Which Color Grading Monitor Should I buy?

Which Color Grading Monitor Should I buy?:
Looking to build a Color grading suite? Here’s all you need to know to pick the Best Grading Monitor for a new colorist. If you’re new to colour grading then the most important thing to know is that without a properly calibrated grading monitor it is impossible to promise your clients (who are paying for)

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Sony’s New 4K Resolution Monitor for Professional Video Production

Sony’s New 4K Resolution Monitor for Professional Video Production:
If you are the type that likes to stay ahead of the technology curve, I have great news for you. Sony’s new PVM-X300 is a 30-inch 4096 x 2160 resolution monitor will last you well into the next decade. The PVM-X300's 30-inch 4K LCD panel is capable of displaying more than four times Full HD resolution in a single screen. Where Sony had it right was to create this monitor as portable as possible. They understand how critical it was for this product to be usable in the field, as much as it was in the studio.

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Video assist, dailies and 'looks' in digital movie-making

Neil Sadwelkar's musings on Digital: Video assist, dailies and 'looks' in digital movie-making:
I keep calling them movies, not films, and movie-making, not film-making because some new movies in India are being shot on digital mediums - Canon HDSLRs, Red, Alexa, Sony and others. No film used, means new methods, new workflows. The concept of 'video assist' and 'dailies', too assume a somewhat different approach.

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Keeping the pixel-count real

Keeping the pixel-count real:

There are several 4K cameras out there. Remarkable though they are, what the manufacturers mean by “4K” needs some interpretation and explanation.





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The Current State of Codecs

The Current State of Codecs | Videomaker.com:
There's much more to visual communication than simply slapping a series of shots together. With video, you need to think about the way you connect your shots.

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Turbo.264 HD

Turbo.264 HD:
The Turbo.264 HD. Still the cheapest and fastest way to export video out of your Mac.  


One of my secret weapons is the Turbo.264 HD from Elgato. It’s a really inexpensive way to get hardware acceleration for all these exports of rough cuts that we do.

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More 3D plugins for Nuke

More 3D plugins for Nuke:
More 3D tomfoolery comes to Nuke with two suites of plugins by Frederich Munch.
Geometry Tools is a general 3D asset creation and modification suite. Dynamics is a rigid and soft body simulation tool set.

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Progressive, Interlaced, PsF... How did we get to this?

Progressive, Interlaced, PsF... How did we get to this?:

If you or I were asked, given current technology, to create a system to record and display moving images, we probably wouldn’t build what actually exists right now. We'd do it completely differently, says Phil Rhodes.




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Light Illusion software brings consistency across computer displays

Light Illusion software brings consistency across computer displays:

Light Illusion's new SpaceMatch DCM software promises to guarantee facility-wide colour matching of PC displays by circumventing the standard ICC Profiles that can throw things badly out of kilter.




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Adapting HDMI to SDI

Adapting HDMI to SDI | DSLR Video, Training Products:
This digital video tutorial explains the benefits of the pro SDI format and shows how to convert your HDMI connections to HD-SDI.

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Adobe Takes Major Step to Bring Broadcast TV Online

Adobe Takes Major Step to Bring Broadcast TV Online:
New Adobe MediaWeaver and Primetime Media Player Drive Unparalleled Consumer Reach and Revenue Opportunities for Content Publishers (San Jose, California--November 15, 2012) Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today unveiled major new components of Project Primetime, the industry’s first fully integrated video technology platform that publishes and monetizes broadcast TV content across any Web-connected device. Adobe® MediaWeaver®, Adobe’s new ad insertion service, dynamically places ads into content to maximize revenue. This new offering delivers a viewing experience that mirrors broadcast TV while also supporting audience targeting and analytics to increase media inventory value. Adobe also introduced Primetime Media Player, an industry-first player technology that allows TV content owners and distributors to maximize audience reach and ensure that all experiences are immediately monetizable through seamless ad insertion and analytics.

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University of Bath unveils vector-based video codec

University of Bath unveils vector-based video codec - main-content | Europe's Broadcast Industry News & Analysis | TVBEurope:
The development of a vector-based video codec by the University of Bath points unerringly at the death of the pixel within the next five years, but the year-old founding group behind this project -- Bath, Root6 Technology, Smoke & Mirrors and Ovation Data Services – know that they cannot achieve that killing target alone.

