LAS VEGAS — The Post team of writers, contributors and industry pros recently returned from the 2015 NAB Show in Las Vegas with much food for thought, after spending long days on the show floor in search of the most innovative and coolest new products and technologies — and even learning of some key strategic partnerships. As a result,
Post is proud to announce the list of products, technologies and news that were agreed to have shown an impressive amount of innovation, as well as captured the most attention and interest at the exhibition. Below are the “Post Picks for NAB 2015,” as well as our list of Honorable Mentions.
WINNERS
Avid ISIS 1000: Avid (www.avid.com) introduced the Avid ISIS 1000 shared-storage system, designed for realtime collaboration. Starting at $17,995 and powered by the Avid MediaCentral Platform, ISIS 1000 integrates seamlessly with Avid Media Composer, Pro Tools and third-party tools, including Adobe Premiere Pro CC. ISIS 1000 offers support for realtime SD, HD, 2K, and 4K media performance and offers real-time collaboration. Starting at 20TB, ISIS 1000 can be expanded to 80TB delivering 36 to 144 streams of 50Mbit/sec media. It will be available for delivery in Q3 2015.
Adobe Character Animator: Adobe’s new Character Animator (www.adobe.com) allows users to bring 2D artwork from Photoshop or Illustrator to life by performing into a Webcam. The application, which is accessible through After Effects, reproduces facial expressions and synchronizing mouth movements to speech. Users have control over different aspects of a character’s movement through the mouse, keyboard, and programmable behaviors. Character Animator will rig a character’s facial features automatically. Users can then control other areas of a character’s body with their mouse. Repetitive actions or behaviors can also be performed.
Red Weapon: Red’s (www.red.com) new Weapon is the company’s smallest and most lightweight camera brain to feature its 6K Dragon sensor. The 19 megapixel Dragon sensor can capture 6K motion and stills at up to 100fps. The redesigned brain infrastructure features enhancements such as automatic black shade calibrations, improved low light sensor performance, and a new intelligent OLPF system. The brain is also equipped to support 1D and 3D LUTs. Weapon is backwards compatible with existing power options (such as batteries, chargers and power adaptors), Mini-Mags, DSMC lens mounts, cables, and most mounting and support components. New LCD/EVF adaptors enable users to attach existing Red Touch and other monitoring solutions. And interchangeable I/O expanders enable users to configure their rig to fit different production types, whether using the camera in a gimbal, run-and-gun, or in a studio environment. Weapon has a top handle and LCD display options that connects directly to the DSMC brain. Onboard wireless connectivity allows for remote camera control using iOS or Android mobile devices.
Blackmagic Design: Blackmagic Design (www.blackmagicdesign.com) enthusiastically rolled out 38 new products at this year’s NAB show, including the URSA Mini, Fusion 8, and DaVinci Resolve 12.
The Blackmagic Ursa Mini is a compact and lightweight Super 35 digital film camera that’s properly balanced and comfortable for handheld and extended use. It features a 4.6K image sensor, switchable global or rolling shutter, up to 15 stops of dynamic range, a large 5-inch fold out viewfinder, and dual RAW and Apple ProRes recorders. It is available in four models, starting at $2,995.
The company’s alpha version of Fusion 8 made its debut at this year’s show. The visual effects and motion graphics software, which until now was only available on Windows, will see Mac OS X and Linux releases later this year and will feature hundreds of tools that allow users to pull keys, track objects, rotoscope, retouch images, animate titles, and create particle effects, all in a true 3D workspace.
DaVinci Resolve 12 is a major upgrade with over 80 new features for professional editing and color grading that includes a new modern interface, multi-cam editing, new media management tools, an entirely new professional audio engine with support for VST/AU plug-ins, shot matching, 3D keyer, new 3D perspective tracker, and enhanced curve editing.
4K HANDHELD CAMERAS
JVC GY-LS300: JVC (www.pro.jvc.com) had its new line of 4K/2K camcorders at NAB, which includes the GY-LS300. The release is now shipping and is designed for customers who want the functionality, form factor and ergonomics of a traditional camcorder but with the imaging attributes of large imager. The camera can capture 4K (150mbps, H.264) and record two compressions simultaneously. The LS300 costs $3,995.
Panasonic AG-DVX200: Panasonic (www.panasonic.com) announced a range of new 4K products, including the AG-DVX200 4K large-sensor, 4/3-inch handheld camcorder. It features a 4K/60p recording, a 13X optical zoom and a V-Log L gamma curve (12 stops of latitude, target) and delivers a shallow depth of field and a wide field of view. The DVX200 is intended as a companion to the company’s VariCam 35 4K camera/recorder and will be available in Fall 2015 with a suggested list price under $5000.
Canon XC10: Canon U.S.A. Inc. (www.usa.canon.com/nab2015) introduced the new XC10 4K Digital Camcorder. Intended as a compact, lightweight and versatile option, the XC10 is designed to deliver 4K and full HD video as well as 12-Megapixel still images. The camcorder also has a built-in function to extract eight megapixel still images from recorded 4K video. The XC10 camcorder includes a one-inch 12-megapixel CMOS sensor, with a 10x Wide-Angle Zoom Lens with a 2x Digital Teleconverter and Optical Image Stabilization and is intended for pros looking for cost-effective 4K video production, as well as multimedia journalists and news agencies looking to easily expand into 4K Electronic News Gathering (ENG) coverage.
