HD For Indies

DiStudio | Editor's Notes

An interesting discussion on the need and attempt to create industry standards (and an industry group) for DI standards, esp. interchange standards - so that a change of X on Y vendor's system equals change of X on Z vendor's system as well with no surprises.

LOTS of implementation details to be dealt with. Also discusses some of the challenges in the new field, and a school setting up with SCRATCH stations.

That article is actually a follow up to last month's editorial,
DiStudio | Rods, Cones and Standards. It is passionately, concisely, and well written. My favorite excerpt:

Standards and best practices for over 100 years of filmmaking can't always help when new digital processes and pipelines are at play. There is no manual to consult, no offline forum for questions and debate. Where do aspiring DI artists go to get their questions answered? How does a producer disentangle different workflows offered by two different DI facilities?
(I'd jump in and say online forums -mike)

It's time that we do something to help the industry catch up with what we already know about the importance of the DI. It's all about standards and best practices, and the most proactive way to achieve and maintain them is for DI artists to form an association. We need benchmarks. We need readily accessible, consistent and accurate information. We need a forum for debate. We need to hear the voices and visions of top colorists.


Pardon me, unknown DI Studio writer, for lifting such a big chunk, but you nailed it so well it would be disingenuous for me to paraphrase.

I'll close as he/she did:

Let’s set standards, let’s create best practices, and let’s create a benchmark for the quality DI. Because if we don’t, no one else will.


Bravo!

-mike

(Thanks very much to reader Tom Dewitt for sending in that link!)

AppleInsider | Report claims iTunes movie service due in September

More fruit from the Disney acquisition of Pixar....Disney is rumored to be first subscriber to the iTunes movie service. Rumored pricing: $15 for new, $10 for old movies. Unknown at this time:

-pixel size (same as videos? If so, laaaaaaame)
-codec - almost certainly H.264
-data rate - highly dependent on the pixel size, so unknown - broadband a requirement!
-movie selection
-DRM will be Fairplay from Apple of course, but any new twists?
-can it be burned to DVD (I'm thinking maybe, or if not up front it is coming)
-HD versions of movies in the future?

If it turns out it is $15 for a small screen (320x180 or 480x270 or so), I vote it lame - too expensive for too little - just buy it from Walmart or Amazon or rent via Netflix...at which point you could Handbrake yourself a better copy, anyway...

-mike

Films That Come Over the Net Don't Come Easy - New York Times

Nice overview of the major movie download services, and their MANY shortcomings. There is as yet no service that is quick, clear, easy to use, with consistent rules and pricing that makes it easy to download and watch on your TV. I think we are still at LEAST a year out from anything so simple. But all of this is just starting, it needs time to settle out. Until there is a consistent format, and the industry de-freaks about maintaining ultra tight DRM (what happens if you sell/loose/break the Designated Viewing computer?), it'll stay a small niche player.

"Ultimately, what may hamper sales of downloadable movies may not be download times or trouble with DVD burning. The obstacle will be price. It is often more economical to rent DVD%u2019s from local rental kiosks or mail-order outfits like Netflix (www.netflix.com). So for now the best way to solve the %u201Clast 10 feet%u201D problem is still to get up off the couch."

....aka I read that as a big thumbs down.

(found via CinemaTech)

-mike

Videoguys Blog got'em though - they have the specs on Vegas 7. Items of interest for the indie crowd:

-"comprehensive" XDCAM SD/HD support - so does this mean 18 and 35mbit VBR as well as 25mbit CBR as well? And 24p?

-better AJA and BlackMagic support

-better HDV/SDI/HD-SDI support

-enhanced video monitoring (more modes I'd guess)

-and a bunch of DVD stuff too

(found via FresHDV.com)

AppleInsider | Apple reduces cost of ATI card for Mac Pro

BTO systems - now a $250 step up from base card

standalone card - $399

Both are $100 cheaper than before.

Card still hasn't shipped, systems with it configured have been delayed.

-mike

AJA has updated their drivers for all their Kona line of products with significant new features.

From the ReadMe file:

Features and Fixes from the provided Read-Me:

New Features:

Applicable to all KONA products: KONA LS/LSe, LH/LHe, KONA 3, and KONA 2

- Universal Binary build of KONA software, supports new Intel-based Mac Pro Desktop computers. A maximum of 2GB of system RAM is currently supported.

- DPXtoQuicktime and QuicktimeToDPX utilities are now included as part of the standard installation. They are put in the “Kona Utilities” folder automatically at installation.

- QuickTime codec playback support expanded to include QuickTime files in the Avid (DV and Meridien) codecs. Please note: these codecs are not included in the AJA installer package; they must be supplied separately. For playback of Avid Meridien codec QuickTime media the video output must be explicitly set to RGB mode. Avid QuickTime codec support is for playback of previously encoded media and does not mean the KONA card can be used as a capture card for any type of software-only version of Avid.

- Ability to set Color Range tags in DPXtoQTTranslator.

- Applicable to KONA 3, KONA LH/LHe, and KONA 2

- Added 525i23.98 format to KONA Control Panel format choices.

- Added 720p23.98 format to KONA Control Panel format choices (KONA 3 and 2 only).

- Added new up-conversion choice: 525i23.98 to 1080psf23.98 (KONA 3 and KONA 2 only).

- Added new down-conversion choice: 1080psf23.98 to 525i23.98.

- Added new cross-conversion choice: 720p23.98 to 1080psf23.98 (KONA 3 only).

- Support for Custom LUT files (KONA 3 and 2 only).

- Faster video switching between some formats (KONA 3 and 2 only).

- Ability to use downstream keyer graphics with RGB frame buffer formats (KONA 3 only).

- Downstream keyer support for cropped 2K formats (KONA 3 only).


Improvements and Fixes

- Improved 3/2 pulldown captures.

- Direct switching between apps that use KONA video.

- 10 RGB bit render to black problem fixed.

- Improved auto-format-select in KonaTV.

- Burn-in time code correctly shows colon or semi-colon.

The installers can be found on the support section of website, at http://www.aja.com/html/support.html


Support area Download links:
KONA 3: http://www.aja.com/html/support_kona3_swd.html

KONA 2: http://www.aja.com/html/support_kona2_swd.html

KONA LH/LHe: http://www.aja.com/html/support_konaLHe_swd.html

KONA LS/LSe: http://www.aja.com/html/support_konaLSe_swd.html


Mike's Comments: some very useful stuff in there, esp. the 720p=>1080p uprez option - I've talked to LOTS of folks needing that capability for Varicam projects.

CyberLink Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD Support
Is your PC ready for Blu-ray Discs or HD DVDs?

Just download the CyberLink BD / HD Advisor (Beta) to find out. This tool will scan your computer and help you understand how you can make your system Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD ready. Scanning takes a few seconds and will provide you useful information and recommendations.

Interesting to check and see if you'll be ready or not.

-mike

UPDATED - SEE BOTTOM

Final Cut

When using an external video deck/camera with my MacBook, it is only recognized if it is plugged in and switched on when I boot my MacBook. If it is not, the MacBook defaults to the internal iSight and cannot be switched from that input even with an external deck present.


The fix - for now, gotta fire up the deck before booting the Macbook. A hassle, and probably one more reason why FCP isn't officially supported on the MacBook.

Update: Reader Gabriel Cowan wrote in to say:

There's another fix. If you turn on ichat or photo booth before starting FCP it wont default to the isight. At least that's my experience.


I don't have a deck to try that with right now, but if somebody else could verify that'd be great. But that sounds entirely plausible - that'd keep the iSight "busy" while FCP cranked up. Photobooth would be simplest, since it doesn't require a network connection.

-mike

Update Tuesday morning: the problem seems to be with board level support for higher level drive functions - the problem appears to be across ALL the Intel Macs running Bootcamp. But the situation CAN be fixed - at least for Mac Pros right now -

Slow SATA performance on Mac Pro in XP/Bootcamp - Page 9 - Mac Forums

Boring link title, but it includes detailed instructions on how to fix the throughput problem on Intel Macs. Scroll down to find the instructions on this page. This one is specific to Mac Pros, but I think it opens the door for the way to fix the problem on other Macs. Not for the casual user, definitely a strong DIYer's project.

