Introducing Pro Media Tools

Introducing Pro Media Tools: "

We're proud to introduce our newest product, Pro Media Tools. Pro Media Tools is a suite of ten workflow utilities focused on processing and managing media, with functions including detecting gamma shifts, editing QuickTime movie metadata, batch renaming files and more.

There are many features that have been in demand for a long time, including notifying when a render is complete, editing markers and adding timecode tracks and reel names to QuickTime movies.

Pro Media Tools also marks our first foray into supporting multiple NLEs. Version 1.0 supports Final Cut Studio 2 and higher and Avid Media Composer 5.0 and higher for Mac*. The Avid support is primarily aimed at people using AMA workflows. Adobe Premiere Pro support will be coming shortly.

The full list of tools is as follows:

Auto Transfer

Detects when a drive is inserted containing P2, RED, AVCHD or XDCAM media and can automatically copy it to your computer. It can copy to multiple locations at once and verifies the copied data to ensure its integrity.

Various actions can be performed after the transfer has taken place, including showing the copied files in the Finder, opening up the clips in QuickTime Player or, if the clips are in a compatible format, importing them directly into a Final Cut Pro project.

Batch Renamer

This is a tool for renaming lots of files at once. There are lots of utilities on the market that do this but what makes Batch Renamer different is that it is designed specifically for post-production workflows. Consequently, it can deal with a large number of files easily and there are lots of features for managing frame numbers, including reversing, adjusting padding, closing gaps and reordering.

Edit Detector

Scans video files to locate where edits and scene changes occur. It doesn't look for timecode breaks but in fact scans the actual video frames. This means it can be used on pre-edited movies or files without timecode tracks.

Results can be exported in a variety of formats including Final Cut Pro marker lists, Avid locator files and EDLs.

Gamma Shift Detector

Allows you to compare two clips for shifts in gamma. It's designed for situations where you export a clip from an app such as After Effects and the resultant clip looks dark or washed out when compared to the original.

Just navigate to the same frame in both clips and click the Detect Gamma button. It will compare them and give you a percentage difference between the two. You can then use this percentage to go back to the app and compensate for the shift.

In some cases, the pixels will be identical but the gamma shift will be occurring due to a mismatch in metadata. In these cases, Gamma Shift Detector allows you to sync the metadata of the two clips with one button press.

Project Overview

This app will show you all media, effects and markers in your Final Cut Pro project. It will show you how many times a particular media file has been used and allow you to batch enable/disable or remove filters.

It also offers comprehensive marker editing capabilities including offsetting, custom printable data fields, label presets (to label all green markers as 'Needs VFX' for instance) and the ability to import Final Cut Pro marker lists and Avid locator lists into an FCP project. It's a great companion to Cut Notes, our note-taking iPad app.

QT Edit

Edits QuickTime movies. You can add and remove tracks, import video and audio from other movie files, add timecode, add chapters (you can also import/export these as marker / locator lists and DVD Studio Pro chapter lists) and edit metadata.

Quick Bins

It took some of our beta testers a while to grasp this concept so I'll try to explain it as clearly as I can. Quick Bins is an automatic bin generator that speeds up sorting footage in your browser.

There are several types of quick bins available. A Bin Range generates a group of numbered bins, allowing you to quickly create empty bins for scenes 1-100 in your movie for instance.

A Smart Bin automatically sorts media into the bin if it matches the criteria you have chosen (e.g. 'scene greater than 11' or 'filename contains MVI_'). A Smart Bin Range takes this concept one step further, where you choose the criteria first and then Quick Bins automatically creates Smart Bins for each variation of the criteria.

As an example, in the screenshot below I selected 'File Extension' as the criteria for the Smart Bin Range. Quick Bins went through all of the media files in the project and discovered files ending in .mov, .aiff and .tif, so it created new bins for each of these types and automatically sorted matching clips inside them.

Render Watcher

Watches Compressor batches, Final Cut Pro / Avid render files and any additional directories you specify for new renders. It can notify you with a growl alert, a sound, open the folder in Finder, open the clip in QuickTime Player, send an email, send a text message or send the file to another application such as Compressor.

Timeline Tricks

Performs common cleanup and time-saving tasks on Final Cut Pro sequences. It can collapse tracks, replace gaps with slugs, remove unused tracks, strip filters and more.

Video Check

Scans a video file for illegal luminance values, flash frames and audio peaks and shows the exact frame where errors are occurring. Can output results to FCP marker lists, Avid locators, CSV and text.

The suite is available for an introductory price of $99 and there is a 15-day trial available here. It will run on Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6 on both Intel and PowerPC computers.

If you want to find out more about Pro Media Tools, check out screenshots and the user manual.

We're always keen to hear feedback, so contact us to let us know what you think and how well the suite fits in with your workflow. We have many more post production tools available here.

* Note: due to technical limitations, a few features of the suite are unavailable for Avid users.

"

Video compression

Video compression

The Hobbit Goes 48p. Does This Change Everything?

The Hobbit Goes 48p. Does This Change Everything?

ARRI and Codex Digital release OEM ARRIRAW Recorder

ARRI and Codex Digital release OEM ARRIRAW Recorder: "

(London, 31 March 2011) – Codex Digital, the leading developer of digital media recorders and media management systems for film and television production, today
announces that it has reached an agreement with ARRI to manufacture a Codex ARRIRAW recorder for use with ARRI’s popular ALEXA and ARRIFLEX D-21 film-style digital cameras. The new recorder will be marketed both directly and through ARRI’s worldwide reseller network. ARRI and its resellers will also be selling Codex camera mounts, datapacks and transfer stations.

"

Technicolor Launches ShareVue™ Dailies Solution

Technicolor Launches ShareVue™ Dailies Solution: "(Paris France, Hollywood California--April 5, 2011) Technicolor (Euronext Paris: TCH) today announced it has launched its next-generation dailies solution that facilitates and greatly enhances the viewing of dailies content on desktop, laptop and mobile device including iPad and Android tablets. Designed with industry professional’s input, ShareVUE™ gives all production stakeholders the flexibility to remotely view, comment and share content, playlists and other production information and metadata on portable devices, wherever and whenever needed. The new dailies solution provides a secure and immersive viewing platform for dailies and other production information, and an intuitive user experience along with pristine visual quality."

