HD For Indies

I'm bringing back the concept of the Blogwad - everything that I either didn't have time to properly address during the week, or that didn't merit it's own post, or that came in on Friday and therefore gets lumped in with the rest of the blogwad.

I've at least broken it down into categories - post software, post hardware, acquisition, cameras, general...and iPhone, since there's so much going on with that.

POST SOFTWARE

IRIDAS Extends DualStream Stereoscopic Technology across Product Line | Studio Daily - very niche, but good to know

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Click-thru Tutorial: Magic Bullet Looks | Studio Daily

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Click-thru Tutorial: GenArts Sapphire | Studio Daily

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Interview with Automatic Duck's Wes Plate

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Getting Intimate with CineForm Intermediate Part 2 (I trust you can follow the links to part 1)

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Creating Node Trees in Color and the special case of interlaced video (Final Cut Studio 2) -good Ken Stone tutorial, thanks to a sharp eyed reader for sending this in.



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POST HARDWARE

MacNN | MacBook Pro 17" Hi-res: Best LCD yet

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MacNN | Overnight 200GB, 250GB laptop drive upgrades - if you don't want to do it yourself...but what about data backup and data integrity and security?

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Matrox MXO 2.0 review

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ACQUISITION

Codex Digital Announces Portable Field Recorder | Studio Daily

9 pounds, carbon fiber, rubber weather seals, HD to 4K, size of a lunch box, powered by standard batteries, can do dual link 4:4:4, has Infiniband, Ethernet data connections, can do 10 gigabit optical I/O, 8 channels of audio, wireless MP4 video output, Red One RAW output (!!!), this sounds incredibly cool, useful, and improved - I should write more on this later...

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short version - 4K capable S.two to be shown at CineGear

Press release:


S.two Corporation’s DFR4K™ Digital Field Recorder announced at NAB 2007 will premier at Cine Gear Expo 2007.

New 4K capable portable recorder will feature in movie making workflow demonstration with the Dalsa Origin 4K camera.

Reno, NV—June 22nd 2007— S.two announces it will demonstrate for the first time its new 4K recording solution at this week’s Cine Gear Expo. The new DFR4K™ features full integration with Dalsa Origin 4K cameras using InfiniBand Fibre connections. The coupled systems will be shown on the S.two stand #T4 at the Wadsworth Theatre and Grounds June 22-23, 2007.

The DFR4K plays Dalsa 4K images in real time up to the maximum supported frame rate of the Dalsa camera. This closely coupled integration with Dalsa Origin cameras adds all the capabilities of the camera plus all the on set convenience, productivity, efficiency and robustness that S.two has shown on many completed feature films, the most noted of late being David Fincher’s ‘Zodiac’.

An Industry “first”, the 24V DC powered DFR4K™ production units allow the camera to be free of location logistics so that true ‘run and gun’ style movie making can be done in 4K resolution.

This debut showing of the DFR4K™ prototype heralds a complete set of DFR4K™ products for all extended resolution cameras and projects allowing a full choice of palettes for the discerning filmmaker. S.two extended definition workflow will be fully adapted for 4K movie making including offline, archiving and post integration. The DFR4K™ extended definition workflow is added to S.two’s HD, HD RGB, 2K and 3K products supporting other leading cameras.

“As the leading uncompressed digital film recording company, S.two is pleased to be able to provide our field portable, field proven, compact DC powered recording solutions to higher resolution users, bringing our un-rivaled on set experience and reliability to an emerging 4K market” states Steve Roach, Vice President, S.two. “The DFR4K™ provides 4K users a proven end to end workflow with the same benefits S.two has supplied on multiple movie projects around the world.”


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CAMERAS

Ikegami and Toshiba Provide Details of Advanced New Tapeless ENG Camera, Editing and Production System | Studio Daily

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Press release:

DALSA and the Digital Cinema Society (http://www.digitalcinemasociety.com/) are co-hosting a 4K presentation at the Cine Gear Expo, the industry's premiere film, video and digital media expo. The event which takes place on Saturday, June 23rd will explore 4K for production, post, and projection. Various samples acquired in 4K RAW with the DALSA Origin camera, edited in HD with Apple's Final Cut Pro, then conformed using EDL into the final project for color correction and creation of the DCP will be projected in 4K via the Sony SXRD Projector.

