Content Insider #89 By Miles Weston
The human brain can absorb only so much before stuff starts spilling out. Many claim next generation DVD isn't being adopted because of format "issues." Wrong! If good enough is good enough why learn to use something new? Instead, it's a good day for watching baseball.
...Read More »
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 2 By Charlie White
In Part 2 of this extensive four-part interview, Consumer Electronics Net talks with Andy Parsons, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Pioneer USA and the Chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association's US Promotion Committee. In this second part, Parsons talks about compression formats used for Blu-ray content, and details what Pioneer is doing to improve performance of its Blu-ray player before it reaches the marketplace. He also explains why the Blu-ray players were beaten to market by their rival HD DVD format, and why the marketplace would prefer having just one high-definition disc format rather than dual-format players
...Read More »
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 1 By Charlie White
The format war for dominance in the high-definition packaged media business has gotten off to a rocky start for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. In this extensive interview, Consumer Electronics Net talks with Andy Parsons, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Pioneer USA and the Chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association's US Promotion Committee. In part 1, Parsons gets us up to speed with the existing players available now, and asserts that the competition between the two formats is not as close as some commentators say.
...Read More »
13-Inch MacBook Benchmarks 1 By Dave Nagel
As the replacement for Apple's consumer-level iBook line, the new 13-inch MacBook isn't being marketed toward creative professionals. Nevertheless, packed with one of the most powerful mobile processors on the market--a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo--this little notebook offers amazing rendering and encoding performance. But is it good enough to compete with the MacBook Pros and with desktop G5 systems? Surprisingly, yes, it is.
...Read More »
MacBook Pro Benchmarks: Final Cut Studio 5.1 By Dave Nagel
You already know that Apple's MacBook Pro is fast. Certainly much faster than the previous generation of Apple's laptops. But how does it hold up against G5 desktop systems? That's a question you'd want answered if you're considering switching from a PowerPC-based Mac to the current offering of Intel-based Macs for professional production. In this first benchmark analysis, we'll compare a 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro running against a dual 2 GHz G5 desktop running Apple's new Final Cut Studio 5.1.
...Read More »
Final Cut Studio Update Coming Sooner Than Expected? By Dave Nagel
Apple Final Cut Studio's move to Universal Binary form may be coming sooner than previously anticipated by users. Without committing to a specific release date, Final Cut Studio Product Manager Paul Saccone told DMN today that he believes the Universal Binary version of Final Cut Studio will arrive "sooner than most people expected."
...Read More »
Motion Graphics Los Angeles By Ko Maruyama
Steve Kilisky, Dave S., Giles Baker and several other members the Adobe After Effects team flew in from Seattle to introduce Adobe's Creative Suite Production Studio (including After Effects 7) to a packed house at the Motion Graphics Los Angeles meeting on Tuesday night in Hollywood, California at the Barnsdall Art Park.
...Read More »
DVD Insider: Computex, Apple Shift to Intel, InfoComm By Miles Weston
In this edition of DVD Insider, DMN?s Miles Weston looks over the newest gadgets at Computex, ogles the sex and sizzle of the Mac platform shift to the Dark Side of Intel and rounds up infoComm. Weston notices that at trade shows you quickly realize that there is a lot of truth to John Guare?s play and the movie adaptation, Six Degrees of Separation. There may well be billions of people on this planet but manufacturers and show visitors run in the same circle.
...Read More »
NAB 2005 Sports Packed Halls with Plenty to See By John Virata
This year's NAB seemed to be a busier show than last year. The halls were packed with people as was the monorail that efficiently transported many attendees to and from the hotels on the monorail line. NAB reported that more than 100,000 attendees came to check out all the technologies and products at the show. There was a lot to be seen and the noise level (literally and figuratively) in the halls reached peak levels.
...Read More »
JamSync's KK Proffitt By Frank Moldstad
Eight years ago, a new kind of studio moved into Nashville's famous Music Row, taking over a 1920s Tudor-style house and transforming it into the city's first surround sound production house. That studio is JamSync, and today its business is booming, while several of the neighboring studios on that end of the Row have been converted to doctor's and lawyer's offices. Recently, we spoke with JamSync's Chief Engineer KK Proffitt about her approach to surround mixing.
...Read More »
Shooting Montana's West Glacier Fire By John Virata
The Western United States has been experiencing a severe drought for many years, and partly because of this, fires have been ravaging the region's dry forests. Virtually every state in the region has experienced forest fires in the last four years. One state, Montana, has experienced some really devastating infernos. Montana resident and award winning videographer Jim Kinsey has documented several of these fires, including the state's Robert, Wedge, and Trapper Creek fires, the 2000 fires that burned through Western Montana, and the West Glacier fire of 2003, of which more than 145,000 acres of forest park land burned.