Researching Professional Camcorders | Tej Babra

Researching Professional Camcorders | Tej Babra

Thinkbox Software Announces Deadline 5.0 | Digital Production Buzz | Larry Jordan & Mike Horton

Thinkbox Software Announces Deadline 5.0 | Digital Production Buzz | Larry Jordan & Mike Horton

Not DSLR Killers, But Killer DSLRs: How DSLRs Killed the Prosumer Video Camera

Not DSLR Killers, But Killer DSLRs: How DSLRs Killed the Prosumer Video Camera: "

It seems the blogosphere is filled with talk about “DSLR killers.” Here are a few predictions ranging from the end of 2008 to March 2011: “Red unwraps ‘DSLR Killer’” by John Mello; “Sony joins the fray with (another) DSLR-killer“; DVXUser thread: “Panasonic AF-100 being called the ‘DSLR killer’. Any thoughts?“; “The Real ‘DSLR Killer’ For Filmmaking (No, It’s Not A Hasselblad)” by Neil Matsumoto.

Indeed, I would argue that the DSLR was the prosumer video camera killer and the video camera had to evolve in order to stay in the game.

The two strongest prosumer video cameras that utilize the DSLR-sized large format sensors are Panasonic’s micro 4/3 AG-AF100 with a street price of $4800 at B&H and Sony’s Super 35mm NEX FS100U with a street price of under $6000. (These prices do not include any lenses.) The dimensions of the the Super 35mm sensor: 23.6mm x 13.3mm and the Four Thirds sensor: 17.3 x 13mm (imaging area). (Images courtesy of Sony and Panasonic, respectively.)

Rather than “killing” the HDSLR, it seems the large sensor HDSLR market has been killing the prosumer video camera market. They’ve stepped up and noticed. They’re taking on the best of the DSLR features and are crafting cheaper video cameras with DSLR sensors in order to be competitive in the low budget cinematic market.

Comparison of sensor sizes. Prosumer video cameras are the little rectangles in the bottom left of the screen, while DSLRs fall within the Four Thirds, APS-C, and 35mm full frame, allowing for more cinematic control over the image. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Going back to the pre-Hi Def days of 2000, when George Lucas decided to shoot Star Wars II on a 1920×1080 24P Sony CineAlta HDW-F900 (modified the Panavision HD-900F), they used a f/1.5 lens on three 2/3″ sensors. But with a current street price of around $80,000, only professional shoots are within reach of this camera (rentals). Thus we can begin to see the significance of the DSLR APS-C sized sensors in the Rebel T2i/T3i at one percent ($800-900) of what the CineAlta costs!

The DSLR revolution has struck the prosumer video market — they were the ones dying off and some have adapted. The low price point of the DSLR will ensure its survival.

Indy filmmakers may use the Sony FS 100 more than the Panasonic AF100, due to Sony’s S35mm chip size and the smaller body and design work on it (aesthetics). The main thing you’re getting with these cameras that makes them a step above DSLRs is XLR-inputs — which is great for news and doc shooters, but filmmakers serious about capturing high quality audio will only use this as a back-up. They record audio on a separate recorder — typically with a field mixer and mic preamp — in order to get the best possible sound.

At the same time, DSLRs are taking on the best of the prosumer video market, such as the flip out screens for the Panasonic GH-1 and GH-2, Canon’s 60D and Rebel T3i/600D.

If the DSLR makers are smart, they will eventually create models with XLR inputs and a headphone jack, for those who do not want to record to external devices. Yes, Beachtek and JuicedLink offer XLR adapters, but you cannot monitor the sound going into the camera.

In either case, DSLRs are not going away, because the price of the Sony is still over $3000 more than a Canon 5D Mark II and over $5500 more than the Rebel T3i. You can kit out a Canon T3i for $3000 with a shoulder rig, a couple of decent lenses, a Zoom H4n, a decent shotgun mic.

If you want everything in one package, and you can afford it, then the Sony FS100 may be the camera you should use. If you’re on a budget or prefer the smaller form factor of a DSLR, us it. Nearly twenty percent of the films at 2011 Sundance were shot on DSLRs. They’re not going away. Not even close.

"

ARRI Releases New ALEXA Firmware v3.1

ARRI Releases New ALEXA Firmware v3.1: "

ARRI has released the latest Software Update Packet (SUP), v3.1, for the ALEXA and the new ALEXA Plus cameras. All new cameras will ship with SUP v3.1, and it is available as a free download from the ARRI website for all current ALEXA owners.

Key features of SUP v3.1 include:

- Full support for both the ALEXA and ALEXA Plus cameras.
- Integrated functionality with the ARRI Wireless Remote System (WRS) lens controller. This includes both generations of the ARRI transceiver module, known as the Yellow Radio and the White Radio.
- Communication with the new ARRI Remote Control Unit (RCU-4)
- Lens Data System (LDS) display on the ALEXA Plus. A later SUP will also capture this information in metadata.
- Dual SxS card recording. Both card slots can be set to capture identical files simultaneously, making backup file transfers faster.
- ARRIRAW frame grabs. In addition to the other formats already available, frame grabs can be captured in ARRIRAW.

To download SUP v3.1, ALEXA owners must login after completing a one-time registration on the ARRI website. The file can then be downloaded to an SD card for uploading into the camera. Also available for download are an updated user manual and release notes for SUP v3.1

"

Sneak Preview of New Motion Stabilizer for After Effects

Sneak Preview of New Motion Stabilizer for After Effects: "

April 6, 2011

by Adobe TV

It’s called the Warp Stabilizer, and it has ways of dealing with your shakycam HDSLR footage. Check out what new technologies, features and innovations the Adobe product teams are working on behind the scenes. Stay tuned to get an early glimpse of what could be next from Adobe. labs.adobe.com

Click here to view a Sneak Peak of the new Warp Stabilizer…

Sneak Preview of New Motion Stabilizer for After Effects

Filed under: After Effects Tips "

Light Iron to Launch Live Play During NAB

Light Iron to Launch Live Play During NAB: "Michael Cioni, Light Iron CEO and post production visionary, will officially launch the company’s iPad-based LiVE PLAY and mobile dailies applications at two separate events during the 2011 NAB Show...."

