Archive of the Vegas Musings Category

If you haven’t felt sympathy for lens manufacturers lately, then clearly you weren’t at Canon‘s dinner last night.

Larry Thorpe gave a stunning PowerPoint presentation (I should copyright that phrase, as it’s never been used before) about lens technology, aiming to explain why HD lenses haven’t come down in price in line with HD camcorders. Larry’s short explanation: Moore’s law doesn’t apply to glass. more

To tell you the truth, I never really “got” the Matrox MXO. Why would anyone pay close to $1,000 just to get flicker free PowerPoint slides from a Mac? With features added in version 2.0, and a comprehensive demo in the Matrox booth, the nickel finally dropped.

First, the MXO lets you preview HD footage on an LCD monitor, so you don‘t need to spend a fortune on a high def broadcast monitor. The unit sits between your graphics card and second LCD monitor, and works in YUV, rather than RGB space, so it avoids color aberrations caused by the YUV to RGB conversion. more

Sunday morning started with a magic bus ride. Rolling down city streets, through underpasses, along Interstate 15 at 70 mph, and finally pulling into an underground casino parking lot, a handful of journalists including yours truly got a preview from Samsung of a proposed enhancement to ATSC that enables perfect mobile reception of digital TV, particularly to handheld devices.

What‘s the big deal? In a word, YouTube. Even the most benighted of computer illiterati grew acquainted with the pleasures of Flash files over the past year. (Thanks in large part to Paris Hilton, but that‘s another story.) The idea that it‘s fun to watch videos in a small window a few inches from your nose instead of from across the living room floor has now entered the public‘s consciousness. Apple‘s video iPod is another manifestation of this shift in TV viewing habits, as will be the larger, sharper iPhone when it debuts in June. more

My favorite footage of the day was a Quicktime file that traveled over the Internet from Wade Fairley’s PDW F350 in Antarctica to the output of a Sony SXRD 4K projector. Apart from proving the snow worthiness of the XDCAM, it was lovely footage, and seemed to make world of digital media a much smaller place.

Nearly five years ago at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival‘s technology gathering, Vince Pace brought a 3D rig that was two Sony F900s–maybe they were F950s–literally taped together…with tape. Since then, Pace and James Cameron have been chasing the 3D dream with a conviction that only deep pockets can enable.

The Sony press conference opened with a far more polished version of Pace/Cameron 3D. It’s called Fusion and it’s had a successful workout by the NBA. So successful that the NBA is considering extending the reach of the All Star games with international 3D broadcasts. The idea that movie theaters could also be used for these types of special presentations has been around since the beginning of digital cinema. Is this progress? Stay tuned, so to speak. more

At its press conference this afternoon, Panasonic unveiled nothing too surprising. Of course, that can be seen as a testament to the prudence of its current direction — namely, nonlinear acquisition via solid-state media in the form of P2 cards. (Not to mention the fact that Panasonic previewed its most prominent NAB product announcements in February.) (Read the press release at The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink) Indeed, Panasonic’s most oft-repeated announcement during its NAB press conference was the new five-year warranty that will be standard for all full-size P2 camcorders and related field equipment.

So what were the specifics? Well, our editors covered two of the big announcements before the show: the HPX500, a full-size 2/3in. 3CCD P2 HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses (for an agressive $14K) and the tiny HSC1U, a 1.1lb. camcorder that shoots long-GOP AVCHD to SD Store memory (not P2; $2,099). more

Today’s Digital Cinema Summit (put on by the Entertainment Technology Center at USC) was heavy on the 3D theme and its impact on both the creation of content and the distribution and exhibition of that content. The topic was apropos coming on the heels of Disney’s Meet the Robinsons–the subject of an afternoon session at the conference. During that session, panel members cited statistics indicating that the 3D version of “Meet the Robinsons” opened on 892 screens simultaneously worldwide, making it, according to them, “the biggest D-cinema release to date.” more

Among the slew of cinematographers attending the Digital Cinema Summit today was Robert Primes, ASC. Today was the second time in a week I bumped into Bob. He was among the ASC members who attend a special event at Dalsa‘s Woodland Hills, CA, headquarters last week to offer a look at a prototype of the new Evolution 4k Camera (billed by Dalsa as the “smaller, lighter version of its big brother, the Origin II,” not available until 2008). At the invitation of company president Rob Hummel, Primes and the other DP’s were urged to “think outside the box” and offer Dalsa their criticisms and suggestions for the technology’s direction. Most of the DP’s that evening, including Primes, seemed satisfied with the image quality and creative potential of Dalsa’s cameras, and were instead focused on an ongoing issue–size and ergonomics. Primes was among those who grilled Hummel and his colleagues hard that night. more

I blew into town this morning with an hour‘s sleep, expecting not much more than a slow day of stem-winding Digital Cinema Summit panels perfect for napping. Instead I got a fast day of welcome surprises.

Cooling my jets in the press lounge while a squad of black-clad IT guys tapped at my iBook trying to puzzle out why the friendliest of laptops can‘t connect to NAB‘s wireless network — after a 20-minute session, the verdict: “Your computer and our network don‘t get along.” No point in my pointing out that that every notebook in sight is a Mac — I encountered CML‘s Geoff Boyle, brimming with excitement. (Geoff, a U.K.-based Director of Photography, founded and runs the influential Cinematography Mailing List, an Internet exchange for professional DPs, ACs, DITs, and camera techs.) more

We’ll start blogging about NAB 2007 on April 14. In the meantime, check out The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink for up-to-the-minute press releases from select publicists. Check back to this virtual press conference several times a day for product launches, demos, and other events not to miss this year in Vegas.