HD For Indies

DCS RED Digital Cinema Event - Event Registration Powered By Eventbrite

Oops, forgot to blog this one, here's the info:


WHAT: Join us for an exciting and informative afternoon exploring the RED ONE camera and RED Digital Cinema workflow. Get a close look at the cameras and learn first-hand what all the RED hype is about!

This event marks an important milestone for DCS, as it is also our inaugural Northern California/Pacific Northwest Chapter get-together! Doors open at 12.00 Noon so come early and network with your local industry peers.

WHEN: Saturday March 1st from 1.00 PM to 4.00 PM
Doors open at 12.00 Noon

WHERE: NetApp
495 East Java Drive
Building 3
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

NetApp is at the corner of East Java Drive and Crossman Ave. Enter the parking lot at 495 East Java and proceed to building #3. There are big numbers on the glass. Park in the horseshoe section of the parking lot and enter through the patio – look for the black gate and DCS signs.

View Map and Directions Here

COST: FREE.

IMPORTANT: You must be a Digital Cinema Society member to attend this event, however, non-members will be granted a FREE 3-month DCS trial membership with this ticket registration! So what are you waiting for?

AGENDA:
* RED ONE Cameras on display
* RED Digital Cinema overview
* DCS President and Cinematographer James Mathers discusses RED ONE Production Workflow
* Silverado Systems President Torrey Loomis discusses and demonstrates RED Post-Production Workflow
* Screening of RED ONE demo footage and selected clips from two RED Features
* DCS Member Panelists: Filmmaker Adam Wilt, DP Art Adams and VideoFax Managing Partner Leigh Blicher lead topical discussion during our Q & A Sessions.

Light refreshments will be available.

This meeting is being organized and moderated by Chapter President Simon Sommerfeld, and hosted by DCS member and Creative Director, Trudi Melohn at NetApp.



See their page for map and directions. Should be good!

Labels: DCS, Red

ProLost: Digital Cinema Dynamic Range

Chris and Trish Meyer beat me to posting this on PVC, but if you want to shoot Red, READ THIS.

There's a shorter version here, but read the long one linked above.

I love how this guy thinks.

Adam Wilt continues to rock the reports from the HPA (that's Hollywood Post Alliance). I am jealous, I was out in LA last week for work related stuff but didn't have time to sign up and go down for HPA.

Adam gives a report from several days:
HPA Day 0
HPA Day 1
Day 2 - regretably short, the computer ate his homework.
HPA Day 3

He has also updated his Sony PMW-EX1 review as well here I consider Adam to be The Ultimate Word on the sub-$10K camera reviews out there. He is thorough and experienced. 6 pages of awesomeness.

More good stuff he wrote:
EX1 Gammas
EX1 Update
Why the HVX-200 ISN'T obsoleted by the Sony EX1 - good analysis
ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Adam Wilt: "2008 FAA rules on battery transport"
ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Adam Wilt: "PMW-EX1 Lens Fix"
ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Adam Wilt: "Sony’s Mac SxS driver doesn’t play well with the Duel Systems Adapter"
ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Adam Wilt: "P2 vs. SxS - an Unfair Comparison" - hey, they're the same price! But wait, you CAN fit tons more content (by recording time) on an SxS...
ProVideo Coalition.com: Camera Log by Adam Wilt: "Apple Pro Apps - Save Those Updaters!"

...and of course, everything else everyone else is writing over at PVC, including Chris & Trish Meyer, After Effects legends, on Creating Motion Graphics, and others as well.

I still need to do my PR piece about the site...so many things, so little time!

Labels: Adam Wilt, EX1, PVC

ProVideo Coalition.com: Capria TV by Frank Capria

Frank, another or the Pro Video Coalition Founders, has a nice piece up I totally agree with about Apple needing to let ProRes out of barn - ProRes is ONLY available to Final Cut Studio 2 owners. You can't legally share it with clients (although many do), and no one on Windows can use it.

It is a GREAT codec, better than Panasonic's D5 format when using the higher quality ProResHQ, BUT....it is limited to Mac only, FCS2 only users. Bleh. I can understand Apple not wanting to let quality tech out for free, but Avid freely distributes almost all of their codecs.

It is getting to be time to let this one be more widely usable. The REAL value of FCP 6 is the Open Format Timeline - it isn't as if they'd be shafting FCS2 upgrades by making this available. Hell, even sell it for $20 or $50, it would STILL be worth it. OK Apple - do that - sell it for Mac and Windows (and even charge $20 for Mac and $50 for Windows if it makes you feel better).

Just make it available for less than $1300!

Read what Frank has to say for more on this.

-mike

ProVideo Coalition.com: HD for Indies by Mike Curtis

I wrote it last week, but it didn't get posted till Monday, and of course, I'm just now remembering to post it here.

Anyhoo...this article talks about what is next now that the format war is over and Blu-ray won, but what about what this means for:
-consumers
-the HDTV industry in general
-Microsoft
-Adobe
-Apple
-Avid

Apple gets a special note here, because the only HD format they've supported at all has been HD DVD...oooooooops. Now it is REALLY time for Apple to step up and honor Steve Jobs' 2005 commitment to Blu-ray (yep, he said it at MacWorld, with the head of Sony, in English, to our faces, for the record). OK Steve, it has been 3 years and counting, and you guys pulled out of NAB, hinting that no big new products/updates were coming....so what are we to make of that? We need some reassurance about being able to author high def discs, otherwise Adobe is lookin' pretty for a lot of corporate video work. And Avid supports Blu-ray, too. One of the Three A's doesn't have a ball to play with....

