Ikonoskop's Digital 16mm Movie Cam: Retro on the Outside, RAW on the Inside

What's going on in the world of pro-video? First the RED ONE emerges from the company of a former sunglasses manufacturer, and now a completely cutting edge Super 16 replacement has sprung from Ikonoskop, a Swedish company founded by two filmmakers in 1999.

The A-cam dII is a digital version of the classic 16 mm film camera. The 1920 x 1080 sensor is the same size as a frame of Super 16 film, and the camera and can take lenses from many classic Super 16 cameras (PL, Leica M, IMS and C-mount). That's about as far as the retro goes, though -- there are some pretty modern tricks hidden inside.

Ikonoskop A-cam dII
First is the file format. The A-cam shoots RAW (DNG) and throws it uncompressed onto the memory card at anywhere from 1-60 fps. This means you can just take care of the exposure and focus and concentrate on everything else when you get back to your computer.

Second is the Ikonoskop Memory Cartridge, a custom designed card which "records at almost twice the speed of the second fastest memory card on the market". We're all for speed, but if the Ikonoskop guys get all Sony on us and charge a premium, we're not so happy. With a write speed of 240MB/second, an 80GB cartridge will hold 15 minutes of footage.


Ikonoskop Memory Cartridge
That the team designed their own memory is great and all, but we get excited when we look at the camera. It looks just like a movie camera should -- boxy, utilitarian and yet somehow very sexy. There is, though, one thing that worries us: The USB port. How the hell are you supposed to shift 80GB of data over USB2? Maybe the guys skipped FireWire 800 so you could have an authentic 16 mm experience: waiting days for your footage to get back from the lab.

Ikonoskop is currently taking pre-orders with production slated to start in "late 2008." If the image quality is up to snuff, the dII could prove to be a favorite camera for indie film production. It's bargain priced (for pro gear), extremely compact and gives filmmakers the option of printing to film without losing resolution or risking ugly compression artifacts.

Preliminary Price: €6.950 (including 1 battery, 1 Ikonoskop 9mm lens and 1 Ikonoskop 80GB Memory Cartridge).


Click to watch the video
Article by Charlie Sorrel, Wired Blog
Video by Rick Young, MacVideo

The Business and Technology of Stereoscopic Filmmaking

An interesting whitepaper by Autodesk.

Signiant Now Interoperates with Thomson Grass Valley Aurora HD Tapeless Production Suite

Signiant, the leading developer of digital media distribution management solutions (DMDMS) for the telco, media and entertainment industries, announced that Signiant’s DMDMS products are now qualified to interoperate with the latest version (6.5) of the Thomson Grass Valley Aurora HD editing and tapeless production suite of products.

The Thomson Grass Valley Aurora platform includes a scalable, high-performance, tapeless HD production suite of tools for news, sports and other time-sensitive applications. Signiant’s DMDMS helps media and entertainment companies manage, secure, automate and accelerate the movement of digital media within and between locations to form a complete, file-based digital media supply chain. Following extensive integration testing, customers currently taking advantage of Thomson Grass Valley Aurora products can now use Signiant’s award-winning DMDMS to manage and automate the movement or distribution of video content – from acquisition to production to playout.

By simply deploying Signiant in the Thomson Grass Valley production environment, and adding new “GXF File Send Types” to the list of target destinations in the Aurora options configuration, intelligent, prioritized and network accelerated file movements among Aurora and K2 media servers for playout on the LAN or WAN are now possible using Signiant.

By Christi Dean, BroadcastEngineering Blog

Quantel Demonstrates Stereoscopic 3D Server

One of only a few hot topics at this year’s show was stereoscopic or 3D television. Leading in that arena is Quantel. The company was demonstrating the world’s first Stereo3D broadcast server. The development adds a key component to the broadcast Stereo3D production chain as interest in Stereo3D broadcasting rapidly increases.

The Stereo3D server is based on Quantel’s existing sQ server platform and supports realtime ingest and playout of multiple channels of stereo HD content under the control of Quantel’s own sQ Record and sQ Play applications. The Stereo3D server also taps the considerable video processing power of sQ to produce a side-by-side mode that is compatible with stereo monitors and uses today’s single feed HD-SDI infrastructure for signal transport.

“This Stereo3D server is just one of the components needed for the complete Stereo3D production chain, which we’re committed to delivering in the very near future – right when the industry is going to need it,” concluded Steve Owen, Quantel Director of Marketing.

By Brad Dick, BroadcastEngineering Blog

Ikegami Makes Solid Commitment

Ikegami and Toshiba's new tapeless acquisition system, GFCAM, is ready to ship next month. The initial components of the system - the HDS-V10 nonlinear camcorder, GFStation recorder and GFStation Portable - all use new solid-state removable media, the GFPAK.

The GFPAK is a proprietary format, using Flash memory. "We chose that because we are working with Toshiba directly [which has invested in Ikegami], which is one of the biggest suppliers of Flash memory," explained Sam Shimura, project manager, GF Project.

It will initially offer 16GB, 32GB and 64GB GFPAKs. The 32GB GF Pack will be about EUR600, reasonable by proprietary standards, but expensive compared to Compact Flash cards. However, GF has a big advantage over CF in that it uses a Serial ATA interface [used by many fast hard drives], giving it a throughput of 1.5Gbps, considerably faster than rival systems.