...Read More »
Understanding Dual Layer DVD Recording By Robert DeMoulin
While consumers around the world have enjoyed burning their own DVDs for a few years now, the inevitable question of ?what?s next? is now upon the industry. Certainly, blue laser technologies such as Blu-Ray will one day become affordable and prevalent; however, consumers today are still very much in love with DVD. The DVD format is mature, high-quality content is widely available, and players are low cost and now installed in approximately 53 percent of U.S. households.
...Read More »
Digital Media Net Launches 5 Macintosh Publications By Lou Wallace
Digital Media Net today announces the launch of a new cluster of publications targeted specifically toward Macintosh creative professionals. With the debut of the five new Mac-centric sites, DMN now produces more than 50 online trade publications and newsletters, strengthening its position as the world's leading provider of industry information for the digital content creation market. The new sites address the needs of Macintosh professionals in five industry segments: audio, video, DVD, design and animation.
...Read More »
Roundup: Mac Rules at NAB By Dave Nagel
If there's one question on the mind of every Macintosh creative professional right now, it's, "Did you strike it rich on your trip to Vegas last week, Dave?" No, I didn't, dear reader. (But thanks for asking.) Interesting story though: While I was stumbling around the streets of Las Vegas, I somehow found myself in the environs of the convention center there, where I discovered there was a little event happening called NAB 2004. Thinking it might be a good place to grab some free food, I secured myself a press pass in the usual fashion and headed on in. Long story short, there was actually very little free food inside. But there were some companies showing off some pretty neat stuff to the 97,544 assorted personages gathered within
...Read More »
First Impressions: Apple at NAB By Dave Nagel
As of this week, there are apparently two kinds of people in the world of creative production: those who have fallen to their knees in awe of Apple's new products and those who simply haven't had a chance to see them yet. Why? This week at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Las Vegas, Apple unveiled new and updated software production tools and announced other developments that literally drew gasps and cheers from convention attendees and set off waves of speculation over the company's determination to dominate the market at all costs.
...Read More »
Ex Apple Employee Takes Dirt Bike Ride Guide to Digital Age By John Virata
Southern California has often been described as one big parking lot. There are so many cars and streets and freeways and housing tracts that there are very little open spaces. The region has also been described as one of the most desirable places to live, and one of the best places to get outside. There are few other places in the country, let alone the world, where one can start off the day in the morning catching waves off the coast, driving a few hours inland to the desert for some off roading, and go up to the mountains for a snowboard session in the evening. It can be done here.
...Read More »
G5 Macs Around the Corner? By Charlie White
Macs are long overdue for a major speed bump, and word is that new G5 chips, faster chip sets and upgraded software may be announced as early as Macworld in January, 2002. Here's what we've found out so far.
...Read More »
Video Tutorial: Keying Green in Adobe Premiere By Brian Maffitt
Brian Maffitt gives a video-based tour of Premiere's terrific keying abilities. Starting with an image of toys shot against a blue screen, Brian applies the Transparency command. Setting the Key Type to "Blue Screen" is a no-brainer, but Brian also demonstrates the subtleties of the Threshold and Cutoff parameters. This clip is a sure cure for the blue screen blues; let Brian show you that with Premiere, it is easy keying green.
...Read More »
Final Cut Pro 2.0 Luminance Issues By Stephen Schleicher
I have recently become addicted to Final Cut Pro as my editing software of choice. I can?t believe how simple yet powerful this $1,000 package is. From my recent post projects, I have discovered that this NLE does everything I need it to do and more. In some of the other NLE systems I have worked with, I was constantly sending stuff out to After Effects for graphic treatments. Not so in FCP, as I can have a practically unlimited amount of video layers to mix and layer graphics quickly and easily.
...Read More »
NEC LT155 By Dave Nagel
NEC's displays, historically, have proved top-notch, and their professional presentation products have carried this tradition to yet another level. I've previously reviewed two NEC portable projectors, and both, the VT540 and the MT1050, were just gorgeous in terms of anything that matters about a projector?color saturation, picture quality, brightness, etc.
...Read More »
AV-HS450 16+ Input HD/SD Switcher w/ dual screen MultiViewer This 16+ input switcher is the best value in its class. Its exclusive dual screen MultiViewer lets you view up to 20 windows on just two displays. CLICK HERE!!!
In Hollywood, there is little doubt that MAXON's CINEMA 4D is the 3D motion graphics artist's best friend. For years, I've been telling you about how easy it is to use, what brilliantly stunning images it produces, how quickly it renders through projects, it's offering of dynamic animation, and, most recently, about its increasingly powerful set of motion graphics tools which fit neatly into production pipelines. So, what could possibly be better than all that has come before? Plenty.