Following the screening, James Mathers, President and Co-founder of the Digital Cinema Society, will moderate a panel made up of Cinematographer David Stump, ASC; DALSA's Rob Hummel; Sony's Andrew Stucker; Denis Leconte of Pacific Title, as well as Directors Anurag Mehta and Joe DiGennaro.  The presentation is a great opportunity to find out the benefits and challenges of Digital Filmmaking at 4K resolution.

The time slot is 10-10:45 AM on Saturday, the 23rd at the Wadsworth Theatre at Cinegear.  Note:  You must be registered for the Cine Gear Expo - Free of Charge Until June 15: For more information on Cinegear, visit http://www.cinegearexpo.com



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Zacuto to offer turnkey HD camera packages with Redrock M2 adaptors

Press Release:

Zacuto and Redrock Micro today announced Zacuto will begin offering turnkey digital camera solutions equipped with the Redrock M2 adapter.

"We've had great success providing camera packages setup for the Redrock M2 and have gotten to know it very well," said Steve Weiss, Marketing Director at Zacuto. "Offering our customers complete packages including Redrock's M2 made perfect sense to us. We are thrilled to be teaming up with another US manufacturer."

"Zacuto is putting together fantastic camera packages for digital cinematographers," added James Hurd, Chief Revolutionary for Redrock. "We're delighted to be working with a company that maintains a strong reputation for quality, expertise, and customer service."

Zacuto targets their cinema bundles to customers requiring a complete camera package and have a budget ranging from $20,000-$30,000. The Zacuto cinema solution bundles will include a Zacuto-branded Redrock adapter kit, Panasonic HVX-200 camera, Zeiss Nikon-mount lenses, tripod, Zacuto support system, fitted Zacuto case, and other needed accessories.

Redrock's M2 35mm lens adapter is always available directly from Redrock's website, available with other Redrock accessories including the award-winning microFollowFocus, microMattebox, and microRemote. Redrock pricing starts at $995 for complete SD solutions, and $1,295 for HD solutions.

Redrock and Zacuto will both be at Cinegear Expo 2007 in Los Angeles June 22nd and 23rd. Redrock will be in Booth 30 (located near Panasonic and JVC booths). Zacuto will be located at Booth 77.


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GENERAL INFO

Proposed Amendment Would Ban All DVD Copying - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

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Cinematical Seven: Tips for the Indie Filmmaker - Cinematical

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Shooting Animation Verit-Style for Surf's Up | Studio Daily

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HD DVD Production - white paper details on HD DVD structure/setup

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Apple`s Safari for Windows offers simple interface, good performance but not essential

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MacNN | Apple patent: power adapters for security

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Mac OS X 10.4.10 Released

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YouTube to Test Software To Ease Licensing Fights - WSJ.com

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CinemaTech: Could new RealPlayer spark legal action?

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SoftRAID 3.6 doesn't work under 10.4.10 - so don't upgrade yet!:

"SoftRaid 3.6 does not recognize 10.4.10, and will not allow access to preferences for changes or statistics. The only option is to close the software. To paraphrase the error message, it says that I don't have the proper OS installed and that I should install 10.4.X.

I sent an inquiry to SoftRaid, LLC about this and I received an answer back in under 5 minutes as follows:
'Either go back to 10.4.9, wait until 3.6.2 is out, or ask to be on the beta list for 3.6.2. This is caused by Apples hack to make a 10.4.10 possible, which violates their naming standards.'"


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IPHONE

iPhone data plans to surface before launch day - Engadget
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AppleInsider | New iMac, iPhone hints turn up in Apple software update

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AppleInsider | AT&T exec: iPhone data plans to be announced June 29th [Updated]

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AppleInsider | Apple retail stores to close, re-open ahead of iPhone

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AppleInsider | AT&T recommending "Crowd Control Devices" for iPhone launch

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AppleInsider | Apple gets new EU extension; iPhone dock; 7.6 percent Mac share

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Apple - iPhone - A Guided Tour - new on Apple's site.

