Introducing the New Phantom Flex4K Digital Cinema Camera from Vision Research

Introducing the New Phantom Flex4K Digital Cinema Camera from Vision Research:
Amsterdam, September 12, 2013 –Vision Research, a leading manufacturer of digital high‑speed imaging systems, officially launches the Phantom® Flex4K, the next evolution in its award-winning digital cinema product line at the 2013 International Broadcasting Convention, September 13-17, 2013 in Amsterdam. The Phantom Flex4K offers exceptional image quality, new workflow options, a user-friendly camera control interface, and outstanding performance at both ultra high-speed and standard frame rates.

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Stornext 5 Announced at IBC

Xsanity - Stornext 5 Announced at IBC:
Quantum announces latest version of Stornext, coming as appliances end of 2013. Software only packages available Q1 2014.

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DisplayLink's adaptor streams 4K content over USB 2.0 and 3.0 (eyes-on)

DisplayLink's adaptor streams 4K content over USB 2.0 and 3.0 (eyes-on):
DisplayLink's been wringing all kinds of connectivity out of our computer's USB ports for years, turning one connection into many. It should come as no surprise, then, that the company's using its considerable compression expertise to send high-resolution 4K video through that very same pipe. Ideally, the system shoots video over USB 3.0, while still giving users the full connectivity options of any compatible DisplayLink device -- but it can also function using USB 2.0, though the dynamically compensating data compression at work may cause some frames to drop.

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Which is the Best RAID level for Video Editing and Post Production? (Part Three): Number Soup for the Soul

Which is the Best RAID level for Video Editing and Post Production? (Part Three): Number Soup for the Soul:
In Part One and Part Two we ran the numbers on each RAID level to find out how well they performed on speed, capacity and failure rates as the drive sizes increased. In this final part we’ll try to put together a few rules of thumb to help guide us in selecting the right RAID level for video editing or post production.

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Creative Cloud October update - over 150 new video features by Rich Young

Creative Cloud October update - over 150 new video features by Rich Young:
At IBC, Adobe has announced major updates to Adobe Video apps in Creative Cloud, which should be available in mid-October. This comes after Premiere Pro CC got 25 new features + bug fixes in a July update. Regular subscription updates do seem to be coming as expected, making it easier to use and digest changes.

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Adobe Announces Major Software Updates

Adobe Announces Major Software Updates | Larry's Blog:
One of the promises Adobe made when it went to its new subscription pricing was to make much more frequent updates to all their software. This evening, less than five months after the initial CC release, Adobe emphasized its promises with updates to:

• Adobe Prelude 
• Adobe Prelude 
• Live Logger (new) 
• Adobe Premiere Pro 
• Adobe After Effects 
• Adobe SpeedGrade 
• Adobe Media Encoder 
• Adobe Story Plus

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Camera Comparison: Arri Alexa - Red Mx - Canon 7D - Sony F65 - Sony FS700 - Canon C300 on Vimeo

Camera Comparison: Arri Alexa - Red Mx - Canon 7D - Sony F65 - Sony FS700 - Canon C300 on Vimeo:
See the related article at cinema5D: cinema5d.com/news/?p=20622
Ever wondered how the Canon 7D REALLY looks like next to an Arri Alexa or Sony F65? This video brings you the answer. We took these shots from our extensive Beauty Filter Test which we will publish tomorrow and placed them side by side so you can get a feeling for how the cameras compare in the studio setup we had. Note that this is not a thorough camera review, but just an opportunity to watch the same high detail, high dynamic range scene on these 6 cameras with the same high quality PL lens and the same lighting, graded professionally to match. Please make sure you download the source clip.

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Top 5 Reasons Your Storage Doesn’t Work for Video Editing

Top 5 Reasons Your Storage Doesn’t Work for Video Editing
If your storage system talks only about IOPS, bandwidths and latencies, with no mention of supported stream counts, you are probably looking at a storage system designed for enterprise IT applications; not real-time media editing.

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When you say “metadata” do you mean pre-post, asset management or distribution metadata?

When you say “metadata” do you mean pre-post, asset management or distribution metadata?
What is metadata. Well, largely it depends on where you are in the production-to-distribution pipeline. We use metadata to solve problems in production, asset management and distribution. Let’s consider each of these problem and how it was solved before the digital era, and where metadata fits into the modern workflow.

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Libde265: Another Open-Source H.265

Libde265: Another Open-Source H.265
The H.265 codec / High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) has been approved since January by the International Telecommunication Union. In that time, we have seen x265 emerge as an open-source H.265 encoder similar in nature to x264 / H.264 while now another project is libde265

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How To Share Projects Between Multiple Smoke Systems

How To Share Projects Between Multiple Smoke Systems:
There is a concept in the 2013 releases of Smoke and the 2013 Extension 2 release of Flame Premium of WORKSPACES. Workspaces allows 2 or more different Smoke or Flame systems to access and work on the same project at the same time, using the same clips. In the Project hierarchy, a Workspace will fall in-between the Project and the Media Library. Each Smoke or Flame system connected to the same project at the same time, will create it’s own workspace.

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Ginger HDR Streamlines Raw Workflow in Adobe Environment

Ginger HDR Streamlines Raw Workflow in Adobe Environment:
One of the things about Magic Lantern Raw is the need for a middle man, an app that can re-encode the .raw files into .dng files that most editors can support.  But quietly working in the background, there’s a plug-in called Ginger HDR for Adobe products that will allow bypassing of re-encoding of the files and use .raw files directly.

