LAS VEGAS — Post’s team of writers, contributors and industry pros recently spent long days on the show floor of the 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas, searching for the most innovative and coolest new products and technologies. Having returned from the show with much to think about,
Post is now proud to announce the list of products, technologies and news that we all agreed had 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 2017, as well as our list of Honorable Mentions.
WINNERS
AJA FS-HDR
AJA (www.aja.com) offered several key announcements for both production and post, including the new Ki Pro Ultra Plus for 1-, 2-, 3- or 4-channel simultaneous HD recording for 4K/Ultra HD workflows, but the AJA FS-HDR was truly a standout. While in previews only, the 1RU, rack-mount, universal converter/frame synchronizer, delivers breakthrough HDR workflow conversion capabilities. Building on AJA’s flagship FS4, and incorporating the latest HDR technology from developer Colorfront, FS-HDR provides HDR and Wide Color Gamut (WCG) processing and conversion for real time 4K/UHD and 2K/HD workflows. It was demonstrated for the first time as a technology preview during the 2017 NAB Show at AJA’s booth. Further details on pricing and availability will be offered soon.
DELL CANVAS
At this year’s show, Dell (www.dell.com) had a number of innovative product introductions, but it was the Dell Canvas, an all-new 27-inch smart workspace (drawing surface) with touch, totem and pen capabilities that expands creative productivity for content developers and designers, that caught Post’s attention. Since its introduction earlier this year, leading partners and customers have been testing and delivering new application support for Canvas. Most recently, Adobe has developed totem functionality for intuitive timeline scrubbing in Premiere Pro for a Canvas environment. Dell is now expanding this early evaluation program to work with more partners and customers in preparation for global availability this summer. Dell Canvas will be available in early July on Dell.com in the U.S. for $1799.
BORIS FX MOCHA VR
Mocha VR from Boris FX (https://borisfx.com) brings visual effects workflows to the emerging world of 360 video content creators. Mocha VR is the first plug-in to bring native 360 optimized tracking, masking, object removal, and horizon stabilization tools to host applications such as Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Adobe After Effects CC, Avid Media Composer, The Foundry’s NUKE, and Blackmagic Design Fusion. Mocha VR is available as a plug-in or as standalone application for OS X, Windows, and Linux operating systems. Mocha VR is available new from $995; as an upgrade from Mocha Pro 5 for $300 and on an annual subscription for $795.
BLACKMAGIC DESIGN DAVINCI RESOLVE 14
As Blackmagic Design’s (www.blackmagicdesign.com) Bob Caniglia, senior regional manager, eastern North America, told Post on the floor of the 2017 NAB Show, DaVinci Resolve 14 is the “biggest release in the history of the product.” Featuring a boost that has been designed to be more than an incremental software update, Blackmagic Design believes the new DaVinci Resolve will break through the stagnant toolsets used in post, and offers a new path forward for the smallest as well as the largest facilities in the world. New features include up to 10 times performance improvement, a whole new audio post production suite with Fairlight audio built into DaVinci Resolve, and multi-user collaboration tools that allow multiple users to edit, color and mix audio from multiple systems, all in the same project at the same time. A public beta was available during the show and for immediate download from the Blackmagic Design website.
TV-LOGIC LUM-310R
Later this year, TVLogic (www.tvlogicusa.com) will release its LUM-310R professional HDR mastering monitor. The LUM-310R is a 31-inch 4K (4096x2160) HDR LCD reference master monitor featuring 2000 nit maximum luminance. The monitor supports various HDR standards, such as SMPTE ST2084, ST2086 and ST2094 (pending), Hybrid-Log Gamma (HLG) and more. It also supports multiple color gamuts, including Rec.709, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020. Signal I/O includes 3G/6G/12G-SDI input via one, two or four SDI connections, as well as HDMI (V.2.0). The LUM-310R is based on a Panasonic display, and while pricing has yet to be officially announced, Post has heard rumors that it could come in somewhere around $30K.
AVID MEDIA COMPOSER|FIRST
At NAB, Avid announced the upcoming availability of Avid Media Composer|First, a free version of its popular Media Composer video editing software. Set for release in June, Media Composer|First is geared toward new users, who want to get familiar with Avid products and can now do so via a simple user interface. Avid Media Composer|First promises to allow users to cut between four video tracks and eight audio tracks. Users will also be able to easily share content, with one-click publishing to social media, including YouTube and Vimeo. Those interested in getting their hands on Media Composer|First should register online at avid.com.
