KnoxvilleFilms.com

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone and I generally appreciate the great gadgets and design from Apple, however, the iPhone 3G does not seem to live up to it's hype.

Here's why:

#1) IT'S MORE EXPENSIVE: What the ads don't tell you is that the 3G costs $15 more per month for the data plan over the regular iPhone. Over two years that adds $360 to the price--not such a bargain anymore.

#2) iPHONE SOFTWARE 2.0: Guess what? It's free for the regular iPhone and the new App Store is absolutely awesome! I've already added 30 new apps to my iPhone and I didn't have to buy the 3G version.

#3) WORSE BATTERY LIFE: With great speed, comes great energy use and the 3G is no exception, tech reviewers across the Internet are reporting battery life that is worse than the standard iPhone--which already had terrible battery life.

Don't get me wrong, if you need speed when you're away from a WiFi spot, or you absolutely can not survive without true GPS--then the 3G is probably right for you. For the rest of us, it's probably worth waiting a few months or even a year for the 32GB version with a better camera. It's only a matter of time. And hey, while we're dreaming--how about copy and paste? Every phone on earth can do that...

OK, I'm going to go back to playing with my new iPhone apps now!

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OK, that's a lie, they would probably much rather be shooting a larger format camera but the 'run and gun' nature of the show confines them to HDV. I'm a huge fan of "No Reservations" and have often wondered how they shot it. I've seen what I thought was Camera Two appear in shots with an HDV rig (the SONY Z1U) but I always assumed Camera One was a full size 2/3" rig--not so. The entire show is shot with two SONY Z1Us recording in 1080, 24P mode.

I was also interested to discover that they rely almost entirely on existing light, occasionally using some home made LEDs for fill. All things considered, the show looks great for such low tech production values. The little SONY's do a decent job though focus occasionally suffers from the lack of a full sized monitor. More incredible to me, each episode takes 10-days to shoot--not exactly a stressful shooting schedule!

Anyway, if you would like to read more about the "No Reservations" production process, check out the full article at: http://www.dv.com/features/features_item.php?articleId=196604056.

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May 21, 2008- Macville Productions, Inc (www.macvilleproductions.com) and Think Tank Services (ThinkTankServices.biz) present "RED One Day", hosted by Digital Media One.

Come Saturday June 7th to Digital Media One in west Knoxville to see, touch, and play with the new RED One Digital Cinema Camera. You will finally get to play with the camera that started the 4k digital cinema revolution. Doors open at 9:00 AM. The first workshop at 9:30 will be "Get to Know the RED", where the basic RED features and how best to shoot with it will be explained. "RED in Post" will be at 11:00. It will cover post-production workflow and how best to edit/color correct the RAW footage.

Matthew Rogers of Macville Productions, Inc. and John Fairstein of Think Tank Services will be on hand to answer any questions about the RED and explain rental packages they are offering.

Seating is limited to 25 people per session. Please RSVP to matthew@macvilleproductions.com with your name and what sessions you would like to attend. If there is enough demand, an additional session of each workshop will be offered in the afternoon.

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Here are two 4k JPEG from RED footage. The greens went funky when going from the TIFF to JPEG. There is also banding hat is not in the native footage that JPEG compression adds.

http://www.macvilleproductions.com/redfootage/A016_C036_080518_00115.jpg
and
http://www.macvilleproductions.com/redfootage/A016_C035_080518_00000.jpg

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Have been playing around with the RED for the past few days. Without a mattebox and ND filters, it's hard most of the time to get your exposure outside down to a reasonable T-stop (f-stop). High speed footage works great though--since you normally shoot at a higher shutter speed to get that silky-smooth slow motion.

Basic use of the camera is fairly easy and straight forward. The more and more I shoot on it, it really makes sense in how they designed the camera to be modular.