"It is proprietary flash memory, but you just need a standard USB cable to plug into the memory pack. It doesn't need any adaptor," added Mark Capstick, general manager, Ikegami Electronics UK. "It's a more open, generic format, using the MXF file format with MPEG-2 encoding, than EditCam, which uses Avid's DNxHD coding. Although it will still work with Avid, it will more easily ingest into other manufacturer's servers," he explained.

Shimura sees GF as having its biggest impact in news (which is where its first European order, from a German broadcaster, will be used), but as the cameras can record at high quality (HD at 50 or 100Mbps), he sees opportunities for its use for more general programming for HD broadcasters.

The HD/SD multiformat camcorder will feature: 2/3-inch 2,300,000-pixel AIT CCDs with a newly developed circuit; MPEG-2 4:2:2@HL codec to record full resolution HD images; S/N ratio of -58dB; light sensitivity of F11 / 2000 lux; recording of proxy AV data; and metadata management via USB.

Source: TVB Europe

The 3D Future is Bright

Joshua Greer, the president of RealD, has joined the growing ranks of major 3D players who see broadcast as their vital end market, writes George Jarrett.

Greer's contention was that "the big issue is creating enough content to support that [broadcast] infrastructure. The reason we are so excited - even when the major studios are committing to 3D and promising 20-30 titles per year eventually - is that when you talk about the home you need hundreds of new titles," he said. "We need to see a whole blossoming of TV capture in order for 3D to take hold in a meaningful way."

Projection brightness is a huge talking point, and Greer was quick to pounce on the issues. "It is the curse of all 3D systems. We lose light in a number of different ways. On one hand the new single projector provides the advantage of being a lone unit offering perfect sync and perfect alignment, but you have to give half the light to each eyeball," he said. "You get another hit because that light to has to be further filtered. You typically get 14% efficiency from most 3D systems," he added. "We all have different ways of combating it."

RealD recently launched its XL technology, which addresses that polarisation issue. "What is normally lost in polarisation we are able to collect and re-distribute back out through the lens," said Greer. "It is a very complicated optical system, but the result is we get about twice as much light out of the projector."

He now claims an efficiency figure of 30% and his next focus is higher frame rates. Does 3D pay yet? On that subject Greer said: "Next year we already know 23 major motion pictures are coming out, and the revenue for a 3D screen is 3.5 times that of 2D screens," he said.

Meanwhile, the IBC master class 'A production language for 3D' highlighted numerous tutorial elements, but at its heart was producer Phil Streather's assertion, "3D is an art, not an absolute science." Streather pointed out that while there have only been nine digital 3D movies released thus far, he cited the increasing revenues as the sign that 3D is a fast track market.

Streather fronted the session, working to a script involving Pablo Post owner Ralston Humble and independent filmmaker Celine Tricart, and summarised what he had wanted to achieve: "In order to make comfortable 3D when filming closer than eight feet, you need to use a mirror rig. It is important to look at what 3ality is up to for the way it is selling its IP, and the way the rig companies in general are working on the scalability of rigs," he added. "And the real things that cause fatigue are mis-alignment and if the backgrounds are too far apart."

Quoting RealD's technical guru Lenny Lipton he said: "Good 3D is not just about setting a good background. You need to pay good attention to the seven monocular cues - aerial perspective, inter position, light and shade, relative size, texture gradients, perspective and motion parallax. Artists have used the first five of those cues for centuries.

"The final stage is depth balancing," he added. "But once you have done that you may end up with objects breaking the frame." Along with dozens of others, this problem was resolved, in this case by the use of an opaque mask.

Asked what he saw as important, Humble said: "With all the toolsets for post and the new rigs for sale, the cost of entry into 3D has been reduced. At the moment it is a collaborative movement with everyone working together in order to go forward, but it is up to the big post houses now. If they make it expensive or a pain to finish, no-one is going to do it."

Source: TVB Europe

Thomson Grass Valley Adds MPEG-2 Long GOP Codec

The Thomson Grass Valley Infinity Digital Media Camcorder (DMC) now includes MPEG-2 HD Long GOP as a codec choice. The addition of MPEG-2 Long GOP creates a low bit rate recording choice to complement the existing high-quality, high bit rates within the Infinity DMC. This allows Infinity users to choose among a range of HD choices from 18 Mb/sec up to 100 Mb/sec — all in the same camcorder, which can all be recorded to the same piece of media.

Thomson has now added a Long GOP MPEG-2 codec with user selectable bit rates of 18Mb/s, 25Mb/s, 35Mb/s and 50Mb/s. The MPEG-2 Long GOP choice gives users additional file-based workflow options that are compatible with industry NLEs and expands the options for recording and transmission.

These codec choices along with format choices that include 1080p, 1080i, 720p, PAL, and NTSC can be recorded to a choice of affordable media including REV PRO, CompactFlash and external USB drives.

Material shot using the MPEG-2 HD Long GOP codec can be edited natively in the Thomson Grass Valley EDIUS and Aurora nonlinear editing systems. For those using Avid editors, MOG Solutions have created the Toboggan plug-in — which simply and quickly rewraps the Infinity MXF files into Avid-ready MXF files. Toboggan can be configured as a watch folder to automatically perform batch rewrapping as a background task in Avid.

Where Avid workstations are deployed in an Avid Interplay or Avid MediaManager environment, Toboggan is also able to check in the media for use in Avid NLEs. The HD MPEG-2 Long GOP video and audio essence are unchanged in the process thus creating a faster than real-time solution.