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Leveraging GStreamer’s open source framework for seamless video delivery

Leveraging GStreamer’s open source framework for seamless video delivery | Videonet:
Providing the widest range of content, from managed Broadcast/Broadband to web video content, can position pay TV operators in a unique place aggregating mainstream premium content with long tail content on a single device. Rapid integration of new technologies is becoming essential for set top boxes as pay TV operators migrate their software platforms to newer boxes for extra power or additional capabilities. The best way to enable accelerated development and hardware portability is to exploit the dynamic and innovative resources of the open source development community.

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Telestream & MulticoreWare Develop Open Source x265/HEVC

Telestream & MulticoreWare Develop Open Source x265/HEVC | Broadcast:
Telestream and MulticoreWare have made available an open source H.265, or HEVC encoder. The two companies developed the new x265 project aiming to create a very efficient, high quality H.265 codec. Conceived by Telestream, the x265 initiative was co-founded and is being managed by MulticoreWare as a development partner, and is being introduced under both an open source and commercial license model.

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What is 6G-SDI?

What is 6G-SDI? | wolfcrow:
If what you’re shooting is limited to 1080p60 at the highest quality, you don’t need anything better than 3G-SDI. In fact, unless you are designing a live broadcast switching environment, you don’t even have to worry about what standard you’re working with because the camera manufacturer has thought it out for you.
With 4K, you are probably expecting to follow that trend. To this affect, many devices have been announced (some are even available) that support a standard called 6G-SDI.

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HDMI Goes 2.0 and 4K

HDMI Goes 2.0 and 4K::
New HDMI 2.0 functionality includes: 4K 50/60, (2160p), which is 4 times the clarity of 1080p/60 video resolution Up to 32 audio channels for a multi-dimensional immersive audio experience Up to 1536kHz audio sample frequency for the highest audio fidelity Simultaneous delivery of dual video streams to multiple users on the same screen Simultaneous delivery of multi-stream audio to multiple users (up to 4) Support for the wide angle theatrical 21:9 video aspect ratio Dynamic synchronization of video and audio streams CEC extensions provides expanded command and control of consumer electronics devices through a single control point.

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ASSIMILATE's Universal Media Player

3D CineCast: ASSIMILATE's Universal Media Player:
SCRATCH Play supports a wide range of media formats. From cinematic RAW files (RED, Arri, Sony, Canon, Phantom, etc) to DSLR RAW files (Canon 5D, Nikon N600, etc) to editorial formats (MXF, WAV, etc) to pro VFX/still formats (DPX, EXR, etc). Even web-based media (QuickTime, Windows Media, MP4, H.264, etc) and still image formats (TIFF, JPG, PNG, etc).

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The Costs of Working with 2K and 4K Uncompressed Footage

The Costs of Working with 2K and 4K Uncompressed Footage | wolfcrow:
First, we need to understand what we’re dealing with here. How big are uncompressed files, really? To calculate the uncompressed file size and data rate, use this method:

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Edit Blackmagic & Magic Lantern RAW Right in Premiere with Ginger HDR

Edit Blackmagic & Magic Lantern RAW Right in Premiere with Ginger HDR « nofilmschool:
I’ve been talking a lot about offline/online workflows lately — how they have, in principle, been used for ages, and still play today, tape or no tape. Such a post production process allows less fortunate folks (such as myself) to work with footage like Blackmagic Camera CinemaDNG and Magic Lantern RAW on hard-pressed machines.

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How to get SAN Storage for Video Production (Part Three): Comparison of Vendors

How to get SAN Storage for Video Production (Part Three): Comparison of Vendors | wolfcrow:
In Part One and Part Two we listed the components of a SAN storage system. In this final part we’ll look at the cost of putting together a DIY SAN, and then compare some of the well-known names that provide SAN solutions that are video-centric.

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Monitoring in the real world (Using the Blackmagic Cinema Camera as an example)

Blackmagic's cameras are bringing a raw workflow to an uprecedented number of people, and also highllighting the difference between raw and "standard" ("Rec 709) video - the stuff we've been used to up to now. If it seems complicated, it will be a little bit less so once you've read Phil Rhodes' article.

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Avid Media Composer 7 Review

Well, this one has been a long time coming. I have actually been working on Avid Media Composer 7 since launch. It has become my main editing platform since then. Mainly because I have been happy with Avid Media Composer since the major changes in 5.0, but even more so, since most of the edit suites I work in are Avids anyways.

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Autodesk unveils Maya LT - many Maya features now for a much lower price!

We usually don't write about products for games development, but this can be huge also for some small and indie visual effects studios. Autodesk introduced a new product called Autodesk Maya LT 2014. It is a new 3D modeling and animation tool tailored for independent and mobile game developers, but can be handy also in other industries and what's even better it costs much less than the full version of Maya. The tool allows for the creation of professional-grade 3D mobile, PC and web-based game assets, but of course these assets can be exported to many other tools and used for example for the creation of visual effects for videos.

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Media Storage Performance

Media Storage Performance
Media storage is still expensive and very specialist, with a few suppliers providing high performance network storage solutions to the industry. Specifying, selecting and configuring storage is very complex, with technical decisions having far reaching cost and performance implications.

