Consumer HD Cameras

Camcorderinfo.com does a great job of reviewing consumer and prosumer camcorders. Check out their "The Great HD Shoot-Out". It seems like the consumer HDV cameras are performing well. They like the new Canon HV-20. They say it has a great image and nice performances features like true 24fps. They also like the Sony HDR HC-7. Panasonic and JVC are trying out some new formats--AVCHD and MPEG-2 respectively--with not as much success as Sony and Canon. For pros, it looks like these cameras could be useful as a cheap B-cam or when something small and/or inconspicuous is desired.

Adam Wilt on HDV Cameras

"The Rashomon Effect" (registration required)

Adam Wilt does a write-up on a comparison of the HVX-200, the Canon XH-A1, and the new Sony HVR-V1. Interesting look at what is being offered in the HDV world. The V1 is an interesting new product that is a strong addition to the current crop of HDV cameras. Adam says that it is very sharp, sharper than the Z1. It has a true 24 frame per second mode (unlike the Canon and the Z1.) And at 24 fps, the V-1 seems to have the sharpest picture in the low-price HD camcorder world. It's also smaller and lighter than the Z-1 and the A1. The big drawback is that it's slower than the other HDV cameras--so either more gain or more light needed when you are not in daylight.

Adam Wilt also wrote a full review of the V1 for DV.com (registartion required.)

CalDigit S2VR Duo Review...and Firewire VR

This reviews is a big smackdown to the new G-Raid while boosting products from CalDigit. Article says that the G-Raid 2 is not up to snuff when daisy-chained--I need to check this out myself with some drives that I've got.

In the past I've said that it's much easier for me to deal with G-Raid's than SATA storage because it's easier to add storage with firewire. But if the G-Raid 2's don't daisy-chain well--then that totally changes that equation.

CalDigit S2VR Duo Review...and Firewire VR"

AMUG Reviews Versatile Server

"Dual Drive File, Media & Web Network Server"

I'm using a Mac at the office as a file server and music server and backup server. This could replace all of that except for running Retrospect to backup other computers. It's cool that it will work with iTunes and multimedia devices. I could use this at home to serve files to my iBook with its paltry 40GB hard drive. $500 without drives. Not the cheapest, but I trust AMUG and their excellent reviews. Here's their summary of this product.

"The Synology Disk Station DS-207 provides a high quality solution for adding streaming multimedia support, file service, photo sharing and web site capabilities to any computer network with minimal power consumption. The small size, quiet operation and the outstanding web configuration tool provided with the Disk Station DS-207 make it a pleasure to use. Music lovers will appreciate the built-in Disk Station DS-207 iTunes sharing feature. With a DS-207 installed on the network, there is no need to keep large music libraries on each computer. Just copy the music to the Disk Station DS-207 and it will stream the audio selections to all of the iTunes users on the network. The Photo Station 2 software also provides an excellent interface for sharing photos over the network using a web browser. The wide range of services provided by the Disk Station DS-207 will enhance any office or home computer network."

Mike Curtis Reviews DeckLink HD Studio

DV Magazine Review of DeckLink HD Studio (requires registration)

Mike Curtis from HD for Indies reviews the DeckLink HD Studio. This card has analong in and outs for standard and hi-def video, but it also has HDMI in and out. Sort of like the a regular DeckLink plus the Intensity card that I have discussed before. Mike mentions on his blog that the new Intensity Pro from Blackmagic will more or less match the featurs of the DeckLink HD Studio at a lower price.

Here's Mike's summary of why you would use this card:
"...if you want to transcode HDV or AVCHD to uncompressed (for finishing and online work) or to DVCPRO HD (for faster renders and greater real-time performance than HDV), or if you want to monitor on an inexpensive HDTV, then the Blackmagic DeckLink HD Studio is the right card for you."

As I mentioned before, I think the new features in FCP 6 make transcoding HDV or AVCHD (or DV, IMX, DV50, any format that can be captured in its native codec) an unnecessary step. With FCP 6, you should be able to mix the native codec with uncompressed renders or the new ProRes 422 codec in the same timeline without rendering. So that leaves monitoring video through the consumer-standard HDMI output as the only really strong reason to work with HDMI, unless you can't wait for FCP 6.

eSata Extender Cable

The Mac Pro's motherboard will support up to 6 hard drives. 4 of the drives have dedicated slots, but Apple doesn't give you a place to mount anymore drives inside the Mac. There are two SATA ports on the motherboard that you can use with external drives if you buy the eSata Extender Cable. It basically routes those ports out the back of a PCI slot. Then you can hook 2 more external SATA drives to your MacPro. At $25, this is cheaper than buying a PCIe SATA card for your MacPro, which start at $100.