Original credit belongs to some guy with a .Mac account, but his bandwidth limits were quickly hit - obviously lots of folks were interested in the fix.

UPDATED SEE BOTTOM

Red will be showing in the D-Cinema theater at IBC

Search the above page for "Red" and you'll find it promptly. They'll be showing 4K footage from the Mysterium sensor on a Sony 4K projector, so if you're wondering how good of an image this camera can make, this is proof positive. Actually, at this stage the full sensor has 4900 pixels across, (the shipping model will only use the stated 4520x2540, keep in mind). There will be a total of four screenings, so if you miss the first one, you'll have time to catch it later. (Sorry I was slow on this one, been swamped.)

How confident are they about how good it looks? Jim Jannard, founder of Red and never the shy one, said on both DVInfo.net and DVXUser.com forums:

"If our footage that we show at IBC doesn't look like film (without grain), you should all ask for a refund."


...that's pretty confident I'd say!

: )

I've been swapping emails with the team, they are really stoked about IBC and feeling good about it - no hemming, hawing, "Work in progress, we'll see how it goes" prevarications, just a general tone of "hell yeah!"

They'll be in booth # 7.821 at IBC.

This will NOT, however, be the end-all be-all conversation on final image quality on Red - my understanding is that they are showing footage derived from the RAW output of the sensor. This seems a reasonable approximation (assuming the final, compact, portable electronics don't alter image quality) for usage cases involving the as-yet-not-much-known REDRAID uncompressed data product - but most folks, most of the time, won't be shooting that way. While it should be possible to match the results they'll show at IBC with a REDRAID, most folks will, I'll bet, be recording to the Red Drive products, which will be recording 10 bit, full raster, REDCODE wavelet based compressed video. How much this compression affects the final image quality is still an unknown. But 4K+ source, scaled to 2K or HD, and then compressed, should still look pretty damn good - I know the guy working on the codec, and he's just the right kind of quality nut to make sure it's up to snuff.

Along the lines of the codec, I hope they have more to say on workflow at IBC - how's the codec coming, can we see some compressed footage vs. uncompressed to evaluate the differences, what are the odds we'll be able to at least play back in realtime in FCP when the product ships, what about other NLEs, what about transcoding for unsupported NLEs, etc. etc. etc.

-mike

UPDATE: Want to know what I saw when I visited Red during my LA trip? See the second picture here on DVXuser.com - the watch on the monitor? I was looking at images much like that when I visited. That's the very monitor and perhaps the same image I saw Jim working on when I visited. And when zoomed in pixel for pixel, from a foot away, to my eyeball I wasn't seeing any noise - just clean contone.

-mike

ProLost: Book Report

Stu Maschwitz is a smart guy.

That is one of the most understated things I may have ever written on here.

Stu is a very bright boy, and as he says on his blog:

I helped create The Orphanage, Magic Bullet, and eLin. The latter two are available through Red Giant Software.


Stu is working on a book, which I didn't realize, called The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap (Paperback). From Chapter 5 (snippet from his web page linked above):

I am mildly obsessed with small, lightweight, and above all inexpensive ways to move my DV camera smoothly and cinematically. Even as I sit in my director’s chair on a big commercial, designing a shot with a 30-foot techno crane, I can’t help but ponder how one might build such a thing out of PVC pipe and zip ties.

I'm betting we'll all want a copy.

I'm betting I'm going to do my damndest to hit him up for a free review copy.

You reading this Stu?

: )

And you should read his blog when he posts on it (git on it, boy!) - ProLost....WHICH HE WILL DO MORE FREQUENTLY...RIGHT???

Somebody wave their fingers like Ben Kenobi or somethin'. Make it happen.

-mike

Haven't verified this stuff myself, but this guy says he has working workflows for PAL DVCPRO HD for Varicam and HVX200. OK Euros, this one's for you!

Panasonic AG-HVX200: 720p25/50 P2-workflow with Final Cut Pro

and

720p50 Capturing & Editing in Final Cut Pro

Let the Online BEGIN!�


Shane Ross is onlining his DVCPRO HD project, and has some notes about getting into it. He wanted a particular look for some scenes, and started using the Magic Bullet stuff, but it was slloooooooowwwwwwww. So he created a look with the 3-way color corrector (psst....folks...you can do a LOT with the 3-way!) and saved a setting, and with a little help from Graeme Nattress made it a plugin for FCP, which you can download FOR FREE from the above linked page.

Shane talks about using an uncompresed 8 bit vs 10 bit vs DVCPRO HD timeline for mastering...I want to check in with him on that to see if he's doing the best possible thing.

Check it out.

-mike

(found via FresHDV.com)

The lost art of film editing - The Boston Globe

For all my advocacy of digital technology, it's all about the art - otherwise, it's just pixel wanking.

This is a nice piece bemoaning The Lost Art of Film Editing, citing some recent examples from this year's frenetic summer crop of films - even the indies are cut MTV style.

Pause your busy life and go read this one.

-mike

(Thanks to Paul of RoboGeek.com for sending this link in).

CinemaTech: Discs by mail

Damn you (sort of) Scott Kirsner - I'm pretty much willing to concede that when it comes to blogging how technology affects movies (after they are made), Scott's CinemaTech blog pretty much trounces anything else out there, including my own coverage.

(I'm kidding - I know, like, and have mucho respect for Scott, and can't wait for his book on how technology is affecting movies to hit the shelves...but he does outblog me in quality and quantity on these topics, slightly darn him)

Recently, he's been writing on how the discs-by-mail business may head to digital downloads in the future, and what the challenges there are (bandwidth, DRM, storage, etc.).

He also links to other folks' stuff at least if not more often than I do.

Erg - I started to make a list of "good stuff" to link to, but it's all good - just go to his main page and start reading, and follow on to the other linked articles he hasn't written. If you want to really take advantage of all the new distribution, marketing, and other advantages of our modern digital world, Scott's blog is a must read (and I'll bet his book will be too).

-mike

Mac Pro Review: Follow-up

MacInTouch has a nice follow up to their original review of the Mac Pro, dealing with memory issues, Boot Camp's abysmal drive performance, and RAID issues on Mac Pros.

The in-depth discussion on Boot Camp's poor drive performance under Windows is critical for anyone considering running "heavy" production apps under Windows, such as any video, graphics, compositing, retouching, etc. applications - until this issue is resolved, Mac Pros are not a valid OS X/WinXP dual boot solution for heavy duty users - and if you're reading this, you probably are or want to be one.

Also includes a nice explanation of RAID concepts for those unfamiliar.

-mike

Yesterday I drove up to Six Flags Fiesta Texas (in San Antonio) with Doreen and we rode roller coasters all day. (Hang on, this'll get HD relevant in a few paragraphs). The Big Three coasters there are the Poltergeist coaster, the Superman coaster, and The Rattler.

Poltergeist - the coaster equivalent of a taking crack just before skydiving into a hurricane - you start off with a bang, just about literally - you go from a dead stop to 60 in about 3 seconds - as an observer on the platform, it looks like some kind of unrealistic visual effect - by the time the last car is where the first was, it's going 50+ mph. As soon as you get up to speed (in 5 seconds of less), you IMMEDIATELY go into a fast 'n furious set of loops, turns, twirls, and overenders - if you look at the track from outside the ride, it looks like a big tangled ball of yarn. It doesn't take up much space, but loops in/under/over/through itself many times. The ride probably only lasts 45 seconds of so, but seems much longer, and you're in CONSTANT thrilling motion (as a tall guy, I kept feeling like the intertwined steel supports were constantly about to take my head off).

Superman - the theme on this one seems to be flight simulation, looping along like Superman would. The entire park is built into a valley, with the edges excavated out to make vertical walls. The Superman coaster's track loops and soars over the edge of the cliff several times, in big, clean, pure arcs and loops, fast and smooth. Oh, and to make it really feel like flight - you're sitting upright with your feet hanging free. We rode in the front car with our bare feet sticking out, it was GREAT - a thrilling sense of flight. I had on MP3 playing sunglasses, playing the theme from Kill Bill ("Battle without Honor or Humanity") and it was.....hmm...what's the phrase? Oh yeah - F*****G AWESOME.