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Open Source DPP creation - Open Broadcast Encoder

Open Source DPP creation - Open Broadcast Encoder:
From time to time we work on other things beyond DVB broadcast encoding where Open Source can be used to transform closed broadcast workflows. The file delivery specification from the Digital Production Partnership (DPP) is one such area. However, the AVC-Intra codec used in DPP is effectively a proprietary codec with implementation in the real world being more complex than the SMPTE RP2027 that AS-11 recommends and in a number of areas implemented incorrectly. However, we have now successfully reverse engineered AVC-Intra from available samples which allows a fully open source DPP creation workflow. Along with existing Open Source projects for manipulation and creation of mxf files, a fully compliant DPP file can be delivered to UK broadcasters.

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How to send Video Files to your Client (Part Three)

How to send Video Files to your Client (Part Three) | wolfcrow:
In Part One we tried to find the point when it made sense to send video files online . In Part Two we looked at the questions to ask of each service.
In this part we’ll look at the services that let you send video files online. Hopefully by the end you’ll have had a thorough overview of the landscape as it stands, and make better decisions with regards to how to send video files with your clients.

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USB 3.1 accelerates to 10Gbps

RedShark News - USB 3.1 accelerates to 10Gbps:
USB has become the most common connector on almost every computer and USB3 has been gaining in popularity. Now USB 3.1 allows for speeds of up to 10Gbps, the same as Thunderbolt version 1.

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Fujifilm and SpectraCal Join on 3D LUTs with IS-Mini & Calman

Fujifilm and SpectraCal Join on 3D LUTs with IS-Mini & Calman | Cameras:
The Fujifilm IS-mini’s monitor calibration software can currently automate tasks without needing an unusual level of technical knowledge. However, the collaboration of IS-mini and CalMAN expands the IS-mini’s operation to any type of probe that CalMAN supports and adds more detailed reporting functions.


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Avid and Resolve use Metadata to link to Essence

Avid and Resolve use Metadata to link to Essence:
A container, like a glass containing liquid. That glass would be the metadata and the liquid in that glass would be the essence. I want to replace low quality liquid with high quality uncompressed master resolution liquid.

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Color Grading Tutorial: LUTs in DaVinci Resolve

Color Grading Tutorial: LUTs in DaVinci Resolve | Premiumbeat.com:
Discover how you can quickly modify the colors and intensity values in your video footage using LUTs in DaVinci Resolve.

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No ROCKET Necessary: 3rd Party GPU Acceleration is Coming to REDCINE-X PRO

No ROCKET Necessary: 3rd Party GPU Acceleration is Coming to REDCINE-X PRO « nofilmschool:
While proprietary used to be the name of the game, we are entering an age where camera systems and post solutions are choosing more open source options for maximum compatibility (and a likely wider install base as a result). Look no further than the increasing use of CinemaDNG with cameras like the Ikonoskop, Blackmagic Cinema Camera, and Digital Bolex. Now it looks like RED is at least partially entering that arena with an update to REDCINE-X PRO.

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Should you raise Bit Depth and Color Space before Color Grading? Part Two: RAW Video

Should you raise Bit Depth and Color Space before Color Grading? Part Two: RAW Video | wolfcrow:
In Part One we looked at how we can improve results from 8-bit video, regardless of where it came from. In this part we’ll look at higher bit depth videos, namely 10-bit Rec. 709, 12-bit or 16-bit RAW.

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Ultimate Aspect Ratio Guide

Ultimate Aspect Ratio Guide - by Vashi Nedomansky:
The boundaries of the canvas that filmmakers use can take many forms. The Aspect Ratio of the frame size varies from The Kid’s 1.33 to Ben Hur’s 2.67 and everything between and beyond. There is the Academy Standard of 1.37, the HDTV standard of 1.78, Vistavision’s 1.85 and more. I would like to share a plethora of aspect ratios (with examples) so you, as a filmmaker, can decide which one will best serve your story. At the bottom of this post…I’m including a FREE template package that covers just about every aspect ratio ever used. Feel free to use them on your own project or share it with other filmmakers, so they too can harness the power of the frame.

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Testing the “Pro” in Apple ProRes

Testing the “Pro” in Apple ProRes | Stopp lab:
This test started out to check color fidelity with Apple ProRes and The Foundry products like Nuke and Hiero. We knew from earlier that results wouldn’t be ideal.
Later we expanded the test to other video applications and encoding software to see what that would give us. The outcome was quite disturbing. A format most people believe to be stable in terms of color turns out to be not so “Pro” at all.

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Compare 15 Digital Workflow Programs: Is Adobe Premiere the Best Bang for Your Buck?

Compare 15 Digital Workflow Programs: Is Adobe Premiere the Best Bang for Your Buck? « nofilmschool:
Your on-set digital workflow can vary wildly depending on your camera, budget, and schedule with each variable uniquely affecting the others. But, is there a flexible, multi-purpose software package that can truly cover all the bases, and at a better price than all the rest? Wolfcrow has sought to answer this question in a recent, very detailed, post. Click through for a few more details, and to see if you agree with its findings. Could Premiere & Adobe CC have the overall best value?

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Should you raise Bit Depth and Color Space before Color Grading? Part One: 8-bit Video

Should you raise Bit Depth and Color Space before Color Grading? Part One: 8-bit Video | wolfcrow:
This is sort of an experimental post.
First we’ll try to understand what happens when you raise the color bit depth and/or color space before color correction or grading. The goal, of course, is to find out when it’s useful to raise the bit depth and color space, and when it’s not.