EDIT 9:45PM - I'm watching this right now on my HDTV via my AppleTV (the file is Apple TV compatible, natch). My garage got burgled today - my trusty mountain bike (Bridgestone MB-1, heavily modified over last 16 years) got stolen, and my car pilfered. Drat it - so much for my comfy neighborhood vibe - alarm to be used EVERY time I leave the house from now on. But anyway, feel better sitting home tonight and locking all the windows, etc. Back on topic - the iPhone has more little features I hadn't noticed before, so that's good. A silent ringer dedicated button. Speaker and microphone both on bottom (odd!). Another speaker up by your ear. Sleep/wake button is nice - can still receive calls and listen to music, but the big screen is off to save battery. The speaker on the bottom is for speakerphone mode - nice! Conference calling is nice and easy - I could never figure it out on any other phone system before without going to the manual. Lots of subtle quality UI touches. The cost is starting to not matter as much seeing all this - this is how it ought to work. If they released a phone with no video, no audio, and just the UI in a smaller form factor..it'd sell just fine. can surf multiple simultaneous pages - keep'em open. Email on iPhone can read/view JPEG, PDF, Word, Excel, RTF, HTML, etc. The keyboard is "smart" they say as it catches typos, etc. They suggest starting with your index finger and then advancing to thumbing - "in about a week you'll be typing faster on the iPhone than on any other phone" - so get ready for a learning curve. Still only being demo'd in vertical keyboard only mode - I've always been wondering when they'd get a wide mode keyboard mode - I have fat thumbs (and all that...oh never mind). Stock widget is exactly like the OS X widget. Google Maps - it doesn't seem to be self-aware of where you are as some has hoped - you have to tell it where you are. Traffic updates can be live - nice! YouTube - yeah, gotta be on WiFi from what they seem to be saying. Has an airplane mode - no WiFi, Bluetooth, or cell signals come out of it in this mode (well thought out!). Set your ringtone - they don't mention loading your own, but part of me wants to use this one (NSFW).

Whew!

That'll hold us for a bit...

-mike

Labels: Apple, blogwad, cameras, Cineform, codec, Color, disk based recording, Final Cut Studio 2, hardware, high end, iPhone, Kirsner, Mac, NLE, plugin, post, post equipment, tutorial, workflow

Silicon Imaging

Video tutorial on Silicon Imaging's SiliconDVR software - how you record from the SI-2K Mini to a hard drive.

I'm out of town for a few days, so I may not be able to post much if anything depending on web access.

Hope ya'all (Americans at least) enjoyed your long weekend!

(.....and everybody else had a good, um, regular weekend. Anyone having a bad day go read this and remember what is like to be 12 on the Interweb tubez.)

-mike

EDIT - video offline whilst they fix some technical glitches (as of 9pm CST Monday night)

Labels: disk based recording, NLE, SI-2K

Wafian - Direct-to-Disk HD Video Recorders

I'd read something about the HR-2 recently, but didn't realize how close to market it was. For those who haven't been keeping track, Wafian makes DDRs - digital disk recorders. Their big trick is the use of the Cineform codec - they are essentially small ruggedized computers tailored to record high quality HD using the Cineform codecs. So you get data on a drive instead of a video tape, and you get 10 bits instead of the usual 8, and full raster (full width recorded, not horizontally shrunk down). The prices are nice too. For roughly the price of what would get you 1280x1080, 8 bit, artifact laden compressed footage, you can get 10 (or more) bits/channel, full raster (1920x1080), with very light, virtually artifact free (to the eyeball) compressed files ready to go into a Cineform modified Premiere Pro for immediate editing (or soon into Final Cut without as many realtime capabilities - it is in beta for Intel Macs now).

New models:

HR-F1
-PORTABLE (handle on top even!) 1920x1080 10 bit 4:2:2 HD-SDI recorder
-uses Cineform Intermediate codec
-removable drive magazine
-like the HR-1 but smaller, lighter, optionally DC powered
-records .AVI or .MOV formats
-"one button" interface to record & review
-built in touch screen
-up to 10 hrs of 10 bit 1920x1080 24p on removable drive
-optional 160 GB solid state for high shock/vibration recording (think chase scenes!)
-hopes to ship in July '07
-no pricing info as yet, but taking orders

HR-2
-10 bit 4:4:4 dual link HD-SDI recorder
-uses CineForm 444 codec @ 360 mbits/sec
-records .AVI or .MOV
-same easy interface as mentioned for HR-F1
-again, no pricing info as yet
-June 2007 expected ship date

If they are priced as I'd expect, an HR-F1 with the HD-SDI off, say, a Canon XL H1 with a better lens on it could be a very attractive price point for a low budget feature package. It is certainly something I'd consider for a Viper or F900 shoot as well, but the workflow issues need to be thought out...then again, very similar issues but lower datarate as compared to an S.two recorder workflow.

