Blackmagic: We’re ready to remove the Band-Aid!

Despite years of diplomatic prodding on my part, both via articles in ProVideo Coalition magazine and private emails, Blackmagic has still avoided and postponed offering RGB on its HDMI outputs. [If you’ve read my articles regarding HP DreamColor connectivity, you already know that the DreamColor engine demands digital RGB (not YUV/component) and true progressive (not interlaced or even PsF).] As a result, until Blackmagic updates their products (hopefully via a firmware and software update), you’ll have to spend an additional US$495 for an HDLink Pro 3D DisplayPort which will take the SDI signal from either the DeckLink HD Extreme 3D card or the UltraStudio 3D external interface. And that also means an additional SDI cable, an additional power supply, an additional power outlet, and having to make additional adjustments in another device. If you agree, please sign the online petition I’ve created.

How the Blackmagic Cinema Camera will indirectly take sales from AJA, Matrox, and MOTU

What are you talking about Allan? AJA, Matrox, and MOTU don’t manufacturer or sell cameras! How will the Blackmagic Cinema Camera take sales from AJA, Matrox, and MOTU? The reason is related to the DaVinci Resolve grading software that Blackmagic is including with the camera at no extra cost. Even though Apple bundled Color (which was an updated version of Final Touch) with Final Cut Pro 7, very few people I know actually used it, and it is effectively dead since Final Cut Pro 7 is no longer available for sale, and Apple doesn’t supply Color with Final Cut Pro X. Things will be different with Blackmagic’s inclusion of DaVinci Resolve with the camera, because almost all users (i.e. anybody who shoots in RAW mode) will need to grade their footage. Given DaVinci Resolve’s excellent historical reputation and the fact that purchasers of the camera will get a free license, many of them will likely want to invest in learning to grade with it, rather than spending cash on some other grading application. In this article, I’ll explore why this situation will mean less sales for AJA, Matrox, and MOTU.

The HPA Tech Retreat, Technology’s Leading Edge

I attended this year’s Hollywood Post Alliance retreat that touted the theme “Snowflake Workflows”. In this episode of “The Terence & Philip Show” we cover some of the more interesting things I learned there.

Besides covering some cool new technology previews, we had a side discussion on how disruptive technologies often come out of the consumer divisions of the large conglomerates rather than their professional product division.

So click below and join the conversation.

NAB 2012: Assorted Snapshots

I got this fisheye lens, y’see, and by gosh and by golly I’m a-gonna use it.

NAB is too big a show in too short a time to see more than a fraction of it. I’ve covered a few things in some depth (as have other PVC folks), but there’s plenty more that slips by without proper coverage. Here, I have a few photos of interesting things that I saw in passing, with pointers for more info should anything catch your fancy.

NAB 2012: RED

RED’s “Leader of the Rebellion” Ted Schilowitz held a press conference at NAB on Monday, describing the projects and products RED is working on. Rather than paraphrase him, I’ve got him on card (well, it’s not “on tape” and it’s not “on film”; what are we supposed to say these days?) so he can tell you himself. I also have a collection of images shot around the RED booth, for your viewing pleasure.

NAB 2012: Camera Support

At NAB I found support vendors at the affordable end of the spectrum I hadn’t seen before, comfy Aaton-style handgrips, F65 tweaks by Carlos Acosta, and a “drive-by demo” of a handy zoom/focusing lever.

NAB 2012: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

It’s true: the black helicopters are coming after you.

In the first two days of NAB, I saw five different folks walking through the halls carrying multi-rotor camera copters. In previous years? None. UAVs of all sort were all over the show; here are pix of a few of them.

NAB 2012: Recorders

AJA Ki Pro Quad 4K-capable recorder hooked to a Canon C500.

In the past few years the industry has been moving away from rack-mounted tape decks in favor of small, on-camera or near-camera, portable recorders using CF cards, SSDs, and hard disks. At NAB 2012, we saw a partial reversal of that trend: the recorders are moving back into the racks.

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