Here is another picture of the RED with our Cooke 20-60 T3.1 lens and RED LCD on the EZ-JIB. Also, here is a 3 minute clips of tests I shot outside with slow-motion. First two takes are 3k @ 60FPS, next two takes are at straight 24FPS in 2k, and the last three takes are 120 FPS @ 2k. http://www.macvilleproductions.com/redfootage/mowing720p.mov (720P, 67 MB's)

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It was with excitement and a small amount of trepidation that I sat down with Robert Russo of Avid to demo the new Media Composer. Having followed the trades for some time I knew all about Avid's "new thinking" and the drastic price drop on Media Composer (from 5K to 2.5K), what I wasn't expecting is to come away from the booth actually wanting to buy it.

I walked away with my head reeling. My firmly held Final Cut beliefs had been shaken to the core. I was dizzy and stumbled away from the trade show to find a drink and settle my nerves. Don't get me wrong, Final Cut still does every thing I need it to but I have to admit if I picked up an episodic TV show or another long form documentary project, I'd be very tempted to switch (and $2,500 is not hard to hide in the right budget).

Since I only sat down through a demo and didn't actually cut anything myself, I'll hold off on a more detailed review for the moment but expect a show down between Final Cut Pro and Media Composer as soon as we get our hands on a working copy. OK, must find a drink now...

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I think everyone who attended the East TN TV and Film Trade show would agree it was a tremendous success. There were several very informative workshops and a mini-version of the NAB expo with most of the key industry manufacturer's present (though RED was sorely missed).

I stopped in to see Jim Jensen at the Panasonic booth and was disappointed to not be able to get my hands on the new HPX-170 and the HMC-150 but my disappointment was quickly replaced with euphoria when he offered to let Knoxville Films do a hands on test with the 170 this summer. We'll do our best to offer a full production test review post and video as soon as we get our hands on it!

Of course, there was a lot of discussion about the RED One and RED Scarlet so it would have been great to have RED at the show. Hopefully, next year. John Fairstein has mentioned doing a hands on 'show and tell' of the RED in a few weeks. We will be there and post our thoughts as soon as that happens.

It was a great day. Special thanks to Thomas Duncan and Michael Barnes for doing a great job putting the show together and an honorable mention to Peter Clem for a memorable and entertaining discussion of monitizing video for the web.

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Coming up on April 29th, 2008, the East Tennessee Television & Film Commission will be hosting the East Tennessee Television & Film Tradeshow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Downtown Knoxville. Equipment manufacturers, Workshops, Lunch with a speaker (TBA), and Networking opportunities.

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For those of you out there in the market for a camcorder right now, I really feel sorry for you. The choices just keep getting better by the second. Personally, I was very happy with narrowing my choices to the Panasonic HPX170 which will be out this Fall or the RED Scarlet which will be out sometime next year (hopefully).

Well, the decision has just gotten even more difficult. With the HMC-150, Panasonic has added another interesting option to the table. Essentially, the 150 is a DVX100 with the tape mechanism removed, new 1/3" CCDs and processors, a new Leica lens (same as the HVX200a and the HPX170), one slot for a regular old SDHMC card, HDMI out, and all the regular Panny bells and whistles including the addition of a waveform monitor--nice!

Sound too good to be true? All this great functionality does come at a price, well the price will actually be under $4,500 but the down side is compression--lots of it. Current class 6 SD cards can only write at about 24Mb/second so that's exactly what the compression rate is. Fortunately, AVCHD is a darned good codec, my guess is that AVCHD at 24Mb will look nearly as good as DVCPROHD100 with the exception of not having intrafram compression. In other words, it won't hold up quite as well with a lot of movement in the frame. Hopefully, we'll get our hands on one on Tuesday and we'll give you a more precise analysis soon.

Back to the good news. With the new 32 GB cards, this little monster will record a whole lot of HD at either 1080 or 720p--three hours of 1080 footage at the highest quality setting--at lower quality settings it will record ridiculous amounts of footage--up to 12 hours. What does this mean? Well, it's an interesting alternative to P2. While the 32 GB card is still pretty expensive (around $700), 16 GB SD cards can be found easily for around $150--compare that with a 16 GB P2 card at around $850 and it's easy to see why loads of people are liable to settle for a little more compression, and the easiest tapeless work flow available.