For a finale for the day, we got on The Rattler, an older wooden coaster. It had a classic start where you leave the station and clank-clank-clank up a climb, and nothing else that day matched the sheer visceral intensity of the first dive and swoop it takes. We sat up front on that one, too, and I really got whey they call it The Rattler - it'll rattle your teeth out! Wooden coasters have a lot of give and shake, and we finished and Doreen asked what I thought of it - "It's like this" I said, holding up my half full water bottle in front of her, and then shook it vigorously into a froth - "that's my brain now." I later described it as "the epileptic indecisive coked up coal car ride." It wasn't clean, it wasn't pretty, but MAN it was fun! After the second time on it, I was ready to call it a day - too rattled. On my second ride through, though, I got to thinking about it - the first dive and big swoop were great, and the plunge into the dark tunnel (yes, actually through the rock) with an unexpected turn in total darkness were great, but other parts of the ride didn't measure up to that "maintain sufficient thrill level" mark - you're just going pretty fast and jerking around, but waiting for the next really cool thing to happen.

At the end of the day, I can't say which was "better" than the others - each presented a different kind of experience and thrill, each with their different pros and cons. Poltergeist was intense but brief, Superman was a consistent thrill without the peak experiences of the others (although footies al fresco into the oncoming breeze was a blast), the Rattler was shake-your-brains fun at first, but exhausting and kinda flat at times. And if I did have a favorite (hmm, now I'm leaning towards Superman), it is just my opinion, and yours may be different, based on what YOU consider to be the most fun (or even TYPE of fun). And also that I wouldn't want to pick one at the exclusion of the others - I'm glad I hit them all (and they hit me), and I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of those experiences - different flavors of speed and fun.

OK, so what does this have to do with cameras? This reminded me of some notes I wrote upon returning from my recent trip to LA where I saw a lot of cameras and vendors and facilities. Different vendors, different products, all try their best to be great for what they do - but everyone's definition of "best" or even "better" varies, depending on their goals, value systems, etc. Everyone's assumptions about what is most important probably varies, as does their ability to implement it as well as they'd like to. Also, in the end, some of it is going to break down to being a matter of flavors - you either like orange mango or you don't, or you like chocolate or vanilla better than the other and there's really no point in trying to argue you out of that position - it's just the way you feel about it. Bearing that in mind, read the rest below.

So I went and dug up my notes, written within a coupla days of my return from LA. I've tweaked a bit until I can get clearances from vendors (so I may supplement in the future, plus I have full writeups on Genesis and Dalsa coming):

Camera pros and cons, in no particular order:

Cameras, and products in general, are a reflection of the values and priorities of their makers. So the priorities of the makers come through in the product, either as a direct, intentional creation, or as a byproduct of the innate talents and capabilities of the companies and individuals producing them. After spending 10 days in LA visiting with camera makers, rental houses, DPs, colorists, etc., here are some of my thoughts and observations on some products out there:

Panavision has values of interoperability and compatibility with their extensive (and extensively field proven) range of accessories and gear while generating a very professional image in a self contained package.

The Dalsa Origin is the product of folks who make extremely good imaging sensors - so the camera is a no compromises image generation device. And it rocks at that task. The problem is, some compromises might be nice to have - 4K or the highway seems to be their unspoken mantra at this time. Smaller form factor, dual link HD-SDI, onboard recording capabilities, etc. would make this a much more flexibly capable system.

ARRI (whom I didn't visit with, just saw one at DGA Digital Day and chatted a bit with their guys there) made a digital version of one of their film cameras (the D-20), down to through the lens viewfinder with mechanical spinning shutter. Dalsa does that part too, giving a certain lovely characteristic to motion blur you don't get with non-shuttered imagers I've seen..

The Thomson/Grass Valley Viper (again, only saw at DGA Digital Day) is a very nice, technically astute camera with some clever details to the workflow - HD-SDI outputs with a log curve, it was AFAIK one of the first to do this. It is the product of a video technology company, and as such is has 3 2/3" CCDs and uses B4 mount lenses - so isn't quite the film camera replacement from a lens and DoF perspective.

Some pros and cons of the various cameras:


PANAVISION GENESIS:

Pros: shipping, multiple features already shot with it. Good looking image, FULL Panavision accessories integration and compatibility, HD deliverable (makes post easier), log curve (they call it Panalog, resets white to 70% and arcs/tapers it off above that level), compact form factor with recorder (integrates with SRW-1 without need or SRPC-1, which is built into camera). Also has dual link HD-SDI outputs if fully uncompressed is desired. Super 35mm sized image sensor. Panavision is a trusted name - see the long list of features already shooting on it. The name brand, and the quality that implies, clearly carries significant weight in Hollywood, as evinced by the list of projects already shot on it. Can record audio in sync with video. Single sensor CCD for cine lens compatibility.

Cons: 1080p is highest resolution, max frame rate is presently 50 fps, but can shoot variable frame rates, rental only from Panavision, limited availability (about 40 some odd worldwide right now). No mechanical shutter, and no through the lens viewfinding.

DALSA ORIGIN:

PROS: Shipping product. Extremely sharp images, extremely high resolution (4Kx2K, 2:1 aspect ratio), the only shipping 4K camera of the bunch. Also, extremely good dynamic range, perhaps the best of the shipping bunch from my personal osbservations. Super 35mm sized image sensor. Rotating mechanical shutter and through the lens viewfinding for film like motion rendering and DP familiar operation. Single sensor CCD (UPDATE - I had CMOS listed yesterday, that was incorrect, thanks to Patrick's quick eye to catch me on my mistake) for cine lens compatibility. If you want to go 4K, this is the one to beat. The workflow for 4K is also VERY well thought out, and the Codex device makes the much more manageable.

CONS: At present, it is BIG and unwieldy, and is something they need to work on. It can be handheld, as proven by some test footage I saw, but is a daunting beast to behold. But to my mind, the biggest detriment they face is the workflow - they shoot 4K, and they ONLY shoot 4K. At present, there is no HD-SDI out. You can only record 4K RAW Bayer pattern data out of the camera. Their currently recommended solution is to record to the Codex recorder, which is itself a model of flexibility and capability (more on it later, but it rocks). Which is fortunate for Dalsa, because they need all the flexibility then can get. 4K or the highway seems to be their unspoken credo. It would be nice to have options with this camera - such as 2K or ANY flavor of HD-SDI, or to at least have the option of any kind of compression for a smaller form factor. At present, if you wanted a Digibeta or SR copy, it would require some kind of processed output off of the Codex box. I feel they've overshot the market - but if they could shrink the form factor, add onboard recording, add 4K downsampled to 2K/HD/HD-SDI recording options, I think they'd have a real winner, more in line with the market's needs and desires.

The camera is also rental only - which helps for support (since the rates also includes support all through production into post production), but also means there is only one source to rent these from - Dalsa.

36fps max recording rate (camera capable of 50fps, but no recording solution capable of those speeds).

Dual sound audio - no provision for recording audio with picture, have to sync audio in post. Hmmph.

THOMSON/GRASS VALLEY VIPER:

PROS: good dynamic range (see Collateral or Miami Vice), nice color representation, can shoot 4:2:2 linear or 4:4:4 Filmstream mode (utterly uncorrected RGB output from sensor). HD workflow with LUTs, keeps the post more flexible and affordable than data or 2K. Can record audio in sync with video.

CONS: A video technology based device - 3 CCD design with a prism beam splitter, requires video style lenses, 30fps progressive max fps, 60 fields (half res) maximum frame rate. 2/3" not 35 or Super35 sized sensor...but that can be useful at times as well (Michael Mann liked it for Miami Vice). No mechanical viewfinder, and no through the lens viewfinding.

ARRI D-20:

PROS: from Arri, who has a strong rep for form factor, ergonomics, and accessories. 35mm or Super35mm sized image sensor (forget which), DOES have spinning mechanical shutter (has benefits for motion blur), and they are working on a direct data recording option as well (demoed at NAB). Can record audio in sync. Single sensor for cine lens compatibility.