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When you shouldn't use Avid DNxHD and Apple ProRes

When you shouldn't use Avid DNxHD and Apple ProRes:

Fifteen years ago, audio over the Internet was broadcast - and stored - as RealAudio. For those of us listening in over dial-up or downloading one-minute clips, it was an unexceptional entry into the world of new media. Kieron Seth  wonders what will happen to our soon-to-be outdated media files.


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LongTail Video Launches New Version Of Its Open Source Video Player, With Support For Apple HLS

LongTail Video Launches New Version Of Its Open Source Video Player, With Support For Apple HLS | TechCrunch:
For years, LongTail Video has offered its open source JW Player as a free alternative for businesses that don’t want to put their videos on YouTube or pay SaaS-based content management players like Brightcove or Ooyala. But it doesn’t have all the features and functionality they might like — for instance, built in support for Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) adaptive bit-rate protocol. The new version of the JW Player — JW6 — seeks to correct that, while also improving the UI and speeding up playback.

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What Display Should I Buy? An Opinion Piece…

What Display Should I Buy? An Opinion Piece…:

Lest you later accuse me of false advertising, I’m admitting right now that I’m not going to tell you what you should buy. Rather, I’ll deliver an epistemological monologue about choosing monitors that may accidentally be helpful to you. I welcome comment, especially from those of you who are genuine color scientists. Just please be nice to each other.
I’m talking color critical displays, and gird your loins, because this post is a long one.


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Red, Sony, Canon & Pansonic 4K.

Red, Sony, Canon & Pansonic 4K.:

So it was a big week for all us gear heads.  Sony announced new cameras and a recorder, Red slashed prices and Canon started to trickle ship C500 EF cameras. One thing that all three companies offer is 4K but only two offer 4K video outputs.  I mention this because I think its very important.  Codecs get better and workflows become more efficient.  Things change down the line as technology progresses.

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This Changes Everything

This Changes Everything:

For years facilities have relied on multiple servers to manage specific tasks in order to accomplish post production workflow. Today, everything changes.

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ערב טיפים וטריקים במערכות AVID ב-26.11

ערב טיפים וטריקים במערכות AVID ב-26.11:

איגוד עורכי תמונה וקול בישראל עורך ערב עיון שני במספר בנושא טיפים ל- AVID, בהנחיית ירון לבנה. (אגב, את החלק הראשון ניתן לצפות באתר האיגוד). בתוכנית: סיור נוסף לעומק AVID טיפים וטריקים מדריך נבוכים לטכניקות AMA. מה כל כך חכם ב-smart tool? איך לאהוב את הכלי שכולם שונאים.

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Supplementing the Avid Media Composer Workflow for 2K+

Supplementing the Avid Media Composer Workflow for 2K+ on 10.24.12 on Vimeo:
Award-winning filmmaker, producer, editor and industry technologist, Michael Phillips shares his Media Composer workflow for 2K+ with details for preparing dailies, double system audio sync overview, steps for Pull list and re-conform to original 2K elements for Avid HD finish, prep for and completion of conform in Smoke or Resolve at native resolutions.

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What is the DPW Lab?

What is the DPW Lab?:

The Digital Process Workflow Lab is a real-time demonstration of an ideal workflow, offering solutions to the challenges of secure data handling and large data storage requirements along with accurate color and metadata challenges.  Steve Cronan from 5th Kind tells us how his company is featured in the lab at station 6 as part of the asset and workflow management station. He shows off a few of the features at their station while we take a quick tour through the lab itself.

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What Exactly is Canon Raw?

What Exactly is Canon Raw?:

The new Canon C500 is just hitting the streets, offering both internal 50 Mbps 422 recording, as well even higher quality outputs. The camera can output HD & 2K in 4:2:2 up to 120p, or 4:4:4 up to 60p, and uncompressed 4K Raw data up to 60p and 120p at half vertical resolution.