Anyway, read on for another long Mikey piece.

As I've mentioned before, I'm planning on doing my serious writing over at ProVideoCoalition.com.

And yes, I'm writing up my Red One Out of Box Experience stuff right now.

: )

-mike

-mike

#417 arrived at my friend's house today (I wasn't sure if I'd be in town, had it shipped there). I'll be taking pictures and writing up my thoughts on ProVideoCoalition.com as I can.

-mike

WEDNESDAY UPDATE - I have a ton of pictures and analysis. A family member had surgery yesterday out of town, I've been sitting with. All went well, but I'm playing catchup. It is a' comin'.

Interesting to see what has changed, in terms of hardware, since last I worked with several of the original batch of beta #s 6, 7, 11, & 17. I've decided to point some of that out, too.

MUCH going on here.

-mike

Labels: Red

Hey all!

I've been in LA this week, but I just got off the phone with my Red rep and I'm finally ready to take delivery on Red #417. It has been ready to go since before I left for Spain at the end of January, but travel and logistics have delayed the process on my end.

I expect it to arrive in Austin next week, and I'll be documenting the OOBE (that's Out Of Box Experience) for all interested, and probably doing so over on ProVideoCoalition.com.

I've been travelling and working and have some other big news to drop in the next week or so too, so stand by...

-mike

Labels: Red

I've been busy all day, just happened to stop to think about that it is a Tuesday and that is Apple Update Day, so checking for new updates on AppleTV indicated new software - hallelujah! Downloading now, but I see others have already been dilligently on it -

Apple TV (take 2), take two - Engadget

Bonus geekery - picture above taken with iPhone, emailed to self, yadda yadda...

Labels: AppleTV

Hey all, quick note -

not dead, was just on vacation in Spain for 10 days, didn't feel like advertising that I was off the continent when my address is Google-able.

: )

I'm recovering from jetlag, back to publishing ASAP.

Apple pulling out of NAB - wow. More on that soon.

Adam Wilt, who joins me as another of the founders in the new Pro Video Coalition, does his usual bang up job reviewing the hot new Sony XDCAM EX camera, the PMW-EX1. He leads off his 6 page, in depth review with this:

The US$6500 (street price) Sony PMW-EX1 is a six-pound, high definition Handycam with three 1/2” CMOS chips. It resolves a true 1920x1080 image; shoots both interlaced and progressive; records 1920x1080, 1440x1080 (HDV-compatible), and 1280x720 formats; and offers variable frame rates from 1 fps to 30 fps (1080p) or 60fps (720p). The camera records using long-GOP MPEG-2 on dual SxS solid-state memory cards, and provides an SDI output with embedded audio and timecode. It is awkward to handhold, some controls are hard to use, and it lacks SD recording, but its excellent pictures, comprehensive image tweaks, and pin-sharp LCD make it a compelling HD camcorder.


Read on for all the nitty gritty details of what I think is shaping up to be my favorite new camera under $10K.

-mike

Labels: cameras, EX1

AppleTV Take 2: New Software, Same Hardware is my third piece up on the new Pro Video Coalition site, which I'm a part of (more details in a forthcoming announcement).

It is (IMH unbiased O) more than the title suggests, outlining what the hardware capabilities of the AppleTV are, how they compare to other high definition options in broad strokes, and what it may mean for the industry.

The most important thing to realize about AppleTV Take 2 is that it is the EXACT same hardware (with a bigger hard drive option, which we've had for months) as before, but with new features enabled via software, such as direct movie rental and purchase, etc. While the video quality is better on many other options (HD PPV, Xbox 360 downloads, Blu-ray and HD DVD), the simplicity MIGHT make a compelling case for the set top box - will it be like music and MP3s and iPods, that we want simplicity and choice over quality? We'll have to wait and see.

Be sure to check out all the other articles up on Pro Video Coalition as well.

-mike

Labels: Apple, AppleTV

MacBook Air: Why it isn’t for Us

....is my second article up on the new Pro Video Coalition site, which I'm a part of, I'll have an announcement with details shortly.

This is a somewhat lengthy article explaining why the new MacBook Air isn't a good Mac for you or me, and in the process also explores what IS a good machine for you or me.

-mike

20 Questions About Red Drives with Ted Schilowitz

First off, I'm writing for the Pro Video Coalition now. I'll do a more formal announcement, but expect serious stuff that I do to show up over there. For now, just go read this and I'll fill you in soon on all the details.

Kicking off, now that Red Drives have shipped and are trickling out into the field, I got in touch with Ted Schilowitz of Red and did some Q&A with him about how they work.

As a follow up since I wrote that, Stuart English confirmed for me that "yes you can record 2k and 4k on the same card.. and switch happily back and forth as much as you want, I do it all the time. Notice though, that your FOV changes of course, so odds are unless your using a zoom you will need to adjust lenses."

Thanks Stuart, and thanks to the PVC (Pro Video Coalition) Team for getting all this up and rolling so fast...

-mike

Labels: Red, techie