ProRes 422: Apple New's High-Quality Codec for Post

I think that I downplayed the significance of ProRes 422 in my write-up of Final Cut Studio 2. After doing some more research, it seems like a real great codec. I just read an Apple white paper on ProRes 422 (PDF file) for lots of good detail on what I think is a big addition to FCS.

Here's Apple's summary of what's so great about ProRes 422:
Enter Apple ProRes 422, a new format designed for pristine HD quality, economical hardware confi gurations, yet high-performance, multistream Final Cut Pro real-time editing—for both high-defi nition (HD) and standard-defi nition (SD) formats. Apple ProRes 422 features:
• The quality of uncompressed HD at data and storage rates lower than uncompressed SD.
• Performance comparable to or better than the existing HD codecs in Final Cut Pro.
• The ability to work with HD on slower drives, and with more users on shared storage.

In my FCS2 write-up, I thought that ProRes 422 was all about the the $3500 AJA IO HD. But Apple says in the white paper, "Capture ProRes 422 in real time from any HD-SDI source." OK. I'm used to having Blackmagic or AJA point out support for specific codecs with their hardware, and I haven't heard any mention from them about supporting ProRes 422 (except for the IO HD.) But for the time being, I'm going to take Apple at its word.

But ProRes 422 isn't just for folks with those super-expensive decks with HD-SDI outputs. Apple mentions that you can mix ProRes 422 in a timeline with native HDV footage:
"Through a new user preference in Final Cut Pro 6.0, the editor can choose to render projects in HDV and XDCAM HD using ProRes 422. This will result in faster rendering time and a higher-quality 4:2:2 composite. For projects that are mastering to HD-SDI, ProRes 422 is the perfect rendering choice. "

So capture your HDV in its native codec, low-bit rate codec (lower bit-rate than ProRes 422). But then don't render effects in highly-compressed MPEG-2 codec. FCP 6 doesn't mind having HDV and ProRes 422 in the same timeline. Well, this changes a lot of my thinking about editing HDV in other codecs as the best way to post it The new ability to mix codecs in the same timeline, really means capture in the native codec if you can (no conversion/transcoding and you don't have to use more bit-rate or storage on a higher bit-rate codec until you render something.) And you don't need some 5-drive RAID to play back those high-quality renders--my guess is that a G-RAID will play back the highest bit-rate ProRes 422 fine.

ProRes 422 also support 720x486 standard-definition resolution. This is a 4:2:2, 10-bit codec at rates comparable to DVCPro50 and IMX 50, which are only 8-bit codecs. So Apple doesn't mention how you can capture SD into ProRes 422. It seems like again it is a good option for rendering at the least.

So again:
-For all intensive purposes, visually lossless
-HD quality at SD files sizes
-Do more with your video--your drives can feed you more streams and the processors can handle the footage faster than uncompressed

Apple also alludes to support from Sony, Panasonic, and RED. It would be interesting to have some of these tapeless cameras capture directly to ProRes 422 if it really is such a great codec, but it's not clear what other manufacturers might do with the new codec.

More on ProRes 422:
Studio Daily: "EXCLUSIVE VIDEO DEMO: ProRes 4:2:2"
Apple Insider: "A closer look at Apple's new ProRes 422 video format"

Sony Announces sub-10K Tapeless Camcorder

Was it 3 years ago that Sony and Panasonic offered their divergent views on tapeless workflow? Sony touted the Blu-ray optical disc as cheap storage with high-capacity, but offered more expensive cameras. Panasonic's P2 cards were solid-state memory, which allowed a smaller-form factor and cheaper cameras, like the HVX200. But those P2 cards are still pricey, despite plummeting costs for flash memory.

Well, Panasonic isn't wavering from its commitment to P2 with a bunch of new high-end gear, like the AJ-HPX3000 and AJ-HPX500, and the low-end HVX200 is still popular. But Sony is trying out flash memory with a new camera, the XDCAM EX

This is a sub-$8,0000 camera that records onto a new type of flash memory called SxS. Sony will sell SxS, and SanDisk will also sell cards for the camera. It records in a lot of formats 1080 at 60i, 50i, and 24p, and 720 at 60p and 50p, as well as standard-def. The XCAM EX records with the MPEG-2 codec, but I'm not sure what kind of bit-rates. They mention 18mb/s, which is equivalent to HDV. So no indication yet that the quality will be an improvement on the HDV format (one nice thing about the HVX-200 is that it offers DVCProHD, which is a better codec than HDV.) Like the P2, you can get an overcrank effect for good slo-mos.

The XDCAM EX should come out in the fall. The SxS standard was just announced too. So no word on storage pricing. I'm guessing it will start high, like the P2 cards, but I'm hoping it will fall fast with flash giant SanDisk also manufacturing SxS cards.

