no they don't - the LH/LHe does downconversion, not upconversion - remember that through the rest of the article). The BlackMagic product also includes the ability capture/play back 4:4:4 RGB, to output via DVI/HDMI, load LUTs for that DVI/HDMI output, scaling HD/2K to fullscreen on 30" Apple LCD (probably also Dell's upcoming model too). So the Kona LHe is everything but DVI monitoring and 2K and RGB 4:4:4, i.e. everything that isn't insanely high end. The Kona LH or LH3 is the sane choice for most folks JUST needing a one card do-it-all that aren't getting into 4:4:4 RGB or 2K, which is most everybody realistically. Also, the ability to monitor via DVI to an LCD is still GREAT for evaluating detail, but with the advent of the JVC 19" CRT (I forget the model number of this broadast HD CRT) that does NTSC/PAL/HD/24p HD, the need for that LCD monitoring is substantially reduced in my opinion. Watch image smoothness/color on the JVC, zoom in on your computer monitor for detail. The way the HDLink handles 24p HD (with 3:2 pulldown interlace displayed on an inherently progressive device) is less than optimal, and calibrating an LCD with the included tools (LAST I CHECKED) for HDLink is a real, REAL challenge, but I haven't tried their latest drivers so I may be a bit off base on that one.

-at the high end, there are two setups at about the same exact price point:

1.) AJA Kona2 with K-Box - about $2800 list price. PCI-X based interface card, K-Box is a Sturdy Piece of Gear, it does strictly digital I/O (analog output for SD/HD, but no input) for SD/HD needs. EXCELLENT software drivers and fine, granular control over all the little bits & pieces, a very solid piece of work for a PCI-X card. Unfortunately, there is no PCIe version yet available - only the lesser functioned LHe card works in PCIe Macs as of this writing (expected to change SOON).

2.) Mutlibridge Extreme - about $2600 list price, PCIe based for the moment (no set ship date that I can tell for the PCI-X interface). IT IS a breakout box by external appearances, except that instead of having all the smarts and guts on a PCI-X or PCIe card, all the guts live in the breakout box, giving it the added ability to work as a standalone converter. I just received mine Thursday, but my Quad G5 came in Friday and the RAM did not, I'm leaving town Mon-Wed and hope to have all parts working by Thursday (look for a report over the weekend). The idea is fantastic - put the brains in the external box, just interface to the computer via a cheap little stub of a card for PCIe Macs. PCI-X Macs? At some point there will be a PCI-X host card, which will be much larger and cost more than the PCIe stubs, but no set date for those as yet (MB-X just started shipping last week).

So clearly, these two are going head to head. Differences? A quick gut check based on reading the specs of MB-X vs. using a Kona2 daily for weeks:

-love the AJA control software - very exact, precise, discrete, granular
-MB-X has more features - embedded HDLink functionality for SD/HD/2K display on DVI/HDMI with LUT support, RGB 4:4:4 support, analog SD/HD inputs as well as outputs (as compared to Kona2), etc.

So far, based on experience to date (and I need to spend a bit more time with the BlackMagic stuff and latest drivers since I've spent so much time with the Kona2, flawlessly I might add, at the color correction business I've been involved with), I like the fine, granular detail that the Kona2 drivers/software offers slightly over the DeckLink HD Pro Dual Link offerings. More detailed analysis to follow.

So this leads me to this conclusion, based entirely on tea leaf readings, with no under the table info whatsoever:
AJA will probably release a PCIe version of Kona2, called something like Kona2e or Kona3 or Kona3e, which will do everything Kona2 did but also be PCIe based and add analog inputs for SD & HD capabilities. They will announce it sometime between now and during MWSF 2006 in early January. This is pure prediction on my part, based entirely on my speculation of AJA's desire to offer competitive products to BlackMagic, and also to update their excellent Kona2 card to PCIe compatibility.

AJA tends to offer fewer products, with less frequent updates, than BlackMagic. Blackmagic has more product line points of ddiferentiation, typically ships sooner (although Multibridge products are/were waaaaaaaaaaaay late), but drivers are less fully developed than AJA's at time of original shipment. But BMD updates their drivers far more frequently and aggressively than AJA does, who releases a lot of new features in infrequent updates.

REAL SOON NOW I will FINALLY get to my huge AJA vs. BMD comparison, the one from this summer got cancelled/delayed due to starting another business, so that I could have, you know, some income to live on and stuff. Apologies to all the developers that have sent me stuff to review that I've taken forever to get to, I'm trying to balance my ability to do reviews with my ability to work and make a living and pay the rent etc.