So what about Scarlet? Will they really deliver a 3K camera with lens, LCD, battery, and storage for under $3000? I hope so. Would I consider selling my car to purchase one--possibly. However, it could very easily be close to another year or longer before they're actually available and there might be some pricey add ons necessary to really make it work in the field. Maybe not, but if you're in the market for a camera this year, the new 150 and 170 are definitely worth strong consideration.

Full press release from Panasonic.

Related Posts:
GEAR TECH: RED Scarlet Announced at NAB!
GEAR TECH: Sony Announces PMW-EX3
GEAR TECH: Panasonic Announces the AG-HPX170 HD Camcorder

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Please excuse the terrible video quality of this clip but I think you will find the content to be nothing short of revolutionary! RED has announced a 3k HD camera that will retail for UNDER $3,000! The anticipated release date is early 2009. This could really shake up the professional camcorder market!

Here's the specs from RED.com:

* NEW 2/3" MYSTERIUM X SENSOR
* 1-120 FPS (180FPS BURST)
* UP TO 100 MB/SEC REDCODE RAW AND RGB RECORDING TO DUAL COMPACT FLASH
* 4.8" LCD
* 8X T2.8 RED ZOOM LENS
* FULL AUTO OR FULL MANUAL SHOOTING MODES
* HDMI and HD-SDI
* FIREWIRE 800 and USB2
* STILL MODE
* COMPATIBLE WITH MANY RED ONE ACCESSORIES
* WI-FI CONTROL

SPECIFICATIONS, DELIVERY DATES AND DESIGN ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE... COUNT ON IT.

RED also announced a new 5K and a portable drive system also slated to be released in early 2009. If this all sounds too good to be true--don't forget the RED 4K system shipper earlier than announced and movies have been and are still being shot on RED One. For more details, visit RED.com.

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SONY's newest entry into the solid state HDcamcorder category is an update on the PMW-EX1. The EX3 expands on the EX1 by adding interchangeable lenses as well as genlock and TC in and out. With a price tag of 13K, it's not really competing directly with the HVX200 or the HPX170 or even the new JVC GY-HD200UB which is available for sale now with a Fujinon lens and battery system for under 6K (more about this camera tomorrow).

SONY has also announced a deck for the EX3 product line, the PME-EX30. The EX30 adds HDMIHD-SDI capabilities and is 720p/1080i switchable. Also new to the EX3 family is the PHU-60K, a 60-gig video hard drive similar to a Focus Fire Store. All three of the new products run on the SONY XDCAM EX codec that has a 35Mb HD flavor and a 25Mb setting. To support it all is a new 36GB solid state memory card which will hold 100-minutes of 1920x1080 video recorded at at 35Mb. The expanded EX3 offering will be available in Q3 2008.

For the full press release, visit SONY.com.

Related Posts:
Gear Tech: Sony PMW-EX1
Gear Tech: Panasonic HPX-170
ALL Gear Tech Posts

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As we count down to the "NAB of the Southeast"--the East Tennessee TV and Film Trade show on April 29th, Knoxville Films will be bringing you GEAR TECH news from that other little trade show in Vegas. We kick off our coverage with a KICK ASS announcement from Panasonic--the sleek little cousin to the HVX200--the HPX170! BOO YAH!

It seems like only yesterday a group of Knoxville production people were sitting down at HP Video talking with our Panasonic rep about the possibility of getting rid of the lousy tape drive on the HVX200 to make a less expensive, lighter, leaner camera. The response from Panasonic was,"wait for NAB". Well, the wait is over and the HPX170 is born! And she sure is pretty.

Now, I know what you are thinking, less expensive than the 200? How much less expensive? To be fair, the pricing has not yet been announced. It might not be much less expensive but I've never seen a product brand come out with a lower model number at a higher price. We'll see.

And the good news doesn't stop there--how about a wider lens at 28mm--the widest in it's class--hoo rah! How about HD-SDI out? Now how much would you pay?! And the 170 has lost an entire pound weighing in at 4.2 pounds--a much more hand held friendly weight than the beefy 200. Hail Panasonic--a new champion is born!

Here's the full announcement from Panasonic.com:

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 13, 2008) – Panasonic unveiled here at NAB the AG-HPX170, a fully solid-state P2 HD handheld camcorder. A full production quality tool, the solid-state handheld camcorder enables high definition and standard definition recording, the widest zoom lens in its class, and a HD-SDI interface for connection to baseband production and distribution infrastructure, all in a lightweight 4.2-pound body.

Fully solid-state, the two-slot HPX170 is a 1080p capable camcorder that offers the compelling advantages of P2 technology including: no moving parts unlike tape, hard disk drive, or disc-based systems; instant random access to recorded HD or SD content; a faster IT compatible file-based workflow; and the ability to operate in harsh environments with resistance to temperature extremes, shock and vibration.

Building on the success of the AG-HVX200, the HPX170 is equipped with new advanced 1/3-inch 16:9 3-CCDs and a high-performance digital signal processor with 14-bit A/D conversion and 19-bit processing to deliver broadcast-quality, independent frame recordings. The HPX170 offers a 13X Leica Dicomar zoom lens with a 28mm wide-angle setting (the widest in its class) and a cam-driven manual zoom for smooth, easy and precise operation. For added flexibility, the camera provides auto or manual focus and iris.

The multi-format camera records in 20 HD and SD formats; in a variety of 1080i and 720p formats in DVCPRO HD, in 480i in DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO, and in 480i in DV. It’s switchable between 16:9/4:3 aspect ratios. The HPX170 offers a 20-step frame rate selection in 720p mode for variable-speed shooting in the 12fps to 60fps range to acquire fast- or slow-motion in-camera effects. For added creative flexibility, professionals can select from a variety of advanced gamma functions and settings including a CineGammaTM mode.

With its two P2 card slots, users can record up to 64 continuous minutes of the highest quality DVCPRO HD recording using currently available 32GB P2 cards. Record times will double with the release of Panasonic’s 64GB P2 card in the fall. Other user-friendly recording modes include hot swapping for non-stop recording, loop record, pre-record, interval and one-shot recording. A time/date stamp function makes it ideal for use in law enforcement environments.

The HPX170 is equipped with an HD/SD-SDI output standard for live feed productions as well as for editing and monitoring. It also has IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0 interfaces for fast P2 content transfer into NLE systems, and offers a composite output, component output (mini D-terminal) and a time-code setting via IEEE 1394. The camera also features a built-in stereo microphone and two-channel XLR audio input terminals supporting 48V phantom power supply with a selectable mic/line; and manual audio level volume (two-channel). Other convenient operational features include clip preview on the camera’s 3.5” color LCD monitor; instant recording startup, scene files, assignable user buttons, focus assist and a camera remote function.

The AG-HPX170 will be available in fall 2008. It will be covered by Panasonic’s five-year limited P2 HD warranty*.

Bow chicka bow wow!

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For those of you who have had the chance to use a LitePanel LCD lighting system before, you already know they are the coolest thing to happen in production lighting since the Kino Flo. Unfortunately, just like the Kinos, LitePanels are mighty expensive--one little LCD light will run you over a thousand bucks. Enter the LitePanel Micro.

At under $350, the Micro affords the user similar flexibility as you would get with its full size brother--100% dimmability without color shift, a nifty little filter holder, and all in a form factor that will slip onto your hot shoe and you won't even notice it's there. It's rumored to run for well over an hour on get this, AA batteries. Not ecologically friendly but very possibly a shot saver in a pinch.

After doing a little research on the world wide internet, it seems that there is a general consensus that the build quality on these cheap little lights sucks. I'm sure it does. My guess is that it's thousand dollar brother would not fare very well if it fell off the camera onto a hard floor or pavement. I'm certain the Micro would not survive. However, at $350 I can replace it almost three times and still come out ahead. If money is no object, go for the regular LitePanel. If, like most of the world, money is an object, the Micro seems like a great accessory that is certain to help you pull off some wonderful shots at a price that's easy to love.

Full specs at litepanels.com.

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So I finally have been able to play with a RED One camera this past week (just in time as I finalized my order for the first rental ready RED in Knoxville.) Michael Samstag is supposed to do a complete review of the camera when mine arrives so I will just give you a few of my first impressions.

It's big, but it's not huge.

It's HEAVY! Because it's not huge, you think because of it's size that it should be lighter. However, the body and accessories are made of solid metal and so it makes sense. There was a picture posted the other day of someone fully standing on the body with no issues. With a small lens and only a few accessories, it is fairly light. With a lens like the cine Angenieux 25-250 that we tried on it it became very heavy.


Not totally crazy about how the menu system works, but it's not terrible and should get better as Red improves it.

The Red LCD is very nice for the money. Extremely sharp and I could easily see an image on it from 10' away.

The images it produces (see an example below) are really nice. Using Red's software to color correct the image is easy, and it is amazing what you can pull out of the highlights and shadows.

Just so everyone knows, we are trying to set up a RED day in Knoxville so that any one who wants to play with the RED and better understand the workflow for post can come and get their hands on one. Look for more information about that soon.





The image below was shot with the 25-250. At full rez, it is sightly soft. I believe that it has to do more with the fact that this lens tends to be soft at longer focal lengths (which I believe this shot was around 200mm) The wide stuff we shot at 25-50 is sharp as a tack. Even then, this is a very nice shot. Natural light, no bounce, under a porch with a cloudy day.

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Yes, I have found my dream vehicle! It's not a Mercedes or a Bentley, it's a 1993 Ford Explorer. But this Explorer has a few special features like "a DVS Clipster recorder, 24-inch monitor, and MacBook Pro with Final Cut. Hook all that to a DC-to-AC inverter sucking power from the engine, add a couple of Thomson Viper cameras... and you have a rolling postproduction facility that can capture and edit flawless time-stamped scenes as soon as the director yells "Cut!"

Some might argue it's a little overkill for a mobile production studio, but what the hell, if money is no object, ya might as well go first class.

Read the full article at Wired.com.

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As if the migration to HD wasn't complicated enough, the war over the competing high-definition DVD formats was enough to make even the most sophisticated technofile confused. Well, now the war is over. Toshiba pulled the plug on HD DVD last month and now Blue-Ray is the clear winner of the format war.

So, what does this mean to you the consumer and/or video producer?

First off, what is Blue-Ray exactly? Essentially it's a DVD that will hold 25GB on a single sided disc and 50GB on a dual sided disc--four times more data than it's standard definition little brother. For the consumer, it means great looking HD DVDs. For the video professional, it's a great potential archival medium.

In my humble opinion, here's the pros and cons of Blue-Ray:

PROS:

• They can hold a huge amount of data.
• In a stand alone player you can watch regular DVDs, plus HD DVDs at 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
• As a storage medium, the DVDs are relatively inexpensive ($15 for 25GB, $30 for 50GB), not all that different from the current cost per gigabyte of standard DVDs.
• In no time, all of the movie studios will support Blue-Ray (80% already do)
  

CONS:

• There's very few movie titles available (400 in HD compared to over 90,000 in SD)
• The players are very expensive (still over $400)
• The recorders are expensive ($400 for single sided, $600 for double sided)
• As if the players and recorders weren't expensive enough--don't forget you also need an HDTV to see the difference in quality. The HDTV prices are dropping but they're still awfully expensive compared to a standard definition TV!
  

Conclusion:
Unless you are a certified early adopter and must have the latest technology, the benefits of Blue-Ray are still heavily out weighed by the cost of the players and the limited number of titles available to watch. With Toshiba out of the race, the playing field may be easier to understand but the down side is that HD DVD players were much more affordable ($150) so it was helpful in driving the price of Blue Ray players down. Now it may take a little longer to get to the sub-$200 price point.

On the other hand, as a video professional if you've migrated to HD and want to maintain an efficient tapeless workflow, Blue-Ray is a nice option to have. Backing up a 100GB project for the cost of two Blue Ray discs will only set you back $60 and that price will continue to drop while the capacity continues to increase (there's already four-sided 100GB prototypes). This seems like a much better option than moth balling hard drives even if the price is still similar for the moment.

All in all, Blue-Ray offers a very exciting future for consumers and professionals alike. Now if the price would just hurry up and drop so we can all take advantage of it.

Related:
GEAR TECH: Sony's PMW-EX1 HDCAM EX
GEAR TECH: Panasonic AG-HSC1U
GEAR TECH: Shot on the Red 4K Camera
GEAR TECH: Adobe loses battle, wins war

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Open to everyone interested in P2 Workflow.
Please RSVP.

Come Learn, Shoot and Edit on P2 !! Lunch and Learn

You are invited to the P2HD Workflow seminar on Thursday, February 21st, 2008! The P2 HD seminar is Free of charge and will include presentations and demonstrations by Panasonic representatives and plenty of time for you to shoot on P2.

Please RSVP today, as there will only be one session!

H.P. Video has teamed up with Panasonic to give professionals a chance to do something you can’t do at NAB; a chance to learn about the powerful benefits P2 in a quiet environment and the opportunity to shoot with the camera of your choice. Get hands-on with the newest P2 HD products including the newest AJ-HPX3000, AJ-HPX2000 shoulder-mount and AG-HPX500 shoulder-mount camcorders, the AJ-HPM100 mobile recorder, P2 Gear and of course, the compact AG-HVX200. This is a rare opportunity that you will not want to miss!!



Thursday – Feb 21st 2008
Event Location: HP Video, 1200 Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917
Time: Lunch and Learn begins at 12:00pm
For Info/RSVP: Jim Jensen 704-660-5628
or Danny Harb 865-523-1073

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,
133 Colville Rd.
Mooresville, NC 28117
Tel: (704) 660-5628 Fax: (704) 660-5081
Jim Jensen
District Sales Manager
Panasonic Broadcast

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While browsing through DV.com, the latest SONY HD camcorder caught my eye. It's branded with the Cine Alta logo and records 1080p or 720p to solid state memory cards, similar to the Panasonic HVX200.

Adam Wilt took a pre-release camera for a test ride and reports it to be the worst camera for operating hand held in its class though he was impressed with a first look at the image quality.

For my money, what would have really stolen the show would be if the Sony memory cards were less expensive that the Panasonic P2 cards. A quick trip to Froogle revealed that they both run about $850 for a 16GB card--a missed opportunity for Sony. As these prices continue to drop, this will certainly be less of a deciding factor.

More importantly, while the camera calls itself HDCAM EX, the codec is much more compressed than true HDCAM (150MB) at 25MB for 720p and 35MB for 1080p. If I were shooting a feature or doing a green screen composite, I would much rather use DVCPRO HD at 100MB like it's competitor, the HVX200 employs.

I can't say much more about it without having it in my hands. Sounds like a great camera but I still have my money on the 200 for now.

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Panasonic has come out with a new 1/4" 1080i HD camera. Rather than relying on HDV, this camera uses a new codec called AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition), an MPEG-4 solution developed through a rare collaboration between Sony and Panasonic.

For a little over $2000 you can now shoot 90-minutes of 1080i footage on a 4 GB SD memory card (included) and transfer it to a 40GB SD hard drive (included!) when the SD card is full. Sounds like a great little, make that TINY camera for the money!

Visit DV.com for a full review.

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Effective January 1, 2008, the following rules apply to the spare lithium batteries you carry with you in case the battery in a device runs low:

• Spare batteries are the batteries you carry separately from the devices they power. When batteries are installed in a device, they are not considered spare batteries.
• You may not pack a spare lithium battery in your checked baggage
• You may bring spare lithium batteries with you in carry-on baggage – see our spare battery tips and how-to sections to find out how to pack spare batteries safely!
• Even though we recommend carrying your devices with you in carry-on baggage as well, if you must bring one in checked baggage, you may check it with the batteries installed.

Read the full story at: http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html

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