Reason To Buy A Bluray Player

Out in the UK November 5, only £37 from Amazon UK and with an extra disc about Future Proofing (albeit in SD).

Happy Xmas Bluray!

BBC Trust Wants Your Opinion On HD Channel

For only four weeks until the 23rd October the BBC Trust wants to consult with the public about the proposed BBC HDTV channel.

Go here for details and the online form:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open_consultations/hdtv_consult.html

You could make a difference...

BBC's HDTV Channel Gets The Green Light

Ofcom and the BBC Trust Unit have decided that an HDTV channel from the BBC would be of high value to society and therefore have provisionally approved the proposals. A four week period of public consultation now starts which means we all have to say what a great idea it is!

Diane Coyle, BBC Trustee and Chair of the Public Value Test Steering Group, said: "We would like to hear from as many members of the public and stakeholders as possible before reaching our final decision. We are particularly interested in the public's view about the options for an HD channel on Freeview. Would licence fee payers prefer the BBC to launch a four-hour service immediately, before a nine-hour service is possible because of spectrum capacity, even if that means having to buy two set-top boxes within a very short period of time?"

Final decisions are to be made by November 21 and so the channel could launch soon after. The proposals cover all main transmission formats including satellite/cable/freeview/web/IPTV. The only fly in the ointment is that for HD to be broadcast on a freeview service in the short term it would be on a four hours overnight service that you would have to record.

The whole spectrum debate is still to be decided so if, and that's a big if, HD gets the spectrum it wants then the BBC's HD channel would then transmit the nine hours it has planned. This would mean consumers buying two lots of STBs which is probably a non-starter for most.

The main proposal is for a nine hour service from 15.00 to Midnight and will not be a simulcast but be a 'cherry picking' of programmes - not unlike the test channel that is already on.

More details here

People make Projectors

projectiondesign (all lower case, all one word) is a small company flying in the face of conventional wisdom and making a healthy profit doing it. When nearly every engineering company in the west is moving manufacturing to the Far East, these Norwegians are making everything at home – electronics, lenses, mechanical components, everything. Are they mad? Obviously not, as it works, so how do they do it?

There’s no easy answer, of course or everyone would be doing it, but a few things about their organisation really stand out. Their products are good – well engineered, with a rich feature set and frankly, they project great looking images. To design these products cost effectively requires a particular set of talents and here projectiondesign have an ace in the hole. A sister company is Bard Eker Industrial Design, well known for designing Koenigsegg supercars and Hydrolift sports boats. Undoubtedly this means they get a discount on the mechanical design of their projectors, but more importantly Eker brings a knowledge of heat management and fluid dynamics from their car and boat projects. Most of the noise of a projector comes from turbulent cooling air passing over components and vanes – if you know how to drive a boat hull through the water at 65 knots, or a car through the air at 395kph, cooling a projector is probably pretty simple, as is putting them in a pretty magnesium case. But Europeans excel at design – it’s the decision to manufacture here which is more interesting.

One thing drove their decision to build an in-house production facility – a need for flexibility; it’s possible to specify over 600 variants of their product range. Units are built to order and there’s no warehousing, so a production line that is flexible enough to handle those different variants is vital. The line is state of the art, for instance automated optical inspection of printed circuit boards is carried out at several stages during assembly, rather than once the boards are completed – so if a board is duff, it gets spotted before you solder too many expensive components onto it. Neat. A big Oracle database hooks everything together – orders, stock (which they don’t really have – Just In Time works as well as it can here), accounting and so on. But even this isn’t the secret to projectiondesign’s success. Their secret is simple. People.

First of all you have to employ the right people. Education standards in Norway are very high - higher than in the UK (ouch!) – and projectiondesign are careful whom they employ. For instance, production line workers are recruited from the local town. They are trained for two months. If, at the end of the two months, the other workers on the line don’t think they cut the mustard, then they are fired. Their co-workers fire them, not a manager or the Operations Director. In fact, there isn’t a manager responsible for the people on the production line – they, largely, self manage. They know how many projectors to build each day and they are all responsible – no, that’s too objective - they all feel responsible for getting them done. If they finish early they all go to the pub – if things don’t go well they all stay late. No-one gets shouted at by a big boss, their co-workers, their friends motive them. And they have fun doing it.

projectiondesign are proud to say that are privately owned and will stay that way. They won’t have their company run by bean counters. They are careful about money, but they won’t ‘cut costs’. They believe in spending money where they should and they know that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. They understand the value of an expenditure – for instance, if a shipment of raw materials is stuck in Norwegian Customs, the Operations Director will send a helicopter to get them. Having a helicopter idling in the Customs’ car park motivates them to clear the goods far more quickly than a taxi does.