-mike

UPDATE

Got an email back from Wafian regarding price points. They were careful to qualify their statement as TARGET price points, not guaranteed, so keep that in mind over the next few months:


HR-F1 target MSRP is 17k
HR-2 target MSRP is 25k


Considering the quality for the HR-F1 should be comparable to a (now) $75K Panasonic D-5 HD deck in quality, and the HR-2 should be comparable to a Sony SRW-1 (circa $84K last I checked), that is quite the cost savings....and you start to realize what a big deal this can be. Not needing those pricey decks, and not needing a studio deck to ingest from, starts to make a whooooooole lot of financial sense.

Labels: acquisition, advanced, disk based recording

Got an email from David Taylor of CineForm with a new product announcement. To boil it down:

Cineform announced a new codec - 12 bit "CineForm 444" codec - 12 bits/channel, 4:4:4 RGB. Note that this is different from their Cineform RAW codec that they've been using with the SI-2K.

So, this new codec details:

-targetted at high end of digital cinema & broadcast acquisition
-pitching as a competitor to HDCAM SR
-tested HDCAM SR vs CineForm 444, CineForm bested SR by 3 to 5 dB in peak s/n ratio testing
-used StEM (Standard Evaluation Material, is scanned film)
-see results here
-same results discussed on David Newman's blog here

More on the codec from their press release:
-12 bit RGB
-member of the CineForm Intermediate codec family, called CineForm 444
-up to 2048x2048 pixel resolution (why not 4Kx4K? -Mike)
-Prospect 2K for Premiere Pro supports real-time, multi-stream editing (oh, that's why! -mike)
-a version of CineForm 444 for Intel Mac QT "will be released in the near future"
-"Intended for professional film, digital cinema, and broadcast applications"
-it now offers realtime direct-to-disk capability over dual link HD-SDI onto Windows now and OS X "soon"
-alternative to tape based recording, much lower price point
-setup allow for picking AVI or QT wrappers
-recorded files IMMEDIATELY editable with no conversion or transcoding required IF using Premiere Pro on Windows (currently). Can also open directly in After Effects on Windows for compositing using native, recorded files
-Final Cut support coming
-tested using a Wafian prototype recorder (hardware computer solution using CineForm recording) recording off a Viper, compared to HDCAM SR deck, as well as StEM footage
-comparing peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), the CineForm solution bested HDCAM SR by 3 to 5 dB

Mike's Comments:

This all sounds very good - the Wafian recorder is simply a customized Windows portable system that has the horsepower and storage to record the CineForm codec format, but you could lug a suitably hoss system onto a stage/set for DIY recording for greenscreen etc. shoots. The Wafian makes it easier and productized, but the CineForm codec is the magic inside.

The point being they now have a very high quality recording option to meet or exceed the bit depth of the high end production being down these days over dual link HD-SDI. The F950, D-20, Genesis, & F23 will all kick out a maximum bit depth of 10 bits/channel over dual link HD-SDI.

I know just enough math to know that PSNR is important but not the only factor that matters when evaluating compression techniques. As someone on CML pointed out, 20 seconds or more of rolling footage viewed in a critical viewing environment is one way to evaluate material, and running compressed footage all the way through post processes to make sure nothing non-visible to human eyes but software visible (think keys and aggressive color correction).

The Davids were kind enough to point out all this material to me in recent weeks, but I've been too busy to sit down and thoroughly evaluate the material in the rigorous methods needed to give a comprehensive and definitive analysis.

But this all sounds very good and promising and it is great to have new options.