First sneak peek FinalCutPro 8

First sneak peek FinalCutPro 8: "

Well … after months and months of speculation and waiting today the curtain did drop, at least a lil bit.
Some first screenshots and feature-details “leaked” into the Video-Editing-World:

Well what can i say it seems like some fears getting reality.
The interface looks very familiar. First big change: it will be a more mouse editing oriented  NLE-App … one more step into iOS direction i guess.

Good thing though: FCP8 will be more integrated with Motion & Co. Not just templates & “send/link to” in a drop down menu. How far this integration goes is not specified publicly yet.It will be an App Store only app … you can buy all FinalCutStudio Apps standalone or in one package – pricing will be Announced. Apple will have a Special Event one week after NAB on 19th of April.

Some first Screenshots:

Key-Features are:

- 64 bit App

- Background Rendering

- GPU acceleration

- can use up to 64 GB Ram and all CPUs avalible

- native H.246 and R3D support including RED EPIC / HDRx and many other codecs

- new Title tools

- Quicktime Pro 11

- 3D editing mode

- ProRes 4444, 12bit only

- Blu-ray, CNN iReporter,  Vimeo, MySpace support

- Single Screen / Window App

- new Edit mode’s (called “Freehand” and “Mindreader”, “Auto-Blockbuster”)

Thats it … many more infos to come soon …

So is all that a good thing? … well?!

"

Robbie Carman - Color - Reconform is your friend

Robbie Carman - Color - Reconform is your friend

Troubleshoot installed codecs | Windows 7, Vista

Troubleshoot installed codecs | Windows 7, Vista

Big SAN in a small pond « digitalfilms

Big SAN in a small pond « digitalfilms

HDRx: The Impossible Shot | fxguide

HDRx: The Impossible Shot | fxguide

Tiger Technology and FilmPartners Deliver a Scalable and Universal Production Workflow for Avid, Apple and Adobe

Tiger Technology and FilmPartners Deliver a Scalable and Universal Production Workflow for Avid, Apple and Adobe: "Editors can now collaborate on universal MXF-based projects and edit-in-place SD, HD and film content using their editing application of choice (Sofia, Bulgaria--March 24, 2011) Tiger Technology, a leading provider of high-performance, cross-platform SAN management software solutions and Netherlands-based FilmPartners of the international Euro Media Group announce a new strategic partnership for delivering a scalable and universal production workflow for Avid MediaComposer©, Apple Final Cut Pro©, Adobe Premiere Pro©."

ProxyMill - the encoder that can encode just about every camera format out there

ProVideo Coalition.com: the EDITBLOG on PVC by Scott Simmons

Digital Video Camera Roundup

Digital Video Camera Roundup:

New digital cameras released over the last year have brought exciting changes to the world of cinematography and videography. From ARRI’s Alexa digital cinema camera to large sensor camcorders to the 60D, Canon’s new DSLR, filmmakers and broadcast camera operators have a growing choice for features, television and commercials.

ARRI DIGITAL

CINOPTIX

CANON

JVC

PANASONIC

WEISSCAM

SONY

More...

DSC NorthernLights Extends Colour Tests for Digital Cinema

DSC NorthernLights Extends Colour Tests for Digital Cinema: "DSC Labs has designed NorthernLights, a new test target to help optimize image quality in
digital cinema and HD television, overcoming narrow colour gamut limitations.

Named after the Aurora Borealis light display, NorthernLights provides test elements that function well outside the Rec 709 colour space, which is useful for people working with digital cinema and other high-end camera systems. 'Camera and sensor systems have evolved beyond the level of colour saturation that can be reproduced in typical test charts,' said DSC Labs President, David Corley. “NorthernLights combines a front-lit system with self-illuminated high gamut colours, giving camera users a way to calibrate and test their cameras in colour space beyond conventional front and rear-lit techniques.' NorthernLights has front-lit 24 DSC-calibrated colour chips for accurate reference and setup to the Rec. 709 standard. It uses an 11-step spectrophotometrically neutral crossed grayscale for gamma adjustment, and horizontal/vertical hyperbolic wedges, or DSC trumpets, to test camera resolution. Upper and lower 18% gray strips check evenness of lighting, both horizontally and vertically, and controls adjust brightness and colour to balance white levels. NorthernLights will be on display at NAB 2011. www.dsclabs.com

"

Avid 5.5 AMA exporting AAF now works

AVID 5.5: AMA & EXPORTING AAF NOW WORKS - Little Frog in High Def

Convergent Design’s Gemini 4:4:4 Recorder

Convergent Design’s Gemini 4:4:4 Recorder

QuickTime shows 720 video as 1248x702.

I'm Not Bruce: QuickTime shows a 720 Video as 1248 X 702

DFT Digital Film Technology Unveils FLEXXITY | Digital Production Buzz | Larry Jordan & Mike Horton

iPad 2 Beats Out MacBook Pros In iMovie Speed Tests! :: App Advice

אלרום משיקה לראשונה בישראל תוכנה להפקת כתוביות בתלת מימד

<div style="direction:rtl;text-align:right">אלרום משיקה לראשונה בישראל תוכנה להפקת כתוביות בתלת מימד</div>: "

התוכנה מציגה טכנולוגיה הנחשבת לחידוש בעולם ככלל ובישראל בפרט. עד כה לא נכנסה לשימוש תוכנה להפקה ועריכה של כתוביות בתלת מימד.

"

Edit Suite Design 2011

Edit Suite Design 2011: "It’s time to revisit an old subject for a new year – configuring a post production suite. Poke through these past articles and you’ll get plenty of ideas about how to build the room and what to put in it. Another great source for inspiration is just to scan through the “Rig of the Day” [...]"