Read More
NO...Doesn't have a thing to do with "that" smartphone...or "that" store...or "that" tablet. It's the next generation. Kids and we mean little kids. That's what today's products are being designed for/targeted at. You happen to buy one...fine. Watch a little, little kid pick up a smartphone. He/she just uses it. They've come pre-wired and we're still trying to figure out how to IM. It's the IGen. They want it instantly. They want to use it instantly. They expect their photos, their video, their music, their stuff immediately when/where/how they want it.
Read More
In this clip, lynda.com host Mark Abdelnour takes a look at proxy bidding. He discusses the strategy and how it works. He also discusses the maximum bid, and when to use Proxy bidding.
Read More
The blood, gore, adrenalin challenges that were unveiled at E3 and enjoyed at ComicCon are fun to look at, easy to hold but are they really the games people want to plunk down their credit cards to own or rent time with? Seems as though the investors, the players who control the controllers have a different idea of a "good" game than the kids who develop them. While mobs of people play educational, informational, stimulating games our kid huddles in his room and mumbles "The Few, The Proud, The Gamers."
Read More
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Content Insider #89
The human brain can absorb only so much before stuff starts spilling out. Many claim next generation DVD isn't being adopted because of format "issues." Wrong! If good enough is good enough why learn to use something new? Instead, it's a good day for watching baseball.
...Read More »
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 2
In Part 2 of this extensive four-part interview, Consumer Electronics Net talks with Andy Parsons, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Pioneer USA and the Chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association's US Promotion Committee. In this second part, Parsons talks about compression formats used for Blu-ray content, and details what Pioneer is doing to improve performance of its Blu-ray player before it reaches the marketplace. He also explains why the Blu-ray players were beaten to market by their rival HD DVD format, and why the marketplace would prefer having just one high-definition disc format rather than dual-format players
...Read More »
Blu-ray vs. HD DVD: The Blu-ray Perspective, Part 1
The format war for dominance in the high-definition packaged media business has gotten off to a rocky start for both HD DVD and Blu-ray. In this extensive interview, Consumer Electronics Net talks with Andy Parsons, Senior Vice President of Product Development for Pioneer USA and the Chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association's US Promotion Committee. In part 1, Parsons gets us up to speed with the existing players available now, and asserts that the competition between the two formats is not as close as some commentators say.
...Read More »
13-Inch MacBook Benchmarks 1
As the replacement for Apple's consumer-level iBook line, the new 13-inch MacBook isn't being marketed toward creative professionals. Nevertheless, packed with one of the most powerful mobile processors on the market--a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo--this little notebook offers amazing rendering and encoding performance. But is it good enough to compete with the MacBook Pros and with desktop G5 systems? Surprisingly, yes, it is.
...Read More »
MacBook Pro Benchmarks: Final Cut Studio 5.1
You already know that Apple's MacBook Pro is fast. Certainly much faster than the previous generation of Apple's laptops. But how does it hold up against G5 desktop systems? That's a question you'd want answered if you're considering switching from a PowerPC-based Mac to the current offering of Intel-based Macs for professional production. In this first benchmark analysis, we'll compare a 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro running against a dual 2 GHz G5 desktop running Apple's new Final Cut Studio 5.1.
...Read More »
Final Cut Studio Update Coming Sooner Than Expected?
Apple Final Cut Studio's move to Universal Binary form may be coming sooner than previously anticipated by users. Without committing to a specific release date, Final Cut Studio Product Manager Paul Saccone told DMN today that he believes the Universal Binary version of Final Cut Studio will arrive "sooner than most people expected."
...Read More »
Motion Graphics Los Angeles
Steve Kilisky, Dave S., Giles Baker and several other members the Adobe After Effects team flew in from Seattle to introduce Adobe's Creative Suite Production Studio (including After Effects 7) to a packed house at the Motion Graphics Los Angeles meeting on Tuesday night in Hollywood, California at the Barnsdall Art Park.
...Read More »
DVD Insider: Computex, Apple Shift to Intel, InfoComm
In this edition of DVD Insider, DMN?s Miles Weston looks over the newest gadgets at Computex, ogles the sex and sizzle of the Mac platform shift to the Dark Side of Intel and rounds up infoComm. Weston notices that at trade shows you quickly realize that there is a lot of truth to John Guare?s play and the movie adaptation, Six Degrees of Separation. There may well be billions of people on this planet but manufacturers and show visitors run in the same circle.
...Read More »
NAB 2005 Sports Packed Halls with Plenty to See
This year's NAB seemed to be a busier show than last year. The halls were packed with people as was the monorail that efficiently transported many attendees to and from the hotels on the monorail line. NAB reported that more than 100,000 attendees came to check out all the technologies and products at the show. There was a lot to be seen and the noise level (literally and figuratively) in the halls reached peak levels.