Apple Final Cut Pro editing is supported with the addition of a Telestream Flip4Mac Infinity Component. This component is a plug-in that simply and quickly rewraps Infinity MXF files and places them into the project bin ready for editing. The file transfer happens faster than real-time and preserves the original image quality.

Source: BroadcastEngineering Blog

3ality to Open in Europe

"We've been doing a fair amount of shooting in Europe, but we have to ship the rigs in and out. That's about to change," 3ality Digital CEO Steve Schlair said. "We are setting up a permanent installed base.

"Our long-term plan is to sell the electronics, the processing, the image analysis tools and the software that makes them work," he added. "There are a number of companies building rigs, but that is not so difficult as the five years of development that went into our software, the tools and the smarts for shooting 3D, so we are probably going to licence (our technology) to other people who want to build rigs."

The market is short of high quality rigs, but Schlair believes that will quickly change. "We have 15 rigs, which isn't a lot on a worldwide scale, but we are trying to grow as fast as the market is growing; every time we speak to a new client we end up building more hardware," he said. "I am not sure we can keep up with that, which is why we are going to start licensing out the software and the image processing."

Many of the new rig designs don't have such automated functions. "Some of them are good for setting up a shot, but it takes a while and you cannot make changes within the shot," said Schlair. "When we shoot we are always changing actively during the shot - things like the interaxial distance between the cameras or the convergence points. We can make two cameras zoom as if they were one camera, with pixel-to-pixel accuracy. The rigs that we've seen emerge are not sophisticated enough yet to handle all that," he added.

Despite its growing number of movie credits, 3ality's corporate ambitions lie outside Hollywood. "Movies are great. And every time we improve the system for broadcasters the movie industry benefits," said Schlair. "Broadcast has always been our aim, and it's is why we developed realtime tools as opposed to 'fix it later in post' tools. With that said, our partnership with Quantel is so that everyone else shooting has the opportunity to fix things later in post.

"Here at IBC we are just showing a rig feeding realtime into the Pablo, so we can show some of the corrections that you can do to creatively with 3D material in post," Schlair added. "We have had great post software for the work we are doing, but Quantel and the Pablo now give us a platform to put that software on to make really fast and predictable post production."

Source: IBC e-Daily

ZDF Converts to AVC-Intra

ZDF has become the first European broadcaster to formally commit to using Panasonic's AVC-Intra codec for production and archive, writes David Fox.

ZDF has already been working in an IT-based production environment for a couple of years. Two other well known European broadcasters will adopt the same course soon, according to Volker Kersbaum, European product manager, Panasonic PBITS Professional & Broadcast Systems.

AVC-Intra has also received support from many manufacturers, with Autodesk the latest. It announced AVC-Intra support at IBC for its Inferno, Flame, Flint, and Smoke product lines.

Panasonic's tapeless P2 format has now been adopted by 121 broadcasters in 22 European Union countries, with RAI the most recent adopter for its news operation. "P2 has been very successful," said Jaume Rey, director, Professional & Broadcast IT Systems. Since its introduction four years ago, more than 100,000 P2 units have been delivered to 900 broadcasters. "In Europe, among key broadcasters who decided to go tapeless, 85% chose P2." On the back of this success, Panasonic Broadcast's turnover has risen by 185% over the last three years.

Panasonic is adding to its P2 range with two new HD Varicam cameras: the AJ-HPX2700 and AJ-HPX3700. Both record onto P2 solid-state cards with a choice of three codecs including AVC-Intra, shooting at 1080i 50/60, 1080p 24/25, 720p 50/60 with HD multi-format recording (up to 320 minutes), and variable frame rates from 1fps to 60fps.

Source: IBC e-Daily

JVC Announces Professional Docking SxS Memory Card Recorder

Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) announced that it will release the KA-MR100G professional docking SxS (S-By-S) memory card recorder. JVC will launch the memory card recorder KA-MR100G as the company’s first product featuring native XDCAM EX file recording and an SxS memory card slot. This device will record and playback XDCAM EX files on an SxS memory card.

JVC KA-MR100G1
With the trend to high definition (HD) video, a number of products were introduced into the professional video camera market featuring high-speed data communication using highly reliable memory cards as recording media. The main objective of these products is to provide an efficient editing work flow with professional video production systems. Until now, JVC business development centred on professional video camcorders recording on videotape. Anticipating the market trend, JVC supplemented videotape with the memory card system to expand its professional camcorder business.

The KA-MR100G will also attach to current JVC ProHD GY-HD200/250 series professional high definition camcorders via a specially designed adapter. Future products from JVC will attach directly to the KA-MR100G. To be released in March of 2009, the KA-MR100G will be available in March 2009 in Europe with a suggested retail price under 2,500 euros and in the US for under $3,000 dollars.


A GY-HD250 camera mounted with the KA-MR100G1

Main Features:
- As recording media, an SxS memory card can transfer a large amount of high definition video data recorded by the KA-MR100G to a non-linear editing system.

- The KA-MR100G records in the XDCAM EX file format. The recorded files are compatible with Sony XDCAM EX series products and also non-linear editing systems that support XDCAM EX.

- The KA-MR100G docks with JVC GY-HD200/250 series ProHD camcorders using the separately sold KA-UM100G adapter, without an external IEEE 1394 or other cable. In this configuration the camcorder can record high definition (HD) video with audio onto both videotape and SxS memory card simultaneously.

