FCP, INGESTION, AND CONVERGENCE IN AN INCREASINGLY DIVERSE WORLD
Heaven on earth for Information Architects. Much divergence, with bigger, faster and meaner, just about everything. The next frontier as dictated by Red, one year ago being 4k. Forcing manufacturers to scramble to come up with larger displays, faster computers and both faster and bigger hard drives. All becasue of these minor details, 4096×2304 somewhere between 220 Mbit/s and 290Mbit/s! And that is compressed! To put this in perspective, good old miniDV has a data rate of 3.75 Mbit/s.
Most of the usual suspects had impressive stands. A notable exception being Apple, who apparently don´t do trade shows any more. They literally run their own show and call it a Final Cut Pro world tour.
But walking past the countless stands FCP was every where. Many of the big players, Sony (Xpri NS, Vegas Pro,) Quantel (improved integration for iQ and eQ systems) and Autodesk (Fire & Smoke) were showing their systems working in harmony with FCP.
All very complicated stuff that we are not even going to pretend to understand but it has to do with editing the same material on a server in a cross edit system world! This seems to be a very clever move, maybe even helping Sony, Quantel and Autodesk too piggy back on some of FCPs success! And is somewhat different to the strategies of the likes of Avid.
MONITORS
True to our pioneer spirit, we were searching for the next generation monitor, preferably affordable and future proof with the ability to display 2k material! Which means at least 2048×1152. Problem is that most monitors have a max resolution of 1920 times 1200. No easy task.
First off at the Sony stand, we were able to do a very unscientific comparison looking at a Sony LMD 42 inch beside some old school Broadcast monitors. We had the impression that the “Old” monitors are still better, being smoother and with more depth. Old meaning with, Cathode Ray Tubes inside.
The Barco RHDM-2301, with integrated calibration, no doubt for people with even more money than the average Sony purchaser. Apparently these monitors calibrate themselves automatically which sounds about as amazing as an oven that cleans itself. We spent about 5 seconds on stand before running for cover.
We didn´t get to talk to Panasonic, as we forgot to organize tickets for an invitation only presentation!
We got to take a good look at the JVC, DT-V24L3D (Clemens 3 stars/Paul 4 stars) The monitor looked good and had nice histogram, audio levels and TC in picture options. Not comparable to Tektronix and other stand alone measurement tools. But nice to have as a reference and to impress clients!
There is also a calibration program which you can download on purchasing the monitor. However you still need to buy a probe for 150€ to complete software calibration.
We suspect that there was also a Eizo CG241W somewhere on the floor, which should be somewhat cheeper than the JVC. And even includes hardware calibration. However it doesn´t have those JVC tool bits and bobs, i.e. time code in picture etc.
We we´re also very intrigued by the CG301W because of it´s amazing resolution. It is the only monitor here in our list that breaks the HD barrier with 2560 × 1600 native resolution!!! As with it´s smaller 24 inch brother hardware calibration is included. Sadly we never found the Eizo stand.
COLOUR CORRECTION CONTROLLER
What with RED and the integration of color (formerly known as Final Touch) we now have an excuse to take a serious long look at the different controllers out there. Some of which would have been previously built into systems which would have cost as much as a small semidetached mansion. Examples being, Da Vinci, Filmlight, Speed Grade, Scratch and Lustre from Autodesk (incidentally cooperating with AJA these days!)
JL cooper (Clemens 3 star/Paul 4 stars) had a great stand with plenty of controllers all blinking and moving busily. They have been on the market for more than 10 years, making controllers for Avid amongst others. All in all this robust controller made a good impression and was easy to use.
Tangent, had no less than two controllers. There new entry level Tangent Wave (Clemens 2 stars/Paul 3 stars) and there CP200-BK (Clemens 5 stars/Paul 5 stars) In fairness with respect to the Wave we were probably playing with a prototype! Some fine tuning will hopefully bring this controller to the next level.
The Tangent, CP200-BK, was seriously intuitive. Even we were able to deal with this thing. It reminded us a little of Stennbeck times having, a very fine mechanical feel. Apparently it uses technology from the Satellite industry. Yes this technology has it´s price but we felt that it was justified. Also expandable with controls for devices, for programs etc. Guaranteed to shock and awe clients.