...Read More »
JamSync's KK Proffitt
Eight years ago, a new kind of studio moved into Nashville's famous Music Row, taking over a 1920s Tudor-style house and transforming it into the city's first surround sound production house. That studio is JamSync, and today its business is booming, while several of the neighboring studios on that end of the Row have been converted to doctor's and lawyer's offices. Recently, we spoke with JamSync's Chief Engineer KK Proffitt about her approach to surround mixing.
...Read More »
Shooting Montana's West Glacier Fire
The Western United States has been experiencing a severe drought for many years, and partly because of this, fires have been ravaging the region's dry forests. Virtually every state in the region has experienced forest fires in the last four years. One state, Montana, has experienced some really devastating infernos. Montana resident and award winning videographer Jim Kinsey has documented several of these fires, including the state's Robert, Wedge, and Trapper Creek fires, the 2000 fires that burned through Western Montana, and the West Glacier fire of 2003, of which more than 145,000 acres of forest park land burned.
...Read More »
Understanding Dual Layer DVD Recording
While consumers around the world have enjoyed burning their own DVDs for a few years now, the inevitable question of ?what?s next? is now upon the industry. Certainly, blue laser technologies such as Blu-Ray will one day become affordable and prevalent; however, consumers today are still very much in love with DVD. The DVD format is mature, high-quality content is widely available, and players are low cost and now installed in approximately 53 percent of U.S. households.
...Read More »
Digital Media Net Launches 5 Macintosh Publications
Digital Media Net today announces the launch of a new cluster of publications targeted specifically toward Macintosh creative professionals. With the debut of the five new Mac-centric sites, DMN now produces more than 50 online trade publications and newsletters, strengthening its position as the world's leading provider of industry information for the digital content creation market. The new sites address the needs of Macintosh professionals in five industry segments: audio, video, DVD, design and animation.
...Read More »
Roundup: Mac Rules at NAB
If there's one question on the mind of every Macintosh creative professional right now, it's, "Did you strike it rich on your trip to Vegas last week, Dave?" No, I didn't, dear reader. (But thanks for asking.) Interesting story though: While I was stumbling around the streets of Las Vegas, I somehow found myself in the environs of the convention center there, where I discovered there was a little event happening called NAB 2004. Thinking it might be a good place to grab some free food, I secured myself a press pass in the usual fashion and headed on in. Long story short, there was actually very little free food inside. But there were some companies showing off some pretty neat stuff to the 97,544 assorted personages gathered within
...Read More »
First Impressions: Apple at NAB
As of this week, there are apparently two kinds of people in the world of creative production: those who have fallen to their knees in awe of Apple's new products and those who simply haven't had a chance to see them yet. Why? This week at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Las Vegas, Apple unveiled new and updated software production tools and announced other developments that literally drew gasps and cheers from convention attendees and set off waves of speculation over the company's determination to dominate the market at all costs.
...Read More »
Ex Apple Employee Takes Dirt Bike Ride Guide to Digital Age
Southern California has often been described as one big parking lot. There are so many cars and streets and freeways and housing tracts that there are very little open spaces. The region has also been described as one of the most desirable places to live, and one of the best places to get outside. There are few other places in the country, let alone the world, where one can start off the day in the morning catching waves off the coast, driving a few hours inland to the desert for some off roading, and go up to the mountains for a snowboard session in the evening. It can be done here.
...Read More »
G5 Macs Around the Corner?
Macs are long overdue for a major speed bump, and word is that new G5 chips, faster chip sets and upgraded software may be announced as early as Macworld in January, 2002. Here's what we've found out so far.
...Read More »
Video Tutorial: Keying Green in Adobe Premiere
Brian Maffitt gives a video-based tour of Premiere's terrific keying abilities. Starting with an image of toys shot against a blue screen, Brian applies the Transparency command. Setting the Key Type to "Blue Screen" is a no-brainer, but Brian also demonstrates the subtleties of the Threshold and Cutoff parameters. This clip is a sure cure for the blue screen blues; let Brian show you that with Premiere, it is easy keying green.
...Read More »
Final Cut Pro 2.0 Luminance Issues
I have recently become addicted to Final Cut Pro as my editing software of choice. I can?t believe how simple yet powerful this $1,000 package is. From my recent post projects, I have discovered that this NLE does everything I need it to do and more. In some of the other NLE systems I have worked with, I was constantly sending stuff out to After Effects for graphic treatments. Not so in FCP, as I can have a practically unlimited amount of video layers to mix and layer graphics quickly and easily.
...Read More »
NEC LT155
NEC's displays, historically, have proved top-notch, and their professional presentation products have carried this tradition to yet another level. I've previously reviewed two NEC portable projectors, and both, the VT540 and the MT1050, were just gorgeous in terms of anything that matters about a projector?color saturation, picture quality, brightness, etc.
...Read More »
AV-HS450 16+ Input HD/SD Switcher w/ dual screen MultiViewer