More thoughts: BlackMagic's HDLink product still fulfills a need, but the need is lessened from what it was a year ago. A year ago, I was aware of no sub-$3K HD studio monitors that could display 1080p23.976 without adding 3:2 pulldown. Now the JVC 19" studio multi-mode monitor is out there (not in office to check model number, sorry, will update later if you pester me to, hint hint), so the ability to hook up to a BMD Decklink HD Pro, or AJA Kona2, or KonaLH, or KonaLHe, reduces the need for HDLink to it's other great function - a super sharp HD-SDI monitor. OK, I'm not writing clearly, let me try again - HDLink helped because there weren't affordable, high quality HD monitoring solutions. The idea of getting an HDLink and an Apple 23" LCD for about $2200 nowadays is nice, you get a super sharp image, but the colors are still not perfectly accurate compared to a good calibrated broadcast CRT. Even calibrating, there are issues with interlaced footage, the inherent 60p nature of the 1920x1080 LCD, and 24p footage shown with a 3:2 pulldown on a 60p device.

Now I'm recommending the JVC monitor for color critical viewing, since it does SD NTSC & PAL, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p23.976 also - critical for the indie HD filmmaking crowd I consider essential to my demographic (hell, that's why I'm writing this here and now at 10pm on a Saturday night while my girlfriend sleeps next to me, zonked out after playing with her new kittens I got her for Xmas. Yes, pictures forthcoming.) Back on track - this JVC monitor solves most of the monitoring needs of our kinds of folks. What it DOESN'T do is show super sharp detail. If you don't have enough money, just get something like a Dell LCD panel (the 20" can be had for under $400 if you watch for sales, the 24" for under $800 if you watch for sales and discounts - there are sites dedicated to track that stuff, no I don't know of'em offhand, PLEASE POST COMMENTS if you know of such sites with the URLs). So if you're on a budget, get a largish LCD for your main (or 2nd) computer monitor and you can always zoom in there to check detail (assuing you have your RT settings right in FCP, but that's another posting - check for Full Quality to see all info in signal, at 100% or greater zoom).

BUT instead of using HDLink & Apple 23" as I suggested last year, go with Kona2/KonaLH/KonaLHe/DeckLink HD Pro Single or Dual Link to the JVC and you'll be happier overall.

If I REALLY had budget I'd do both - the HDLink and Apple 23" (or maybe the Dell, or maybe not since it might be TOO bright and wasn't what the HDLink was designed for), AS WELL AS the JVC. That's what I hope to be looking at in the not too distant future - the LCD for clarity running off an HDLink, and the JVC running off the analog component outputs of the Kona2 or MB-X (depending on which machine I'm running at the time).

Anyway, all goes to say I'm not recommending HDLink and 23" LCD (or 17" 1280x800 or 1280x1024 LCDs for 720p work) the way I used to - about $2700 gets you the JVC with the RGB/component board, and that's a great, KNOWN to be readily calibrate-able solution. HDLInk is just gravy after that for examining stills (unless working with 720p60 footage).

To bed,

-mike
SECOND UPDATE:

PS- I have done a disservice to AJA by failing to mention the AJA HDP converter box - it fulfills a very similar function to the BlackMagic HDLink, but has some key differences:

- the HDP has an HD-SDI passthrough, so you can splice the HDP inline with an HD-SDI cable run to extract a monitoring signal, whereas the HDLink is end-of-the-road - no HD-SDI passthrough port.

-the HDLink is dual link capable, the HDP is not

-HDLink can load 2D LUT tables (but not 3D LUT tables, AFAIK, for filmout style calibration) via USB

-HDLink autosenses SD vs HD and framerate on the fly, HDP has DIP switches on the bottom and has to be manually configured - not as convenient.

In general I see the HDP as being more useful for on set broadcast type workflows, and HDLink as being more useful for edit suite/film style jobs.

I hadn't mentioned it because in the back of my head, I saw it as applicable to a different set of problems than the ones I was thinking of for HDLink for indie editors & post folk.

My apologies to AJA for that (and no, they didn't email me about it, I just thought of it).

Quad Core G5/2.5 versus Single Core Dual G5/2.5

Headline says it all - BareFeats.com has long been a great, GREAT resource for no-nonsense numbers about performance, just bare feats of strength (or I/O, or rendering, or whatever).

The Quad G5 does nicely, only a few surprises.

More reader reports from DV Expo West, this from Kevin Shumacher:

Hi Mike,


To clarify a couple of things regarding the HVX-200; I also attended Jan Crittenden Livingston's demo, where Jan did not indicate the resolution of the CCD's but did state they used both a vertical and horizontal 1/2 pixel offset "to enhance luma resolution". Jan showed a resolution chart and compared the Sony FX-1 to the HVX-200, and even though the Sony has higher res CCD's, the Panasonic appeared to best the Sony on vertical resolution and at least match it on horizontal resolution. The numbers appeared to indicate about 750 lines for both H & V resolution.