Of course, knitting together all the factors that make a healthy company is far more complex than all this. There is, though, a lesson here for us Brits, as we move, or are moved to a service economy. It is possible to manufacture here in the West, but whatever we choose to do – manufacture or provide services - we must be smart, and smartness starts in the classroom and leads to the boardroom.

New Video - RED, Nox Camera, Arri D-20

New on HD Magazine's Web Channels are:

• Clip from music video shot with RED camera
• Clips from IBC 07 of Arri D-20 with hand cranking option
• Introduction of the new Nox camera

Web channels are here

All videos are available for viewing and downloads

New Video Content - Panavision's New Recorder

New for our 'All Video' and 'Events' channels is a presentation from Panavision's John Galt of their new flash-based recorder given at the recent IBC Convention. John talks a little bit about the uptake of the Genesis camera and then describes the spec of the new recorder. Look out for John's tirade about what is and what isn't 4k later in the 11 minute piece.

Go to our media player for the channels here

Channel 4 to offer HD on Sky

Channel 4 is set to become the first terrestrial broadcaster to offer a high definition simulcast of its main channel on the Sky platform. Anticipated to be available from December 2007, Channel 4 HD will allow Sky HD customers to watch HD versions of hit Channel 4 shows from a broad range of genres.

Since launching in May 2006, Sky HD has become Sky's fastest growing additional TV product ever. With 292,000 customers signing up to the service in the first year alone, it is the UK's most popular HD service. It is also the UK's most comprehensive HD service, with approximately 5,000 hours of HD content being offered to customers each month across 12 dedicated HD channels.

Rod Henwood, New Media Director, Channel 4, comments: "Channel 4’s aim is to offer our viewers maximum flexibility in accessing our high quality programmes and content at a time and in the format of their choosing. HD is a fast growing consumer technology and we believe our viewers will welcome the opportunity to watch their favourite Channel 4 shows in high definition.”

Brian Sullivan, Managing Director, Customer Group, BSkyB, adds: "High definition is transforming the TV experience and customers are responding in record numbers to the fundamental improvement in quality and sound quality. We want our customers to enjoy access to the widest choice of HD programmes so we’re extremely excited about the launch of Channel 4 HD. Be it sports, movies, documentaries or entertainment, Sky HD customers can now access the richest selection of content in HD."

Research by Ofcom ('The Communications Market 2007') has found that HD programming accounted for roughly one-third of total viewing in HD enabled homes. In addition, forty-three per cent of viewers with access to HD reported that their overall TV viewing had increased since taking HD. The same percentage of viewers also said they watched more film and more sport since getting HD.

Channel 4 HD will be available without subscription to viewers with a Sky HD box and viewing card.

100 PMW-EX1 Tapeless camcorders Bought By Mitcorp

The IBC launch of the new Sony PMW EX1 has been followed by a swift and perhaps significant huge order of the product from UK Sony dealer Mitcorp.

We cannot ignore the fact that tapeless acquisition and workflow has become a ‘hot topic’ in recent months with programme makers recognising that like it or not, tapeless acquisition in HD is where television production is headed.

Mitcorp's Dennis Lennie commented: "We firmly believe Sony’s latest addition the PMW-EX1 provides our customers with the benefits that tapeless technology has to offer without having to dramatically alter their familiar tape based working practices.

"The HVR-Z1E for example has become a staple for programme makers particularly in the factual and reality arena because of its size and ease of use. Mitcorp have supplied many hundreds of HDV cameras to production companies and hire facilities as well as individual camera people and producers. Until now, solid state has been restricted by the length of recording time and that has restricted the use of tapeless products to shorter projects unless you use as 3rd party storage drive.

"Longer documentaries have been shot on the Panasonic HVX-200 which does offer excellent picture quality however the higher quality and lower compression means larger files and a requirement to manage that media meticulously in the field, something few factual programme makers want to do unless they have to. In reality the majority of factual programmes do not require such a high quality.