Cons: HD resolution max, video frame rates, HD-SDI only recording, no onboard recording, no data recording as yet, how does offspeed work (recording and post extraction). Rental only.

SILICON IMAGING (no LA presence so didn't visit with, but drawing this from NAB visit and emails):

Pros: 2/3" sized image sensor (right?), detachable image block is tiny; very high quality, full raster, 10 bit highly efficient, relatively low data rate wavelet based codec (Cineform wavelet RAW codec). Very flexible frame rate modes 1-72 or so fps possible, and since disk recording it is cake to deal with offspeed in post. Mac support for codec expected this fall (maybe IBC?). Can record to the fully built up portable unit or just the image block and run a GigE cable back to a laptop or computer. With the (large) exception of Premiere Pro only editing, very indie viable workflow - low cost storage, low data rate native codec editing, affordable camera, etc.

Cons: you're married to Adobe Premiere for native codec editing right now. No HD-SDI recording option that I'm aware of. For editing or posting on non-WinXP environment,gotta export to other formats - is possible but cumbersome. Altasens sensor is decent but not outstanding, not in same league with Dalsa, ARRI, Panavision, or Red samples seen to date...then again, this is a very nearly shipping camera for $20K (w/o lenses), the price is entirely reasonable for the quality you get.

RED ONE:

Red One, if ships with specs as stated (YES unfair to compare shipping to unfinished, but let's just project forward a year and assume these are all still the same specs from everybody for the moment)

Pros: Can record up to 4520x2540 in data mode, purchaseable for $17,500 for the body (Viper is circa $80K I think), Super35mm sized sensor, windowable sensor, works with PL mount S35 and S16 to start with, Nikon and B4 mounts to follow for compatibility, 1-60 fps recording in 4K, 1-120fps recording in 2K w/S16 lenses, data, onboard, or HD-SDI recording options, records audio as well (at least 4 channels). Record RAW data to REDRAID, record Redcode full raster wavelet based codec to either solid state memory device or RedDrive devices (based on 2.5" SATA disk), or to any standard HD-SDI type device (if shooting HD resolutions). Shoot 720p, 1080p, 1080i, 2K, 4K, or 4.5K. Record (depending on format you're shooting) to to the above list. Purchaseable or rentable. I've seen some test images and....WOW.

Cons: New entrant, no working prototype seen or even test footage publicly screened as yet, unproven track record, brand new company and product. LONG way from shipping, working, proven reliable product. In terms of workflow...I can't think of a downside, knowing what I know. The final image quality, after compression and whatnot is still unknown, but I'd imagine it'll be possible to record images even better looking than what I saw (and remember, those were some of the very first tests) to a Codex or similar type device. Wait, that's not a con.

End notes.

OK, that'll give you something to chew on, I'm trying to get my world organized before I leave town for 2 weeks...

-mike

Getting memory upgrades right on the Mac Pro

Barefeats (as usual) has an excellent report on how RAM configs affect performance with the Mac Pros. Also opens with a discussion of the cooling issues surrounding the particular memory modules you might get.

Worth a read if you're planning on buying or upgrading a Mac Pro. As usual, I recommend third party RAM and hard drives instead of Apple's own for price reasons - Apple's gear is perfectly valid, just pricey. But with the Mac Pros, both RAM and hard drive configs aren't as simple as they once were, so be careful and do your research.

For more on drive stuff with Mac Pros, read these:

Best boot drive for the Mac Pro?

and

Seagate 750GB and Hitachi 500GB four drive RAID 0 inside the Mac Pro

-mike

Windows Vista 32-Bit CAN Play HD DVD, Blu-ray Movies - Gizmodo

MS recants - says 32 bit WILL be able to play secure HD content, but is up to third party developers to do so. So probably no out-of-the-box secure HD playback on 32 bit Vista systems, but POSSIBLE with third party stuff. Of course, the third parties will have to produce a sufficiently secure environment to meet the demands of the content owners (Hollywood studios)....which may or may not be doable to the C.O.'s satisfaction.

-mike

UPDATE - More details here.

No native HD DVD or Blu-ray support from MS to start with, all up to 3rd party developers according to article.

Canon Introduces Two Additional HDgc Portable High Definition Lenses at IBC 2006

Lenses for 1/2" and 1/3" CCD based cameras. More details at IBC.

These lenses would be appropriate for the kinds of camcorders I usually discuss - I'm guessing these should be compatible with the JVC and Canon HDV cameras, and the 1/2" lens with the Sony F350, etc.

I can't can't help thinking about the slide at DGA Digital Day, though, talking about how with a 1/3" imager, the lens has to be a bazillion times better than the lens for, say, a Super 35mm sized imager, since it is trying to resolve the same image onto a smaller area that has smaller pixels, thus less light per pixel...guess which camera I'm thinking about here...

AppleInsider | Mac mini shortage suggests product changes

Expecting a bump - maybe Core 2 Duo chips? But I still don't recommend these for any but the most Starving Artist as an offline editing box - Final Cut Studio is not officially supported on it...

-mike

Apple to recall 1.8 million notebook batteries - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

To see if your battery is covered, click here. You'll need your serial numbers for the computer and the battery. I have a 12" Powerbook, and my original battery (which already was worn out and relegated to "last power resort" status) was one of the affected batteries; I've already filled out the form and a new one is en route. After filling out the form, I was shown this on the website:

Your request will be processed shortly and a confirmation email will be sent to you.

Apple will ship you a replacement battery (or batteries) as soon as possible after processing your replacement order. Shipping time may vary due to product availability. Once you receive the replacement battery, please return the old battery to Apple with the pre-paid shipping label and packaging provided.


then I got an email that stated:

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for ordering a replacement battery. Your request (Order number 2002441) is currently being processed.

It will take approximately 4 to 6 weeks for your replacement battery to arrive. Please note that shipping time may vary due to availability of your battery model.

Battery Exchange Program details and an FAQ may be found at:

http://support.apple.com/batteryprogram

We appreciate your cooperation with this exchange program.

Apple


...so 4-6 weeks...estimated.

Since I have a second battery not affected by the recall, that's fine. But for those for whom the affected battery is the ONLY battery, 4-6 weeks is a long time. Officially, Apple is saying to NOT PUT THE BAD BATTERY BACK IN after you've verified it is on the recall list, and to only operate on AC power (it'll run just fine with no battery in if you're plugged into wall power). Ummm....right. That's not going to work very well. You could keep using it, with the slim chance of thermal damage. But it is bad enough that Sony (maker of the battery cells) will be ponying up $170M-$260M to replace'em all.

Side note: sounds like they're on it, it'll be interesting to see how long it actually takes. I'm STILL waiting for the second battery I ordered with my MacBook (a different type, not affected by this recall), ordered back in the SPRING.

-mike

Motion 2.1: Rendering issues in 16-Bit projects on Mac Pro

If you use 16 bit float ("half float" mode) on a Mac Pro with the standard Nvidia card or an ATI X1900 card, you can get:

Dark outlines on text or shape object edges
Slight Luminance shifts
Feather size grows when using multiple shapes


...not good. The fix - don't use 16 bit mode in Motion 2.1 on Mac Pros.

-mike

Slashdot | No Full HD Playback for 32-bit Vista: "full HD content shall only be played at the full resolution where only signed drivers are used %u2014 only in the 64-bit version of Vista. From the article: ''Any next-generation high definition content will not play in x32 at all,'"

...OK that totally bites...Hollywood is waaaaaaaaaay paranoid these days, and I don't see a clear path being set - are they trying to lock out EVERYBODY no matter what, or just keep honest people honest? My perception is that the Hollywood decision makers would rather see HD fail rather than have it be exploitable like DVDs.

-mike

Panasonic Delivers its New Solid-State Memory Drive

It's an internal or external unit that lets you mount up to 5 8GB cards in it at once for bulk ingest. MSRP $1980.

Pricey - unless you're running a lot of footage through, the camera works pretty well as a reader. If you don't have the camera available (if it is out shooting), this is one option. Or for roughly the same money, Panasonic's own P2 Store hard drive.