TubeTV--Save and Convert Online Flash Movies

This looks like a handy app. It is is for downloading and converting videos from YouTube and Google Video. Has a built-in little browser where you search and navigate to the movies that you want. It will handle conversion to H.264 for your Apple TV or iPod. It says that Macs need the Perian Quicktime Component to watch FLV movies in QuickTime.

I've written about keepvid.com before here. It's a website that helps with downloading flash fiiles from a bunch of websites.

Al Jazeera English goes YouTube

After getting shutout of US broadcasting, Al Jazeera English has launched a channel of sorts on YouTube.

I haven't watched Al Jazeera English, and the big question is if it will become as notorious as the original Arabic channel. I'm guessing not, but I think it is still worth keeping an eye on what they are doing. Especially considering the sorry state of news channels in the US.

[via TV Squad]

Lots of Adobe Stuff Going On

"Adobe offers Premiere Pro, After Effects betas"
Betas of Premiere Pro for Mac and After Effects Pro 8 available. Premiere Pro is only for Intel Macs, not G5's or G4's. After Effects Beta is only available for folks with a serial number for After Effects 7, but the article doesn't mention any similar restrictions on Adobe Premiere Pro for Macs. Article reminded me that Adobe is working on Blu-Ray authoring for Encore, which will be on Macs later this year. What's up Apple? Where's your next-gen authoring for DVD Studio Pro?

"Adobe to show off media player"
Adobe is working on a stand-alone flash player. Looks like it has sort of an iTunes interface.

"Adobe ships Creative Suite 3"
Days after I order a copy of Creative Suite CS2, Adobe ships a new version. (OK, there are good reasons why I ordered the old version after I knew CS3 was on its way.)

New Product: Final Cut Server

This seems interesting. An asset management product from Apple. Available "this summer." 10-user license is $1K, unlimited users is $2K. Not too many details yet. Here's some features.

-Searchable database for media--"100 formats supported".
-Windows client. But the database backend must run on a Mac?
-Client can be used to make cuts that will then import into FCP.
-FCP Project can be an asset. Users "check-out" a project.
-Integrated with Compressor. Will watch folders and automatically start encoding when someting is dropped. Then automatic notification when something is ready.

Watch the video on Apple's product page. I'm guessing that this is a good way to sell some Xserves and Xserve RAID's. This could be a really great productivity tool.

Final Cut Studio 2 Announced

Apple announced Final Cut Studio 2 at NAB. Here's my wrapup of the features that impress me.

Final Cut Pro 6
-"Open Format Timeline" easier to mix different codecs, frame rates, resolutions in the same timeline. Apple says "Freely edit a combination of HD and SD, including NTSC and PAL, all in real time." Now there must be some rendering, especially on older systems. But this is great, I'm very happy to see this feature.

-Motion templates. Create a Motion template with text fields that can be edited directly in FCP. So I could design a lower-third and an editor who doesn't know Motion can update the lower-third without ever leaving FCP. Also you can drop in video into a Motion template in FCP.

-Monitor 5.1. channels of audio.

-I love things that make it easier to mix audio qiuckly (I consider audio a chore.) This sounds good: "New Soft Normalize and Gain controls can be applied to single or multiple clips to automatically raise the level of any clip to its maximum without distortion. "

-Smooth cam. Smoothes out shaky video. In the past with other tools, this has never looked good on standard-definition stuff, especially if its interlaced. The video ends up soft. But for high-def sourced stuff this could be good. Apparently this came from Shake, which Apple discontinued.

-Apple ProRes 422. I don't know all the specifics on this, but they basically wanted to squeeze HD signal through firewire. Like what Avid did with DNxHD. Mainly seems to work with the AJA IO HD which will hook up to Macs through firewire 800 to capture and output from just about any kind signal

[swiped from Final Cut Pro 6: What's New"]

Color
-"Color grading" this means color correction. But I guess grading sounds more creative, and this application looks like it packs a punch. As long as it isn't as buggy as Motion 1 (and 2) were, it could be big. AFAIK, this is Apple's Version of an application they bought called Final Touch HD. This is aimed at a very high-end market. This is a separate app, and I personally wish that they had put some of these features in Final Cut Pro. You have to "round-trip" this stuff, which I'm not too thrilled about doing.

-Very sophisticated tools for tweaking color. Secondary color correction includes masks and vignettes. Great, but I'd love to see this in FCP too.

-Optical image flow--very fancy slow-mo/fast-mo. Also in Motion. Why can't we have this in FCP? (Maybe in FCP, HD4ND's mentions optical image flow in FCP, but is that part of Smoothcam or for Motion FX's?)

-Pre-built looks to make your stuff look like some sexy commercial or a music-video.

-This is a new app and Apple didn't raise the price for Studio (still $1299). On the other hand, they haven't upgraded DVD Studio Pro.