Editing HDSLR footage natively

Editing HDSLR footage natively: "With the wild success of HDSLR cameras from both Canon and Nikon, there is a renewed interest in editing H.264 media natively, using the video files that are transferred directly from the camera into your editing system. H.264 is the video format that these cameras use for capturing their images. Editing natively saves time because you don’t need to transcode your video. And H.264 files are very small, compared to other video file formats."

ICC profile cube from 3D LUT: Alexa EI350

ICC profile cube from 3D LUT: Alexa EI350: "
Steve Shaw at www.lightillusion.com has shown us a way of baking into stand alone QuickTime movies (this includes Alexa captured 4444 ProRes) a 3D LUT that is converted into an ICC Profile.

By doing this we can use Colorsync within Mac OS to apply the converted 3D LUT and burn it into the .mov file.

To do this you do require Intel Mac and QT Pro7 and also the software, called Spaceman, which will do the 3D LUT conversion for you. Once you have converted the LUT into the ICC profile you then load this profile through QT Pro7 and Colorsync and there you will have the burnt in correction for your offline and dailies.

Attached here is an ICC profile for an Alexa EI350 LUT, this 3D LUT has ben converted to an ICC profile and here is the information as a 3D cube.

Regards

Pure Digital Services

"

HD Warrior » Blog Archiv » Sony to reveil 8K camera at NAB 2011

HD Warrior » Blog Archiv » Sony to reveil 8K camera at NAB 2011

Thunderbolt Technology in Action

Thunderbolt Technology in Action: "A couple of weeks ago Intel introduced a new technology for I/O use and data back ups. If you missed that information you can read all about it here. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of buzz regarding this new technology. Thunderbolt’s ability to transfer data at 10Gbs a sec while [...]"

Unlocking bins in Avid Unity

ProVideo Coalition.com: the EDITBLOG on PVC by Scott Simmons

Lightworks Review | Art of the Guillotine

Lightworks Review | Art of the Guillotine

fseventer [fernLightning]

fseventer [fernLightning]

From the author:

Description

- Observes filesystem changes using the same underlying API as Spotlight
- Provides a graphical representation of the file activity
- Example use could be to determine what files are changed via software installation, preferences, etc
- Requires admin access & will only work on Mac OS X 10.4+ i.e. “Tiger”, “Leopard”, or “Snow Leopard”

It's a neat troubleshooting/analysis tool for the Mac. I imagine it can be used in many ways to find out what's messed in your system, when and how it happened.

Thanks dev

OnOne Remote DSLR Controller Comes To The iPad

OnOne Remote DSLR Controller Comes To The iPad

The best ProRes codec to use when editing 5D and 7D footage

The best ProRes codec to use when editing 5D and 7D footage

Sony Intros Next-Gen OLED BVM-E Master Monitors

Sony Intros Next-Gen OLED BVM-E Master Monitors:
New 25″ and 17″ models designed to provide true replacement for CRTs in critical evaluation.

Sony has introduced of two new reference-grade OLED displays, the BVM-E Series – in 25″ and 17″ sizes – incorporate  processing and imaging capabilities designed to give digital production professionals a true replacement for CRT in critical evaluation applications.




More...

Alexa Log C - Workflow Options

Alexa Log C - Workflow Options:
This post is intended to be a work in progress so I'll be adding more information over time as workflows evolve. I'm intentionally leaving some of this open ended because I'd like anyone reading this who can speak to the topic to help me flesh this out. If you have something to add, please shoot me an email. 




More...

What (Inexpensive) Display Should I Buy?

I also get that question a lot, and I also tend to recommend the HP DreamColor. But (there's usually a but), it's not for everyone.
The DreamColor is one of the only (if not the only) monitors that do 10 bit all the way. This means that it can actually display 1,073,741,824 different colors. That's enough for rec709 and rec601, it's even 98 percent enough for XYZ. But there are other issues. The DreamColor's color engine only kicks in under certain conditions. The signal it inputs must be 10 bit, RGB and progressive. That pretty much means that if you're working on an SD project which is interlaced and in rec601 colorspace, the HP is not for you. Infact, unless you're working in 10bit/RGB/P, this monitor is just a very good looking monitor, and that's it. It cannot replace an actual video monitor!
That said, it's still reproduces beautiful imagery for an affordable price.


What (Inexpensive) Display Should I Buy?:



More...

Lightworks chosen to edit the kings speech

lightworks chosen to edit the kings speech

----------
And why this is important? Well, I hold the belief that these open source tools are responsible for the democratization of the trade. Lightworks might not be the most advanced NLE out there, and surly not the most popular, but these type of tools are breathing down the neck of much bigger, richer companies. The fact that such a big Oscar winning movie was edited using open source tools is an example for many newcomers in the industry that you don't necessarily have to go with one of the "big A's" (Avid, Apple, Adobe, Autodesk), to be considered a pro.

Avid Further Expands Open Workflow Innovations and Enables Customers to Reduce Editing Time and Costs with New Productivity-Boosting Solutions

Avid Further Expands Open Workflow Innovations and Enables Customers to Reduce Editing Time and Costs with New Productivity-Boosting Solutions: "Avid Further Expands Open Workflow Innovations and Enables Customers to Reduce Editing Time and Costs with New Productivity-Boosting Solutions; Media Composer, Symphony and NewsCutter Now Support AJA Io Express Hardware and External Control Surfaces, Expand Avid Media Access and Avid Nitris® DX Capabilities, and Offer New "In-App" Phonetic Searching for Increased Editorial Collaboration"

----------
Congratulation to Avid on another move in the right direction.
Ever since last NAB there have been rumors about an Avid/AJA collaboration. Good to see that AJA's been officially implemented in the Avid workflow. Does that mean 2K/4K RGB in the near future?

