Post NAB

Tenolian Bell · April 26, 2004

Even though NAB declared 2004 the year of HD, there doesn't seem to be much post NAB fervor.

There were actually some interesting HD ideas and proposals for the future at NAB.

Phil Rhodes · April 26, 2004

Hi,

I think CML may have taken over rather in that respect. However:

Kinetta: Woohoo. Cheaply postable 2K with PL mount. Where do I buy?

Dalsa: Cautious woohoo, still too bulky. Unreserved "woohoo" on the image front though.

Canon: Whizzy new anamorphic lens to compress 2.35 into the 16:9 frame. Moderate woohoo factor; would probably have made Episodes 1-3 sharper if available for Panavised F900s. PL mount version for Kinetta?

Steadicam: Extremely woohoo sled from MK-V. Gimbal good enough that even I could tell.

Panasonic: P2 format offers almost no woohoo factor at all due to cost of media. Like you're ever gonna get 'em back from the agency.

Sony: 23Gb blue-ray disc system with media under US$30? Where do I sign? No cost on the drives but attractive more as a data format than for XDCAM acquisition. XDCAM acquisition preferable to P2, although no-moving-parts cameras also attractive.

LED lighting: Some company - the guys who made the giant white LED ringlight - now make a small on-camera version. Fairly woohoo, but not sure how efficient it is against, say, cold-cathode fluorescent.

Power: Hydrogen fuel cells? It's Da Footcha. Bit expensive at US$4000, especially considering you only get two rechargeable hydrogen tanks for a total of 320 watt-hours of power portable. Four would be better. Not sure about practicality of dragging huge hydrogen tank around either and the system seemed bulky. At half the price it would be worthwhile. And can you fly with hydrogen fuel tanks?

Filmlight: These people have a new 4K grading system which runs on a Behemoth cluster using some very clever methodology (actually very basic methodology but applied rather cleanly.) Add Dalsa and you're almost all the way there.

JVC: Had a whizzy projector from their D-ILA series. Possibly the ultimate living room projector; full HD 1080 line with DVI inputs; showed in a blacked-out tent it looked absolutely fantastic, and not being able to see the projector in the demo booth I immediately thought it'd be the large one next door on the display outside. Thirty grand U.S, but only the size of a small briefcase and looked way better on screen than its size implied. JVC also now have a 2K projector; once they double that again we'll have the full Dalsa production and exhibition system - if anyone'll buy it.

Adobe: Premiere Pro still chasing Final Cut. Sigh.

Bored now. Will think of more soon.

Phil

David Mullen ASC · April 27, 2004

Is this Canon anamorphic lens a rear or front attachment or a whole zoom lens built with an anamorphic element?

Tenolian Bell · April 27, 2004

Hi,

I think CML may have taken over rather in that respect. However:

Kinetta: Woohoo. Cheaply postable 2K with PL mount. Where do I buy?

Dalsa: Cautious woohoo, still too bulky. Unreserved "woohoo" on the image front though.

Canon: Whizzy new anamorphic lens to compress 2.35 into the 16:9 frame. Moderate woohoo factor; would probably have made Episodes 1-3 sharper if available for Panavised F900s. PL mount version for Kinetta?

Steadicam: Extremely woohoo sled from MK-V. Gimbal good enough that even I could tell.

Panasonic: P2 format offers almost no woohoo factor at all due to cost of media. Like you're ever gonna get 'em back from the agency.

Sony: 23Gb blue-ray disc system with media under US$30? Where do I sign? No cost on the drives but attractive more as a data format than for XDCAM acquisition. XDCAM acquisition preferable to P2, although no-moving-parts cameras also attractive.

LED lighting: Some company - the guys who made the giant white LED ringlight - now make a small on-camera version. Fairly woohoo, but not sure how efficient it is against, say, cold-cathode fluorescent.

Power: Hydrogen fuel cells? It's Da Footcha. Bit expensive at US$4000, especially considering you only get two rechargeable hydrogen tanks for a total of 320 watt-hours of power portable. Four would be better. Not sure about practicality of dragging huge hydrogen tank around either and the system seemed bulky. At half the price it would be worthwhile. And can you fly with hydrogen fuel tanks?

Filmlight: These people have a new 4K grading system which runs on a Behemoth cluster using some very clever methodology (actually very basic methodology but applied rather cleanly.) Add Dalsa and you're almost all the way there.

JVC: Had a whizzy projector from their D-ILA series. Possibly the ultimate living room projector; full HD 1080 line with DVI inputs; showed in a blacked-out tent it looked absolutely fantastic, and not being able to see the projector in the demo booth I immediately thought it'd be the large one next door on the display outside. Thirty grand U.S, but only the size of a small briefcase and looked way better on screen than its size implied. JVC also now have a 2K projector; once they double that again we'll have the full Dalsa production and exhibition system - if anyone'll buy it.

Adobe: Premiere Pro still chasing Final Cut. Sigh.

Bored now. Will think of more soon.

Phil

From what I observed at NAB. I was only in Vegas for a couple of days, the entire convention is so overwhelming, I really feel like I only glossed over most of it.

The kinetta looks great. Finally a electronic camera (Jeff exclaims its not a video camera) that feels more like film camera, that will fit film accessories. One interesting point Jeff made that I didn't get him to elaborate, he said that one chip cameras aren't very good for VFX, and I was wondering why. And do other manufacturers of one chip cameras know this?