The ability to have a 2K master that edits in realtime with a reasonable datarate for high quality work. Wait, what datarates? I emailed David Taylor and he was kind enough to respond quickly:

But as a quick summary, using the StEM material (which is a bit more complex than most material, the average bitrates were:

CineForm 444 Filmscan 1: 350 Mbps (=43.8 MB/sec -mike)
CineForm 444 Filmscan 1-Keying: 410 Mbps (=51.3 MB/sec -mike)
CineForm 444 Filmscan 2: 415 Mbps (=51.8 MB/sec -mike)
CineForm 444 Filmscan 2-Keying: 480 Mbps (=60 MB/sec -mike)

Source in all test cases was 1920 x 1080 24p 10-bit dual-link HD-SDI.

David.


Those datarates are stretching beyond the bounds of what is reliably doable on a single SATA drive. Modern single SATA drives run from about 30-55 MB/sec (full to empty rates) for slower drives to 40-65 MB/sec for faster drives. So really, you need a RAID to run these - if you're using 44 MB/sec footage on a drive that falls below 40 MB/sec when full, you aren't going to get reliable, no frames dropped performance. So a RAID of some sort is a practical necessity, esp. if you want a realtime transition (where two streams must be sustained).

But even a small native SATA RAID 0 could suffice, and they are quite affordable (starting under $1000).

That said, some issues:

1.) At present, the only native editing solution is Premiere Pro on Windows. That's at least 3rd on the list of NLEs high end professionals (target for this product, remember) want to work on. Avid is serious editors #1 pick, Final Cut tends to follow, and then it devolves to "everyone else" of which Premiere Pro tends to be at the front of that line. Final Cut support is coming but not quite here yet (it is in beta). When it does get here, will he have realtime support for things like cross dissolves and color correction? That is a mission critical feature as far as I'm concerned.

So no Avid native support at all at present or on the foreseeable horizon (and they historically Don't Play Well With Others unless others are camera companies). But then again, you can always downrez (software easy but slow, hardware realtime but cumbersome esp. for timecode issues) for an offline edit and conform on PPro/AE. Then, if needed, kick out to uncompressed for online if you want to do so on a different system (DPX sequences, SR tape, whatevah).

2.) As the last bit of the above alludes, data migration. Right now you can get that footage into some desktop type apps on Windows, soon on Macs, but lets face it - most shoots working with HDCAM SR are likely to also be using heavy iron production equipment that is often Linux/Unix based, and expects a DPX sequence. While you CAN convert to that format, you're losing the storage, time, and One Master File convenience offered by CineForm. You could acquire and archive with CineForm, then convert to offline editorial codec and uncompressed full res for VFX - your "digital negative" would remain conveniently small.

3.) I have yet to do my own testing to verify how well this compressed format holds up to heavy post - aggressive color correction and green screen keying the two items of greatest concern.

OK, gotta go run...

UPDATE:

Got an email from David of CineForm and that got me thinking:

1.) You CAN just treat this like a deck, with data copied off as your "tape". Wafian HR-2 (designation of new model) DOES have dual link HD-SDI, so you could shoot on set, bring it back to studio/editorial, ingest over HD-SDI any way you want (DVCPRO HD for offline edit, downconvert to SD for edit, whatever), and have SOME kind of sync system to go back for the high res masters.

2.) OR you could batch process the Wafian files down to whatever you want for offline/online/VFX pipelines as needed using After Effects or possibly other tools. After Effects isn't built for batch conversion, but you can do it.

3.) High quality file based compressed wavelet source captured to hard drive that lets you convert to offline/online formats of choice - that's pretty much what Red is doing, but they're building their own conversion utility as well, with the added benefit that there is a shipping solution to edit it now with realtime effects (on a duly pimped system).

-mike

Labels: acquisition, Adobe, advanced, Avid, Cineform, disk based recording, FCP, Final Cut, NLE, post

Studio Daily | Astro Offers Uncompressed HD Recorder/Player

-Astro HR-7401
-will show at NAB booth C4934
-uncompressed HD recorder
-single or dual link
-4:2:2 40 minute record time
-4:4:4 20 minute record time
-recording to removable drive packs
-has fibre channel (2Gbit SFP), Firewire, video outputs for transfer (IN WHAT FORMATS!)
-RS422 for Sony compatible deck control functionality
-26 lbs, half rack wide, 19"
-can gang four together for 3840x2160
-16 channels of audio in/out
-DVI/HDMI output options
-all the "usual suspects" for HD frame size/rate (fractional/whole rates), no 720p24 mentioned specifically

PDF brochure here

Mike's Analysis

Certainly sounds interesting! The capacity is a bit low for what I'd like to see, the size is reasonable, but the price is unknown.