Open AVID ALE's in FCP 7

Open AVID ALE's in FCP 7

HDCAM SR Workflow Documents

Sony | Micro Site HD File-Based Workflow


HDCAM SR Workflow Documents

Sony HDCAM SR technology is the benchmark standard for high end Digital Cinematic Production. Workflow includes double speed ingest and recording, 3D, IT file based capabilities and much more, greatly enhancing the speed and flexibility of the editing process at a quality level that is unsurpassed.

HDCAM SR workflow documents are available for download for the following third party companies: AVID, DVS, FilmLight and Quantel.

Why Shoot In LOG?

Why Shoot In LOG?

Motion Graphics Salary Survey | Motion Graphics, Business | RichardHarringtonBlog

Motion Graphics Salary Survey | Motion Graphics, Business | RichardHarringtonBlog

PropEdit - UNIX permissions made easy

PropEdit

PropEdit is Mac OS X application which allows you to easily manage the permissions of your computer's files.
It allows you to change the owner, group, permissions and specific system flags for any file or directory on your hard disk.

Codex Digital Teams with Colorfront to Develop ARRIRAW Workflow for Features

Codex Digital Teams with Colorfront to Develop ARRIRAW Workflow for Features: "Codex Digital technology used in tandem with Colorfront’s On-Set Dailies System during the production of “Styria,” the first film shot with ARRI Alexa to ARRIRRAW.
(London--February 7, 2011) Codex Digital’s Digital Lab and Onboard Recorders were recently used in conjunction with a new On-Set Dailies solution, developed by Budapest-based Colorfront, to produce digital dailies and other deliverables on the set of Styria, a Hungarian feature film production that is believed to be the first ever shot with the ARRI Alexa camera in ARRIRAW format."

MARVIN 2.0 to Debut at NAB

MARVIN 2.0 to Debut at NAB: "One-Step Digital Cinematography Comes to Las Vegas
(Amsterdam--February 9, 2011) MARVIN Technologies will introduce its new MARVIN 2.0 on-set camera data management system at NAB 2011 in Las Vegas, April 11-14 (booth SL1716). Along with support for all common digital cinema cameras, including RED, ARRI Alexa, Silicon Imaging SI 2K, and others, NAB attendees will get a sneak peek at MARVIN’s new stereoscopic 3D support."

ProVideo Coalition.com: Creating Motion Graphics by Chris & Trish Meyer | Founders

ProVideo Coalition.com: Creating Motion Graphics by Chris & Trish Meyer | Founders

OpenCable Encoding Specifications

OpenCable Encoding Specifications: "The latest OpenCable encoding specifications with a dedicated chapter for 3D content (see pages 23 to 36).

"

Barco releases dedicated Digital Cinema projector for post-production

Barco releases dedicated Digital Cinema projector for post-production: "(Kortrijk, Belgium--February 8, 2011) Digital Cinema pioneer Barco has announced the commercial release of its DP2K-P, a digital cinema projector specifically designed for the needs of the post-production community. Featuring a greatly expanded color gamut, superior contrast, exceptional brightness uniformity and specialized post-production software, the DP2K-P effortlessly meets the stern performance demands of post-production houses as well as the review room requirements outlined in the DCI specification. The new projector will immediately be available for commercial distribution.

“To meet the unforgiving quality expectations of the post-production market, the novel DP2K-P has been fit with an extra wide color gamut – significantly wider than what is currently recommended in the DCI specifications,” explains Barco Product Manager Bram Dieryckx. “In addition, users will immediately be impressed by the greatly improved contrast and brightness uniformity, which results in more image detail, especially in low light regions.”"

Joint venture to create new digital standards | News | Broadcast

Joint venture to create new digital standards | News | Broadcast

Get Even More Info about a QuickTime Movie

Get Even More Info about a QuickTime Movie:
If you want to see lots and lots of information about a video QuickTime is playing try this:

1. Open the movie with QuickTime Player 7.
(I haven't tested this in 'Quicktime Player' Quicktime X, because QTX isn't very feature rich to put it nicely.)
2. Click on the Finder in the dock or on your desktop so the Finder is the frontmost app.
3. Hit Command + Shift + U to open your Utilities folder. 
4. Launch AppleScript Editor. (really, it'll be okay)
5. Paste this into AppleScript Editor:



More...

Five Questions with Codex Digital’s Marc Dando

Five Questions with Codex Digital&#8217;s Marc Dando

ACE survey: Final Cut's slice growing

Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information, US, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All Rights Reserved


Daily Variety, January 19, 2011

ACE survey: Final Cut's slice growing

Since 2004, Harry B. Miller III has conducted an informal annual survey of his colleagues in the American Cinema Editors to determine what equipment and technology they use in the editing room, the camera original and delivery format of editors' projects and how they're finished.
While the results of 2009-10's 130-respondent survey are not yet complete, they presently show Apple's Final Cut growing steadily from around 12% use in 2004 to about 20%, and Avid Technology platforms holding steady, with the Avid DX Mojo now dominant in concert with 24P HD origination.
"The trend is that Avid has 80% of the offline editor market," commented Miller, a member of the ACE board of directors. "That has held with some fluctuation." Miller added that Final Cut's growing market share is not all at the expense of Avid. "Other systems have disappeared, such as Lightworks. There was a year when only Thelma Schoonmaker was using it."
Perhaps because of Avid's saturated installed base, however, Final Cut is leading Avid in new-seat sales, 49.8% to 19.3%, according to SCRI's April survey of broadcast and post houses.
"Avid had a solid product line in the 1990s and early 2000s. Then they introduced the hardware called Adrenaline," Miller recalled. "That took market share from older systems, but it was a technology disaster. It was unstable, and it did not provide substantial benefits in video quality or performance."
By 2007, however, several editors, such as Jabez Olson ("King Kong"), Bill DeRonde ("American Idol") and Paul Crowder ("Riding Giants"), were giving Adrenaline high marks.
Miller argued that Avid's acceptance can be attributed not only to Avid's Final Cut-pressured price drop but also to "a substantial management and technology change where the management is more responsive to editors." Plus, he added, Avid put out a software-only version and a much better HD system.
Final Cut has risen, Miller contended, because of its use by prestigious editors such as Walter Murch; companies such as Universal Studios "developing their own workflow where they can online edit in Final Cut Pro"; and an endless search for cheaper post, though he pointed out that the price difference is now negligible. Significantly, the survey shows editors making the call on editing platforms less often, with producers, directors, studios and others calling the shots more.
As a working editor (recently on "Caprica"), Miller is firmly in the pro-Avid camp. "Final Cut has shown no improvement in years. I'm reaching the conclusion that (Apple) is a company that wants to make iPhones and iPads."
January 19, 2011

Looks like Apple are abandoning the FCP ship

Looks like Apple are abandoning the FCP ship: "It is rumoured that it’s not only Steve Jobbs that’s sick but Apple as a company are looking at abandoning Xsan and Final Cut Server, this will be a substantial blow to Final Cut Users as most pro houses including the BBC use Xserve in a daily basis. THE STORY as reported by MAC RUMOURS [...]"