In the future, JVC will ensure a higher-speed, more efficient workflow for high definition (HD) editing by offering professional video camcorders and related products using the XDCAM EX file format and SxS memory cards that work with XDCAM EX compatible products.

KA-MR100G Major Specifications:
- Recording medium: SxS memory card
- Memory card slots: 1
- Display: LCD
- Interface: 68 pin multi-connector
- Recording codec: MPEG-2 Long GOP
- Recording format: XDCAM EX
- Model connectivity: GY-HD200/200B/250
- Video format: SP mode (25Mbps CBR); 1080, 60i/50i (GY-HD200B only) (only when connected to GYHD200B) SP mode (19Mbps CBR) 720, 60p/50p/30p/25p/24p
- Basic functions: REC / PAUSE / FF / REW / STOP / PLAY
- Power source: 12VDC
- Weight: approx. 500g
- External dimensions: 90mm x 131mm x 57mm

Source: DV.com

Convert any Video for 3D Viewing

2D-3D Video will soon provide a 3D Mobile Movie Player for the new iPhone 3G (and iPod Touch) wich won't require any 3D glasses. The animation above shows how it works on just one static frame without audio-video:

Click to watch the video

Why is this better than lenticular video?
- No sweet spot; viewing is good from all angles.
- No loss of resolution (lenticular screens typically give up 50% of their resolution).
- Works in all directions using accelerometers in the mobile device (stereoscopic 3D glasses only have horizontal effects).
- No "screen door effect" from a plastic overlay.
- No "moire" optical distortion as on lenticular displays.
- None of the traditional headaches from 3D glasses.
- No manufacturing of precision optics or delivery costs.
- Requires no alignment or calibration at all.
- Fast and easy sharing online.

3D Live and Otherwise

Even before Hannah Montana's 3D movie ruled the box office this summer, there was the dream of new 3D revenue streams down the theatrical-to-home progression.

Philips' 3D WOW vx42- inch TV got an ovation from a standing-room-only audience at the International CES/hometech show in May. Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Samsung models currently demo the 3D trailer for Missy Elliott's February concert to illustrate 3D's smaller screen potential. And many predict a big 3D turnout at CES2009.

"There are quite a few companies who believe that 3D is the next level of immersive experience now that HDTV has raised the resolution and audio capabilities for video consumption," said Brian Markwalter, vice president, Technology and Standards for the Consumer Electronics Association. "Investments are being made in R&D to overcome the historical hurdles to 3D use on a wider scale—it is safe to say we will have a vibrant 3D marketplace."

Simple & cost-friendly
3D was showcased at the 2008 NAB Show as well as IBC2008, which highlighted a live "historic" interview with DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg captured on multi-camera stereoscopic equipment in Los Angeles and instantaneously delivered to Amsterdam's RAI Auditorium. Los Angeles-based 3Ality Digital did the production, while U.K.-based satellite service company Arqiva supplied transmission. 3Ality Digital founder and CEO Steven Schklair said the purpose of the demonstration was to show broadcasters how simple the technology is—and how cost-friendly.

"There's not one piece in the chain from the broadcaster's side that needs to be changed from their HD infrastructure," said Schklair. "We are now involved in a number of television-based projects." Schklair declined to provide details, but emphasized that the productions "are active, moving forward and actually being shot."

Schklair had no hard estimate on the incremental production cost of using 3D, stating it depended on the content. Although Schklair noted that 10-15 percent higher costs was generally accepted by Hollywood, he added that 3Ality came closer to 6-7 percent estimates for specific 3D upgrades to 2D projects. He also indicated that although there was more equipment per camera position, one could very well use a lot less positions because shots are held longer.

As for his choice of subject for IBC2008—an interview versus a spectacle—Schklair is convinced 3D enhances everything. "It just adds to the experience," he said, comparing the phenomenon to surround sound audio and color TV. "It feels more present."

Mark Cuban, an early proponent of HDTV and chairman of HDNet also trumpets 3D's potential. "3D will be a mainstay of the future of digital media," Cuban told the FCC at its "Future of Digital Media" event in July. He noted that his company was considering building a truck dedicated to live 3D programming. "The technology will advance, decline in price, and applications will be developed that will expand the use of 3D from entertainment to corporate to medical and personal and more," Cuban said.

Why Now?
Stereoscopic moving images appeared as early as 1922, when New Yorkers paid to see a 3D version of the film Mars, using Lauren Hammonds' Teleview system. Polarized light projection debuted in a 15-minute film at the Chrysler exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair. Hollywood films and James Butterfield's broadcast of stereo images viewed with prism glasses reawakened interest in the early 1950s. The revival of interest every few years thereafter has been based on the commonly held belief that people will pay more to see something in 3D. This time new technology also makes the process cheaper and easier.

"The ability to convert digital cinema projection systems to 3D is relatively inexpensive," said technology guru Mark Schubin, who worked on 3D coverage for the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels tour.

AutoStereo functions have also made today's acquisition equipment easier to operate, said 3D innovator Vince Pace, who helms PACE, a Burbank-based company designer of professional imaging equipment. These functions could, for example, automatically calibrate the intraocular distance to the subject matter for a specific field of view, and adjust the camera for the best 3D results.