"A few years ago factual programmes were being shot largely on Digibeta but budgets reduced and DVCAM became the workhorse. The Ex camera will offer higher image quality than DVCAM and satisfy many HD requirements as it produces a full 1920x1080 image.

"We have committed to such a large initial order on the back of the high degree of interest we have had from our customers since its launch at NAB earlier this year. The PMW-EX1 is the only camcorder of its size and price that allows for up to 70 mins of recording at full HD quality on to high speed and robust SxS PRO media, thus bringing solid state into the same ballpark as tape in terms of duration. Moreover the media is non proprietary as SanDisk will also be manufacturing express cards meaning more choice and value for money."

The PMW-EX1 allows a camera person to take 4 cards and have over 4 hrs of recording capability. You still have to move the footage from the card after a day on location but this can be done on a laptop with an Express card slot or by using a card reader in the evening. The camera is file based you can review footage and if you wish only transfer the ‘good takes’. In addition Express card technology offers a faster transfer rate of 800MB/s which means that footage will copy at twice real time speed.

The PMW-EX1 is a full 1920x1080 resolution using ½” CMOS sensors in a sub £4500 camcorder.

IBC 2007 Day One

Sony
Sony were in bullish mood at their press conference with some European sales figures of One Billion Euro across the continent, High Definition now makes up 50 % of their turnover in Europe. They also defending their habit of bringing out different formats, something no customer had every complained of - they said, by describing this practice as providing each industry sector with a format they can work with.

Equipment news included the confirmation of dual layer recording for XDCAM HD, a couple of new XDCAM HD cameras with 2/3in sensors and 50mps dual layer - PDW 700 and PDW1500. and the new tapeless HVX200 beater (perhaps) the PMWEX1.
This little camera has a couple of things going for it from the off including the price which will be €6500 with a couple of 8GB cards thrown in. The reader and the deck are obviously more but the great news for Mac Book Pro users is that the cards go straight in the PC Express slot on the side of the computer and load immediately. Editing is then native in Final Cut 6.

The EX1 has 3xhalf inch CMOS sensors and some off speed ability and should be shipping in November. Should sell well at that price.

Sony also had the Vince Pace 4k 3D demo reel which was stunning as it was at NAB.

Thomson Grass Valley
We all bet what the Infinity news would be and it is, ‘Still being tested but the people who are using it think its great’ Flevoland in Holland a 24 hour news station are tested it but only in SD. There was Infinity footage including the latest Space Shuttle launch but no big news network order news.

Other products include the new Sportscam LDK8000 which is a new 2X slo-mo camercorder priced similarly to existing LDK cameras so you can get slomo cheaper.

There was more success for the Edius with 4.5 going out recently and news of big OB order in the Middle East with ADMC buying four HD OBs on the way to a €80 million spend on HD - they are recording football and political rallys.


Quantel
Quantel were boyuant about their figures this year and with their new management team are looking for growth all around the world.

News for the show was their full suite of 3D post tools called SID.

"Special 3D features include a comparison mode (50/50 mix, left/right eye, difference map) and the ability to see when left/right eye link is broken. All of these deliver a true WYSIWYG experience for the operator and, most importantly, the client."

Demos for the press are SUNDAY and we already have our glasses so will let you know what the software does.

SID is available as an option on all new Pablo 4K, iQ4 and Max 4K systems. Additionally all existing Pablo 4K or iQ systems can upgrade to Stereoscopic 3D, providing a 'start to finish' Stereo workflow including previsualisation, editing, VFX, colour correction, trailers and mastering.

Available after IBC

Apple
Apple are showing some independent surveys which basically show that they have changed position with Avid from the situation in 2002, they now show they have 50% of the NLE business and Avid have around 25%. This is an independent survey open to anybody so no wonder they are shouting about it.

Announcements include support for the JVC 250 and 720/50p, support for the new Sony EX1 tapeless camcorder, more support for XDCAM HD and P2 formats and also support for AVCi as in they trancode it to their own codec when importing.

Dual import for RED as in their RED CODE for 2k work and transcode to PRORES for HDTV work. Their Final Cut Studio 2 has been a huge success, maybe something to do with Color being a free part of it.