(found via FresHDV.com)

Studio Daily | Katrina's Lessons

Are you insured? Backed up? Prepared for the worst? If you're working on a indie feature, odds are you're working out of less than optimal space, and it the process is taking a while. This story is about a videographer whose studio was destroyed by Katrina. He was underinsured on his gear, but did have loss of income insurance. As an indie, you probably don't have either of those, but I hope you do.

In any case, worth a read to CYA for risk analysis. Another indie project I worked on had a fire in their building and lost a bunch of source tapes for their documentary. Clones in a fire safe saved their butt.

So read, learn, and think about what could go wrong (never forget about hard drive crashes), and do what you can to be prepared for things to break, burn, flood, get stolen, or hit by lightning.

-mike

Studio Daily | Cine-tal Unveils an Open Architecture Visual Display Processor: eLumaHD

It's a hardware box that processes twin 4:2:2 or a single 4:4:4 stream. Can do 3D LUTs, calibration, color processing, has a frame store, range & gamut monitoring with alarms, split screen viewing, networkability, etc.

Shipping fourth quarter, no price discussed. Knowing what their other products cost, won't be cheap.

-mike

Hey all -

since I'm actively in production right now on the HD Shootout DVDs, I thought I'd spell out my current thinking (ever in flux) and ask you folks what you think about it.

Cameras Tested

For review and those who aren't famililar, I'll be including footage from all cameras tested. The shoot was put together by myself, Adam Wilt of DV Magazine, and Chris Hurd of DVInfo.net and HDVInfo.net. The cameras were (in order of price here):

Sony HVR-Z1U
JVC GY-HD100U
Panasonic HVX200
Canon XL H1
Sony F350 (new XDCAM HD camera)
Panasonic Varicam

Interested? Click here to email me with "Shootout DVD" as the subject line to get on the mailing list, and please put an "X" in the email to indicate which version you're interested in.

OK, so why should you be interested? Why, let me tell you...

What was shot

We shot 24p, 50i and 60i; we shot 720p, 1080p (or 1080F), and 1080i; we shot indoors, outdoors, on sticks, hand held, low light, standard lighting, people of varying skin tone color (blond and African American models), we shot greenscreen, we shot codec torture tests, we shot close ups, medium, wide, long shots outdoors, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. (I'll eventually post a complete list.) Four days of shooting, I have over 600 shots logged in. We also shot, while in studio, uncompressed straight off the cameras to hard drives - using HD-SDI when possible (Varicam, F350, and XL H1), and using analog to HD-SDI converters for those that didn't (all others). This was in addition to the native recording media (tape, P2, and XDCAM HD discs), so I can make comparisons between those as well.

So it'll be a pretty darn thorough runthrough, and should be indicative of most types of shooting situations. OK, we didn't do a car chase, white water rafting, or sky diving shot but you get the idea. If you're shooting a "normal" narrative piece, there will be something useful for you to evaluate for most of your scenes here.

WHAT'S ON THE DVDs?

Current plan, as of 2:40pm Wed., assuming I don't change my mind yet again:

SD DVD: These will be standard def DVD, with MPEG-2 compressed clips, as well as a data portion of the disc/s. Somebody suggested multi-angle early on, but to get 6 angles would require massively dropping the bitrate on each, so quality comparisons other than color/contrast go out the window. So I'm thinking of cropping in on a portion of the same detail from all cameras and putting it 6 up, stuff like that. Or butterfly comparisons (mirrored halves) for 1 on 1 comparisons. But you'll see what each of these cameras look like when compressed to MPEG-2 using desktop type tools. I'll include uncompressed still frames on the data portion on the disk, and the footage will have voiceover with commentary.

High Def DVD: At this point, it looks to be an HD DVD on a red laser 8.5 GB disc, since there are virtually no set top boxes out there. It'll play on recent Macs with recent OS X installed.

Windows users - I don't know about DVD Studio Pro authored HD DVD on DVD-R 9's playing back under WinXP with 3rd party DVD players, if somebody knows, clue me in, I haven't done any testing to date.

Multiple discs most likely for space reasons.

It will also include workflow commentary/diagrams/analysis, which varies camera to camera and gets pretty complicated right now.

I'm definitely going to do Final Cut Pro workflow for each camera, but considering doing Avid Xpress Pro and/or Adode Premiere Pro...but it'll depend on demand. If you're an Avid or PPro user, LET ME KNOW if you're interested in workflow for your app!

Might include more shots than the SD disc has, if I'm running out of room on the SD disc/s.

Planning to include SHORT video snippets in native media format of SOME of the shots on the data portion - it just isn't feasible to include them all unless I'm going to have a large number of DVDs in the set. Maybe the full set as yet another product? Let me know what you think.

The good news is, if you have the kind of Mac to edit HD footage on, this will play.

PRICING

I'm thinking of an indie friendly price for the SD disc - you get samples, some stills, and some commentary on the footage differences, but that's about it.

The HD DVD - will include more in depth coverage, workflow analysis for cameras involved, explanation of the formats and their differences, more shots, actual footage as data on a disc, etc., and will be priced higher.

For those that want the full kit of all of it, to see how footage looks in SD and HD, and get all the analysis, there will be a bundle that offers a discount.

So far, between prep for the shoot, the 4 days of shooting, and all the time I've spent in post to get where I am now (and still not close to finished), I'm already in the hundreds of hours spent so far, so I need to price it to make that worth while.

Why should you want to pay for this?

Somebody in an email exchange said (and I'm paraphrasing here) -

"Sheesh, I can get sample DVDs from Sony or Panasonic or whatever for free. Why should I pay more than cheap for yours?"

The answer is this - the samplers from vendors were produced who knows how, in different times and places. We have no idea, for instance, on that outdoor shot, how much scrim, flagging, and/or bounce card/s were used. We don't know the context. It's also very difficult to look at one studio shot from one camera, and compare that in a meaningful way to another studio shot of somebody else in a different environment shot with a diffferent camera. With enough careful lighting, skill, and time, you can get a good looking images from any of these cameras. Was that footage color corrected, for instance? How did it look plain vs corrected? If there was marketing budget, I'll betcha they had an experienced colorist on top notch gear doing that color correction - not indicative of what you'd get most likely.

On the other hand, the content on these DVDs was produced in the most bias free manner we could manage, with no overt agendas.

Also, more significantly - all this stuff was shot at the same time, by the same folks, under the same circumstances (as much as possible), so it is truly apples to apples comparable. We also meticulously logged as much info as we could about shoot settings, recording the format, bitrate, fps, shutter, iris, gain, ND setting, gamma settings, matrix, sharpness, knee, noise reduction, lens used, etc. etc. etc. - so you'll KNOW what the shot means, rather than wondering "Yeah, but was that wide open or not?" I'm planning on including all that info as well (in some fashion TBD).

WHAT I NEED TO KNOW FROM YOU FOLKS - FEEDBACK!:

PLEASE tell me the following:

-Does this sound appealing to buy in the first place?

-How much would you be willing to pay for these (and I'd like to know your "I'd like it to be" as well as the "I wouldn't pay more than.")

-Which product sounds more appealing to you?

-What is missing?

-What should I drop that you don't care about?

Feel free to copy and paste those questions and email me with the answers cut in.

Why again?

I'm asking all this now, because this product is a test for me - one of the (many) reasons I started the blog was to hopefully build an audience for products such as these. If there isn't much market, I'm not going to do these kinds of things, I'll look for other ways to make a living. So I need to make sure I'm on the right track...so tell me now, otherwise I'll assume folks aren't interested.

WHEN WILL THEY BE READY?

My initial plan was to get these done before I left for IBC in early September. At this point, I'm guessing IBC would be a logical time to release a new version of Final Cut Pro that could handle 24p from the JVC and 24F from the Canon - which would completely change all my thinking on workflow for those cameras. So I'm thinking I may be able to get the SD versions off to the replication house before I leave, but the HD version should wait until I know what's up with FCP.

Other stuff on the back burners:

Other stuff I'm considering doing to offer for sale: a huge BlackMagic vs. AJA HD-SDI card comparison, comparing what are the real world differences when capturing, editing, mastering, up/downconverting, add/remove 3:2 pulldown, etc. I've got all the gear, it'll just take a week or so to figure it all out, and I'd probably sell that for $10 or $20 as a downloadable (possibly secure) PDF or something.

