Here’s a nice explanation on how to reveal compression markers in Compressor (compression markers force Compressor to insert an I-frame when encoding).

And Ken Stone (who else?) has the scoop on Compression and Chapter Markers.

(Via DVGuru)

Colorspace has updated their website, post-NAB.

“We know most of you would like more than a few short sentences about our products, and it’s not that we want to keep you in the dark.. but we firmly believe in under-promising and over-delivering. At the moment, we’re knee deep in engineering development and working with beta-testers to ensure that when our retail products do become available, they will work correctly 100% of the time, and we can stand by the specs that we claim.”

The info that they DO share is pretty scant, but it’s at least something:

TRUE35 camera
35mm-sized CMOS imager (24mm x 18mm, bayer)
Raw 2K 2048 x 1556 output

TRUE16 camera
Super16-sized CMOS imager (bayer)
Raw 1K 1280 x 960 output

Both digital cinema cameras are said to be built around a flexible and modular architecture. They also mention (again, in passing) their TRUERECORDER line of solid-state and disk-based recorders. Looks like RED without the 4K…

New Scientist has an article talking about a new patent filed by Apple that deals with integrating a camera into LCD a monitor.

“The clever idea is to insert thousands of microscopic image sensors in-between the liquid crystal display cells in the screen. Each sensor captures its own small image, but software stitches these together to create a single, larger picture.

A large LCD screen filled with image sensors would be ideal for videoconferencing, Apple suggests, as participants would always appear to look straight into the “camera”. The technique could also add a camera function to a cellphone or PDA without wasting space, and light from the screen should help illuminate a subject.

The more sensors there are, the wider and clearer the image. Sketches accompanying the company’s patent show as many sensors as liquid crystal cells in a screen. If some of the sensors have different focal lengths, switching between them would make the screen behave like a zoom lens.”

Here’s a few possibilities:
*Video conferencing (you are looking at the screen anyway, how sweet is that)
*Lighting/flash built into the lens (sorta like a big LCD ringlight)
*Camera/Screen integration in Mobiles and PDAs (saves space/complexity)
*Face/eye/gaze/motion tracking (for UI and games)

And if you are wondering about the Soviet Russia-related title, read this. Sorry. I had to.

(Via Slashdot)

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a HowTo on setting up other OS’s on your Intel Mac, each within their own virtual machine. The performance is supposedly not that bad for VM, I’m curiouse if any of the Win32 NLE or other digital media tools run quickly enough to be usable within VM. One of the comments at TUAW mentions that “video support sucks”, so that doesn’t sound promising for graphics-heavy apps. Anyone with a MacIntel happen to know for sure?

(Via Lifehacker)

It’s pretty light on specifics, but PCWorld has tested a Blu-ray burner and SUPRISE! it burns discs. 25GB in 45min. Not that bad, considering…
The drive costs $1000. Yeech.

(Via Camcorderinfo)

An NAB, Sony showed a new CineAlta that should be out in the wild sometime next year. The new camera is designed to be more “film-like” in operation and design, and features mounts and power for popular Arriflex-compatible accessories.

2/3″ Progressive CCDs
1920 x 1080 res
4:4:4
Records to SRW1 or dual-link tether
1080p variable framerates from 1-30fps in 4:4:4, and 1-60fps in 4:2:2.

We recently reported on the new Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) hard drive from Seagate. At that time, we couldn’t find any tests or reviews of the new drive. It looks like the first review has come in, and it’s very positive.

PC World has run a few tests on the new 750GB monster, and they found that in some tests the 7200rpm drive outperforms another very fast drive, the 10,000-rpm Raptor X from Western Digital.

As Richard Baguley at Camcorderinfo notes, these drives would be a nice fit for a large, fast RAID storage system. And at $0.79/gigabyte, the price is right too.

(Via Camcorderinfo)

UPDATE: Found more specs on the VR website and fixed a few typos. There is a ZIP’d package of documents available now on the main site page.

