Sony adds new entry-level model to family of HD Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras

At NAB 2009, Sony is introducing an entry-level model to its line of high-definition compact pan-tilt-zoom cameras. According to Sony, the new BRC-Z330 remote control camera is designed for an array of remote acquisition applications, such as television production for recording programs, and for use as a weather or traffic camera. Compact and lightweight, the new camera maintains the design elements of its predecessors but uses a specially designed read-out from its CMOS imaging technology to significantly shorten image delays.

Convergent Design shows nanoFlash: world’s smallest Pro HD/SD recorder/player

At NAB 2009, Convergent Design is showing the nanoFlash: a full-raster 720p or 1080i/p, 4:2:2 recorder that can be described as super-small, lightweight, and low-power. It has both HD/SD-SDI and HDMI input/output, and can record three different multiple bit rates of MPEG2 long GOP, and one MPEG2 at i-frame. When Convergent Design says low-power, they mean 7.5 watts when active, or 0.2 watts in standby mode. nanoFlash records onto inexpensive Card Flash media. Convergent Design quotes 32GB at US$60. Files may be wrapped with either QuickTime or MXF.

Matrox announces MXO2 Mini

At NAB 2009, Matrox announced its new MXO2 Mini, the second spinoff based upon the MXO2, and the third in the MXO2 family. The MXO2 Mini is the smallest and least expensive in the family, and the first one to be cross-platform. (The MXO2 and MXO2 Rack are Mac-only, at least for now.) If you are familiar with the MXO2, subtract XLR balanced audio and SD and HD-SDI, add multi-platform support, and you basically have an MXO2 Mini that starts at US$449 (₤338 in the UK, or €382 in other parts of Europe). If you would also like the new MAX option (which accelerates H.264 encoding when you are ready to deliver to AppleTV, Blu-ray, iPhone/iPod, WDTV, or the web), then the price is US$849 (₤644 in the UK, or €758 in other parts of Europe).

Blackmagic’s UltraScope; first 3 Gb/s SDI + optical fiber SDI scopes for editors and colorists

At NAB 2009, Blackmagic Design announced their UltraScope. In the manufacturer’s words: “The world’s first 3 Gb/s SDI and optical fiber SDI scopes designed for editors and colorists, with the technical accuracy broadcast engineers will love for only US$695!” Blackmagic continues, saying: “Simply plug into any compatible Windows computer with a 24-inch monitor, and Blackmagic UltraScope will display 6 live scope views simultaneously! UltraScope is engineering accurate and includes 3 Gb/s SDI plus 3 Gb/s optical fiber SDI. UltraScope auto detects SD, HD and 3 Gb/s SDI inputs.” For everyone’s sake, I hope Blackmagic Design creates a Mac version by the time the product ships in June… although at that price, if even Blackmagic doesn’t make a Mac version, some producers who generally prefer MacOS may well decide to dedicate a Windows computer just for this task.

AJA’s KiPro records ProRes422 directly, without a computer

At NAB 2009, AJA announced the KiPro, which allows direct recording of Apple’s revered ProRes422 or ProRes422(HQ) in the field, without any laptop, from any SD or HD camera or vision mixer (“switcher”). I consider the KiPro to be a natural extension of AJA’s IoHD, and my only surprise is why AJA waited so long to release such a product. The KiPro has just about any type of input and output that we could possibly imagine, is controllable wirelessly from a laptop or iPhone, and records to two types of removable media: either ExpressCard34 (the type that fits into your MacBookPro) or its own Storage Module.

The advantages of recording directly to ProRes422 or ProRes422(HQ) are fairly obvious, since these two códecs are 10-bit, full raster 720p (1280x720) or 10-bit, full raster 1080 (1920x1080), with true 4:2:2 color sampling, and are immediately editable in Apple’s Final Cut Pro (or even with iMovie 09 if the ProRes422 códec has been installed on the machine). The file sizes of ProRes422 and ProRes422(HQ) are certainly higher than those used in most onboard camera códecs, but for high-end EFP, many producers will gladly accept that. In addition to the HD specs mentioned, the KiPro can also accept SD signals, and either record them as ProRes422 or ProRes422(HQ) in SD, or upscale to HD. When dealing with analog standard definition video, KiPro can properly handle PAL, NTSC with 7.5 ire setup, or NTSC without 7.5 ire setup, depending upon the source and destination. KiPro can also handle realtime cross conversion in any direction between 720HD and 1080HD. This is very welcome!

Professional Audio Podcasting seminar, April 14th in Miami

Now is your chance to attend a seminar about professional audio podcast production. You will learn the fundamental differences between tradtional radio broadcasts, live Internet radio, and audio podcasts… and the advantages of the latter; how to design your audio podcast format; the standard elements (intros, outros, bumpers, etc.); hardware and software to produce your audio podcast; how to conduct high-quality telephone interviews; audio editing of your podcast; compression versus normalization; how to add chapters and graphics to your enhanced audio podcast; how to upload your podcast; and how to create an RSS feed which is compatible with iTunes and other podcast aggregators.

The date is April 14th, and the place is Miami, Florida. Although there is a charge of US$100 per person, attendees will receive a coupon good for a 40% discount off of the recommended audio podcast production software for Mac. Click here for more information, or to register.

Übercaster: the most complete audio podcasting tool I know for Mac

Many of our readers know that I produce a podcast with the same name as my channel here at ProVideo Coalition. The TecnoTur podcast is currently not in English, but in Castilian, the most widely-used Spanish language (but certainly not the only one). I have three co-hosts in the program: Rubén Abruña, Tanya Castañeda, and Liliana Marín, and we have interviewees who participate on the phone from the USA, Spain, and various Latin American countries (so far). When I first sought to choose a tool for audio podcasting, I logically made an analysis of the available tools, taking into account some of the more demanding tasks I needed for the TecnoTur podcast. Of course, I looked at Apple’s GarageBand and a few other audio programs, but none came close to the US$79.95 Übercaster, especially considering our requirements. Übercaster is from Pleasant Software in Offenburg, Germany, and has the features I really needed, plus unexpected time-savers I appreciated later.

Page 1 of 1 pages