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How to Compress a Video

How to Compress a Video | wolfcrow:
This article explains how to compress a video for the Internet, and what settings work best. It is assumed that you are after the best quality, within your limitations.

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How to plan production and post properly

How to plan production and post properly | Jonny Elwyn - Film Editor:
When planning the technical ins and outs of your film production and post workflow its important to actually have a plan for the whole process before you being. If you just dive in and make it up as you go along you are sure to encounter, at best, a few technical hitches along the way, slowing you down and costing you time and money, or at worst outright catastrophic disaster.

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Phantom Camera Control Software v2.2 Released

Phantom Camera Control Software v2.2 Released | wolfcrow:
Support for the Phantom Miro M340 and Miro M140 camera models has been added
NI (National Instruments) Data Acquisition Unit Support
Persistent Border Data at Cine Save Feature
Image Tools – Tone Curve Function
Live, Play and Save/Convert GPU Support

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Cache-A Simul-Copy Speeds Up LTO-Tape Video Archive

Cache-A Simul-Copy Speeds Up LTO-Tape Video Archive | Storage:
Cache-A’s new Simul-Copy LTO-tape duplication and verification can shorten the time needed to create multiple LTO-tape copies and is made to serve media and entertainment users who need to rapidly and securely archive digital video content to multiple LTO-tape copies as soon as possible after they are created.

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Rec. 2020, the Color Space for Ultra High HD

Rec. 2020, the Color Space for Ultra High HD | wolfcrow:
Rec. 2020 is the designated color space for ultra high definition TV, or UHDTV, in both its variants: 4K and 8K. It gets its name from the standards classification: ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020. Rec stands for ‘recommendation’.

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Exclusive Webinar: Find Out Everything On-set Professionals Need to Know About Color Correction

Exclusive Webinar: Find Out Everything On-set Professionals Need to Know About Color Correction by Jeremiah Karpowicz:
As working professionals, I'm sure you're all aware of how complex color correction has become. With so many different options, it can be a challenge to establish what will work best for you and your production. Luckily, Juan Carlos Ortiz-Duran and Michael Forrest know a thing or two about how to navigate this landscape. The two joined us for a live webinar where they discussed...

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Who's Who on a Movie Crew?

Who's Who on a Movie Crew? on Vimeo Video School on Vimeo:
Making a video can be a one person production but the more elaborate your ideas get, the more likely you'll need a crew to execute your vision. In this video, we give you a rundown of the basics of how all the work is divided up on a basic crew.

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Fandev CuteDCP - An After Effects DCP exporter

Fandev CuteDCP - An After Effects DCP exporter
CuteDCP is a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) creation tool for After Effects. CuteDCP is an exporting (output module) plug-in which allows users to create DCPs from any file imported into After Effects and reduces the number of steps creating a DCP to a minimum.

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Colour Grading Tutorials, Tips & Tales

Colour Grading Tutorials, Tips & Tales | Jonny Elwyn - Film Editor:
It has been a while since I’ve been able to do post a round up of all the best colour grading resources that have come online lately, so this might end up as quite a long post. But that just means more great stuff in one place.

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Color Grading and DI on Visual Effects Heavy Movies

Color Grading and DI on Visual Effects Heavy Movies | Premiumbeat.com:
This summer’s most spectacular blockbuster spectacle Pacific Rim, from director Guillermo del Toro, featuring massive robots duking it out with giant monsters from the sea was given its final spit and polish by Maxine Gervais, colorist at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. Taking on a movie of this size is no easy thing.

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solutions for problems with QuickTime files in After Effects CC (12.0) because of conflict with DVCPROHDVideoOutput QuickTime component

solutions for problems with QuickTime files in After Effects CC (12.0) because of conflict with DVCPROHDVideoOutput QuickTime component | After Effects region of interest:
This problem occurs because QT32 Server, the process that After Effects uses to read and write QuickTime files, is crashing. One cause of QT32 Server crashing is a bad interaction with the QuickTime video out system when the Apple DVCPROHDVideoOutput QuickTime component is installed.

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Avid Media Composer to Assimilate Scratch Roundtrip Workflow

Avid Media Composer to Assimilate Scratch Roundtrip Workflow | Premiumbeat.com:
If you’re doing high end post production work, chances are you might be using both Avid (for editing) and Scratch (for color grading and compositing). The video tutorial below demonstrates how to bring your Avid video editing projects into Scratch for finishing.

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An Overview and Comparison of 16 External Video Recorders

An Overview and Comparison of 16 External Video Recorders
This article is a simple side-by-side comparison of some of the major external recorders in the market today. The goal is to provide you a birds-eye view that will make your purchasing decision a whole lot easier.

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Cat 8 cable nears the gate

Cat 8 cable nears the gate
While “Category 8,” the classification for the next-generation twisted-pair cabling specifications, is still in the development stage, the outlook looks quite positive that it will be specified to 2 GHz, four times today’s bandwidth of 500 MHz, promising a new copper speedway for users who need high-capacity, but shorter interconnects.

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Crossbar's RRAM to boast terabytes of storage, faster write speeds than NAND

Crossbar's RRAM to boast terabytes of storage, faster write speeds than NAN
Hardware makers often sing the praises of their latest and greatest flash memory, but the folks at Crossbar are ready to show them up with resistive RAM (RRAM) that they've been quietly working on. Compared to NAND, RRAM comes in at half the size and boasts 20 times faster write speeds (140MB/s), reads data at 17MB per second, guzzles 20 times less power and has 10 times more endurance. Since RRAM is non-volatile memory, it can keep data even when it's powered off, á la NAND. As if that weren't enough, 3D stacking construction allows for several terabytes of storage, endowing one 200 x 200mm 200mm2 chip with one terabyte.