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Work with Sony F65 Footage Natively in Premiere Pro

Work with Sony F65 Footage Natively in Premiere Pro:

Want to work with the Sony's F65 footage as RAW files in Adobe Premiere Pro? There's a brand new plug-in available. Be sure to download the new F65RAW Plug-in for Adobe (PLAD-RW1). This plug-in adds support for F65RAW MXF files in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 products, allowing viewing and editing capabilities.

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CAMERAS: More Thoughts on Canon’s Color Science, This Time with Pictures

CAMERAS: More Thoughts on Canon’s Color Science, This Time with Pictures:

Accurate color and pretty color are not always the same. Let’s compare two Canon C300 color matrices and see for ourselves…

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Magnetic tape archiving for media & entertainment content

Magnetic tape archiving for media & entertainment content:

HOLLYWOOD - IBM spoke on the use of LTO-6 magnetic tape for digital archiving at the 2013 SMPTE Technical Conference, here. LTO-6 with a raw capacity of about 3.1 TB is double that of LTO-5 tape.  Data rates for LTO-6 increased by over 40% from the LTO-5 tape format.

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Autodesk Flame 20th Anniversary Edition Now Available

Autodesk Flame 20th Anniversary Edition Now Available:
Major Redesign of Autodesk Flagship VFX Software Includes Robust Visual Effects and Color Grading Toolset (October 31, 2012) Autodesk today released the Flame 20th Anniversary Edition., a major redesign of its premier VFX software. Announced at this year's International Broadcasting Convention 2012 (IBC), the new software is part of Autodesk Flame Premium 2013. The suite integrates visual effects, editorial and real-time color grading, streamlines complex tasks, improves speed and features a new creative workspace, top-level editorial timeline integration and an enhanced GPU pipeline.

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Import .srt subtitles in Final Cut Pro

Import .srt subtitles in Final Cut Pro: This tool serves to import every subtitle in an srt file into Final Cut Pro, as text generators items. Then, one can pass to Dvd Studio Pro using the tool FCP to DVD Studio Pro.

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Sorenson Squeeze 8.5 and 8.5 Pro

Sorenson Squeeze 8.5 and 8.5 Pro:
For many editors, the preferred video encoding application is Sorenson Squeeze. It’s one of the top encoders for both Mac and PC platforms and also comes bundled with Avid Media Composer in its third-party software package. Recently, Sorenson introduced the optional Pro version, which enables the encoding of Avid DNxHD MXF media, as well as...

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Repost: ACES - what you need to know

Repost: ACES - what you need to know:

The Academy Color Encoding Specification (ACES) is an initiative from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) that delivers a standard, future-proof color space. ACES enables consistent color rendition in pipelines including any combination of ACES compliant cameras, processing and display devices both now and in the future.
This document introduces ACES and details how Pablo supports ACES and integrates into ACES pipelines.

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Adobe Premiere CS6 vs. Apple Final Cut Pro X speed test

Adobe Premiere CS6 vs. Apple Final Cut Pro X speed test « Alex4D: Editing organazized:
The 10.0.6 has made Final Cut Pro X noticeably faster at everyday tasks. Given that, I was interested in seeing how it now compare with Premiere CS6. This video times two everyday tasks in Adobe Premiere CS6 6.0.0 and Final Cut Pro X 10.0.6:

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Nuke Compositing Demo

Nuke Compositing Demo:
Here is a walkthrough of a shot I made in the Foundry's Nuke Compositing Software.  Watch it in 1080p if you want to see what's going on in the node tree.

8-Bit is Still 8-Bit, Why DSLRs Are No Match for the 12-Bit Blackmagic Cinema Camera

8-Bit is Still 8-Bit, Why DSLRs Are No Match for the 12-Bit Blackmagic Cinema Camera - NoFilmSchool: People have done as much as possible to argue against the test that was performed with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera by Marco Solorio and OneRiver Media. That test compared the 5D Mark III and the BMCC, and even though the superior resolution and dynamic range of one of those cameras should have been obvious, many still prefer the Mark III and complained that a better picture profile or some post sharpness would make the differences less noticeable.