I asked Jan for some footage to send to you, and she agreed to let me use my iPod to copy some, but unfortunately she required me to come back the next day which I couldn't do. I spoke with Barry Green who moderates the DVXuser.com website and produced the footage of the karate performer; it looked nice, but then again Panasonic didn't show anything on a big display so it's very difficult to really judge the quality of the recordings since most everything looks good on a 17" Widescreen LCD.

The cameras on the show floor were rev model 4; the shipping cameras will be finalized at #5. They ship Dec. 29th.

Regarding 4 channel audio support, it is true that channels 3 & 4 are for the on-camera mic's L & R channels; there are no external connectors on the camera to access these channels.

In the Panasonic HVX-200 brochure they made available at the expo, it states that there is a "Varicam-compatible mode for recording 60p-converted video..." that simply adds the 2:3 pulldown frames. In this same paragraph they also state "the unit can output a DVCPRO HD stream from the IEEE 1394 connector as it records. This lets you produce a backup copy using a connected external Hard Disk recorder, such as the Panasonic AJ-HS1200A DVCPRO HD recorder or the Focus Firestore FS-100."

You can jam-sync Timecode to other cameras using the FW port, and TC breaks are "not possible" when recording to the P2 memory cards.

The analog component out port supports 720P, 1080i, 480i. You can also "cross-convert" 720P to 1080i in-camera.

Supported Frame rates are 12,18,20,22,24,26,30,32,36,48,60. You can NOT do "speed ramping" (on-the-fly speed changes while in recording mode). The camera also can shoot in Intervalometer mode to a P2 card.

Jan mentioned 5 - 4GB card bundle is $9200; 2 - 8GB card bundle is $9995. Other bundles are also available including one without P2 cards.

Regarding sensitivity of the camera, it seems to be around 500 ASA; the infamous "dark footage" Jan shot out her Amsterdam window was shot with Zero gain at night; other footage shot earlier in the evening appeared as you would imagine, -clean, great color, etc.

The other footage shown was shot by a Panasonic Rep; it was quite nice footage of run & gun quality of the opening of "The Geisha". Nice color, resolution, sharp lens, etc. Until some formal testing is done we simply won't know how it really compares to the Canon, JVC, and the Sony camcorders...

Kevin

It's a happy, happy site on my porch - a picture is worth a 1000 words (see left).

Quad G5 is here, with 7800 GT and fiber channel card installed, BlackMagic Multibridge Extreme is here, but the hosers at RAM vendor Crucial.com emailed yesterday to inform me to the effect of "Oh-so-sorry, that item we said was in stock? It's not, gonna be about a week. Yeah, we know we said we had it, and that it should be there tomorrow, but it won't." That, in my professional opinion, ranks in business terms as "for poop."

So the Super Friends are all assembled, but somebody left the keys to the Invisible Jet. So with the paltry stock 512MB of RAM (Hey, I'M sure not paying Apple's RAM markups), I can't install Final Cut Studio, or probably not Final Touch HD either.

In any case, I'm going to be out of town early next week, so it'll be Wednesday or Thursday before I can get back to it. The dogs will just have to be the only ones to enjoy it's silvery awesomeness. Hope they don't lean on it and knock it over, sucka is HEAVY.

So, this post has virtually no real information in it - too bad for all of us. I'll do an OOBE (out of box experience) writeup later when I can, gotta go scoot and decorate the Christmas tree.

-mike

PS-Crucial has GENERALLY been a good supplier, except when it comes to new machines, they tend to get their parts either wrong or difficult availability in my experience to date. They sent me the wrong RAM twice in a row for some new Mac I had in thelast year or so (can't remember is dual 2.5 G5 or for 12" PowerBook). But once they DO send the right stuff, I have yet to get a bad stick from them (or have one fail). Come on guys, get it in stock and KNOW when it is and isn't in stock! Vendor bait'n switch ("Why YES we have that! Order it now!" followed by "It'll be here aaaaaany day now - don't cancel your order!") is an old and VERRRRRRRRRY frustrating game - this is the first time they've played it with me.

I couldn't be there, but got a bunch of reports in from DV Expo West today. UPDATE: More Reports at bottom - just keep reading! Here we go:

I asked the Panny rep a couple of questions about our favorite camera at the DV Expo in L.A. today.
Probably nothing you don't already know, but...

720 24p is native, but if you do 1080 24p you have to do it 29.97 and then remove the extra frames later. He said there are a couple of options, but the one I remember is to do PA and remove the extra frames during realtime capture just like their DV cams.

I asked two reps what the true native resolution was (960X1080? 1280X1080? 1440X1080?) and they both said "I don't know."

I asked one rep if the component out sends the signal out before adding compression and he said, "I should have that answer for you, but I don't."

He was pushing the P2 cards. I asked what the advantage of those was compar