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The Avid-Red Workflow (Part Two): Finishing from Avid Media Composer

The Avid-Red Workflow (Part Two): Finishing from Avid Media Composer
In Part One we looked at how to process R3D files in Redcine-X Pro to Avid Media Composer. In this part of the Avid-Red workflow, we’ll look at how to round-trip from Avid to Redcine-X Pro, and also how to work with the AMA workflow for Red.

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The Avid-Red Workflow: From Redcine-X Pro to Avid Media Composer

The Avid-Red Workflow: From Redcine-X Pro to Avid Media Composer | wolfcrow:
Red cameras shoot 4K and above (though you can shoot low-rez footage too), and the typical challenge is in dealing with R3D files in their RAW format until the last possible moment. Some applications like Adobe Premiere Pro can deal with Red files natively, and create projects that match those specifications. Avid Media Composer cannot create a project greater than 1080p.

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After Effects CC Harnasses Your Network As A Render Farm

After Effects CC Harnasses Your Network As A Render Farm:
If you’ve been working on your own project and your effects are taking forever to render on your computer. You either have to go away for lunch or coffee while it renders out your sequence, or invest in a pricy render farm rentals when going to your final render.  But Adobe has created a way for independent filmmakers to harness their networks and turn them into their own custom render farm thanks to Adobe After Effects Network Rendering.

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Importing Premiere Pro CC DNxHD MXF Files into Avid Media Composer

Importing Premiere Pro CC DNxHD MXF Files into Avid Media Composer | Fallen Empire:
Premiere Pro CC introduced deep support for Avid’s DNxHD file format wrapped in Op1a MXF containers. To the uninitiated this may seem fine for cross-NLE workflows but there is an issue with importing these files into Avid Media Composer. Op1a MXF allow a user to wrap audio and video tracks together in one file while Avid, on the other hand, relies on OpAtom MXF which is a multi-file format that splits video from audio and connects them with metadata.

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The Avid Media Composer Export Guide (Part Two): Exporting Projects

The Avid Media Composer Export Guide (Part Two): Exporting Projects | wolfcrow:
In Part One we looked at how to export a sequence as a video from Avid Media Composer. In this part we’ll look at how to export project sequences as-is to third-party software for finishing.

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Magic Lantern - how the revolutionary firmware for Canon's DSLRs really works?

Magic Lantern - how the revolutionary firmware for Canon's DSLRs really works? - motionVFX Blog:
Magic Lantern is a great software and this amazing add-on completely changed the video quality and the possibilities of many Canon's DSLR cameras. If you wonder how Magic Lantern works, you should really watch this video. It features Georg Hofstetter and Michael Zoller who talk about the firmware and presents a live demonstration of Magic Lantern, showing some of its unique functionalities and covers the hardware and software internals of Canon’s camera operating system DryOS. From the video you will also learn that programming your Canon camera is quite similar to programming any embedded ARM device in plain C. If you make the decision to mod your camera you should be aware of some legal aspects, but this topic is also discussed in the video.

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DNA Evolution v3.0 Speeds Nearline & Archive LTO Storage

DNA Evolution v3.0 Speeds Nearline & Archive LTO Storage | Storage:
This new version of DNA Evolution can be used to set up various automated conforms from LTO tape, as restore mechanisms. For example, clips identified via search, preview or browse can be selected for restore directly from the Web interface. Restores of sequences can be also performed with AAF/XML/EDL files, which DNA Evolution uses to find the hi-res media files on LTO. This type of automation can save considerable time compared to manual restoration.

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Blackmagic ships first 6G-SDI products to simplify 4K cabling by Allan Tépper

Blackmagic ships first 6G-SDI products to simplify 4K cabling by Allan Tépper:
Up until recently, if you wanted to connect a 4K video signal from one device to another, you required four SDI cables per source. At NAB 2013, Blackmagic showed and began to ship its first 6G-SDI products, which include ATEM Production Studio 4K live production studio, ATEM Studio Converter 2, Blackmagic’s 4K Production Camera, the HyperDeck Studio Pro recorder, and the company’s new Audio Monitor. But is 6G-SDI a SMPTE standard, and should you be concerned?

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See How Much You Can Do in Adobe Premiere Pro with a Multi-GPU Setup by Jeremiah Karpowicz

See How Much You Can Do in Adobe Premiere Pro with a Multi-GPU Setup by Jeremiah Karpowicz: Dave Helmly from Adobe was over in the AMD booth at SIGGRAPH 2013, and he took the time to show us some of the work they've been doing with AMD to allow users to do many different tasks at the same time and even open and use multiple programs.  He takes us though a few examples that showcase what the system can handle.

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Fletcher’s 2013 Camera Comparison

Fletcher’s 2013 Camera Comparison | Blog Central | Crews Control:
Fletcher Camera and Lenses have released their annual camera comparison chart. Fletcher Camera & Lenses collects information from their large network of industry professionals, colleagues and manufacturers in order to compile the information provided on this chart. This list is intended to help producers make more informed decisions when it comes to selecting camera and format for their next shoot.