Move Projects from FCP to AE Seamlessly (and Free!)

Move Projects from FCP to AE Seamlessly (and Free!):
November 8, 2010

by Richard Harrington, Final Cut Help



I am always on the lookout for things that can make my life easier… sleep in a can, comfortable shoes, great software.

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Consumer Camcorders Proliferate in Stereo at CES

Consumer Camcorders Proliferate in Stereo at CES: "

News reports from the Consumer Electronics Show indicate that 3D is a big topic of discussion this year, although sales of 3D TV sets are disappointing. What is getting the attention in 3D? 3D cameras, of course. Sony, Panasonic, and JVC all showed consumer-friendly 3D cameras at the show.



Panasonic went the route of creating an optional “3D Conversion Lens,” the CW-CLT1, that turns two different 1080/60p camcorders into stereo 3D units. While Panasonic’s cameras still have a single imager to capture the stereo content, JVC touted its GS-TD1, which has two 3.32 megapixel CMOS sensors built in, capturing both right-eye and left-eye images at 1080i in something JVC calls “LR Independent Format.” No word on whether that new format complicates working with the files later — the bundled Everio MediaBrowser software for Windows will apparently automate sharing the videos via YouTube’s 3D player — but the camcorder also shoots in the more common, reduced-resolution side-by-side 3D format. The 3.5-inch LCD touch panel offers glasses-free stereo playback.

Sony has a similar model, the HDR-TD10, with double CMOS image sensors, a 3.5-inch glasses-free 3D touch screen, and 64 GB of flash memory. (In fact, it looks like the official announcement of Sony’s camera beat JVC to the punch by one day.)

JVC’s GS-TD1 ships in March and will cost $1999.95, and Sony’s HDR-TD10 will ship in April for “about $1500.” Panasonic was stingy with that kind of detail, saying in a press release that “pricing and availability [of the new cameras] will be announced 30 days prior to shipping date.”

But the coolest 3D camera at the show may be the Sony Bloggie MHS-FS3, billed as “the world’s first HD 3D pocket camera.” Packing 8 GB of on-board memory, the MHS-FS3 will ship in April for “about $250.” It has two lenses and two sensors, and content can be played back on the camera’s glasses-free 2.4-inch LCD screen.

Only time will tell whether any of these cameras produce good enough images for use by pros as 3D crash cams, but don’t rule them out.

The other super-hot consumer 3D product is the forthcoming Nintendo 3DS, a handheld stereo-3D gaming system that was reportedly being shown off the show floor. Taking into account the voluminous CES hype related to 4G data networks, it looks like CES this year is all about small-screen experiences, rather than big-screen TVs. Hollywood studios seemed to acknowledge as much with the announcement that a coalition of studios — Disney being the most notably absent — had lined up behind UltraViolet, a new system designed to allow consumers to watch movies they purchase on multiple platforms, including PCs, videogame consoles, and phones. (Well, we’ll see how that works out.)

Still, there may be another interesting inversion going on with digital media. Just as the portability of MP3 players dumped the music industry’s expensive new high-res formats (DVD-Audio and SACD) into the dustbin of history, 3D on the go may be a more compelling technology than 3D in the living room. That’s because glasses-free 3D is much more practical on small screens than large. Will the iPhone 5, or something like it, become the first blockbuster consumer platform for 3D stereo?

"

The DSLR Filmmaker’s Workflow

DSLR video has changed the industry. Over the past year, our photographic sensibilities have propelled the moving image-opening the door to a new realm of storytelling possibilities. For photographers, the form factor is comfortable and familiar. The lens selection? A dream come true. Custom color pallets, high ISO capture, all with a professional esthetic rivaling the production values of major Hollywood productions-how could this not be industry changing? Life changing, even?

Reviewing the rushes from my first outing with the Canon 5D Mark II, I almost lost my mind. The depth of field separations, lowlight performance, and 1080p quality were outstanding. The footage was easy to shoot. It was easy to drag and drop onto my computer. It was easy to play back in QuickTime Player. Then I loaded my footage into Final Cut Pro, assuming that post-production would be easy, as well.

This was the part where I really did lose my mind: editing the 5D II footage was a total nightmare. While things looked pretty good on the timeline, I couldn’t get the precise cuts that I wanted. Some chops were off by as many as five frames. Adding basic transitions, simple text–any small change–required rendering. Exporting dailies to DVD resulted in playback with dropped frames, digital artifacts, and the occasional Hulk-mad green screen. Here I was with a load of beautiful footage and no way to efficiently edit it.


The problem with DSLR video is file compression. The most popular cameras out there use web-friendly formats. For shooting and sharing, this would be great, but web-friendly isn’t always edit-friendly. Canon’s 5D Mark II, 7D, 1D Mark IV, and Rebel T1i use QuickTime H.264 compression. This is the same compression method employed for most of the movie trailers we view online. Nikon cameras like the D3S, D90, and D5000 use AVI (Motion JPEG) compression. Pentax bodies like the K-7 and K-x utilize the same thing. Used within most nonlinear editing systems, these files are all terrible.