In addition to custom-designing 3D acquisition technology based on Sony's HDC-950 camera, PACE has also introduced an auto-balancing component for Steadicam units and remote heads to counteract 3D camera displacement during the shooting process. And it provided the first 3D mobile unit for this summer's Hannah Montana shoot to house an expanding variety of 3D cameras; the unit recently added a 3D multivideo wall.

Improvements in acquisition technology to better mimic human eye movement to a point of interest (referred to as "dynamic convergence") and better shot selection and pacing have also helped lift the medium's reputation for inducing eye strain, Pace said, as have improvements (like ghost-busting) in post production.

"Both Avid and Quantel are demonstrating tools that have strong 3D capabilities," he said. "Evertz, Fujinon, Sony, and Telecast should also be credited for moving this technology forward."

Although Pace conceded that "bigger is always better," he said, that the "wow, it's right there!" feeling can be transmitted from a 50-inch screen or a 40-foot screen.

"I would like to see the entertainment industry go to 'entertainment glasses'—it would be really fantastic if you could use those same [cinema] glasses at home on your television set," he said, assuming there were affordable display options and enough compelling content to warrant the purchase. "The broadcast market is certainly there already."

Live broadcasts
Pace was involved in all three well-received National Basketball Association games viewed live in 3D over the past 19 months. The first occurred on Feb. 18, 2007 at the NBA All-Star game, where 3D content was transmitted real time via fiber from Las Vegas' Thomas & Mack Center to the Mandalay Bay Hotel, three miles away. Next was the second game of the 2007 NBA finals, the June 10 match between the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs shown in 3D to 14,000 fans at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, thousands of miles from Texas. Mark Cuban hosted a 3D showing in Dallas' Landmark Theatre of the March 25, 2008 game between his Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers, transmitted in real time via satellite.

Although he declined to release specifics, Mike Rokosa, vice president of engineering For NBA Entertainment, said his organization is enthusiastic about 3D's potential. "We're actively chasing 3D as a technology—it's something we have a lot of high hopes for," he said. "Anytime the action comes to or from the camera and it's unrehearsed it's spectacular."

Standards
Several industry organizations recently announced their intentions to develop standards for 3D for production and consumer electronics. In July, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers said it was establishing a task force to "define the parameters of a stereoscopic 3-D mastering standard for content viewed in the home." The 3-D Home Display Formats Task Force held its inaugural meeting Aug. 19 at the University of Southern California. Its first task was to watch demonstrations of various 3-D technologies, then, over the next six months, define "the issues and challenges, minimum standards and evaluation criteria for the future SMPTE 3-D standards," the association said in a statement. Seven companies were invited to demonstrate their technologies: DDD, Dolby, Philips, RealD, Sensio, TDVision Systems and Texas Instruments.

Last month, the Consumer Electronics Association announced the formation of its 3D Video Discovery Group, which will investigate the need for standards to address delivery and presentation of 3D video in the home. Its first meeting will take place at the Technology & Standards Forum in Las Vegas, Oct. 22.

By Robin Berger, TV Technology

Podcast: Dolby Digital Cinema

All about digital cinema and 3D digital cinema with Dolby's Jeff McNall.
Download MP3
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MagicPlay Entertainment to Release Fifteen 3D Ready Programs on Blu-ray Disc in TDVision's Sterescopic Video Format

TDVision Systems announces the release of a high-definition 3D ride films library by MagicPlay Entertainment in the TDVision's TDVCodec format on Blu-ray beginning later this year. The Chinese Entertainment Powerhouse MagicPlay and TDVision collaborated on this project due to high consumer demand. TDVision Systems is a contributing member to SMPTE, ATSC, 3DConsortium and 3D@Home Task Forces charged with the standardization and mass adoption of 3D in the home.

"We are meeting a historic window of opportunity for mass adoption of 3D in the home," said Manuel Gutierrez, CEO of TDVision Systems, Inc., speaking from the SMPTE 3D Task Force meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. "This move will simplify the decision for consumers. One will only need to buy a single Blu-ray disc that works in 2D as well as in 3D and it plays back on all 3D ready televisions in the highest resolution possible including DLP, LCD, and LaserVue televisions," he continued.

Source: Yahoo Finance

Red Bee Media Opens Secure Media Gateway to Digital Hive

Red Bee Media has extended its Digital Hive media management platform with a secure Media Gateway to enable clients to transfer large media files over an ordinary internet connection. This will allow clients to receive or deliver either work in progress or completed programmes as files rather than on tape or fed over dedicated circuits, resulting in improved efficiency and reduced costs.

“File-based delivery has many advantages, but existing internet technologies like FTP simply do not scale to support the transmission of massive media files over standard networks,” explains Dr Sue Farrell, Head of Architecture at Red Bee Media. “The Media Gateway is designed to provide the fastest possible transfers, making it feasible to deliver even high-definition programmes as files over existing networks in a reasonable timeframe.”

The Media Gateway uses transport technology from Aspera to provide high-speed transfer of files of any size over any network connection. Unlike conventional file transfer technologies, which are inefficient when transmitting large files, the Media Gateway uses the special fasp protocol developed by Aspera to provide consistently fast transfers over existing networks.

Aspera was selected as the initial technology supplier following a review of available solutions as it offers a flexible, cost-effective approach, which is relatively easy for clients to install.

The Media Gateway opens the Digital Hive media management platform to new applications, reducing the need for dedicated network links while providing a secure and efficient means of transferring media files over existing broadband connections.