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Sony & Panasonic Jointly Developing 300GB Optical Disc Recording:

Sony & Panasonic Jointly Developing 300GB Optical Disc Recording:
Sony and Panasonic have announced that they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage. Both companies aim to improve their development efficiency based on the technologies held by each respective company, and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015. Going forward, Sony and Panasonic will continue to hold discussions regarding the specifications and other items relating to the development of this new standard.

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x265: Open-Source H.265/HEVC Video Encoder

[Phoronix] x265: Open-Source H.265/HEVC Video Encoder:
There's x264 for H.264 video encoding, but now an "x265" project has been started to ship an open-source library for H.265/HEVC video encoding.

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NVIDIA Quadro K6000 Rendering Benchmarks

BOXX Blogs: NVIDIA Quadro K6000 Rendering Benchmarks:
The latest Quadro card from NVIDIA has been announced and BOXX was able to get its hands on a couple of the new Quadro K6000s for testing. In the video above we'll show you some visual performance comparisons demonstrating how the new card stacks up against NVIDIA's other high-end GPUs. The tests gauge the performance of interactive rendering using Octane Render.

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How to Import Different Codecs and File Formats into Avid Media Composer

How to Import Different Codecs and File Formats into Avid Media Composer | wolfcrow:
In Part One and Part Two we looked at the basic structure, scope and workflow of Avid Media Composer. In Part Three we looked at how to optimize computer and project settings for best results.
In this part we’ll look at how Avid Media Composer deals with different codecs, and how you can import them.

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Codex Inrtroduces Codex Backbone and Production Server

Codex Inrtroduces Codex Backbone and Production Server by PVC News Staff:
The Codex Backbone is a hybrid system with productions taking advantage of local appliances – Codex Production Server - along with the distributed hardware of the Cloud through the Codex Backbone. Based on the proven technology of the Codex Vault, the Codex Production Server is a repository for all digital files and metadata generated during principal photography.

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What is a LUT (Look-Up Table)?

What is a LUT (Look-Up Table)? | wolfcrow:
Ever seen a multiplication table in school? They wanted you to memorize the whole thing, but didn’t you wish you had the table with you whenever you were confronted with math?
It’s easy to remember 2 x 2 = 4, but try 196 x 314 or 457432 x 938483. What if you had a table that would let you find the answer instead of calculating it yourself?

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Multi-machine rendering in Adobe After Effects

Multi-machine rendering in Adobe After Effects - video tutorial by James Whiffin! - motionVFX Blog:
James Whiffin is a freelance motion designer who lives in Australia and he spends most of his time creating visual effects and motion graphics for his clients and personal projects. He works in After Effects and Nuke for compositing and uses Maya and Mental Ray for 3D. He also shares his knowledge in many video tutorials and here's one of them. In this video he explains in detail how to setup a network for rendering in After Effects on multiple machines and shares some tips on how you can speed-up this process. Some cool and useful stuff!

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Sonnet Releases USB 3.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Sonnet Releases USB 3.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet Adapter | Post Production Engineer | Broadcast Engineer | Video Engineer | Studio Engineer:
Sonnet has introduced the compact Presto™ Gigabit USB 3.0, a USB 3.0-to-Gigabit Ethernet adapter. The Presto adapter provides users with a simple way to add Gigabit Ethernet-wired networking connectivity to Mac® and Windows® computers with USB 3.0 ports, exploiting the 5 Gb/sec SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface to deliver full Gigabit speed performance with suitably equipped computers. This Sonnet adapter is also backward-compatible with USB 2.0.

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Render Taxes

The Genesis Project : Render Taxes:
Today, I’d like to talk about a popular subject… I’d like to talk to about taxes.  Or more specifically “render taxes” as it relates to non-linear editors.  It’s been said that everyone pays taxes.  In the case of video editing workflows, everyone has to render their media at some point, which takes time (tax = time) and hence the concept of a ‘render tax’.

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FFmpeg 2.0 Released With OpenCL, Many Changes

[Phoronix] FFmpeg 2.0 Released With OpenCL, Many Changes:
Among the changes for FFmpeg 2.0 over the current 1.2 release include new filters, support for Monkey Audio (versions 3.93+), audio filtering support for ffplay, 10% faster AAC encoding for x86/MIPS, WebP demuxing/decoding support, OpenCL support, new demuxers, new decoders, FTP protocol support, V4L2 ouput device support, X-Video output device support, and much more.

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Hamburg Pro Media Releases Free MXF4mac Player

Hamburg Pro Media Releases Free MXF4mac Player | Digital Production BuZZ:
Hamburg Pro Media, a leading provider of software-solutions for broadcasters and post-production profesionals is pleased to release a major update to their MXF4mac free Player. Despite a complete redesign and a lot of new features like a complete new GUI or Sony´s XAVC support, the new version gives access to the new Plug-In Store, where you can browse and purchase Plug-Ins and Add-ons.

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Understanding Linear Workflow and Gamma

Understanding Linear Workflow and Gamma:
Linear Workflow is a term that tells something about how the gamma works. To understand this term, you need to know what gamma is, why it exists and how to take control over it. I’m getting back to that. Let’s see some examples first.

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How to Automate Media Management in Avid with Dynamic Media Folders

How to Automate Media Management in Avid with Dynamic Media Folders:
Although Media Composer’s AMA plug-in architecture allows virtually any file-based source media to be played in real time without first transcoding to Avid’s native DNxHD codec, many times editors will want to transcode anyway to take advantage of the maximum playback performance DNxHD offers. New in Media Composer 7 is the ability to process both transcoding and consolidation operations in the background, freeing you to continue editing both AMA and native Avid media without interruption.

