Archive of the Workflow Category

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

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

Teamworking in post is all the rage. You can‘t read far though the slew of pre-show press releases to learn that playing well with others will be a big part of the news at NAB 07

Quantel does its part with the launch of Genetic Engineering at their Sunday press conference. No need to worry about stem cells piling up on your NLE though: the Brit company is talking about overturning the traditional way of looking at SANs (storage area networks), allowing Q users to hook together any of its products–whether eQ, iQ, or Pablo–and getting access to the same clips at the same time without copying, reformatting, or moving the media. more

Chyron is touting its all HD booth at this year’s NAB show, a first for the company. At the press conference, SD and HD weren‘t even a topic of discussion for the 41-year-old company: that‘s so yesterday.

The Melville, New York, company traditionally holds the show‘s first press conference, an 8am Sunday breakfast slot that doesn‘t automatically make it beloved of reporters, though Chyron can always be relied upon to offer a good spread and non-stop product introductions.

But we weren‘t here just for another CG rollout. But rather the company played up its sharpened market sensibility and product mix: profit margins moved from 62% to 67% over the past year, it‘s now debt free, and over the past two years the product line has been completely revamped and rationalized–that is, products fit together, work together into some greater whole. 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 introduced Final Cut® Server, a powerful new server application that works seamlessly with Final Cut Studio® 2 to provide media asset management and workflow automation for post production and broadcast professionals. A scaleable server application that supports workgroups of any size, Final Cut Server includes a cross-platform client that enables content browsing, review and approval from within a studio or over the Internet. Final Cut Server automatically catalogs large collections of assets and enables searching across multiple volumes via an intuitive user interface. Final Cut Server is designed to manage the flow of work, as assets and projects move from producer to editor to artist through the entire production process. Read on at The Briefing Room: 2007 NAB Newslink

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

Listen to Digital Content Producer‘s The Briefing Room 2007 NAB Newslink podcast with Maurice Patel, Director of Product Marketing for the Media and Entertainment Division, as he discusses with Online Editor Jessaca Gutierrez the integration of the Alias products, new products the company will be showing at NAB, and bringing the company‘s mantra to life with the Autodesk product lineup click here.

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