Never mind, it’s a “haha gotcha” hoax. The hoax creator Walter Biscardi says “I guess this is how rumors get all over the internet: run the story first, check facts later.” Ironically, Walter’s good name and reputation in the industry was one major reason I trusted the claims.

I’ve left my original post intact below for posterity. I will say that I remain positive and hopeful about the use of the iPhone as a dailies conduit between remote set and editing suite. -Ed.

Back when the iPhone was first announced, we had some conversations around here speculating that perhaps it would be possible to use the forthcoming iPhone portable device as a conduit for regular dailies footage transmission between a remote production set and the editing suite. As you probably know, the iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone equipped with EDGE, WiFI, and Bluetooth connectivity. So you have (kinda)high-speed internet connectivity built-in, and assumedly some method of getting files onto the device via local WiFI. So the idea is that you would capture a low-res proxy of your on-set video feed from your Digital Cinema Camera of choice (be it SI-2K, Red, Dalsa, Viper, NoX, or whatever), and then transmit select takes back to the editing suite a thousand miles away. The editors make rough cuts using dailies, and at the end of the day transmit back to the Director on set a low-res rough cut for screening. Bam! You get a better sense of how the storyline and material works in the context of other footage you’ve already shot. Sounds great, eh? Well now it seems that may be possible, and even more…

Intrigued? You should be. One of the more interesting new features in Final Cut Pro 6 was created specifically for the iPhone…you can actually install a copy of FCP onto the iPhone.

“You can actually install a “lite” version of Final Cut Express by putting the install discs in your machine and then connecting the iPhone via USB. Go into the Customize settings of the Installation screen and you’ll see a “Lite” option appear. This only shows up when the iPhone is correctly attached via USB so be sure to connect the phone first before launching the installer.”

And what’s more, using a low-res proxy in Apple’s new ProRes 422 codec it is possible to do simple editing on the iPhone. No dissolves or “fancy” transitions/effects, just straight cuts on two video/audio tracks. When you have completed a rough cut in the field, just transfer the FCP project file to your regular editing box and pick up where you left off. Pretty amazing stuff.