Source: BroadcastBuyer

3-D Push Adds Another Dimension to DI Biz

It looks like DI is about to heat up -- again.

Since digital intermediate -- the method of handling color grading and other postproduction finishing processes in the digital realm -- went from mostly experimental to industry mainstream around 2004, a Hollywood production using a DI process has gone from the exception to the norm. Today, the rooms for this sort of work are mainstays in post houses; at the high end they can be multimillion-dollar theaters with film and digital projection. The color grading/finishing system is the heart of these work environments.

Now 3-D has entered the market.

A few DI systems, including Quantel's Pablo and Assimilate's Scratch, already offer 3-D features. On Friday, when the International Broadcasting Convention's exhibition opens in Amsterdam, the industry will be introduced to a few more. Da Vinci will preview a version of its Resolve with 3-D tools, and Autodesk will similarly show a new version of its Lustre. Avid's Nitris DS finishing system will have 3-D capabilities, as will Digital Vision's Film Master.

Meanwhile, the post business isn't having a banner year. Hollywood facilities had not yet recovered from the WGA strike when the stalled SAG negotiations further slowed business. And DI margins already are thin.

Still, an informal poll of a few Hollywood-area postproduction businesses -- Efilm, Laser Pacific, Technicolor Digital Intermediates and Ascent Media Group's creative service unit, which encompasses Company 3, Riot and Encore Hollywood -- revealed that each is upgrading one of its DI suites to offer 3-D, with some of the new technologies slated to be introduced at IBC.

To be specific:

- Efilm has set up a suite with a beta version of Autodesk's 3-D-capable Lustre coupled with the post house's proprietary software.

- TDI has a suite offering 3-D DI and is beta testing da Vinci's Resolve technology with 3-D tools.

- Laser Pacific has a 3-D-capable room where it is beta testing the newest version of Lustre. It also is looking into upgrading its DI theater to include 3-D grading and conforming.

- Ascent is upgrading its Riot facility with a 3-D-ready suite as the business extends efforts for cooperation among its bases.

"I think 3-D is real," says Glenn Kennel, vp and GM of Laser Pacific's feature film group. "There is strong interest from the creative community and pull from exhibition. We do believe that 3-D is here to stay and there will be increasing production, and we want to be prepared to support it."

The post initiatives demonstrate demand, but facility execs are proceeding with caution.

"I'm not seeing a huge push for it, but we do have a few in the pipe," says Stefan Sonnenfeld, a leading colorist and president of Company 3 who also heads features and commercials at Ascent's creative services unit.

Says Efilm president Joe Matza, "I would expect to do somewhere between two and five 3-D films next year, a mix of live action, animation and a combination of both."

In addition to the upgraded DI/color grading system, a facility also would require the installation of a 3-D projection system or systems from a company such as Real D or Dolby Digital Cinema. If using Real D, it would need a silver screen for viewing.

Storage and infrastructure is another element. "You need network infrastructure; you probably need triple the amount of storage for a given project," Ascent vp DI services Rainer Knebel says.

TDI vp theatrical production Steve Rundell estimates, "Assuming that you already spent multimillions of dollars on the room, if you do the 3-D installation right, it's about a $1 million upgrade."

Executives point to other aspects of entering the 3-D business. Says Kennel, "It also means training people to understand and work with new issues that 3-D brings to the table."

Pricing and scheduling are not insignificant concerns. "It is much more time consuming," Sonnenfeld says.

Although 3-D will be offered in select DI suites, "I think clients will be able go to their facility of choice," Matza says.

With about a dozen 3-D titles slated for a 2009 release, a market driver will be just how much postproduction work will emerge in additional areas, including 3-D trailers, advertising and home entertainment remastering.

By Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter

3D, 3D and More 3D

I recently returned from a visit to Taiwan and the 3D Imaging & Display Technology International Conference (3DID) in Taipei. In addition to the papers and exhibits on display at the event, our hosts, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) scheduled visits with CPT and AUO to highlight their activities in 3D displays. The combination provided a good overview of the 3D activities in Taiwan. Speakers at 3DID from Korea and Japan provided rundowns of activities in their countries too.

Most of the work at ITRI, CPT and AUO focused on the 3D displays themselves. For example, at ITRI, I learned about glasses and glasses-free micro-retarder 2D/3D-compatible displays and barrier technology for multiview displays. This included a 12 panel advanced 3D Display (i-Screen 3D). ITRI is also working on 3D image processing software including a dynamic object multi-view capture and 3D modeling/rendering system (4DCAP), multi-view stereo-3D image synthesis and 2D-to-3D image conversion.

AUO seems to be focusing on developing auto-stereoscopic displays for mobile phones, handheld devices and digital picture frames. It hopes to begin mass production in Q3'09, but remains a little concerned about the price delta of a 3D or 2D/3D display compared to a 2D display for these applications. AUO believes a 2X price premium is acceptable, but it seems concerned about being able to achieve this. In addition to displays targeted at these applications, AUO showed us a 24-inch micro-retarder type 2D/3D display.