Highly-specialized company Vision Research has unveiled two very interesting full-frame CMOS-based digital cinema cameras at NAB.

The first, the Phantom 65 is a full-frame 65mm CMOS camera.
*4096×2440 resolution, can window down to smaller rez
*10 megapixel Progressive CMOS sensor
*Sensor physically measures 51.2mm x 23.25mm
*2.2:1 aspect ratio
*1-125fps, selectable in 1-frame increments. Cannot be ramped while shooting BUT allows you to build a automatic “frame-rate profile” (see notes below)
*14-bit color
*11-stop tonal range
*2048:1 contrast ratio
*2GB-16GB “onboard buffer” DRAM
*Optional 128GB removable flash mag (fill, remove, swap, dump, repeat)
*Optional fiber-optic out to storage
*Gig-ethernet output dumps direct to PC
*HD-SDI out (no audio on cam, so no embedded audio)
*Composite video out
*Camera also has a “capture connector” that allows synching of audio, etc. Supports SMPTE, synch, trigger, pre-trigger, etc.

First models will begin shipping in September, approx prices will be $190K-$220K and will vary based on custom configuration (amount of onboard DRAM buffer, etc).

The 2nd camera that they have released at NAB is the Phantom HD. It has basically the same featureset as the Phantom 65, just with a full-frame 35mm CMOS sensor instead.
*1920×1080 resolution
*Progressive 35mm CMOS sensor
*Sensor physically measures 34mm x 13.5mm
*16:9 aspect ratio
*1-1000fps user selectable in 1-frame increments. Cannot be ramped while shooting BUT allows you to build a automatic “frame-rate profile” (see notes below)
*14-bit color
*11-stop tonal range
*2048:1 contrast ratio
*4GB-16GB “onboard buffer” DRAM
*Optional 128GB removable flash mag (fill, remove, swap, dump, repeat)
*Optional fiber-optic out to storage
*Gig-ethernet output dumps direct to PC
*HD-SDI out (no audio on cam, so no embedded audio)
*Composite video out
*”capture connector” that allows synching of audio, etc. Supports SMPTE, synch, trigger, pre-trigger, etc.
*Standard PL mount for lenses (other mounts available)

First models will begin shipping in June, approx prices will be $100K-$125K and will vary based on custom configuration (amount of onboard DRAM buffer, etc).

Note that for the Phantom 65, the 65mm format lenses are a little harder to find. At NAB they are showing it with a Mamiya medium format still lens setup, Mamiya has a pretty wide variety of focal lengths and speeds available. They will be looking to collaborate with a lens mfr in the future to deliver more options, focus pulling on lens, etc.

The Phantom 65 will do the following formats:
70mm
2.21:1 - 4096 x 1860
1.85:1 - 4096 x 2214

35mm
1.85:1 - 1672 x 900
1.85:1 - 1920 x 1038
1.37:1 - 1672 x 1220
1.37:1 - 1920 x 1400

HD
1920 x 1080
1280 x 720

UHD
3840 x 2160

The Phantom HD will do the following formats:
35mm
1.85:1 - 1920 x 1038

HD
16:9 - 1920 x 1080

The internal DRAM buffer on both cams allows you to roll the camera at all times…when you stop the camera, the buffer stays full. Allows you to kinda “shoot non-linearly”, that is, shoot continuously rolling until something happens. Obviously can be used linearly, in the traditional “action-shoot-cut-that’s-a-wrap style” as well. All kinds of possibilities with this configuration…

One interesting thing to note is that these cameras allow a DP total control over time… it allows adjustable 2-microseconds exposure time and up-up-up (in 1-microsecond increments) to control the amount of motion blur in an image.

Both cameras use a “.CIN” format that was invented by Vision Research (and is proprietary). CIN is an un-interpolated lossless format, color information is stored in header vs being stored in each picture. It is very efficient as formats go, I was quoted that where a standard format like TIFF might store an image in 1.2GB of space, CIN can do it in 380MB. Interesting.