I'm also thinking of doing a big "How much realtime performance do you get with what video format on what machine?" comparison. What are the limits, and can I do X & Y with Z format on such and such a Mac? Can I get a realtime cross dissolve, when I have 3-way color corrections on both shots, in X format on my Mac or the Mac I'm thinking of buying? If I have to render, how long does it take?" I've got everything from a 12" Powerbook up to a Quad G5 inhouse already, with AJA and BMD cards aplenty to answer all this. (And of course, Intel Macs would be tested too!) But again, it'd take a week or more to do this, so it's not something I can afford to do for free on the blog. Again, $10 or $20, with the idea that it would help folks decide if their present or to-be-purchased Macs were up to snuff for planned projects, and to know how camera selection affected that process.

OK, now it's feedback time - what do you folks think of all this? Feel free to use the Comments link below, or to email me directly if you don't want to discuss publicly - mike AT hdforindies DOT com.

And once again, shameless self plug:

Interested? Email me with "Shootout DVD" as the subject line to get on the mailing list, and please put an "X" in the email to indicate which version you're interested in.
-mike

AppleInsider | Apple unable to meet rising MacBook demand

Demand has been strong for MacBooks, so if you're thinking about getting one, either get on it now or be ready to wait. Expected to be caught up by end of September. So far, except for the failure that required a new motherboard (which was promptly fixed, except they replaced the hard drive too, glad I had it backed up), I'm totally diggin' mine. Except it runs so hot.

-mike

business2blog: B2Day : Scoop: More Details On Amazon's Unbox Video Service

Details on Amazon's upcoming movie download service. Some highlights:

-rent or buy
-Windows Media based
-DRM'd out the wazoo - rentals only watchable on one device
-gotta download fully w/in 24 hours
-purchased CAN be watched on 2 computers and 2 portable devices (WTF? only 2?), and can be burned onto DVD...but in a format regular DVD players can't read

More details, and full Terms of Service in the article.

Mike's Commentary: Doomed to failure. Too locked down, too difficult to mess with. Apple may face the same challenges when their time comes. But the DRM restrictions are nuts. Imagine if you rented a movie and the guy at the store said "OK, here you go - oh! But you can only play this movie in YOUR living room DVD player. If you want to start it in there and watch the rest on the bedroom player, no dice."

What all this DRM stuff needs to REALLY work, IF the industry is going to insist on total world domination, I mean total data lockdown, is some universal way of specifically identifying a playback device as YOURS. Or a friend of yours. SOMETHING. So that you can play it on all of your devices, and maybe loan or play back on your friends.

But that ain't happening. Not anytime soon.

So it's going to be messy and ugly and limited. Between DRM and the Beta vs. VHS quagmire of HD DVD vs Blu-ray, I think regular DVDs are going to be with us in the mainstream for quite a while.

-mike

I've been really trying to crack down and crank out the Texas HD Shootout DVDs before I leave town in September.

If you're interested in buying a standard or high def DVD from the Texas HD Shootout, with sample footage and comparisons, drop me an email to mike AT hdforindies DOT com with "Shootout DVD" as the subject.

I'm also fact checking and getting clearances to publish more stuff from my recent LA fact gathering trip.

In the meantime, some useful bits from around the web:

FCP tips:

The editblog � My top 10 Final Cut Pro tips

FresHDV's top 10 FCP tips

Pro App Tips - Supporting the Pro App community - a whole site dedicated to Pro App tips

Some Apple docs:

Mac Pro: Video frame rate appears to be slow in some programs

The fix:

If your build number is 8K1054 or anything less than 8K1079, use the Install discs that came supplied with your computer to perform an Archive and Install. This will update your computer's version of Mac OS X to Build 8K1079 and should improve the video performance.

------------
DVD Studio Pro: QuickTime and Simulator display incorrect gamma for MPEG-2 HD DVD content
The Problem:

When comparing your source video to encoded HD DVD MPEG-2 assets, it may appear that the levels have shifted and that the image is darker after compression. This is the result of incorrect gamma interpretation by QuickTime Player and the DVD Studio Pro Simulator.

The fix: it looks right on a set top box player....grumble...they need to update QT & DVD Player then.

------------

Boot Camp Beta: MacBook and MacBook Pro frequently asked questions (FAQ)

....says it all.


------------

Boot Camp Beta: Requirements, installation, and frequently asked questions (FAQ)

....again, self explanatory

-------------

Final Cut Studio: About external video-monitoring conflicts - again, self explanatory. When I get a conflict, or suspect I'm about to run into one (such as two devices having a slappy fight over who gets to control the AJA or BlackMagic card, I just turn video output off in the app I'm not using at the time.

-mike

Caught on Film: A Growing Unease in Hollywood - New York Times

Hollywood is concerned about movie profitability, and is having some of the same problems indies worry about (just with more zeroes after the numbers) - the high cost of effective marketing, and cost overruns on productions (or just high costs to start with). Hollywood is also having trouble with investors (sound familiar?) after unimpressive returns, and it also feels under pressure to knock one out of the park every time.

An interesting read. Nice to note that while piracy is mentioned early on as a threat, this is the first mainstream article I've seen that finally mentions the elephant in the corner - people, especially young people, have a lot of other forms of entertainment to enjoy other than going to a movie theater, or even watching a Hollywood movie at home on DVD or cable - there are games and the Internet to distract us without even leaving the house.

I've been reading that Hollywood's response to lowered profitability is to make fewer movies and possibly bigger movies. At first, I thought this was dumb - why pile all the eggs in one basket when you can spread the risk around? Why NOT make five $30M films instead of of one $150M film? Then I read about and thought about the issue some more - each and every film needs a marketing budget, and to have a shot at being big you need to drop around $30M on marketing, minimum, for each film. So your 5x$30M film package is not $150M, it is $300M when you spend $30M on each movie for marketing. Spending more money per movie also increases the odds (if the movie and trailer aren't lame) of getting a bigger opening weekend, which determines how many copies Walmart will buy 3-4 months down the road. So if you spent $150M on the Big Movie, and then $60M on the marketing, you're $210M in the hole, and dollar $210,000,001 is (in theory) where your profit starts (simplified math, no distribution fee in here etc.). But for the five $30M indies with their $30M apiece marketing budgets, you'd need to pull in $300,000,001 to start making a profit.

(YES Hollywood would probably spend more than $60M to push a $150M film. But I don't know how much they'd spend, so I'm just winging it here. Consider this napkin math for discussion. Speaking of which, feel free to use the Comment link at the end of the article.)

Marketing expenses are turning into a major factor here. While Internet and cable advertising allows much more targetted (read: cost effective) communication compared to the old days of the Big Three networks, it also means your audience is scattered, fractured, and has other things to spend their time and money on (cable, Internet, games, etc.).

Internet sites, direct mail, targetted cable ads, email campaigns, viral campaigns, synthetically generated buzz....they all can help, but not a lot. Witness Snakes on a Plane - the most internet hyped film in I don't know how long. Opening on over 3500 screens, it averaged about $4300 per theater. Feh. Not great - $15.3M for the opening weekend (including Thursday night sneaks - I went and saw it over the weekend, and the theater was surprisingly empty on a Saturday night.) Predictions had ranged from $20M to $40M.

If they can't do it (with Samuel L. "M.F." Jackson no less), who can? Probably not you and your indie. And the rest of Hollywood probably can't get it right either.

-mike, written in the front yard surfing somebody's unsecured Linksys router in the neighborhood

My home & office internet connection hasn't worked since Friday; so I've received no email nor had online access to post (I'm doing this from a neighbor's house).

The ISP isn't able to come out until Tuesday, so if I can manage to update the site, know it was an effort.

If you're trying to reach me, phone works best.

Still cranking away on the Texas HD Shootout analysis over the weekend....

-mike

MacNN | YouTube's music could dethrone iTunes - YouTube plans to put "every" music video online for free - so what does that do to Apple's $2 a pop model?

LionsGate spilled the beans that Apple has a deal with them and other studios to sell movies online and will launch sometime later this year.