Also unknown is whether the disk packs are fault tolerant or not (RAID 0 or 3/5?), and I'm especially curious what the native recording format is if we have FireWire & fibre channel options to access the data. Is it DPX? TIFF? Proprietary? What? Is there any metadata embedding? Clever audio in DPX header like RaveHD does?

Inquiring minds want to know, but will have to wait for NAB.

In the meantime, S.two already does all this.

-mike

Labels: acquisition, disk based recording, hardware, high end

Filmmaker Magazine | Winter 2007: ARE WE THERE YET?

Nicely done overview article on the state of HD. Some choice snippets:

The straight-talking Savides describes the situation bluntly: %u201CEverybody who%u2019s shooting this stuff is a guinea pig right now.%u201D
%u201CEverything is still R&D,%u201D he elaborates. %u201CI feel like these movies being made are just little experiments for the big conglomerate studios. They%u2019ll see what it%u2019s like, what%u2019s gonna happen, see the best way to handle it down the road.%u201D"

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For Savides, meanwhile, “the benchmark is still film.”

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the Viper setup used on Zodiac was structured around random access hard drive capture.

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both the sound recording and the slate were integrated into the capture

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the capture technician was also capable of offering the cinematographer a color-corrected demo of any given shot as it was being lit and photographed.

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INCREDIBLY CRUCIAL OBSERVATION:
Savides was asked to create a series of templates such as Day Exterior, Night Exterior, Day Interior, Night Interior — which he refused to do. He explained, “I couldn’t look at them. I didn’t want the look-up tables to bias my eye. I wanted to work with a neutral slate, and that neutral slate had to be that RAW file. It’s the only way I could understand what I was doing everyday. The look-up table would slant you toward whatever you made that look like.” Furthermore, “there’s no way that you could generate a look-up table for every scene in a movie with the scope of Zodiac.”

...

While the Viper has a recommended ASA of 320, he admits, “You can’t rate it. I wasn’t using my meter after a while. I’d say it’s between 500 and 800. But you do it by eye.”

....

“The toe [the sensitivity to dim light] of the Viper is extraordinary,” he says. “Not as good as the toe in film, though some people will say it is. But it’s not. It will get noisy. It gets very noisy in fact. You cannot do a night interior of a room like you can in film.


....and on and on.

If you're thinking about shooting a movie digitally, this is an incredibly useful and informative article.

And keep in mind, this is working with top-end gear. As you work your way down the budget process, the problems that he describes get worse and worse in terms of image quality.

I like how the Panavision rep defends compressed workflows - not that he's wrong, but guess what - the Genesis works with a compressed workflow.

The author closes with a comment about how when it all gets figured out and standardized, things will get pretty boring. But that's why I like all this stuff so much - its in flux, it is constantly changing, there's constantly things going on.

I can barely just read everything new relevant each day, let alone do significant amounts of research to test the latest gear etc. - there's no way for any one individual to even keep up with everything that's new. So for working professionals to do so is impossible. And that's the niche I'm trying to carve out for myself - consider me your digital flux manager.

: )

-mike

Labels: acquisition, disk based recording, high end

Studio Daily | Focus Enhancements Doubles DVCPRO HD Record Time and Adds QuickTime Support to FS-100

Focus Enhancements came out with their v3.0 software for the FS-100 DTE device - can do 720p24/25/30p recording in addition to the 720p60 that was supported before. This means you can get longer record times, as the older model always recorded 720p60 to disk, even if shooting 720p24.

Also native DVCPRO50 recording in QuickTime, for direct to Final Cut Pro editing. Can get over 200 minutes of record time in 720p24 now, and record up to 4 channels of audio.

$39 update, all units manufactured after Feb 1, 2007 will ship with new version.

This addresses one of the major shortcomings of the FS-100, so it is a big deal.

Labels: cameras, disk based recording, FS-100, HVX200