The “frame-rate profile” (available on both cams, I believe) is a feature that allows you to program a scene profile with auto-ramping framerates. This is done on a Windows PC-based application, tethered to the camera. You choose the framerates you want to use, and morph/ramp to different framerates as you so desire. This “scene file” of sorts is then transfered to the camera, and stored for use during shooting. Once you have a frame-rate profile setup, you can shoot with the camera untethered from the PC.

Vision Research is at NAB booth #C10225, it’s small booth, but they are touting some very big news. You should swing by and have a chat with Connie or Rick, tell them we sent you.

This is a seriously cool product from Bella. It’s a $300 device that piggybacks with any old iPod or external hard drive and allows you to record DV/HDV footage from camcorders via firewire.

“Catapult is the world’s first device to allow capture of video footage from DV or HDV video cameras directly to iPods or virtually any USB drive, and begin editing immediately. A battery powered device not much larger than a Blackberry, the Catapult eliminates the time consuming and tedious task of digitizing video footage.”

Time-lapse, remote switch, and motion detection recording will be supported. And pre-record/post-record intervals are configurable, so you can choose to automatically capture the seconds preceding you hitting the record button, and a preset time after you stop it. Very nice.

The device works with both Windows and Mac systems, and will be available “the second half of 2006″.

As we reported earlier, JVC announced two new camcorders Monday on the NAB showroom floor, the HD200U and the HD250U (the latter being aimed squarely at studio and facility installations). I believe that these announcements have been somewhat overshadowed by the hype of the RED ONE camera release (well deserved hype, I might add).

There are several key differences between the JVC HD100U and the new HD200U/250U…

For starters, you’ve got the option of uncompressed HD-SDI output. 4:2:2 8-bit (Note, HD-SDI and genlock are only available on the HD250U). This info (the 4:2:2 colorspace) is NOT on the JVC press release, because the marketing dept apparently enjoys shooting the company in the foot. Whoopsie. This HD-SDI output can be captured and compressed (or not compressed) any way you prefer to slice it. You aren’t locked into a specific compression scheme or codec, just like with the Canon XL H1 you suddenly have the options you desire. Of course, for smaller projects, HD-SDI is probably too much to consider. For stuff like that, you still have HDV to tape. JVC has also mentioned a new direct-to-disk solution in the official press release, I have no real details on that besides the footnote that it will create FCP-compatible .mov files on the recorder Real Soon Now.

The new camera(s) outputs and records 60p to tape using an improved MPEG encoder and a 12-frame GOP at 720p60 or 6-frame GOP at 720p30. JVC’s HDV flavor, of course.
60p means perfect 50% slow motion playback (at a standard 30p playback rate) and perfect 40% slow motion when played back at 24p. Might I add that 60p is one of the vaunted and much-heralded features of the HVX camera, continually parroted by the Panasonic cult crowd. While the JVC apparently doesn’t ramp framerates at will like the HVX, I find it odd that so few people on the online forums have picked up on the 60p feature of this cam. Weird.

The new MPEG encoder is supposed to deliver a better quality image with the same HDV bit rates. I’m going to put an asterisk next to this comment, but as a side note I believe that Victor Company (JVC) actually licenses it’s MPEG encoder tech to Canon, and one would assume that it is used in the Canon XL H1.*

There are improved Cinema Gamma options, but as usual we’ll need to see test reports to see if these are additions of worth. One would assume that they are improvements.

There is now an option in the HZ-CA13U 16mm Film Lens Adapter that lets you use standard PL mount 16mm lenses directly on the camera (and 35mm as well, I assume). Let me say that again, slower this time.
You can now use readily-available, quality glass on a sub-10K camcorder.
This is a very interesting development indeed. Consider that there is virtually no market for 1/3″ camcorder glass, previous options for the JVC were basically the Fujinon (and not much else). This new adapter reduces magnification and allows users to draw from the tons of available PL-mount lens choices, not to mention standard SLR and prime lenses. Big development. Very big news.

