Sundance Film Festival

Jacob:

It was a year ago that Cynthia and I met and Dust to Glory was but a spec and still a workflow doubt on the radar. Anyhoo, before we talk about the new film Lbs. that I am post/DI supervising, I wanted to chime in about the new Sony signage down here in the digital center. There is a sign for XDCAM HD! And my curiousity is at an all time high. If Sony comes out with a Blu-Ray based Optical Camera that records HDCAM flavor 1440×1080p (23.98) to disk, then the game is over as far as which camera to look for. Umm, I can buy media in the store and get 1 expensive drive to read it… sounds like a great way to go. So… what are the specs sony? What details can Cynthia get out of them. I can’t wait for the future.

jacob

Sony’s Wayne Zuchowski clarifies:

The Sony XDCAM HD system does indeed record native 24p (1440×1080p) to optical disc, but it’s the Professional Optical Disc, not the consumer Blu-Ray. The pro disc is denser, comes in a rugged pro cartridge and will not be available at your local computer store. It’s easy to confuse Blu-Ray which was hot this month at CES with the professional media associated with the XDCAM systems.

Cynthia here: Yes, we are not going to overnight from decades of tape straight to commodity discs and cards. This after all still early days of a revolution. The bottom line is at this point in the history of digital filmmaking you really have to understand your own needs in imaging, media, costs, mastering, archiving…etc. There are a lot of volatile moving parts in any of these equations, so think accordingly.

If you’re here at Sundance come by the Film Center and you can see the debut of XDCAM HD.