Even though this company doesn´t have a controller for color as such….. We both decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and award them 5 points. Euphonix (Clemens 5 stars/Paul 5 stars) The sales rep gets 3 points alone for telling us that he would kill us if we let it slip that his company we´re working on an alternative to Tangent and JL.
CAMERAS
Lots of people shooting for 2k and 4k. But still a long way to go. Because one year on Red was the only manufacturer offering a 4k camera at the IBC. We had heard of a 4k camera called “Evolution” from Dalsa, a Canadian company but we couldn´t find them on either the map or the floor. So maybe they were not there.
The F35 CineAlta Camera, camera from Sony looked very impressive indeed. Clemens got to try out some of it´s remote functionality.
There was an Arri, the ARRIFLEX D-21. Which is theoretically capable of doing up too 4k but is initially set up for 2k! The argumentation is that they are building a portable solution which works with uncompressed RAW data. For which there are currently no practical solutions! Meaning size and reliability still need much work in order to enter the comfort zone. That big box on the right hand side in the photo directly above is the storage unit used for 2k.
If you´re looking for speed how about the Phantom HD with 2048 x 1080 @ 1000 frames-per-second! Also happens to do 2K.
Red gets 6 stars from a maximum of 5 stars, for breaking all the rules. (Clemens 6 stars/Paul 6 stars) We really liked their slogan “Digital Cinema Since Yesterday.”
RED, showed some prototypes of there new cameras. Apart from the Red One they are trying to bring out a 3k hand held camera for under 3000$. Which is seriosly crazy. Think about it a pocket camera which shoots 3072×1728 pixels for Soccer Moms.
There was also an event, where it was possible to see Red material projected with a 4k projector. The material has a look and feel that is totally different. Seeing is believing!
Also interesting although no where near 2k was the Sony HVR-Z5U camcorder which offers progressive scan shooting at 1080/24P and 30P, DVCAM™ recording, time-code support and two XLR balanced audio inputs. It´s possible to record to the videotape used in the camcorder or to Compact-Flash cards. So those little miniDV tapes will still be around for a while.
LINKS FOR PART 1
fcp, convergence and digital cinema links
FCP studio, updates every 2 weeks
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/
and here is an impressive list of professional systems which are cooperating with fcp.
http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/solutions/delivery.html
still don´t know what RED is…..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Digital_Cinema_Camera_Company
some background information about the current digital film landscape
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_film
Monitor links
Sony listing at $9,300.00
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-LMD4250WHD/
Barco should be available this year
http://www.barco.com/corporate/en/products/product.asp?element=4442&lid=EN
JVC, DT-V24L3D listing at €3,800
http://pro.jvc.com/prof/attributes/features.jsp?model_id=MDL101632&feature_id=01
Eizo €1,600 and € 3,700 respectively
http://www.eizo.com/products/graphics/cg241w/index.asp
http://www.eizo.com/products/graphics/cg301w/index.asp
Colour correction controllers links
So what is this thing called Da Vinci?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Vinci_Systems
ECLIPSEcx from JLP cooper at $6999.95
http://www.jlcooper.com/pages/eclipse.html
Wave and CP200 from Tangent, wave is still not out but CP 200 costs €4,400
http://www.tangentdevices.co.uk/products_wave.asp
http://www.tangentdevices.co.uk/products_cp_200.asp
Euhonix, definetly don´t manufacture controllers for color as of writing
http://euphonix.com/artist/index.php
Camera links, 4k, 2k & HDV
Dalsa
http://www.dalsa.com/dc/4K_products/evolution.asp
Sony HVRZ5U costs $4,950.00
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-F35/
http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-HVRZ5U/
ARRI
http://www.arri.de/entry/products/D-21.htm
Phantom HD
http://www.abelcine.com/articles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122&Itemid=32
RED body only $15,500
http://www.red.com/
*this is article is the work of Paul Murray and Clemns Seiz
we have tried to be as accurate as possible in our reporting
understand that we are humans and thus are capable of committing human error!
this is not meant to be the definitive guide for spending lots of money
check every thing and then double check it
because if you´re not paranoid there is something wrong with you 
