Studio Monthly articles from April 2008

Studio Monthly archives from April 2008

Web video's screen test.(editor's note)
April 1, 2008... Web video is no longer just a punch line or a sound bite but something bordering on an experience. Thanks to better compression tools and increasing bandwidth, Web designers are finally free to refine smaller-screen viewing--bad video doesn't...

Snorkel Lens for 2/3-inch HD cameras.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... With the increase of commercial and film projects being shot in HD, there is a growing need for more specialized lenses for such cameras as the Sony F23 and F900R, and the Panasonic VariCam and HPX3000. Abel Cine Tech and Wolfgang Roessel of...

Nuke 5 released.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Developers at The Foundry have been busy since acquiring the popular plug-in Nuke last year. The latest version, Nuke 5, features a new user interface, Python scripting, expanded LUT support for file I/O colorspace conversion, and mega-channel...

From shared storage to shared editing.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Maximum Throughput, best known for its flagship Sledgehammer storage system, is getting into the server-based and Web-based editing space. At NAB the company will introduce MAXedit Server Edition and MAXedit Web Edition, which feature a rich,...

Swift storage.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Proavio announced the release of the new EditBOX Mini-SAS (MS) storage line, designed for use with the latest PCI-Express Mini-SAS RAID controllers. EB4MS is a small-format, four-drive, SAS/SATA disk array featuring one x4 SFF8088 interface...

EDIROL V-8 doubles inputs.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Roland Systems Group will show several new products at NAB, including its new EDIROL V-8 Eight Channel Video Mixer, introduced in March and aimed at VJs, schools, houses of worship and corporate AV users. With the same primary feature set as...

Workflow wizard.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... GridIron Software announced GridIron Flow, a digital content management software that automatically tracks the design process from idea to end result and manages assets and applications for complex workflows. Flow tracks workflows by recording...

New zoom control for Sony PMW-EX1.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... VariZoom is announcing three new additions to its line of professional lens controls, the VZ-PRO-EX, VZ-PG-EX, and VZ-ROCK-EX, which are calibrated to provide remote zoom control for the Sony PMW-EX1 HDV professional video camera. All three...

Hardware RAID for editors.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... CalDigit is releasing a new HDOne Hardware RAID storage unit with sustained speeds of 400 MB/s in RAID 5. It comes with 8 drive modules and 100% built-in hardware RAID capabilities, supporting RAID Levels 0, 1, 5 6 and JBOD. The HDOne comes...

Imagineer to debut mogul.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Imagineer Systems, the 8-year-old company known for its standalone rotoscoping and tracking software mokey, motor and mocha, will introduce at NAB a VFX engine, called mogul, that blends editing, compositing, rotoscoping, 3D design and modeling...

Designed with red in mind.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Globalstor announced a new storage device specifically designed for the RED camera, the ExtremeStor-DI REDe, which features Dual Quad core processors that are optimized for uncompressing and playing back RED camera footage as a high-resolution...

Keeping track.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... SmartSound Software announced Sonicfire Pro 5, the latest version of its music library scoring solution. The updated program now has "Sensory Searching," which lets you search for music by setting up audio and visual cues to create a rhythm...

Flashy camera.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Ikegami is debuting a Flash-based GFCAM, developed in cooperation with Toshiba, that includes the GFCAM HDS-V10 tapeless camcorder, the GFSTATION GFS-V10 studio deck and GFPAK high-capacity Flash media. The camera has an open-codec HD/SD...

True colors.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... Sony is expanding its BVM-L Series of LCD master monitors with the new BVM-L420, a 42-inch display. The new monitor has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 and its signal processing engine incorporates 12-bit accuracy, delivering an IP...

GMAX Raid controller.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... GMAX Storage Solutions is releasing the first Raid controller to be developed and manufactured in the U.S. There are two version of the controller, the Star-X-F5 with a 4Gb Fibre connector and the Star-X-S5 with one eSATA port; both controllers...

Sweet sounds.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... KRK is releasing the ERGO (Enhanced Room Geometry Optimization), a digital room analysis/correction system designed to measure and analyze phase/frequency problems within a listening environment. Ergo uses multiple measurements and proprietary...

Major Squeeze upgrade.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... We review Squeeze 4.8 in this issue (page 28), but be aware that Sorenson has just released a version 5 line-up: Squeeze 5, Squeeze 5 Pro (formerly Sorenson Squeeze Powerpack), Squeeze 5 for Flash and Squeeze 5 for Flash Pro. These new versions...

Sapphire plugs for Apple apps.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... GenArts has released a new version of its Sapphire plug-ins for Apple FXPlug products, including Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express and Motion. The suite features more than 200 effects--including newer effects such as FilmDamage, ZDefocus,...

Test prep.(Spotlight on NAB)
April 1, 2008... LYNX Technik is introducing a brand new full-featured multi-format test generator based on their portable test generator, the Testor. The PTG5610 multi-format module provides two simultaneous HD-SDI/SD-SDI test pattern outputs, as well as 8...

NewTek VT[5]: one-stop production and post for toaster fans and beyond.(ROI reviews)
April 1, 2008... The heart of NewTek's VT[5]--a truly evolved "studio in a box" that traces its lineage back to 1991 and the release of the original Video Toaster--is the VTPro card, a PCI card providing composite, standard definition YUV video input and output...

Sony PMW-EX1: for a handheld XDCAM, full stakes in HD territory.(ROI reviews)
April 1, 2008... Wow. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Yeah, I know, one-word-reviews just don't cut it. But honestly, after a few days with Sony's PMW-EX1 camera, that's what I was left with. It's not perfect--little in this business ever is--but what it does...

Sorenson Squeeze 4.8 for Adobe Flash: a one-step compression tool for near Universal export.(ROI reviews)
April 1, 2008... Even with all the advances in video compression, the amount of poorly compressed video I see--particularly online--amazes me. Sorenson Media, however, has been combating that for several years with its Squeeze software. To accommodate the...

Shoot film out-quality video for the Web with the Panasonic AJ-HPX3000.(how)
April 1, 2008... STEP 1 KEEP SETS AND LIGHTING REFINED In keeping with Andy Warhol's original "screen test" aesthetic, we opted for a minimalist, yet refined and calculated approach to set and lighting. In our example, talent sits in front of an...

Edit RED footage in Avid Media Composer.(PRODUCT MANAGER TUTORIAL)
April 1, 2008... STEP 1 UNDERSTAND THE RED FILE FORMAT You need to know what the naming schema is for the native .r3d files created by the RED ONE camera. Here's how to read the metadata: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] STEP 2 CREATE AN ALE FILE (MORE...

The codec conundrum: according to the major camera manufacturers, there's more than one way to slice a frame. How do competing compression schemes stack up and what do they mean for you?(TECHNOLOGY: COMPRESSION)
April 1, 2008... The debate over compression schemes, which began in the early days of digital videotape, continues to rage in today's high-definition (HD) file-based world. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Motion504 heads in the right direction.(STUDIOS ON THE RISE)
April 1, 2008... WHAT'S THEIR GIG? Andy Reynolds, founder of the Minneapolis-based broadcast design studio Motion504, is a nice guy. Normally, when Coastal Dwellers describe Midwesterners as "nice," it's code for "not as sharp as us 24/7 power people."...