Archive of the Video Encoding/DVD Category

Trying to predict the ultimate usability and performance of Apple software based upon an Apple demo is like trying to judge the performance of any republican politician based upon what you see on Fox News. Fair and balanced, it ain’t, and rightly so. Still, at a high level, it was impossible not to watch Apple‘s Final Cut Pro Studio demo and not be impressed, especially at a time when a new barbarian at the gate, in the form of Adobe‘s Production Studio for the Mac, will soon start grabbing for share in the Macintosh editing market.

Final Cut Pro can now adeptly handle multiple formats on the same timeline, a major objection for many event and wedding videographers with one foot in HDV and the other in DV. The new variable speed controls in Motion replace the cryptic controls in Final Cut Pro, turning another glaring weakness into a strength. more

Final Cut Pro 6 was announced yesterday, and there’s no question that it’s a major update. First, there’s support for mixed resolutions, formats, and even frame rates in the timeline — all conversion is done in the background. For example, drop 960×720 native clips from the Panasonic HVX200 onto the timeline, and FCP auto-scales them to match the native 1920×1080 clips that you’ve already cut together. (Read the press release at The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink)

One of Apple‘s biggest announcements from yesterday was its new ProRes 422 codec. This is a 4:2:2 (obviously), 10-bit, variable bit-rate, full-raster HD codec that Apple is claiming is much more edit-friendly and effects-friendly than previous attempts to limit the bandwidth of HD video. Apple showed a demo of a ProRes clip — from a project that had gone from 1TB uncompressed to 170GB in ProRes — that had suffered ten encode/decode cycles and displayed it side by side with the uncompressed version. There was no distinguishable difference. 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

At Avid‘s press conference today CEO David Krall marked the company‘s 20th anniversary with a few dramatic facts, some to do with nearly a billion dollars in revenue, similar sums of R&D, and a furious output of patent applications–I think he said one every 15 days for 20 years. He also looked ahead–or rather looked around–at digital content and its proliferation across multiple devices and channels. It‘s a reality Avid has expected (or has been trying to hasten) for as long as I can remember.

VP of Worldwide Marketing for Avid Video Jeff Stewart picked up the thread in a straightforward presentation that reinforced the idea of Open Avid. Much of Avid‘s historic innovation was made possible–at least initially–by being the opposite of open. But that was then. Now Avid has to work harder than some to make a convincing case for openness, even though that has been the company‘s direction for some time. 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

NAB, LAS VEGAS–April 15, 2007–Apple® today unveiled Final Cut Studio® 2, a significant upgrade to the industry‘s leading video production suite that delivers new creative tools designed expressly for editors. Final Cut Studio 2 includes Final Cut Pro® 6, which introduces Apple‘s ProRes 422 format for uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes and support for mixed video formats and frame rates in a single Timeline; Motion 3 featuring an intuitive 3D environment, paint and new behaviors; Soundtrack® Pro 2 with dozens of innovative tools for multitrack editing, surround mixing and conforming sound to picture; Compressor 3 delivering powerful batch encoding for multiple formats with a single click; and DVD Studio Pro 4.2 for SD and HD DVD authoring. Final Cut Studio 2 also introduces “Color,” a professional color grading and finishing application for ensuring consistent color and creating signature looks. Read on at The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink

New Additions to XDCAM Family Include High-performance HD 4:2:2 Capable Models and Flash Memory Recording in a “Handy” Camcorder

LAS VEGAS, NAB Booth# SU906, April 15, 2007 – Sony is continuing the evolution of its XDCAM® line of tapeless acquisition by unveiling new technologies at NAB. These include recording to ExpressCard high-speed flash media, as well as 50 Mbps 4:2:2 optical disc recording. Read on at The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink