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MillimeterNAB 2005 Web-Expanded Content
Jun 1, 2005 2:34 PM
Editing
1 Beyond has made a name for itself delivering fast but price competitive NLE systems that often include the latest technology. At NAB 2005, for example, 1 Beyond announced that it would be incorporating the Tarari Encoder Accelerator for Windows Media in its digital media workstations and servers. Tarari’s product is a PCI-bus card that installs in a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003-based server; it offloads and accelerates the most processor-intensive algorithms in the Windows Media encoding application.
Blackmagic Design stands as a prime example of the small, innovative companies that have popped up over the past few years at the show. This year the Aussies introduced the Multibridge family, a bidirectional converter available in two feature-packed versions that provide instant switching between HD and SD. Lots of connections, too, including a built-in dual link DVI-D (connect any compatible computer monitor), 12 channels of AES/EBU audio, six unbalance audio outputs for 5.1 surround sound monitoring, and four extra composite NTSC/PAL outputs.
SmartSound was showing Sonicfire Pro 3.2. It’s one of those almost-like-magic apps that help you create music soundtracks that fit exactly to your videos in just minutes, and it just gets better. The company also announced it was entering into a relationship with MegaTrax, which would make available a one-use-only needledrop library. This would work with SmartSound's patented Smart Blocks algorithm, which divides musical tracks into logical parts that make them easy to fit to any length video clip.
Facilities that have already adopted an HD workflow are often still outputting to standard-def DVDs or DigBeta tape. At NAB, Israeli company Optibase showed a realtime HD encoder, the MPEG MovieMaker 200 board, which can eliminate the downrez step and bring professional encoding inhouse. The board inputs SD or HD via files or digital or analog connection and encodes to MPEG-2 at data rates up to 80Mbps.
The venerable Media 100, now a unit of Optibase, has gone software-only with a new version now in public beta. Media 100 sw is the same old Media 100, just without the board and a lot cheaper (it will be priced somewhere between $600 and $1,000).
The new version of Leitch VelocityHD 9.1 supports HDV, with direct FireWire I/O of 1080i and 720p flavors of HDV. There’s also variable frame rate processing to support Panasonic’s Varicam. HD and HDV content can be mixed seamlessly on the timeline.
Graphics and Effects
At the show, the new version of Apple Motion 2 proved that Apple has big plans for the motion graphics app. While the program itself gained powerful new capabilities—like Replicator, which makes it easy to animate duplicated movies or graphics along grids and patterns—Apple also announced a host of plug-ins from its partners. Wondertouch, for example, released a Particle Emitters package for Apple Motion with more than 300 preset effects. Meanwhile Boris FX, a developer of integrated effects technology for video and film production, announced that an upcoming release of Continuum Complete (BCC) will support the new Apple FxPlug SDK, a visual-effects plug-in architecture. This will open up the rich set of plug-in filters and transitions that Boris FX has developed over the years.
With all the talk of "workflow" at the show, it's easy to forget that there's still a dire need for programs that translate the work that you do in one program so that you can open those files and work in another. Automatic Duck has been filling that role for an ever-increasing number of popular programs. This NAB, the company showcased Pro Export PPro, which allows Premiere Pro editors to send an audio mix to Pro Tools, for example.
DigiEffects released its revamped CineLook2 plug-in for Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, and Adobe After Effects (Mac only). A new widescreen preview mode is part of the Custom UI available for the AE version. CineLook2 ships with a host of other plug-ins, like Interlace Reduction, Acid Wash, and Day for Night. A Windows version is due this summer.
Red Giant Software, which publishes its software as standalone versions as well as plug-ins, introduced three new products. Knoll Light Factory 3.0 has a new rendering engine that uses a graphics card’s GPU to increase rendering speed for HD projects. Primatte Keyer 3.0 addresses the keying challenges introduced by HDV and DV material, while Key Correct Pro 1.0 offers a new set of 17 plug-ins to help create higher-quality composites.