During a visit to Chunghwa Picture Tubes’ (CPT) Gen-6 LCD fab, we were shown a room full of technology demonstrations. These included barrier-type, glasses-free 2D/3D switchable displays at 10, 15.4, 20, and 26 inches; a glasses-based micro-retarder-type 37-inch 2D/3D switchable display; and a two-panel foreground/background display at around 24 inches. CPT uses slanted barriers to equalize the horizontal and vertical resolution loss in its multiview displays. As content on their 37" unit, they showed something you wouldn’t see in a R&D demo in the US: pornography taken from the midnight Japanese BS-11 3D transmission (no, they did not show anything graphic in case you were wondering). Since adult content has been and is likely to continue as a major driver for 3D imaging, this is realistic, if unexpected.

While this trip to Taiwan did not include a stop in Korea, Dr. Ji Sang Yoo of Kwangwoon University in South Korea spoke at 3DID and gave a very comprehensive presentation of the 3D activities in South Korea. In addition to multiple large and small Korean companies, three organizations in Korea are making serious efforts in 3D.

ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute) seems to be focusing on the Digital Broadcast Media (DBM) standard and multi-view displays for mobile customers using the DBM standard.

KETI (Korea Electronics Technology Institute) is focused more on 3D image acquisition and processing. It is developing multi-camera systems, compression and view-synthesis techniques, and 2D-to-3D conversion algorithms.

At KIST (Korea Institute for Science and Technology), researchers are developing a number of related technologies and prototype products, such as a multi-focus 3DTV, 3D mobile phones, 3DTV remotes and 3D gaze-estimation techniques.

Let’s not forget Japan. Dr. Kazumasa Enami, executive director of the Universal Media Research Center and director general of the Keihanna Research Laboratories, provided 3DID an overview of 3D government, institute and university activities in Japan. He discussed four institutions focusing on 3D in Japan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), the 3D Consortium with 55 member companies; the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers (ITE) with 12 study groups; and the Ultra Realistic Communication Forum (URCF) with 100 member companies and 98 member professors. Much of the activity in Japan remains academic in nature with a longer-term horizon, but some could filter out into products within a few years, we suspect.

A full six-page report on this activity will be published in upcoming Insight Media newsletters. And don’t forget 3D Biz-Ex in California later this month. 4 days of 3D in LA - what’s not to love about that!

By Chris Chinnock, DisplayDaily

Digital Vision Unleashes Twister Motion Compensated Standards Conversion Software

Digital Vision has announced that Twister, its new motion-compensated standards conversion software, is now shipping. Twister converts media from any format, frame rate and resolution to any other, enabling post-production facilities, broadcasters and studios to convert between 50Hz and 59,94, create progressive frames from interlaced video-originated material, improve the quality of upconversion from SD and HD and automatically remove 3:2 cadence from video streams even when mixed with 2:2 and broken cadence.

With Twister, Digital Vision brings the innovation of its award-winning standards conversion hardware into the non-linear software realm, offering users unprecedented flexibility. In addition to converting broadcast standards, it allows the tools into the creative realm for super sharp slow motions and for the inclusion of interlaced video in film projects. All processing is motion compensated so the media created is pristine and virtually artifact free. Twister enables settings to be changed on a scene by scene basis and can be incorporated either up or downstream of the mastering and finishing tools.

Twister is a multi-threaded application that takes advantage of multi-core workstations. When used in conjunction with Turbine, Digital Vision’s high performance render accelerator, facilities can assign as many Intel CPU cores as are necessary to a project, for unparalleled processing power to enable real time 4k capabilities and allows users to run multiple 2k or HD tasks in faster than real time.

Twister is now shipping as a software option to Digital Vision’s finishing systems — Film Master, Nucoda HD as well as the restoration and remastering solution Phoenix. Pricing begins at $22,000. Twister can also be licensed by third parties.

Source: BroadcastBuyer

Thomson Sells Thomson Grass Valley Digital Film Transfer Equipment Business to Private Investors

Thomson is selling the Thomson Grass Valley digital film transfer equipment business to private investors led by Parter Capital Group, a German private equity advisory firm. The sale includes the market-leading Spirit film scanning family, together with the Bones digital intermediate workflow tools and LUTher, a colour space management product. Financial terms of the sale are not being made public.

Through the transaction, which is expected to close in late October 2008 and subject to local labor requirements, all Thomson Grass Valley digital film transfer hardware and related high-end post production software solutions will be spun off into a new international company with operational headquarters in Germany.

Source: BroadcastBuyer

Interoperability Issues between Pinnacle MediaStream and Omneon Spectrum Files

With Pinnacle having been a server vendor of choice for the best part of a decade, but broadcasters increasingly relying on Omneon systems for playout, there is clearly an important requirement to ensure interoperability between the two. Many broadcasters have several years’ worth of material stored on Pinnacle servers and are keen to ensure it does not become obsolete and that all the time, money and effort spent on ingesting that media is not wasted.

Unfortunately, however, while many transcoding system vendors claim to be able to handle file conversions between Pinnacle and Omneon, the reality is that only the video portion of files can be exchanged with any ease; conversion of audio and Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) or Vertical Ancillary (VANC) information is almost invariably prone to errors, due to a number of important differences in file format including the following:

Audio and VBI/VANC treatment in Pinnacle and Omneon systems

Owing to the above and other differences in file format and structure, converting Pinnacle content for use with Omneon systems will typically lead to one or more of the following issues:
- Files will not load
- Files will load but not play
- Audio ‘popping’
- Lack of audio-visual synchronization
- Loss of Dolby E audio
- No closed captions
- Closed caption synchronization problems
- Time code non-existent or not synchronized to video

These problems are potentially more difficult to solve in certain lesser-used formats, such as uncompressed audio in standard definition or high definition sources. And incompatibilities exist in both transcoding directions; in other words, it is as difficult to get a Pinnacle server to work with Omneon files as it is to do the reverse.

