Random Thoughts (from NAB and Beyond)

Posted on by Larry

In cleaning out my In-box as I dig out from the NAB Show, here are a small flock of completely unrelated thoughts; some from NAB, some not.

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The week before the 2013 NAB Show, I had an on-the-record comment from Apple saying that they have sold more Final Cut Pro X seats than they sold Final Cut Pro 7, which was part of Final Cut Studio (3). I was not given any more specifics than that.


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Adobe “revealed” the “next generation” of their video products: Premiere, After Effects, Prelude, Audition, Adobe Media Encoder, Encore. A reveal is like an announcement, only with fewer details. They did not announce a release date, pricing, or even the final name of the software. Those details will be coming shortly. (I am already working on new training for these products and will show screen shots when all the NDAs expire.)

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Talking with Ric Viers, founder of SoundWave FX, he tells me that when he is recording dialog on set, he tries to set levels around -18 dB. That way, if actors start talking really loud, the recorded audio most likely won’t distort.

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To create the Digital Production Buzz coverage of the recent NAB Show we took a crew of 17 people – including our special correspondents – and $30,000 in audio and video gear. From Monday till noon Thursday, we created:

Whew!

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Thanks to the support of Blackmagic Design, Pond5, and Telestream — our sponsors — for making all this coverage possible.  I am very grateful!

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To see all our NAB Coverage, visit NABShowBuzz.com

To see Owen Smith’s take on NAB, click here.

My favorite, which was hard to pick, was his award for ugliest shirt.
(And, um, yes, the lighting at a trade show is awful.)

To see all our NAB videos, click here.

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I find trade shows magical. In seven days, a trade show goes from an empty room, to a bustling city, back to an empty room.  During NAB, I found time to reflect on my feelings for trade shows, my start in the industry, and the NAB Show in particular – and put it on video. Watch it here.

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Phantom announced a new camera that shoots 1,000 frames per second at 4K; 2,000 frames per second at 2K; and some ridiculous number of frames at smaller resolutions. They call it the “Flex 4K.”

Link: www.visionresearch.com/

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The Tolis Group has a complete LTO-5 archiving solution for less than $4,500. First time we’ve seen a complete package for less than $5K.

Link: www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-tim-jones-tolis-group/

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Producer Cirina Catania was one of only four people invited behind-the-scenes at the NAB/American Idol event and interviewed producer Nigel Lythgoe and judge Randy Jackson. Cool.

Link: www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-randy-jackson-and-nigel-lythgoe-american-idol/

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Amberfin makes great software for converting video between frame rates, but it is expensive. The best thing to do is contact a local post-production house to see if they have the software, then rent it to do your conversions.

Or, if you have a lot of media to convert, you can buy it for yourself.

Link: www.amberfin.com

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Producer Cirina Catania says the coming thing for producers is creating their own mobile app to promote their project/channel/event. Just as we take creating DVDs or web videos for granted as part of the post process, in the near future, we’ll add apps to the list of standard elements to create.

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The LTO roadmap, which is spearheaded by Ultrium LTO,  says that LTO-6 will be around for another two years before it gets replaced with LTO-7. Specs of LTO-7 not firm yet.

Link: http://www.lto.org/

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Blackmagic Design introduced two new cameras, to accompany their existing Cinema Camera; including the desperately cute Pocket Cinema Camera.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-stuart-ashton-blackmagic-design/

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According to Alexis Van Hurkman, the big news with Blackmagic Design Resolve 10, is not some killer new feature, but a lot of refinement in the interface making it much faster and easier to use. Plus, the ability to simple edits and trimming in Resolve, in case the director decides to change a shot at the last minute – not that that would EVER happen in real-life.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/one-hour-special-report-from-the-2013-nab-show-day-5/
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Sound Devices continues to make great gear for portable audio recording and mixing. Had a fun interview with Jon Tatooles at NAB.

Link: www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-jon-tatooles-sound-devices-llc/

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For people with limited budgets looking to get their media organized, Axle Video is worth looking at.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-sam-bogoch-axle-video/

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A very interesting contrast of cameras between Canon and JVC in our fourth NAB Live Update. JVC continues to zero in on cost-conscious videographers who need pro-features.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/live-updates-from-the-2013-nab-show-show-4/

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If you need to protect your data – including media – using automatic encryption, check into Ciphertex.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-jerry-kaner-ciphertex/

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Working with comedian Owen Smith was a treat. I enjoyed his unique views of looking at NAB though the eyes of someone who hasn’t been there before.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-owen-smith-comedian/

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The GoPro Hero 3 is a $399 barn-burner of a camera that is showing up everywhere.

Link: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-david-newman-gopro/

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If you want Adobe’s take on all their new releases, listen to Bill Roberts, Director of Product Management for Video Products at Adobe. He does a good job explaining what Adobe Anywhere is all about.

LinK: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-bill-roberts-adobe/

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Aframe, Maxon, and Adobe have created some interesting interactions. Aframe can act as the cloud back-end to Adobe Anywhere, while Maxon will be able to quickly send a Cinema 4D project directly into After Effects, without rendering. Cool.

Aframe and Adobe: http://www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-david-peto-aframe/

Maxon and Adobe: www.nabshowbuzz.com/2013-nab-show-buzz-paul-babb-maxon/

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For all our NAB coverage, visit: NABShowBuzz.com. Scroll down the list – and I guarantee you’ll find something interesting that we talked about during the show.

Let me know what you found interesting at the show. I’m always interested in your comments.

Larry


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