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8 Bit Color vs. 32 Bit Color in Video Color Grading

8 Bit Color vs. 32 Bit Color in Video Color Grading | Premiumbeat.com:
Bit depth has a major effect on color correction adjustments. Know the difference between 8 Bit and 32 Bit!

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MPEG-DASH: Making Tracks Toward Widespread Adoption

MPEG-DASH: Making Tracks Toward Widespread Adoption - Streaming Media Magazine:
The need to reach multiple platforms and consumer electronics devices has long presented a technical and business headache, not to mention a cost for service providers looking to deliver online video. the holy grail of a common file format that would rule them all always seemed a quest too far.

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Avid Codec Guide

Avid Codec Guide:
Avid Media Composer and Symphony ship with a wide range of old and modern codecs. They can also be downloaded free of charge for systems without Avid products installed.

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Adobe Encore Reaches End-Of-Life

Adobe Encore Reaches End-Of-Life:
Some potential bad news for DVD and Blu-Ray creators using Adobe products. Adobe has announced that Encore, their DVD / Blu-Ray creation software, has reached End-of-Life status. This means there will be no Encore CC.

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The Adobe Premiere Pro to Autodesk Smoke Guide

The Adobe Premiere Pro to Autodesk Smoke Guide | wolfcrow:
There are few scenarios where one might want to move from Adobe Premiere Pro to Autodesk Smoke, and the strongest reason might be to take advantage of the native editing ability of Premiere Pro and the node-based compositing ability of Smoke.

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HJSplit: free file splitting software for Windows, Linux and other platforms

HJSplit: free file splitting software for Windows, Linux and other platforms:
HJSplit is a popular freeware program to split and recombine files. The program is available on Windows, Linux and a variety of other platforms.

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Adobe Anywhere for Video Now Available

Adobe Anywhere for Video Now Available | Creative Cloud User:
Adobe Anywhere is a powerful collaborative solution for broadcasters and large enterprises that enables users to work together using centralized media and assets across virtually any network. Anywhere allows teams to efficiently shoot, log, edit, share and finish video productions on standard systems without heavy file transfers and duplicate media. Adobe Anywhere supports the latest versions of Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Adobe Prelude CC, available as part of Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe Anywhere support for Adobe After Effects is expected later in 2013.

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Increased support for Open Source software from EBU

EBU Technology & Innovation - News - Increased support for Open Source software from EBU:
The EBU is gearing up to better help its Members learn about Open Source software to use in their operations. That was a key message presented at the Libre Software Meeting 2013, where the EBU organized a media-focused programme.

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Amazing leap in real time motion tracking technology

RedShark News - Amazing leap in real time motion tracking technology:
This is an astonishing technology demonstration: A camera tracking a bouncing ball in real time, keeping it in the centre of the video image.

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Holographic TV might be closer than you think

Holographic TV might be closer than you think | DVICE:
Researchers at MIT’s Media Lab are reporting a new approach to generating holograms that could lead to color holographic-video displays that cost less to produce than existing monochromatic technology. Finally.

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The Autodesk Smoke Crash Course for Beginners (Part Five): Exporting

The Autodesk Smoke Crash Course for Beginners (Part Five): Exporting | wolfcrow:
In Part One and Part Two we looked at how to set up Autodesk Smoke for best results.
In Part Three we looked at the Smoke workspace and a typical workflow.
In Part Four we looked at the various import options in Smoke.
In this final part we’ll cover the export options in Autodesk Smoke, as well as archiving.

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The Autodesk Smoke Crash Course for Beginners (Part Four): Importing | wolfcrow

The Autodesk Smoke Crash Course for Beginners (Part Four): Importing | wolfcrow:
In Part One and Part Two we looked at how to set up Autodesk Smoke for best results.
In Part Three we looked at the Smoke workspace and a typical workflow.
In this part we’ll look at what formats can be imported, and how Smoke deals with them. We’ll also look at how projects from other applications can be brought into Smoke.

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News: eyeon Production Pipeline (EPP) – Open Source Workflow Independence

News: eyeon Production Pipeline (EPP) – Open Source Workflow Independence:
A forerunner in tools that provide a very fast, responsive, and highly-productive experience, eyeon Software introduces EPP. EPP’s benefits can deliver cost savings as the paths now live on global space that is accessible to all products. In contrast to conventions, EPP’s approach is far less error prone, taking care of specifying the paths. Artists are no longer required to learn the internals of the filesystem and can work directly with the shots and assets managed by the pipeline.

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It's AVA, Advanced Video Assistant, the Spanish video ingestion tool

It's AVA, Advanced Video Assistant, the Spanish video ingestion tool - IT Enquirer: audio visual:
IT´S AVA, your Advanced Video Assistant. No, I mean: it’s “IT’S AVA”, the beta software that wants to be the better ingestion tool for Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X and Premiere Pro users. The Spanish connection? It’s a team of Spanish developers who have started IT’S AVA a year or so ago. IT’S AVA — I keep wanting to just type “AVA” as in Ava Gardner — is a productivity tool for video editors and filmmakers. It looks a bit like a mixture of the now defunct Final Cut Server and BulletProof minus the colour capabilities and the transcoding, but IT’S AVA’s developers claim there’s a bit of intelligence thrown in the mix.