MTV bought Atom (online games & videos) as well.

Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace.

There's a LOT of activity going on here - remember when AOL and Time Warner merged, thinking they could leverage Warner's content to AOL's subscribers? Didn't happen for a multitude of reasons, starting with the ability to get decent looking content to a large number of people was practically nonexistent at the time.

Now not so much the case now - broadband is booming, and there are between 100 and 200 online video websites, depending on how you count.

I don't know exactly where it is all going, but it is getting very, very interesting and indies should be paying attention to where all this is going in terms of possible new places to show and market their films.

I also read all this as this is a time of growth and acquisition, and sites are hungry for good content. Think of the boom in cable networks a decade or two ago, and how THEY were all hungry for good content at the time.

As always, go read the ever-on-it CinemaTech blog, written by Scott Kirsner, to keep up on all this stuff that I don't have time to cover in as much detail. He has covered all of this stuff.

-mike

AppleInsider | Apple updates MacBook, Xsan and Logic software

MacBook gets firmware update to adjust cooling fans

Logic Pro & Expres get updated for Mac Pro

Various Xsan software updated to v1.4, various fixes.

-MIKE

Programming | Fantastic Fest! :: September 2006 - Austin, Texas

FantasticFest has annoinced their third round of films to be added to the horror, scifi, fantasy, etc. film festival. My friend Paul Alvarado is involved, as are Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse (one of the best theater experiences in the country), and Harry Knowles of aintitcoolnews.com. The 8 day festival starts Sept. 21st, passes available online (start at the link above).

They are touting Bug (dir. by William Friedkin), but I'm most excited to see Renaissance, which takes the Sin City look and pushes the contrast back to where Frank Miller started - "Take METROPOLIS, BLADE RUNNER and SIN CITY, set them in Paris in 2054, run their widescreen visuals through an ultra-high-contrast B&W photocopying machine and you'll have a semblance of "Renaissance,"


Woah. Bitchin. SOMEthin'.

-mike

OK, several things up with Boot Camp, Apple's tool to assist users of Intel based Macs to run Windows.

Apple - Boot Camp

Apple has updated Boot Camp to version 1.1 (still public beta), changes include:

Features include:
• Support for the latest Intel-based Macintosh computers
• Ability to install Windows XP on any internal disk
• Preset sizes for partitioning a disk for Windows
• Support for iSight cameras
• Apple Keyboard Support
• Improved 802.11 wireless for Mac mini
• Support for 802.11 wireless connectivity in Japan and Korea

Bug fixes include:
• Optical LED for audio out no longer stays on when not in use
• Audio no longer plays on internal speakers when headphones or external speakers are plugged in
• Notebook Macintosh computers running Windows XP now go to sleep when idle
• Internal microphone now works on MacBook computers using Windows XP
• Date and time stay in sync when running Windows


I've been hearing about some problems with drives not running at full speed under Windows on Intel Macs, something about PIO not DMA mode on the drives.

XLR8YourMac.com has a list of a bunch of Apple Knowledge Base Docs if you want to know more about running Boot Camp 1.1.

VMWare is getting into the emulation game, too, to let you run multiple concurrent OS's.

Mike's Comments, or "Why Should I as an HD editor/post person care?":

Boot Camp is significant because it FINALLY lets you run OS X and WinXP (and soon Linux I'd bet) all on the same box. If you can only afford one box, and really like Final Cut Pro but wish you could run Fusion, or 3D Studio Max, or whatever other performance critical application (as in slow isn't OK) you wanted to, you can now do it all on the same box. And it looks like that box costs the same or significantly less than a similarly equipped Dell.

At this point, unless you're VERY comfortable going the white box route or building your own system, Apple is making a whole lot of sense....

...or will in the future. At the moment, Mac Pro towers have just shipped. All indications are that you should be able to install a BlackMagic PCIe HD card in a Mac Pro and have install drivers in both the OS X and WinXP partitions and be able to use the CARD fully under both operating systems. However, there's a catch...storage.

The other day I pointed out that Sonnet is working on Windows drivers for their card to work on Mac Pros under WinXP. I don't know Firmtek or LaCie's status. But Highpoint started as a Windows card company and then came to Mac, so perhaps their cards will work under both OS's. But...how should those drives be formatted? Can they be seen under both OS'?

If you're doing simple FireWire based ingest, you could use a standard internal drive. But RAIDs? That makes the situation more complicated.

I'm guessing that it might be possible to use MacDrive (a Windows product that lets WinXP systems mount, read & write Mac HFS+ volumes) to use Mac formatted volumes for data usage under both operating systems. But does Boot Camp let you see any other drive than the WinXP boot drive? Last I heard with v1.0, that answer was no (AFAIK). Again, we're still in beta, this is just the first rev and it isn't a shipping product, but there is definitely a ways to go before you can cleanly dual boot and use all the advanced features necessary to do full on HD production.

Even if MacDrive (or a similar product - maybe Apple should buy it? But only if they were going to support it....) DOES work to let you mount that RAID in time, will it work at full speed? Will it be uninterrupted service, so that frames aren't dropped?

In general, how will dual booters be able to access common media between the two operating systems?

Apple has announced that they will NOT be supporting Windows on Apple hardware - so who will? Will there be a niche market for phone or Internet (Skype?) based support of high end Windows apps on Apple hardware from a third party?

The prospect of The Ultimate Box, the "Yeah I can run that." without having to hear details, is tantalizing, but complex.

And definitely not here yet.

-mike

Final Cut Pro / Express Plugins by Eiperle CGM

Page with link to free LE version or full for pay version of aged film plugin:

CGM Aged Film LE is a tool designed to make your DV footage =look less like video and more like film. Use the presets as starting points, adjusting the controls to get just the look you're after.

-mike

In a hurry, so quickly: Intel Mac support, including Mac Pros, new versions of Xpress Pro and Media Composer expected (not promised) by December for ALL Intel based Macs.

Pro Tools expected for towers in September, full certification by December, M-Audio working on certificaiton as well.

Continuing support for PPC based Macs, and planned support for Leopard.

I find it interesting how long the press releases are from everybody vs. what it can be boiled down to.

: )

-mike

Hey all -

first off, quick note - I updated my WWDC coverage with Mac Pro vs. Dell comparison discussion, and news of the Cinema Display price drops. Scroll down or click here to see revised stuff at top.

Also, yesterday I drove up to Dallas once again, this time with filmmaker Sam Jorgensen to visit VPT and their HD 10 bit RGB 4:4:4 capable telecine suite. I took a G5 with HD-SDI card, RAID and a little secret sauce up there, got hooked up to their telecine, and captured the most pristine possible image off of their telecine with a log type curve applied to the image. I'll process 24p DV offline footage for Sam to edit with, and we'll conform to the uncompressed files later in the post process when it is time to do VFX (roto & compositing) and color correction on Final Touch HD. At six to seven hundred GB/hr, it adds up quickly though.

I've got it down to a science at this point, and I'm looking for vendor partners with 10 bit 4:4:4 capable HD telecines to team up with. If you are one, know one, want to recommend one, send them my way, email is mike AT hdforindies DOT com.

Took about a half hour from the time we pulled up in front of the facility until we were unloaded, hooked up, and recording the best possible image (better than HDCAM SR) off of their telecine suite. Sweet.

Today I'm catching up on my world, setting the studio back up, processing offline media for Sam, etc., and will hopefully have some time to write up some more LA trip coverage.

-mike

OK, so FINALLY my LA coverage can resume!

I'm going to be dealing with the trip chronologically - I've chatted a bit already about how I stayed with my friend Frank Reynolds, who is presently cutting a 35mm feature on an elderly Avid (running OS 9! Haven't worked with THAT in years!). So while I'm definitely a techie and like the benefits of the latest and greatest, it isn't always required to do what you want and get good results (but proven old workflows aren't as fun to research and play with and write about for me).

So, Day Two - I got a chance to meet up with Nate Weaver. I met Nate at the Texas HD Shootout in Austin, he flew down from LA to help Adam Wilt run the shoot. Nate's a director and DoP in LA, his site is nateweaver.net, but it is a bit out of date, and a new site for new biz name is under construction. Nate's an experienced, practical guy, I really enjoyed working with him and learned a bunch of real world, practical stuff during our 4 day shoot in Austin, I consider him a friend now.