More to come later

Mitsubishi Electric launches new 46” Full High Definition LCD monitor at IBC 2007

Press release – The latest addition to the Mitsubishi Electric range of professional LCD displays will be revealed at IBC 2007. The new 46” Full High Definition (FHD) display joins the company’s existing range of high-quality LCD monitors, all of which have been designed very much with the professional user in mind. Excellent image performance makes the LDT461V ideal for use in both active scenery and broadcast monitoring applications.

The LDT461V offers native 1920 x 1080 resolution, and is capable of supporting a wide variety of data and video sources via both analogue and digital inputs. True HD resolution combined with a fast response time of 6ms(grey-to-grey), 1500:1 contrast ratio and 500cd/m² brightness delivers superb image quality with high-fidelity colour reproduction. A low-reflection screen surface also helps to improve image quality in high ambient light environments such as public spaces or studio environments. A viewing angle of 176º in both vertical and horizontal planes allows the display to be clearly visible from virtually all angles.

A number of built-in features adds to the versatility of the LDT461V: Picture-in-picture and picture-out-picture functions allow video and data inputs to be combined in a number of different ways, while a comprehensive range of display modes allows content to be zoomed to any of the standard screen sizes, as well as anamorphically to achieve custom formats. In 4:3 display mode, side border bars are also user-configurable to black, grey or white. A built-in tiling mode enables multi-screen tiled displays of up to 25 panels (5 x 5) to be easily created without the need for an external image processor.

A number of useful enhancements have been included to reduce the need for user intervention and to improve long-term reliability. Display controls include a 7-day programmable on/off scheduler, enabling displays to switch on and off automatically. A power-up timer helps to reduce power surge when several displays are used together. Several screen–saver features are included to help reduce long-term LCD deterioration. Gamma and brightness can be set to pre-determined levels automatically, while an image shift function helps reduce image sticking by moving a static image around 10 mm in both vertical and horizontal planes after a preset time delay.

Genesis Camera Shows New Recorder at IBC

A new dockable recorder for Panavision’s Genesis Super 35 Digital Cinematography Camera System, which reduces the weight of the Genesis camera to equal the lightest 35mm sound camera, will receive its first public preview at IBC 2007 this Friday, September 7, 3:30-4:30 pm in the IBC Big Screen, located in the RAI Auditorium.

The new Genesis SSR-1 HDCAM-SR format dockable recorder will be presented by John Galt, head of Panavision’s Advanced Digital Imaging group, and generally acknowledged as the 'godfather' of the Genesis camera system.

The SSR-1 has been designed to reduce the camera’s weight to roughly the same as the lightest 35mm film sound cameras. Weighing only 2.5 kilos (5.5 lbs.) the Genesis SSR-1 recorder is intended for use in handheld, Steadicam and similar shooting situations.

High Definition Magazine Launch Shoot 'n Post

High Definition Magazine and The Look HD Grading and Finishing facility have decided to bring two worlds ‘colliding’ together in a series of camera days based at The Look in London’s Soho.

The idea was to invite DoPs who were either new to high definition or short on experience with it to an event where they could get hands-on and also follow footage into a post grading scenario.

We would film the events and place the clip on our web site TV channel (www.definitionmagazine.com). Download the clip here

Visual Impact who are the only rental house in the UK to have the Sony F23 agreed to bring one of theirs along to be ‘picked over’ by mostly film orientated DoPs.

RED Camera Delivers!

Nearly two years after we first started hearing the rumours of Jim Jannard and his camera, the first 25 cameras have been
delivered.

RED has delivered a text book 'guerilla' marketing campaign using a clever paid reservation policy and a 'warts and all' approach to its progress to the extent of reporting on thefts and problems with the production.

RED has promised 1,000s of cameras in to a fledgling digital cinematography market and one which has a traditional unspoken 'normal' length of time to market and staggered feature release programme.

The effects of this unheard of production roadmap will be felt more by the wannabee digital cinematography manufacturers immediately to the extent of the calling off of some new products. What it will do to the bigger companies won't be felt so quickly - but remember 95% of most cameras bought will still be Sony or Panasonic.

How many 'reservists' of RED who earn a living from the industry is unknown but a whole 'iPod-like' parallel industry will be created for RED and resolution will be put at the head of priorities for producers once again and not compression schemes.

How post companies handle RED will be the bigger story once we start seeing footage.