Users of 35mm adapters like the RedRock Micro, Cinemek, and others will appreciate the Image Inversion feature. When you use a 35mm adapter on a camcorder like this, the image is displayed and recorded upside down and inverted. While flop-flopping the image in post is a pretty simple and plainless procedure, it tends to make framing and shooting in the field somewhat problematic. One solution is the use of an external LCD monitor like the Marshall 7″ HD LCD, just mount it upside down. Unfortunately that LCD sells for around $1300, and it’s one more thing hanging off your camera and begging to be lost or broken.
So RedRock worked with JVC to create the Image Inversion function. It’s a menu setting on the camera that inverts the image ON-CHIP (not just display) so it displays properly on the LCD sceen, VF, and is recorded on properly on tape and via HD-SDI. An awesome development.

As a side note, there are demonstrations of a FCP 5.1 update that allows 24p JVC HDV ingest, without jumping through any hoops. No specific release date has been mentioned, just that it’s coming Real Soon Now. It’s about time…

So, to recap…
Uncomp 4:2:2 HD-SDI output (HD-SDI only on the HD250U).
True 720p 24fps (and 25p/30p/50p/60p)
Ultra smooth slomo at 60p.
Cine-gamma.
Primes and other “real” lens options.
Simple, painless use of 35mm DOF adapters.
A usable NLE workflow.

This is gonna be a tough camera to beat.

We posted yesterday on the RED ONE camera as info was released. Other links, interviews and pictures from the showroom floor are starting to trickle in, so here they are for your eye-ballin’ pleasure.

The camera body (sans lens) has been estimated to be around 10″-12″ in length, 6″ tall, and 5″ wide. Those are only rough estimates of course, as the body mockup was encased in glass.

The “Mysterium” CMOS sensor that will be used in this camera was designed from scratch by the RED team, has reportedly already been tested (to some extend anyway) and is performing better than expected.

The sensor is oversized, and in 4K mode displays an additional 10% of the frame outside what is being captured. This is very similiar to what traditional film camera DP’s are used to, and will help tremendously in framing and tracking.

Dynamic range is >66dB (approx 11-15 stops, very very nice).

There will supposedly be a sub-$1000 recording media cartridge of some kind made available, no specifics on what tech or capacity. It would stand to reason that they’ll position it to compete with current P2 media capacities and pricing.

Advance Reservations for orders are being taken ($1000 “good faith” deposit), we know that at least 100 reservations for this camera came in Monday. That is probably just the tip of the iceberg…

*Images from the RED booth at NAB, courtesy DVinfo (two posts on that thread page with images).

*More images from the RED booth at NAB, courtesy DVXuser (images start on that page and continue on following pages).

*DVinfo has a tour of the Oakley One Icon facility (which looks eerily like the set of a sci-fi series).

*StudioDaily has an interview with RED’s Jim Jannard.

*Last but certainly not least, HD4NDS Mike Curtis has a nice lengthy post that thoroughly covers the various shooting modes available in the RED ONE camera, with his comments on what would work best where. Classic HD For Indies fodder, read it and learn.

There is another new camera company exhibiting at NAB, called Colorspace, Inc.

Their website claims they will be offering 2 camera models, in 1k (1280×960) or 2k (2048×1556) resolutions. Pricing and purchasing details are supposed to be announced at the NAB booth, other details are sketchy at this time.