This article was written to help anyone that’s been there. I feel your pain. It took me a while to find the workflow that fit my editing style. Today I’m sharing my findings. There are many ways to arrive at your destination. This article is a great place to get started. In the coming months, there will be other techniques, strategies, and software available to simplify your life. Until then, let’s talk workflow. Quick note: I’m a Final Cut Studio user. If you’re on another NLE, skip down to Transcoding with Freeware.

Transcoding with Compressor

Before you begin, it’s best to organize your media files for efficiency. Create a file folder for your video footage. As a best practice, keep the folder limited to video files-no pics, thumbnails, or reference stuff. Video only.

Transcoding is a process that changes one file type into another. Using Compressor, a piece of high-quality conversion software included in Final Cut Studio, we’re going to transcode our DSLR video footage into something a bit more edit-friendly. Final Cut Pro plays well with almost all of the major video formats out there. In theory, we could transcode our footage into any one of these formats. But for maximum flexibility, I’d recommend using one of Apple’s ProRes offerings. Why ProRes? It doesn’t require rendering on the timeline, and if your project incorporates footage from other HD or SD cameras (non-DSLRs), everything still works well. For most users, ProRes 422HQ, 422, or 422LT should do the trick.

Launch Compressor. In the Settings window, you’ll find a range of ProRes options under Apple->Formats->QuickTime. Select any of the ProRes 422 settings. ProRes 422HQ offers the highest quality, but can get a bit heavy in terms of file size. If you’re working on a special effects project with loads of composites and motion graphics, consider ProRes with Alpha (ProRes 4444).

If you plan to work with DSLR video often, make your ProRes selection and click the Duplicate Selected Setting button (the third button from the left at the top of the Settings window). This copies your favorite ProRes flavor into the Custom Settings folder.

Double-click your ProRes setting. This opens up a small Inspector window. Click the Encoder button (second button from the left at the top of the window). Under Video: Settings, you can alter the frame rate to your liking. I recommend keeping this on “Current.” It’s best to do your initial edit in your DSLR’s native frame rate. Only alter these settings if your project requires you to do so.

In the Settings window, you should also see a tab labeled Destinations. Click this to specify where you want your transcoded material to be recorded. There are some prescribed options in the menu, but you can choose your own by clicking the “+” icon at the top right of the window.

An untitled project window should be open above the Settings and Inspector slugs. If not, use Command+N to create a new one. Click Add File at the top left of the window. A navigation finder will open up. Use this to locate your video content.

This is where it helps to have some patience. If you’re using a Core 2 Duo processor, you really don’t want to select more than 10 files at a time. Transcoding with Compressor is a bit taxing on the system, and if you overload it, it tends to crash. Quad Core users or editors who are working with a cluster of machines can work with a greater quantities of clips. The more powerful your machine or network of machines, the better luck you’ll have with larger batches.

Select all the clips in the untitled window with Command+A. Drag your ProRes selection from the Settings window over the selected clips. Choose the destination for your transcoded footage from the Tool Bar (Target->Destination). Click Submit at the bottom right of the window.

An option to name your project will appear. This auto-populates with the name of your first clip. Change this over to your project name, make sure that Priority is set to High, and click Submit.

Depending on the amount of footage that you’ve queued, the transcoding process could take minutes or hours. When the process is finished, you should be able to drag and drop your highly stable ProRes footage directly into Final Cut Pro.

Transcoding with Freeware

I love freeware. By definition, it’s free and often provides services that pay-software companies haven’t addressed yet. This is especially true with transcoding. Whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5 is a fast and efficient way to change your footage over to a more stable format.

Install and launch MPEG Streamclip. From the Tool Bar, select List->Batch List and select the video files that you want to transcode. You’ll need to drag these into the Batch List window. Unlike Compressor, the software holds up pretty well under a bulky queue of clips. Keep the number of your selections conservative, though-the larger your queue, the more likely a crash.

Since most NLEs are compatible with QuickTime, select Export to QuickTime from the pop-up dialogue box. From here, you’ll choose a destination for the converted footage in the “Select the Destination Folder” window. Click Select. From here, an options window opens with all of the available QuickTime codecs on your system. Since your DSLR captures in HD, I’d recommend using an HD codec. If you’re on a Mac, choose a ProRes flavor. PC folks can use a DVCPRO HD setting or any HD QuickTime variant they prefer.

Pull the Quality slider to 100%. Click the radio box to turn Interlaced Scaling off. All current DSLRs capture HD progressively, so there’s no sense in scaling your footage.

Click To Batch. A new window will open. Click Go. The transcoding process can take a while. However, MPEG Streamclip is significantly faster than Compressor.

Does the speed boost make the freeware better? Well, yes and no. If speed is the name of the game, use MPEG Streamclip. It’s fast and relatively stable. If you’re on a Mac and want a higher quality file, use Compressor. Shadow detail is significantly cleaner and the overall image has fewer artifacts.

Whichever way you choose to roll, your transcoded footage will now play nice on with your NLE. It’s good to experiment with both approaches. There’s no right or wrong here.

Summing It Up

DSLR filmmaking is probably the fastest growing segment of the moving image market. This transcoding tutorial is just a starting place for those of you that want to work with your footage in the editing room. As I said earlier, new workflows and software products are already on the way. Stay tuned! Stay sharp! Can’t wait to see you and your film on the festival circuit!

David Flores is a photographer and filmmaker based in New York City. He is a member of the B&H Creative Content Team. His latest film, Blue King, is set to debut in 2010 at the Derby City Film Festival.

Useful Tool for FCP Network Admins

Useful Tool for FCP Network Admins: "

Digital Rebellion has recently released a new tool that adds additional functionality to one of its other very useful tools, FCS Maintenance Pack. The new FCS Maintenance Pack Network Admin will let a system administrator perform the tasks and functions of the maintenance pack remotely. A full rundown of the tool was posted on the Digital Rebellion site just over a week ago. Some basic bullet points about the new tool (from the Digital Rebellion site):

• Perform maintenance tasks across the network simultaneously
• Sync plugins, preferences, user paths and scheduled tasks between computers
• Use the Difference Finder tool to find the differences in specification between computers on the network, allowing you to determine why a particular system isn’t working correctly when others are fine
• View aggregate crash statistics including the number of crashes across the network per day, week or month, the most common cause of crashes, and the most and least stable machines
• Users can alert administrators to problems on their system, allowing the administrator to resolve them remotely
• Maintenance tasks can also be scheduled to run automatically on every system

Full pricing includes both five-user and unlimited licenses, as well as bundles of the Network Admin tool with FCS Maintenance Pack (it has to be installed on all the client computers that you might be admin-ing to on your network. As always, there’s a free trial available.