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Missing Link between Canon 5D and Avid

Missing Link between Canon 5D and Avid by Steve Hullfish:
So, I’ve had my Canon 5D Mark II for a few years. I’ve used it on a few jobs that I’ve edited on Avid Media Composer or Symphony, but I never really cared whether the TOD timecode and other metadata came across from the .THM files that accompany the .MOV files that come from the 5D. I always either just used AMA to link to the .MOV files or imported them and converted them to DNxHD files (MXF) inside the application, losing all of the metadata of the .THMs.

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Avid Media Composer 7 ships. Here’s 25 new features by Scott Simmons

Avid Media Composer 7 ships. Here’s 25 new features by Scott Simmons:
Avid has officially released Media Composer 7 and it’s ready for download. Sadly I’m right in the middle of a job using once of Avid’s competitors so I haven’t been able to try this new version yet. But never fear, the power of the internet brings us a great list of the top 25 features of MC7. These come courtesy of Wim Van den Broeck. If you’re not following Wim on Twitter then do so now as he’s the Avid guy to follow. And yes anyone can embed a tweet but we are doing it with permission from Wim. Thanks for putting these together.

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How to Automate Media Management in Avid with Dynamic Media Folders

How to Automate Media Management in Avid with Dynamic Media Folders:
Although Media Composer’s AMA plug-in architecture allows virtually any file-based source media to be played in real time without first transcoding to Avid’s native DNxHD codec, many times editors will want to transcode anyway to take advantage of the maximum playback performance DNxHD offers. New in Media Composer 7 is the ability to process both transcoding and consolidation operations in the background, freeing you to continue editing both AMA and native Avid media without interruption.

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AMA Plugin Compatibility for Media Composer 7.0 and NewsCutter 11.0

AMA Plugin Compatibility for Media Composer 7.0 and NewsCutter 11.0:
With the release of Media Composer 7 and NewsCutter 11, new versions of AMA plugins will be qualified for use with this release.

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AMA MASTER GUIDE

AMA MASTER GUIDE.pdf:
AMA stands for Avid Media Access. This technology—featured in Media Composer, Symphony, and NewsCutter software—enables you to integrate file-based media into your editing workflow quickly and easily. Unlike tape-based projects, in which you’d capture your video from tape to bring the footage into an NLE, file-based formats don’t require you to capture material to begin editing it.

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Video Editing: Additive vs. Subtractive Color Correction

Video Editing: Additive vs. Subtractive Color Correction | Premiumbeat.com:
Not all 3-way color correctors are created equal. Use a subtractive 3-way color corrector instead of an additive one for better results.

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Adobe After Effects CS6 Render Test Quadro 4000 vs GTX 660 and GTX 660Ti

Adobe After Effects CS6 Render Test Quadro 4000 vs GTX 660 and GTX 660Ti:
In an effort to be more wise with the finances, I sought to do my own digging as to what was better for AE and PPro in terms of render times and performance.  I had just invested nearly $800 in the QUADRO 4000 GPU and owned it for a year prior to running into an excellent article written by David Knarr of Studio 1 Productions here:

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What is a Render Farm?

What is a Render Farm? | wolfcrow:
Rendering is the art of ‘drawing’ an image, which means you’re creating new pixels. If you had one pixel which is red in color, and you applied a filter to make it green, when you export it to a finished pixel, the software will have to recreate a green pixel. This is called rendering.

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Adobe CC Tutorial: Using the Lumetri Color Engine to Apply/Create Custom Looks in Premiere & Speedgrade

Adobe CC Tutorial: Using the Lumetri Color Engine to Apply/Create Custom Looks in Premiere & Speedgrade « nofilmschool:
There are some cool new features in Adobe’s revamped lineup of professional video applications. From the new tools in After Effects, to fantastic new noise reduction plugins in Audition, it’s safe to say that the Creative Suite has never been more powerful or easier to use. One of the new features that’s had me the most excited however, is the integration of Speedgrade’s Lumetri Deep Color Engine directly into Premiere Pro, thus making Premiere one of the most powerful NLE’s on the market in regards to color correction. Hit the jump for a couple of top-notch tutorials that will get you up to speed with the Lumetri Deep Color Engine and how you can use its magical powers to apply various types of looks directly inside of Premiere.

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A Comparison of On-set Ingest, Logging, Dailies, Grading and Backup Software

A Comparison of On-set Ingest, Logging, Dailies, Grading and Backup Software | wolfcrow:
This article compares 15 on-set tools in one big chart, so you can start your investigations (that’s what it is) without pouring over hundreds of pages of features that hide weaknesses. Hopefully, the chart will reduce your workload to only about 50 pages of features and a couple of manuals. No big deal.

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Why video color changes on different monitors and programs

Why video color changes on different monitors and programs:
The world could be sooo simple: I create a pretty video and send it to my client assuming they see the same wonderful colors. But instead I get a panicked call that all the images are green and purple. What happened? Or, in a different scenario, I decide to check my video project in a different program and it looks different there. Why does video look so different between programs and monitors? Well, it has to do with color space.

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Digital Cinema Package - Part 1: Overview & DCI Conversions on Vimeo

Digital Cinema Package - Part 1: Overview & DCI Conversions on Vimeo:
This is part one of our three part instructional video series about creating a Digital Cinema Package, a file format and collection of digital files for storing and conveying Digital Cinema audio, image and data streams for playback on theatrical projector systems. UCF Film Grad Student Max Rousseau provides an overview of the technology and specifications, and begins the process of creating a DCP for his feature length film Pembroke Circle.

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