Sony HDC-4300 4K/HD Camera System: Sony (www.pro.sony.com) introduced the HDC-4300 4K/HD cameras system, which bridges the gap between high frame rate and traditional studio cameras. It combines the HDC series workflow with: three specially developed 2/3 inch 4K sensors, B4 lens support, up to 8x Super Slow Motion; 4K/HD flexibility.
Arri Alexa Mini: Arri (www.arri.com) announced the new Alexa Mini, intended as a versatile additional tool in the Alexa camera range that combines a compact and lightweight form factor. Like the Arri Amira, the Alexa Mini can record 4K UHD ProRes images, facilitating real-time 4K UHD output and simple pipelines for high-resolution deliverables. The Mini and all other Arri cameras with the ALEV III sensor offer unrivaled overall image quality by focusing not just on spatial resolution, but also on other parameters such as colorimetry, skin tones and High Dynamic Range (HDR).
The Arri Alexa Mini is scheduled to begin shipping in May 2015.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Facilis: Facilis (www.facilis.com) announced the new TerraBlock 8D, an 8-drive, 16TB turnkey content creation system. Like Facilis’ larger servers, this 2U rack mountable server combines the Facilis Shared File System with virtual volume workflow and performance. The 8D includes Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and can be upgraded to support Fibre Channel and 10GigE connections, making it attractive for facilities looking for a cost-effective way to use existing Fibre Channel networking. The TerraBlock 8D retails for less than $10K and will be available in Q2.
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
The Foundry: The Foundry (www.thefoundry.co.uk) showed off some impressive work in VR. According to the company’s founder, Simon Robinson, it was offering attendees some “early tech previews of the company’s upcoming set of tools that will do live action VR work inside Nuke.” Post will have more details in an upcoming issue.
Rohde & Schwarz: Rohde & Schwarz’s (www.rohde-schwarz.us) Daniel Germain, segment marketing manager, broadcast & entertainment, discussed some of the company’s early work in IMF, saying that it’s been getting a tremendous amount of interest in IMF from customers. “Different studios are using it in different forms, but now the time text issue has been resolved, it’s a real standard. And everybody came over to ask about it,” he said. “We’ve been working on it since 2008. We like to think we’re leading the field.”
Germain says the company’s
Clipster mastering station has been supporting IMF during its incubation period to present day. More details on R&S’s work in IMF will be reported in an upcoming issue.
REFERENCE DISPLAYS
TV Logic: TVLogic (www.tvlogicusa.com) introduced 12 new display models, including the new LUM-310A Ultra High-Definition 4K reference display for the post market. The LUM-310A is a 31.1-inch monitor featuring 4096x2160 resolution with a high contrast ratio of 1450:1, and supports 4-SDI and 4-HDMI inputs as well as an HDMI 1-channel input. It provides wide color gamut up to DCI, true 10bit, includes 3D LUT support for precise color reproduction, 2-sample interleave division, HD 1:1 or full-screen upscaling function and TVLogic’s own color calibration utility support.
Canon: Canon USA (www.usa.canon.com) expanded its portfolio of reference display products with the introduction of the new portable DP-V2410 4K reference display. Measuring 24-inches diagonally and weighing approximately 26lbs., the DP-V2410 is designed to be easily transportable for on-set production of 4K/UHD and 2K/HD programming, displayed as part of an on-set daily system at the company’s booth. The display is housed within a sturdy metal frame that includes handles and adjustable feet that facilitate rapid setup. It features a 24V DC input. Canon hopes to deliver the DP-V2410 in November for a suggested list price of $18,000.
Eizo: Eizo Inc.’s (www.eizo.com) ColorEdge CG318-4K, 31-inch reference display and editing monitor with a DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) 4K (4096 x 2160) native resolution, is now shipping. A big boost here, the ColorEdge CG318-4K comes with a built-in sensor to enable self-calibration for hassle-free monitor maintenance. EIZO offers two dedicated calibration software programs, ColorNavigator NX and ColorNavigator 6, that allows users to set target values for brightness, gamma, and white point and generate an ICC profile. ColorNavigator 6 comes bundled with the monitor; ColorNavigator NX is available as a free download from the company’s Website.
Sony: Sony’s (www.pro.sony.com) BVM-X300 OLED master monitor combines 4K resolution, high dynamic range and a wide color gamut display. The 30-inch model expands Sony’s Trimaster EL series and provides an OLED option for professional video production applications, including color grading, on-set monitoring and quality control in a 4K workflow. In addition to the high-contrast performance, this new monitor offers a high dynamic range mode, giving users the ability to view the entire range of an image accurately and clearly. The monitor also has a new-integrated control panel with integrated inputs. This means there are no options required to complete the system, giving users a “plug-and-play” solution right out of the box.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
AMD/Avid: AMD’s (www.amd.com) FirePro graphics solutions have been certified for Avid Media Composer 8.4, allowing users of Microsoft Windows and the Apple Mac Pro workstations to confidently take on HD and 4K projects. FirePro graphics cards enable Media Composer workstations to efficiently support editing of high volumes of disparate file-based media.
Dolby/Vizio: Dolby Laboratories (www.dolby.com) partnered with Vizio to help bring 4K UHD content to the home viewer. The company’s Dolby Vision technology is being incorporated into Vizio’s 65-inch and 120-inch Reference Series smart TVs, providing viewers with peak brightness, local contrast, and a full range of colors that more closely mimic what the human eye can see. Warner Bros. is making some of its 4K Ultra HD titles available for distribution via VUDU, Walmart's video on demand service. Collectively, the partnership creates a complete content distribution and viewing solution.