"

Grading The Graders, Part 1 - Postworld

Grading The Graders, Part 1 - Postworld
There seems to be a lot of talk these days about color grading, and a lot of it seems to revolve around what system represents the best solution given a particular set of circumstances. In a lot of these discussions, there seems to be a lot of attention paid to using general purpose platforms, such as nonlinear editors like Final Cut, Avid Media Composer, and Premiere Pro, for this purpose, or using software written for the purpose of file format conversion, like Red’s Redcine-X, for final creative color grading. And while for some this may present a very inexpensive (i.e., essentially free) solution on certain personal projects, in the professional world it is generally not practical or desirable. And it is not pricing that determines these things, rather, it is a combination of factors that together fulfill the practical needs of a professional colorist.

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Solutions to Improve FCP’s Media Management II

Back in May, I wrote about FcpReconnect as one answer to Apple Final Cut Pro’s less-than-robust media management. In this entry, I’ll cover Matchback Magic, a handy application developed by Philip Hodgetts and Dr. Gregory Clarke of Intelligent Assistance to make FCP media bullet-proof. Through the Assisted Editing product line, they’ve developed a number of workflow tools that leverage the power of XML for Final Cut Pro users.

The essential media management differences between Avid Media Composer and Apple Final Cut Pro stem from the fact that Avid cross-references media files with bin clips through a media database. You can rename clips, but not media and the database files keep everything straight. Matchback Magic was developed out of the need to make FCP media “operator safe” and in effect, to behave more like Avid media.

Offline/Online

Matchback Magic is designed for an offline/online editing workflow. The creative editing phase uses proxy media and the final project is relinked to full-quality media for finishing and output. FCP handles this fairly well, but the process is prone to operator error, which can result in files not properly relinking at the end. The main reason for offline/online editing is so that you don’t have to deal with a lot of high-resolution files during the rough cut phase of the project. For instance, it might be an HD job, but cutting with DV25 media makes it possible to cut on a laptop without taxing the system.

Matchback Magic “protects” files against human error by “injecting” metadata from the full-quality master files into the proxy media files. Once that’s done, no matter what happens to the proxy media – change timecode, reel numbers, files names, etc. – Matchback Magic can conform an edit so that the final sequence frame-accurately matches the rough cut and media is properly relinked.

Real world test

I tested this out with the same Cheese Shop project as before. My master files are 1920×1080 ProResLT conversions from H.264 camera files that originated in a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Reel and timecode information was added usingQtChange. These files were further encoded to a second set of anamorphic DV25 files to be used for offline editing. This is my starting point. All media handling at this stage has been outside of FCP, which is typical of a lot of file-based workflows, not just with HDSLR cameras. For example, if you used an AJA KiPro recorder or were supplied converted QuickTime camera masters from a videographer or a film lab, then this would follow the same methodology.

I originally ran into one small, but puzzling issue. Matchback Magic didn’t work correctly until I removed the file extensions (.mov) from both sets of media files. That’s easy to do with the R-Name batch utility, but it wasn’t the way it should work. It turns out that this was related to which metadata from the XML was used to determine file names. After some testing and discussions with the developers, they were able to make a quick modification to the application to correct this issue. An automatic online update to the application and everything was working as expected. No need to worry about the presence or absence of file extensions. One of the beauties of working with a small, but responsive software development company!

Here are the basic steps to follow.

Step 1 – Start a new FCP project and import the folder of full-quality files. Highlight that folder and export an XML file.

Step 2 – Open Matchback Magic. Import the XML file and the folder of matching proxy media. Press Add Matchback Protection. This will insert metadata from the full-quality files into the proxy files. When this step is done, there will be a new FCP project labeled Matchback Magic containing the folder of proxy clips. You may delete this project or rename the project and continue from there as your rough cut starting point. One way to verify that the proxy media has actually been altered is that the modification date will now read as the current date and time.

Step 3 – Edit as you normally would using the proxy media. At this point you may safely change not only the master clip names, but also the media file names. This could potentially be disastrous under normal FCP operations; hence, the beauty of Matchback Magic.

Step 4 – When the cut is locked, create a new, blank sequence with a preset that matches your final quality output. (This isn’t essential, but will save some steps.) Highlight both this blank sequence and the sequence representing the approved cut and export an XML file.

Step 5 – Open Matchback Magic, click the Conform tab, then Read Matchback Information. Open the XML file from Step 4. The information will be displayed in the spreadsheet-style window.

Step 6 – Click Conform Sequence, which takes you back to FCP and an Import XML dialogue window. Select Create New Project (from the pulldown) as the target for the conformed sequence. A new, single sequence will be linked to the full quality media files. As an added touch, the offline media will be on higher tracks of the same timeline. You may compare tracks to verify frame-accuracy between the rough cut and the conformed cut. Sequence clips will display the names (as added or changed during offline editing), while the actual media file names of the full-quality media will remain unchanged.

This is a very simplified workflow test that demonstrates the power of Matchback Magic. One of the beauties of FCP is how XML can be used to augment the application beyond its inherent design. Other features include the ability to track double-system audio and exporting ALE and Excel files. More of this can be seen in their demo video. The process is bullet proof and actually simpler than FCP’s own Media Manager.

The demo version of Matchback Magic can be used to inject protection information. Even if you don’t think you’ll need it, you can use the demo to protect the files. If it turns out later that you need Matchback Magic to “save” you after all, simply buy and activate the software to enable the other steps.

©2010 Oliver Peters