DVD Studio Pro 4 (Again)
-Huh? No updates to DVD Studio Pro. No real HD-DVD. No Blu-Ray authoring? Is Apple dropping the ball or maybe waiting for the new OS X? I don't really care because I don't do any HD stuff yet, but it does make me worry about Final Cut if it is not staying competitive on this point.

Motion 3
-Nice upgrade here.

-3D space. Cool-el. Check out the videos here. Cameras, lights. Pre-built camera moves, so no more awkward keyframing in x-y-z axis, as in After Effects. Throw is 3-D.

-Text behavior animation is 3-D. Again, check out the videos here.

-Particle generators are 3-D. Replicators are 3-D. This stuff is all really cool. Again, check out the videos here to see this in action.

-Vector drawing. I'm going to be adding drawn-on squiggly lines to everything I do now--that will never get old.

-Point tracking and match moving. Pretty high-end feature. I think this came from Shake.

-Image stabilization and Smoothcam. Smoothcam is also in FCP. Fix the shaky camera shots.

-Optical image flow with retiming animation. Apple says this was adapted from Shake. Fancy looking slow-mos and fast-mos. I wish this was in FCP.

-Motion 3 Master Templates. Allows editing text in FCP. Also video drop zone, where shots can be dropped into a Motion animation within FCP. Nice.

-More free stock footage and graphics.

Compressor 3
-Closed captioing. Says that it will insert closed-captioning information into movies. Need to do more research on this.

-Upscaling. Does it do anything special that FCP won't do? I don't know.

-Optical image flow. Is this new? Wasn't this in Compressor 2?

-Support for iPod. Wow, the video iPod has only been out for 18 months, and Apple has already delivered professional encoding for it! (Yeah I'm bitter about the long period where neither Apple or Cleaner support encoding for iPod video.)

-Chapter support for iPod. That's handy for podcasts.

-5.1 audio encoding.

-MPEG-2 Broadcast Streams encoding, e.g., for playout servers. Will it work with our station's? Need to research this too.

-Integration with Telestream's Episode Pro for all kind of formats "Output files in VC-1, WMV, GXF, High Profile H.264, and FLV formats. Or output proprietary broadcast server formats such as Omneon, Quantel, Avid, Grass Valley, and Leitch"

-Time code overlays. Nice way to make a window-dub of a show or raw footage.

-HD4ND's says that the H.264 encoding is much faster.

Soundtrack Pro 2
-Mosf of the new features are way too high-end for what I do with sound.

-e.g., 5.1 mix. I'm not going to do a 5.1 mix.

-Automatic audio conform. This seems cool. If you are round-tripping from FCP, it can keep track of changes to the FCP timeline and then change the Soundtrack Pro timeline.

-More free sound effects.

Final Cut Studio 2 is available "next month". Same price $1299. $499 upgrade from Final Cut Studio 1. $699 upgrade if you don't have FCS 1.

I think this is a very good package of updates. Hopefully, the Media Manager is improved--they didn't say anything about improvements to it. And I'm hoping that Motion is stable as it has always been buggy for me. Keeping my fingers crossed that the other apps aren't buggy, especially the new Color.

MacWorld: "Convert video for Apple TV"

This is a good tutorial on MediaFork aka HandBrake and VisualHub. Use the free MediaFork/Handbrake for ripping DVD's to AppleTV/iPod. VisualHub costs $23 but will handle just about any type of file for transcoding for AppleTV/iPod.

[via AppleTV Hacker]

Reivew of a Card for Fast & Safe Storage

"AMUG Review: RAID 5 SATA Port Multiplier Host Adapter"

AMUG has another thorough review of a SATA product. This time it is a feature-packed RocketRAID host card. It is the first SATA card to add good data redundancy with RAID 5 and 1/0 support and support for port multiplier cases that hold up to 5 drives each--so a potential total of 20 drives connected to this card (read review for a caveat.) Their test showed average RAID 5 writes over 300MB/sec. and reads over 500MB/sec. Very fast for RAID 5, but that is a 12 drive RAID set.

Here's the AMUG summary:
The HighPoint Technologies RocketRAID 2314 PCIe SATA host adapter provides Mac Pro users with RAID 0, 1, 5 and 1/0 support for both direct connect and SATA PM enclosures. While SATA PM enclosures may be a little slower than a direct connect enclosure, they can support 5x more hard drives. The draw back to RAID 1/0 has always been the fact that I never had enough ports to produce high performance. With the new found ability to connect 16 hard drives to the RocketRAID 2314, RAID 1/0 not only provides the highest crash protection but also extremely high performance. The RocketRAID 2314 opens up the very cool feature of adding redundancy to our SATA PM setups. With a price under $200, the RocketRAID 2314 provides a compelling feature rich SATA host adapter for Mac Pro users interested in expanding their external storage options.