To compound the issue, there are interoperability problems within the Pinnacle product range itself, so that files created with one version of MediaStream might not always work with another version.

The available options
As stated above, the amount of content that a broadcaster might hold in Pinnacle format can be quite significant: for example, Turner Broadcasting holds about 2,200 hours of programming that needs to be converted. Assuming the broadcaster does not simply want to let this content become obsolete along with the Pinnacle platforms that it uses, there are three options for conversion:

- Playing out the content to baseband from Pinnacle servers and re-ingesting it directly into Omneon systems in real-time. Apart from drawbacks such as loss of metadata, it is fair to say that this approach is simply not cost-effective for any but the smallest of archives.

- Carrying out conversions using traditional transcoding systems. As noted above, this would inevitably lead to a loss of metadata and audio information, and a consequent reduction in quality. There may be some situations where such a reduction is bearable although, again, this is only likely to be so in very small number of situations.

- Implementing a workflow that can offer industry-leading video transcoding and at the same time handle the conversion of audio and metadata in a robust, automated and, ideally, faster-than-real-time fashion.

Flawless conversion
AmberFin has achieved flawless conversion between Pinnacle and Omneon video, audio and metadata using standard iCR software and a constrained application specification of MXF. This process also addresses incompatibility issues on the Pinnacle platform itself.

MXF provides a universal open-standard wrapper which can take care of the ‘heavy lifting’ of essences from one platform to another. The constrained specification, called MXF AS02, is being developed by a joint team of users and vendors within the Advanced Media Workflow Association for submission to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) in 2008, with AmberFin, a member, playing a key role.

MXF AS02 has been designed to get around the incompatibilities that have arisen as different parts of the generic MXF standard have been implemented in practice.

MXF was chosen over QuickTime as the conversion medium between Pinnacle and Omneon because it is more suited to integration into automated workflows. For example, MXF’s structure includes a program version file which references the program contents. In a situation where, for example, a Web service application has to query an MXF file before processing it, the application need only check the version file, which usually has an average payload of about 20 kilobytes per asset. With QuickTime, in contrast, the application would need to be sent either the entire asset or a reference movie with weak links to the content. Sending the entire file could require a copy of 5 to 50 Gigabytes, increasing bandwidth requirements by a factor of 100,000. Sending the reference movie, meanwhile, does not transmit enough information for the Web service to know everything about the asset. Only MXF provides this level of detail.

Benefits of MXF AS02
Because of its non-proprietary nature, MXF AS02 offers a number of benefits as a generic medium for media servers. To take just one example, it is based on the SMPTE 436M standard to store VBI/VANC packets, rather than the proprietary mappings for VBI/VANC data lines, including closed captions, still used by many systems today. This greatly simplifies captioning, as all data can simply be provided in the standard 436M format instead of having to be adapted to the proprietary requirements of different types of server.

Similarly, because SMPTE 436M VBI/VANC data can be decoupled from and re-coupled to the MXF wrapper, there is no need to send the entire MXF file through for captioning; instead, the work can be carried out just on the 436M file, again reducing the bandwidth requirements of the workflow.

The paper specification for MXF AS02 is now fairly robust and furthermore is oriented towards decision makers who have to write and respond to Requests For Information (RFIs), making it a highly accessible standard. A number of vendors, including AmberFin, Omneon, Marquis Broadcast, TransMedia Dynamics (TMD), EMC and Pro-Bel, already have working MXF AS02-based systems and Turner Broadcast is using it to convert between Pinnacle and Omneon directly on demand.

MXF AS02 and AmberFin iCR
While the MXF AS02 specification provides a convenient wrapper for file transport between Pinnacle and Omneon, the critical conversion functions are down to AmberFin iCR. The iCR system is designed for maximum automation and interoperability so that once a conversion profile has been set by an operator the system can reproduce it exactly on request without further intervention.

Furthermore, the system is capable of carrying out flawless conversions between Pinnacle and Omneon files at four times faster than real-time and without any additional bandwidth requirements, effectively making it possible to mix and match Pinnacle and Omneon servers indiscriminately with iCR acting as universal translator. The speed of conversion means Pinnacle files can be called up and played out on Omneon servers on the fly. Similarly, Pinnacle archives can be updated to Omneon-friendly MXF format in the background during periods of low server utilization.

The conversion can be carried out in both directions, too, so that for example material can be ingested on an Omneon platform and then played out on Pinnacle, or even stored on Pinnacle and played out again on Omneon.

Last but not least, as indicated above MXF AS02 has the potential to become a universal format for different server platforms and iCR offers unrivalled automation and integration possibilities, both of which mean the iCR/MXF combination have benefits far beyond simple transcoding between Pinnacle and Omneon systems.

Summary and conclusions
Converting Pinnacle files into a format useable by Omneon servers, and other versions of Pinnacle, is a growing problem in the broadcast industry and one that is related to a wider issue of server platform incompatibility. Using MXF AS02 as a universal wrapper and iCR as a conversion engine makes it possible to overcome the issue of interoperability between Pinnacle and Omneon, and at the same time points the way to a much wider level of compatibility between server vendors.

Source: Amberfin