UPDATE: Some marketing hype and other info in this DMN article. No other real news on the camera(s) though…

UPDATE: Added some spec info and notes at the bottom of this post

*RED ONE camera MSRP $17,500
*66db Signal to Noise Ratio
*7 lbs. magnesium alloy body
*Optional RED-CAGE system (all kinds of handle/mount options, from a gun-like handle, to three-point handle)
*RED 300mm f2.8 fixed PL mount lens. Choose any Super 35mm PL mount lens, Super 16mm PL mount lens, or optional B4 lens mount. Lens MSRP: $4,750
*17-100mm lens is in development

Very cool stuff. See the RED Digital Cinema site for sweet pics.

UPDATE:
The RED ONE specs are staggering (bear in mind that they may be revised at any time).
This camera acquires in 2540p (RED calls this 4K+, it’s overscanned 4K essentially), 4K, 2K, 1080p, 1080i, and 720p. It will do variable frame rates from 1-60fps in all resolution modes, and 1-20fps in 2K and 720p modes. It will also do 50p/59.94fps in 1080i and 720p. The beast sports single and dual link HD-SDI and can output 4:4:4 RGB in both 2K and 1080p. Storage media is either your own solution attached to HD-SDI, the RED-DRIVE hard disk, or REDFLASH cartridges. Codec is wavelet-based REDCODE. The camera outputs 4-channels of uncompressed 16-bit/24-bit 48K streams. A neato accessory that is mentioned is the RED-RAID 2540p RAW data recorder.

UPDATE: Mike Curtis has posted his thoughts on the RED ONE shooting modes.

JVC is showing updates to the HD100U at NAB, the HD200U and the HD250U. And these cameras are SWEET.

Here’s what our moles have figured out so far:
*Two new models, the HD200U and HD250U
*Basically the same HD100U-form factor (buy just the body itself as well)
*1/3″ chip
*720×1280
*4:2:2 10-bit directly off the chip (none of this Panny-like colorspace upconverting hanky-panky) (edit: that should read “8-bit”)
*True 24P
*Shoots 60P all the time (just like the Varicam!!!) and can do 24p/25p/30p/50p.
*Enhanced Cinema Gamma
*HD-SDI out with audio, time code synch, genlock. HD-SDI completely bypasses MPEG-2 processing (right off the chip)
*Improved MPEG encoder (”twice as good”)
*Optional HZ-CA13U 16mm Film Lens Adapter to allow the use of PL mount 16/35mm lenses directly on the camera. This adapter allows the use of standard commodity SLR lenses as well. Note that this has no effect on depth of field, this is simply because there is currently no existing line of high-quality 1/3″ lenses. You would still want to use a 35mm adapter like the RedRock Micro for DOF…which brings me to my next bullet point.
*Optional image flip built-in the camera (Image Inversion). The flip happens ON CHIP, and is activated with a menu setting. This is a direct result of collaboration with RedRock, and is perfect for those that use RedRock and other variety of 35mm adapters.
*Optional DR-HD100U Hard Disk Drive Recorder, records to tape and disk at same time. 80GB drive = 7+ hrs of HD. Open files directly into FCP using native .mov structure.
*Ships October(ish) 2006, MSRP is $8K/9K for the HD200 and HD250, respectively.

The RED Digital Cinema camera has hit NAB by now. Is it a crazy one-two uppercut, a hit that will knock this industry flat on it’s keister? Or is it just a glancing blow that will just leave us a little woozy? We’ll know after the jump…

Here’s what we already DO know:
*2K/4K camera with a custom-designed 24.4×13.7mm CMOS sensor (big enough to shoot overscan’d like the big boys)
*4:4:4 colorspace
*2540P (4k, 2k), 1080P, 720P
*Possible 66db/12 bit dynamic range
*Small(ish) camera body
*PL mounts for standard 35mm prime lenses. RED-branded affordable options also.
*No DV, no tape. No SD. HD only. HD-SDI output.
*Flash or disk-based storage. “RedFlash” cartridges?

The RED website ominous countdown has reached zero (and strangely reset). I guess this means that if you aren’t on the NAB showfloor, you are forced to wait. Stay tuned…

We mentioned the RED camera several times previously.