I visited Nate in his home studio in the LA area and we hung out for the afternoon, chatting about this project, the working world in LA, etc.

Nate's been working on an XDCAM HD project, and as a shooter, DP, director, and editor on this job I thought it'd be interesting to hear his thoughts on the process. I usually put quotes in italics, but since this is so long that'd be a pain to read. So NATE'S stuff is in plain text, MY comments are in italics below.

I emailed Nate for some notes, he was gracious enough to write up this lengthy bit for me. Oh, and there are pictures of the shoot available here as well. Nate originally referred to XDCAM when discussing the XDCAM HD cameras and discs, I've changed all references to XDCAM HD just to be absolutely clear that standard defintion XDCAM is not involved in this project. Wordy, but unambiguous.

So, Nate's report:

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So for the last 4 years now, I've had steady work shooting rock concerts here in Los Angeles iso multicam-style. For a long time I was doing these with DVX-100s, then one with the Sony FX-1, then with the JVC HD100. I suspect I've done about 20 of these all told, anywhere from 5 to 9 cameras. My experience with the HDV cameras hasn't been great for this usage, I've found that they fall down a bit in low light (they are indeed much less sensitive than your average DVX-100) (Mike's comment - putting more pixels on the same size 1/3" image sensor means less light hits each imaging pixel, makes it tougher to get good dynamic range), and apparent resolution starts to go out the window when there isn't enough light to go around. Post however is just as cheap as DV, and you DO get a little sharper image out of the deal.

(Mike elaborates - cheap in terms of storage space and native ingest from the camera, no deck required. BUT more expensive in terms of processing power - due to the greater pixel dimensions and more CPU demanding codec, you can't get away with as much realtime performance with HDV as with DV. So the quantity of realtime effects you can stack up - cross dissolves, color correction, titling, etc. - is reduced with HDV. Faster machines always let you do more.)

When Sony announced a 1/2" tapeless HD camera (Mike's clarification - 1/2" imager, instead of 1/3" as the othe cameras mentioned above are) , I got interested. XDCAM HD purports to be all of the benefits of tapeless, but without the practical problems of direct-to-disc, and the archiving issues with P2. Your media is your backup, but the computer sees your footage as files. The cameras can act as decks, transfer method is firewire. Most of you know how it works, I'll cut to the job.

(Mike says - see my screenshots and commentary on the XDCAM HD import software for FCP for more info)

Not too long after July 4th, I got the call from Warner Brothers Records to shoot a concert for Taking Back Sunday, one of their artists. Usage to be for an upcoming DVD release. Budget was well, well north of DV land, but a little short of, say, HDCAM. HDW-F900 camera rentals wouldn't have been so out of the question, but the implications of that for post wouldn't have worked. * Varicam would definitely have worked, but I just thought XDCAM HD might have an edge on this job for resolution and post speed. Varicam eventually became my backup plan.

*(Mike elaborates - HDCAM requires HD-SDI import (requires a AJA/BMD card), and for best results, uncompressed workflow, which requires some kind of high speed, high capacity (up to 200 MB/sec, up to 600 GB/hr)) disk array system...both of which are pricey extras for a small editing setup. Varicams, while pricier than XDCAM HD, have a simple, FireWire based, relatively low (5.7-15 MB/sec) well supported import/export workflow. OH! And as Nate pointed out as we emailed this back and forth, F900 or Varicam would ALSO REQUIRES HDCAM DECK RENTALS, which are pricey - FireWire based ingest lets you use the camera itself (Varicam lacks FW port, so not for that one). Sony JH-3 playback only HDCAM decks are about 1/3 or 1/4th the purchase price of the full studio decks, but renting those still isn't cheap. Varicam requires at least an AJ-1200A deck, lists about $25K, dunno rental rates in LA. OR you go the traditional route and do downconverts of your HDCAM to DVCAM (if you're going to online and master on HDCAM, around $80 a tape in LA) or to Digibeta or similar if you're going to master to SD. No matter how you slice it, HDCAM adds SUBSTANTIALLY to your budget!)

So renting 7 PDW-F350s (the nicer of the two Sony XDCAM HD camcorders) all at once, even in Los Angeles where camera rental houses are on every corner, definitely proved to be a trick. Luck eventually dawned, and we found 6 available at VER in Glendale...almost brand new units. Kacy (sp?) at VER was very helpful in getting our order together, but admitted we were very much guinea pigs as far as they were concerned. I myself didn't consider myself much of one, I had been testing the Sony/FCP Transfer software for almost two weeks on downloaded MXF files.

(Nate in LA and Greg Boston in Dallas with a camera emailed and sent files around testing all this getting it figured out. I got in on some of that email exchange from Austin as well...Internet friends make figuring things out MUCH easier. Nate also gets big props here for doing PROPER pre-production research and testing to make sure everything was going to work right in advance. Indies? Are you listening? Hint hint... -mike)

I looked, each camera had about 7 hours on it. Interestingly enough, because the cameras were so new VER didn't have time to get 1/2" HD lenses for us, they instead gave us Canon J-series 2/3" SD lenses. I was a little scared of that, but I had assurances that the glass was good enough and wasn't going to make things soft.

My working schedule didn't permit me to get time in with a camera before the shoot to come up with a look as far as gamma, toe, and knee were concerned. I took one of the cameras home with me the night before the shoot, made some changes that I *thought* might help me out shooting a concert, and left it at that. Specifically, I went with Cinegamma 3, black gamma of 40, and a knee of 80. I wanted to pull some detail out of the shadows (concerts have lots of black space in the frame) that I could selectively crush out in post. I also wanted to have graceful transitions to overexposure for the stage lights, hence the knee at 80. I also got to look very briefly at the sharpness with the (admittedly high-end) SD glass we had been given, and was satisfied that if the image was being softened up by the non-HD glass, I sure as hell couldn't see it on my 20" HD CRT eval monitor.

Speaking of camera settings, there was another issue to think about. XDCAM HD by default names each clip on the disc with "C0001.MXF", and auto-increments a new clip each time the camera rolls. Long story short, if I didn't change this default behavior, I could potentially have a lot of clips with duplicate names coming into FCP. Sony of course forsaw this scenario, and allows you to set a custom prefix in the menus, so "A" camera can have clips like "CAMA0005.MXF", the CAMA part being the prefix you set. The clip number will now auto-increment even across disc changes, which is exactly what you'd want.

So the shoot itself came and went. Uneventfully, thankfully. My cameramen were equally bemused and impressed with the cameras, especially so when they were told that each load was going to last 90 minutes (in the mode we were shooting, which was 25mbit, 2ch audio). One commented on how nice it was to be able to stash a spare disc in his cargo pocket.

(Mike's comment - because of codec limitations in Final Cut Pro (which Nate was using to edit this piece), ONLY the 25 megabit constant bitrate (25 mbit CBR) is supported in FCP at this time (MIGHT change at IBC, wait and see). The other two modes - 18 megabit variable bitrate (VBR) and 35mbit VBR - are not supported by Sony's XDCAM HD software at this time, because Final Cut Pro doesn't support VBR MPEG-2 for editing at this time. So it is very frustrating that you can't shoot the best quality this camera supports, because Final Cut Pro can't import it via FireWire. You CAN over HD-SDI, but that's another article I'll write up soon...)

The next day I started bringing in the footage. Nobody had a deck available for another 2 days, so I kept one of the cameras to "digitize". I'll skip the basics of the flow, the info is available in a few different places on the web (see my link above - mike). There are a few things I learned however that aren't covered in the propaganda; you're smart to give a unique name to each XDCAM HD disc in the Finder before importing. This allows the Transfer software to have a unique name for each disc for better bookkeeping.
The clip naming prefix feature in the camera I found out does not work exactly as I had planned; I found out that the clip prefix is saved in the disc metadata while the MXF files saved STILL have the default naming scheme of C000x.MXF. The transfer software is SUPPOSED to change the name of each clip after copying (and wrapping to quicktim