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Avid shared projects

Avid shared projects:
Ever since Apple blew up the happy world of FCP 7, we've been running into more and more people moving to Adobe and Avid. Adobe's been pretty good. I like them a lot and their support guys (I'm talking to you Bruce) have been awesome. Avid on the other hand, is tough. Shared spaces cause reindexing and external projects won't save natively to shares spaces. Our customers have mostly worked around this by storing projects locally, using multiple external volumes for media, or using AMA volumes.

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More on The 4K XAVC Recording Format:

More on The 4K XAVC Recording Format::

Sony is introducing the new XAVC recording format that will be at the heart of its new 4K products. Sony’s XAVC technology provides a dedicated 4K format that will encourage the adoption of 4K beyond feature films, to genres such as TV dramas, entertainment shows, documentaries and commercials. “The new XAVC format underlines Sony’s commitment... More...

Atomos releases AtomOS 4.0 firmware update with support for Avid DNxHD!

Atomos releases AtomOS 4.0 firmware update with support for Avid DNxHD!: Sometimes it is easier to get the job done with a good field recorder and Atomos, the creator field recorders Ninja-2 and Samurai, just revealed that AtomOS 4.0 will support the Avid DNxHD production codec in addition to Apple ProRes. Actually this update should already be available on Atomos' website and Samurai owners can get it absolutely free of charge.
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NVIDIA Unveils Industry’s First Cloud-Based GPU That Delivers Workstation Graphics Capabilities to Any Screen

News: NVIDIA Unveils Industry’s First Cloud-Based GPU That Delivers Workstation Graphics Capabilities to Any Screen:
Engineers and design professionals will be able to work anywhere on virtually any device and still have access to the computing and graphics performance of a GPU-powered workstation, with today’s launch of the cloud-based NVIDIA® VGX™ K2 GPU.

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Sony CineAlta F5 and F55 4K Cameras Hands On Video Tour:

Sony CineAlta F5 and F55 4K Cameras Hands On Video Tour::

Richard Lewis, Cinematography Product Specialist, provides a detailed, hands-on tour of the new Sony CineAlta F5 and F55 4K cameras. All the key features, including the flexible modular structure, multiple recording formats, menu controls and important accessories are shown. The 18 minute video also demonstrates recording on SxS Pro+ and AXSM memory card, including RAW... More...

Understanding DCP – Digital Cinema Package

Understanding DCP – Digital Cinema Package:
What is DCP and why is it the future?
Digital Cinema Package’s are the future of cinema projection (sadly – I love film!) but if you’re not up to scratch yet on what it is, how it works and how to make use of a DCP then these resources are for you.

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Adobe CS6 Premier Pro + RED overview

Adobe CS6 Premier Pro + RED overview:
Dan takes you through a quick overview working with RED footage in Premier Pro and how to round-trip with REDCINE-X Pro

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Quad-Core mini versus Quad-Core Mac Pro

Quad-Core mini versus Quad-Core Mac Pro:
Some readers are asking if the 'late 2012' Mac mini with a Quad-Core i7 processor can match the power of a Quad-Core Mac Pro. Many Mac Pro owners have a keyboard, mouse, and display they like. Shouldn't they save a pile of money and replace their old Mac Pro with a new Mac mini? With the aid of OWC Labs, we are attempting a quick answer using a CPU and a GPU benchmark.

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DaVinci Resolve 9.0.3 Adds Timecode Syncing from Audio Tracks

DaVinci Resolve 9.0.3 Adds Timecode Syncing from Audio Tracks | Below the Line:
Blackmagic Design announced the release of DaVinci Resolve 9.0.3. The update includes a new timecode feature to add timecode to non-timecode cameras, as well as an improved CinemaDNG control palette, AAF and XML clip management, enhanced stereoscopic 3D grading and support for XML round tripping in the new release of Apple Final Cut Pro X version 10.0.6.

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Post Production Workflow with Digital Rebellion

Post Production Workflow with Digital Rebellion:
Besides your editing software, you probably use utilities to maintain your system and perform specific tasks. I use apps like Disk Warrior (disk repair) & Onyx (system maintenance), but what about utilities specifically designed for post production workflows?

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