I ventured by Dalsa, and watched some footage on a small screen. Looked nice I wish I could've seen it projected large screen. I don't like the camera design at all. It's like going back to a huge mitchell.

I'd heard about Canon's anamorphic lens that was one booth I briefly passed, and didn't get to spend a great deal of time asking questions.

Sony and Panasonic switching to tapeless SD formats with tapeless HD on the horizon. Actually I like Panasonic's idea better, but Sony's idea can be done now and with less pain. I like both ideas because it frees the media from the constraint of codecs, the media can be used for any codec, unlike tape. Especially in the Sony world where every year they develop a new codec that doesn't work at all with previous codec?s.

I like the idea of flash memory non moving parts. But the cost of the media has to come down significantly. Panasonic displayed a nonworking prototype of a D5 camera based on the P2 platform. The memory cards would be 128 Gig?s. They don?t expect this to be viable for another 4-5 years. But media cost will still be an issue. I can hear people saying I might as well shoot on film for that cost. Panasonic is working on a P2 Varicam however and want to deliver it in about 2 years.

I would like to work with Sony?s blu-ray system but I don?t really shoot DVCAM or IMX. In that class of camera I?d more likely work with the DVC-PRO 50.

HDV, I glanced at Sony?s version behind its glass case. I curiously looked to see if JVC improved on their HDV camera, but honestly I?m not very excited about this format. My caveat is however I know at some point I?ll be shooting it, with a director who feels he?s working with the equivalent of the F-900 at MiniDV prices.

But honestly I can just see too much corporate positioning and marketing gears turning. We don?t really need a heavily compressed HD format. It?s not a great format in fact everyone has to figure out how to make it work. Plus as time goes on and HD improves the price of HDCAM and DVCPRO-HD are going to come down. This is what I see, the major video vendors had a bonanza with the success of MiniDV. Now that the hype has settled and MiniDV is finding its realistic position in the market place sales of MiniDV camera?s is flattening out and the major vendors want another hit.

Digital itself used to be the buzz word that caught everyone?s attention caught ears all around, now that has reached market saturation and digital is more common place. We need something new to laud and sensationalize. HD is the big buzz phrase now, why not make HD that?s affordable for everyone. Which in of itself isn?t really a bad thing, but this is really aiming to be used as a pro format. Or at least aiming at an audience who wants to use pro equipment but can?t really afford it.

So all in all, this is a way to sell thousands of cameras and a continuation to sell hundreds of thousands of MiniDV tape, with a format that doesn?t look very good on paper, but they are going to make it work anyway.

Honestly I?d advocate shooting a less compressed, less subsampled SD format. But its only inevitable that the siren call of HD in what ever configuration the masses can get it will drown out the truth.

I spent a lot of time at Apple?s booth. Motion looked interesting, I?m not an expert in video motion graphics, but it looked good to me. I?m sure Adobe isn?t happy. But competition is a good thing. I heard someone ask an Apple representative in anger about Apple introducing its own software in direct competition with others that have cooperated with Apple. The representative said if any one is unhappy with our software they are free to make a version that works better. In essence competition.

Final Cut Pro can also natively work with DVC-PRO HD through firewire without any additional hardware. To me that is bringing real HD to the masses. They will also have an update for HDV, but DVC-PRO is the real deal.

Phil Rhodes · April 27, 2004

Hi,

Did you see the HDV material that JVC were showing on their stand? I think it was coming off of some kind of digital VHS format, and it looked awful on the plasma screen.

Compare Kodak's quality-obsessive approach of actually having a HD-D5 deck connected to their giant plasma screen, which needless to say looked outstanding.

Phil

Tenolian Bell · April 28, 2004

Maybe one good thing about HDV, when one sees a list for a DP who owns his own HD camera, for a nonpaid job, you just show up with one these for $4000. Instead of showing up with a $100,000 camera for a nonpaid job.

Phil Rhodes · April 28, 2004

Hi,

Jesus, and that's a good thing?

Anyway, when I see an ad for an SD cameraman, most of the time I couldn't get away with rolling up with an XL1.

Phil

Tenolian Bell · April 30, 2004

Jesus, and that's a good thing?

Yeah I guess you are right that's not a good thing.

I'm seeing so many ad's asking for DP's who own their own HD camera for nonpaid job's I'm tempted to send them all e-mails, asking if they realize what a ridiculous request they are making. But alas what're you going to do?

Mike Brennan · May 3, 2004

s this Canon anamorphic lens a rear or front attachment or a whole zoom lens built with an anamorphic element?

It is a (ungainly) 6 inch long adapter. The image is unside down so needs to be corrected in camera, this is possible with most HD cameras.

It will be very interesting to see how well it workes with the new Canon Primes.

The picture looked looked promising on the stand.

As an aside ...the combination of the anamorphic adapter and a Viper in scope mode will produce an aspect ratio of around 1.4:1!!

This aspect ratio has an application for 100+ degree multi projector exhibition.

A specialised 120 to 150 degree angle of view HD lens would be interesting.... The "stadium" lens is not up to large screen presentation in my view.

Mike Brennan

May 17, 2004

Nothing that exciting at this NAB for finished HD products, but some interesting prototypes. I think that the HD XDCAM is nice. MPEG2, 72 Mbps; not bad. As for the JVC 19 Mbps MPEG2 camcodrer that will cost $20,000 without lens; I think that HDV belongs to the consomer level, at least with that low bit rates. It's useless for any serious work.