ASSIMILATE Z CAM S1 + SCRATCH VR Z
Assimilate (www.assimilateinc.com) announced a partnership with Z Cam (z-cam.com) to package an integrated VR production solution. The Z Cam S1 + Scratch VR Z package is priced at $4,995 and will allow users to create high-quality VR content. Z Cam’s S1 camera can capture imagery using a four image sensor system and 190-degree fisheye lenses. Media is captured to an SD card, and the camera can be controlled via an Ethernet port. Assimilate’s Scratch VR Z offers complete stitching capabilities, seamlessly combining the footage into a 360-degree view. It also allows for live streaming of VR content to Facebook and YouTube. Pictured are Assimilate's Jeff Edson and Z Cam's Kinson Loo.
QUANTUM STORNEXT 6
StorNext 6 is a major new release from Quantum (www.quantum.com), based on the company’s successful StorNext platform, that adds new advanced data management features and delivers 4K performance. StorNext 6 features include FlexSpace, which allows for geographically distributed teams, located anywhere in the world, to be able to share a single archive repository, greatly facilitating collaboration with the same content; FlexSync, which supports one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-one file replication scenarios, providing a fast, flexible and simple way to synchronize content between multiple StorNext systems in a highly manageable and automated fashion; and StorNext Storage Manager, which automates archives in an environment with Mac clients, effectively eliminating the lengthy retrieve process previously required to access an archived directory that contains offline files. StorNext 6 will begin shipping in early summer and available at no additional cost for StorNext 5 users under current support contracts.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
FIREFLY CINEMA VERSION 6
A relatively young company (founded a little over five years ago), Firefly Cinema (http://fireflycinema.com) offers affordable color grading tools and dailies processing applications. At the 2017 NAB Show, the company showcased Version 6 of its comprehensive color grading software suite which includes: FirePlay (for playback), FireDay (for digital dailies) and FirePost (for color finishing) and offering a host of new features. Used on hundreds of feature films (LA LA Land, Belle, etc), FireFly Cinema solutions provide an integrated and production-wide approach to managing color workflows on-set, through dailies and post.
Unlike other solutions, the FireFly Cinema applications are built to be faster, less complicated and more affordable for independent filmmakers as well as big budget features. Thanks to FireFly Cinema’s unique SaaS (Software as a Service) licensing model, productions pay only for what they need when they need it.
AMD RADEON PRO DUO
AMD (www.amd.com) announced the first dual-GPU graphics card designed for professionals: the Polaris-architecture-based Radeon Pro Duo. Built on the capabilities of the Radeon Pro WX 7100, the Radeon Pro Duo professional graphics card is designed to excel at media and entertainment, broadcast and design and manufacturing workflows, delivering outstanding performance and superior flexibility. The Radeon Pro Duo is equipped with 32GB of ultra-fast GDDR5 memory to handle larger data sets, more intricate 3D models, higher resolution videos and complex assemblies with ease. The Radeon Pro Duo enables professionals to work up to four 4K monitors at 60Hz, drive the latest 8K single monitor display at 30Hz using a single cable or drive an 8K display at 60Hz using a dual cable solution. Planned availability is at the end of this month, at an expected price of $999.
EPIC GAMES UNREAL ENGINE
Developed by Epic Games, Unreal Engine (www.unrealengine.com) is a high-performance software development suite that brings real-time, high-fidelity fully interactive experiences to PC, console, mobile, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) platforms. At the 2017 NAB Show, Epic Games shared applications of Unreal Engine that deliver unprecedented speed, fidelity and flexibility in broadcast production workflows. Ross Video, Vizrt and Zero Density demonstrated integrations with Unreal Engine that illustrated the engine’s real-time rendering capabilities. In addition, The Future Group and House of Moves showcased how Unreal Engine is helping to break new ground in episodic entertainment production and delivery.
ATTO HIGH-BANDWIDTH/8K DEMOS
ATTO (www.atto.com) demonstrated a series of high-bandwidth and/or 8K solutions at its booth that support some of today’s leading workflows, including Adobe Creative Cloud Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve. ATTO ThunderLink Thunderbolt enabled devices, 40GbE FastFrame network interface cards, Celerity 32Gb Fibre Channel host bus adapters and XstreamCORE storage controllers support unique and patented technologies like Advanced Data Streaming (ADS) and Multipath Director. ATTO demonstrated using these technologies to highlight the ability to support high bandwidth, low latency performance in a demanding and collaborative environment.