Panasonic’s AVCCAM incomplete native progressive recording modes

I applaud the fact that Panasonic made the 720p23.976 recording native in many of their AVCCAM cameras. (AVCCAM is Panasonic’s brand for AVCHD professional.) However, I am concerned about the fact that they did this in a very incomplete way. In this article, I’ll cover the advantages of native progressive recording, how Panasonic and other brands have done a complete job in other cameras, and why there are missing certain native progressive recording modes in current AVCCAM models.

NAB2010:  The Story Of The Number “3” And The Letter “D”

I would have posted this last night, before NAB2010 actually started, but I refuse to pay the extortionate $13/day that hotels here think is their God-given right to collect for the same (or worse) Internet access that is free virtually anywhere else.

In making the rounds of the Panasonic and Sony press conferences on Sunday, I was just dumbfounded to hear the breathless fawning over what is at best nascent 3-D television technology.  In a country (the US) where only about 40% of people have invested in HDTVs so far, the cravenness of manufacturers expecting people to rip it all up and buy new equipment already is breathtaking.  This is not to say that 3D can’t be compelling - in the right hands, and with the right content, the effect is impressive - but let’s not kid ourselves.  It is just an EFFECT, after all.  Have you have seen the recent Samsung 3-D TV ad where a dad cuts a block of water out of an aquarium, takes it home, pushes it into their HDTV and then the family is suddenly awash (ahem) in fully-immersive 3-D fish?  That spot verges on fraud, IMHO.  The 3-D effect is limited to the inside of the monitor’s bezel.  And lets face it, not all that much content out there deserves hi-def treatment, much less 3-D.

Here’s hoping that consumers recognize this latest gimmick as just that - a gimmick - and send the gear manufacturers (and their junkie enabler, the Consumer Electronics Association) the 2x4 to the head they so richly deserve.

So am I too much of a curmudgeon?  What do YOU think?

Tépper is glad that the iPad doesn’t support Flash

I am glad that the iPad doesn’t support Flash, and I hope it remains that way. I like efficiency, stability, security, omni-platform compatibility, direct search engine friendliness, truly open-standards, and long battery life. Back in 2008, I published Encoding web video in the age of the iPhone. Among many other topics, the 4-page article talked about how content producers are best served by steering clear of Flash-dependent media if they expect to have it be readable by what I called the fastest-growing computing device segment, which of course was —and still is— mobile devices. Since then, there has been exponential sales growth in that category, including iPhones, iPod Touches, multimedia Blackberries, and a handful of Android phones from several different manufacturers, including the recent Droid, Milestone, and Nexus One. On time for the iPad launch, some of the most important content producers in the world have understood the message that has been on the wall for over two years, and have already made themselves compatible with these Flash-free mobile devices, including Brightcove, CBS, CNN, ESPN, Facebook, Flickr, Major League Baseball, National Geographic, the National Hockey League, Netflix, Nike, NPR, People magazine, Reuters, Sports Illustrated, TED, The New York Times, Spin, Sports Illustrated, Time, the TWIT network, YouTube, Vimeo, Virgin America, and the White House. It’s time for the whiners to stop complaining and get the message too. Despite some criticisms about certain details in their products (i.e. their current lack of SFTP support), I love Adobe, and I admire its past, present, and future developments. Flash is perhaps the only thing that we don’t need anymore from Adobe, and that simply creates content that is unreadable on multiple millions of devices. My appreciation for Adobe should also be clear by my recent article called: Will Adobe’s new Mercury technology provoke a sudden exodus from Final Cut Pro to CS5?

NewTek encores NAB TriCaster upgrade guarantee for NAB 2010

NewTek, manufacturer of TriCaster portable live production systems and 3D software animation products, has just announced the NAB TriCaster Upgrade Guarantee Program. This renewed program means that NewTek customers can trade in any TriCaster purchased between January 15 and April 12, 2010 for full purchase price credit towards any new TriCaster product introduced at the 2010 NAB show, which will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, from April 12 to 15.  This is very reassuring for anyone who may have been holding back a purchase of a TriCaster until NAB.

When using YouTube jeopardizes your own content rights, leverage, and bargaining power

YouTube can be an attractive place to host your video work, especially since YouTube doesn’t charge you any money. Some content producers —who don’t (yet) have their own contracted unlimited web server— choose to use YouTube in order to avoid excessive bandwidth surcharges from their current web host, and then embed that video in their own website. Other producers use the YouTube service as a public gallery, hoping to get interest in their products or services. Many of those producers are oblivious to the fact that when uploading content on YouTube’s servers, they are granting YouTube a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display, and perform the content. You may imagine that there are cases where this can jeopardize your copyright, leverage, and bargaining power in any subsequent transaction with a potential purchase of the material or concept. In this article, I’ll explore the details, and discuss when I believe it makes sense to use YouTube, and when it makes more sense to use your own contracted unlimited web hosting service.

NewTek’s TriCaster TCXD300 ignites 3rd multicam revolution, now in HD

Any video professional with a couple of decades of experience under her/his belt will remember the original Video Toaster, which was a card that ran in a Commodore Amiga computer, and (among many others) included the infamous Kiki wipe. Despite very minor defects, the original Video Toaster —in its era— represented a revolution for multi-camera live (or live-on-tape) productions. Now NewTek has given birth to the HD-capable version of the 3rd-generation product. The TriCaster TCXD300 is an amazing standalone box that works in either SD or HD, and can record internally or externally, in addition to encoding live webcasts in HD. It has a high quality character generator and includes virtual sets. After attending an intense, multiple-hour demonstration in Miami, conducting a radio interview for both of TecnoTur’s audio channels (the current Castilian channel, and the upcoming English channel) with two TriCaster team members, and a followup e-mail interaction with NewTek’s executive VP of engineering, I now know that there is no exaggeration in stating that the TriCaster TCXD300 is indeed the 3rd multicam revolution for HD live-to-disk, HD live-to-air, or HD live-to-web production. Experience many of the details in this article.

HPA Tech Retreat 2010 - Day 3

The Tech Retreat’s third day covered regulatory issues, HDR imaging, using a plasma for reference monitoring, SOA, networking, file-based workflows… and Mo Henry.

HPA Tech Retreat 2010 - Day 2

The 16th Annual Tech Retreat was officially opened by HPS President Leon Silverman today. (As with yesterday’s coverage, this’ll be stream-of-consciousness coverage.)

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