RE:Vision Effects released a new version of Twixtor, its popular retiming plug-in for AE, FCP, Combustion, and Premiere Pro. The company has completely rewritten its tracking engine for Twixtor 4.5, which allows for much more accurate, more extensive tracking of objects with fewer artifacts.
Wacom’s Cintiq 21UX is bigger and better. This write-on-screen Wacom tablet features UXA resolution, 21.3in. diagonal surface area, no bezel (for more naturalistic on-screen drawing and painting), and a new 6D Art Pen with a dual coil that allows rotation of non-symmetrical brushes and pens in programs like Photoshop CS2 and Painter 9.
DVD
Sonic Solutions demo’d future HD DVD and Blu-ray disc authoring programs. According to the company, the menu system will be much more powerful and interactive—for example, with video playing in the background while the menu is accessed. Sonic has been working with Hollywood authoring studios to develop the feature sets of Scenarist HD and Blu-ray Creator, which will be available this summer.
New DVD Architect 3 software, part of Sony's Vegas+DVD Production Suite, now offers advanced authoring features like dual-layer authoring and burning, support for Photoshop PSD layers, and multi-angle selection.
Storage
Atto offered new plug-in cards featuring 4GB Fibre Channel I/O, including the iPBridge 2700C/R/D iSCSI-to-Fibre Channel bridge, and the Celerity FC-44ES four-port Fibre Channel storage adapter. Atto also introduced Xtend SAN, a Mac iSCSI initiator software product. A standalone app, Xtend SAN enables Mac users to build Ethernet-based storage networks.
Last year, Studio Network Solutions became one of the first manufacturers to deliver complete iSCSI networked arrays. (iSCSI marries the SCSI command set to TCP/IP, which means you can use Cat5 cable and standard gigabit Ethernet cards to hook up storage and workstations.) The company debuted GlobalSAN X-24, the new top of the line in its GlobalSAN X series of iSCSI products that support mixed Mac and Windows networks.
Test and Measurement
If you’re moving into HD production, good test and measurement gear is key. At the show, industry vet Videotek delivered its latest take on HD signal analysis with the debut of its TVM-950HD, a multi-format HD SDI monitor that integrates a high-res color LCD display.
The 950HD displays single or multiple waveform, vector, gamut, audio, picture, timing, and data analyzer functions in quadrant or full-screen views. I like the cool, lit front panel controls and its ultra-quiet cooling system—a good thing when you have it next to you on the bench.
Scaling
It’s always fun to rummage through a Comprehensive Video catalog to find all the latest gear such as connectors, converters, and matrix switches, to name just a sampling of its vast inventory.
At the show, I looked at its CVG-719DS, a “true” multi-standard video-to-RGBHV scaler that converts composite video, S-Video, component video (SDTV and HDTV), VGA-through-UXGA, and DVI-D signals to 14 user-selectable pixel rates. What’s great is that the machine also acts as a seven-input presentation switcher, so you’ve combined two products into one, saving space and a bit of money, too.
Signal Transport
Going strong after 25 years in business, Multidyne continues to come up with interesting fiber-optic transport gear, among the company’s many other products. Its DVI-3000 DVI Fiber Optic Transport Link, for example, transports up to four DVI digital video sources at up to 1600 by 1200. Even though the maximum transmission distance is more than 2310ft. (700m), you won’t need compression with the system's 1.6Gbs throughput rate. If you don’t need all that, save some money with the DVI-2000 Fiber Optic Extension Cable, extends DVI digital video signals up to 330ft. (100m).
Do you know about KVM? KVM—which stands for keyboard, video, and mouse—is a switch that lets you keep your keyboard, mouse, and video monitor in your edit or graphics suite, and banish that noisy, heat-generating workstation to a closet, machine room, or other handy place.
Avocent creates a lot of the KVM devices you’ll find out there, along with related hardware and software. At NAB, it introduced the AMX5020 a 4x42 KVM appliance that provides realtime access, video, smart cable management, and security for managing your production environment. The AMX5020 matrix switch allows access from a single point or simultaneous access for multiple users. It even supports multi-platform server environments.
