A little disappointed...

[HowdyDoo]

Aside from RED, I'm not too thrilled with this year's NAB announcements. There's some nice stuff, but nothing phenomenal. JVC's step up from the HD100 seems nice but there's not much info on it.

Ultimately I wanted announcements based on what users need to make prosumer HD production work seamlessly RIGHT NOW.

Up front, I wanted better software support for the HD & HDV cameras, better Mac support for MXF files, a new version of Final Cut, a P2 Store with a larger drive capacity, a timeframe announcement for 16GB P2 cards, estimated release dates for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, a cineporter demo, and a few naked showgirls that grant wishes.

[cinebuddy]

I agree. Is it over or do we have time for something ground breaking yet to be revealed?

[HowdyDoo]

Well Panasonic seems to be done with their announcements. Don't know about Apple but they released all their stuff last year on the first Saturday.

I guess there's time, but most companies release their stuff at the top of the week to attract as many people to their booth as possible.

[Sumfun]

Well, you can still get those show girls. How much money do you have left?

[toke lahti]

Apple's contribution to movie/broadcast people this year was a laptop.
Maybe next year's nab we'll get a new ipod!

[Zim]

really was. When is the next show?

[carlone]

AVID is the big winner this year. If you're an AVID user then there's reaso to be excited.

Media Composer Software STANDALONE (mac or pc). Works with adrenalin hardware, mojo, mojo SDI, or NOTHING. $5000

MOJO SDI - SDI inputs and outputs as well as AES or Optical for audio.

Avid Express Pro HD for both mac and pc (supports hdv, DVCPro HD all flavors and of course native MXF support)

Pro Tools HD 7.2 has a MASSIVE amount of mixing features added (to many to list). Also you can record video direct into the timeline (frame accurate with up to 48 tracks of audio).

Basic video editing (cut, copy, duplicate, spot of video both avid and quicktime).
Multiple video tracks in pro tools and also multiple video playlists. H.264 support and scalable quicktime movie window.

Did I say cross platform support and intel mac support!

This is only scratching the surface of the new things they are showing.

Online learning/training portal
Avid Interplay
Avid Studio Toolkit (blu-ray support)

[for_mlove]

Yeah, but that $5000 price tag is a little out there. Don't hear of too many DVXusers using Avid to work with the HVX. Think their announcements will change that?

[FullRez]

Just coming back from NAB I can say that it was more interesting than just the press releases.

JVC - Here is some good and accurate info about it: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=66002

AVID - Nice to see they are lowing the price and getting the big picture.

FCP - will now support 24P (i.e. work with the HD100).

RED - Went to the booth, not much to see, no real new info other than price. Was actually suprised at how little attention it was actually getting. For a closed in booth there were not many people inside nor a line outside.

[Brandon Rice]

Avid had some of the coolest stuff this year, I agree!

PS. I disagree about Red. If you would have taken the time to speak with someone there, you would have gotten a lot of info, and there was a LOT of people at the booth most of the time.

[FullRez]

I took the time to speak to someone in the RED booth and they told me everything I already knew except price. Go to the RED website it's even more informative than the booth.

[J.R. Hudson]

AVID is the big winner this year. If you're an AVID user then there's reaso to be excited.

If. If.

[Brandon Rice]

I happen to be, and I am excited!

[GaryinCalifornia]

One sad thing from NAB was I was hoping to meet that Christopher Walkin look-a-like at the DVX get together on Monday night... but no John Hudson...

[Simon Wyndham]

Maybe he really is Christopher Walken and he is busy working on a movie? ;)

[HowdyDoo]

I think next year's NAB will satisify the prosumer HD customer base a bit more than this year. I don't know why I was expecting more considering most of the HD - HDV cameras were JUST placed into consumer's hands.

Hopefully next year most of the bugs will have been squashed, software will have been updated and tweaked, bigger P2 cards will have been released, and hey... maybe Cinemek will demo the G35? I predict it'll be a toilet paper tube spray painted black with an Acuvue lens.

[toke lahti]

Don't hear of too many DVXusers using Avid to work with the HVX. If apple, panny & adobe are not giving support for hvx 720p25/50 anytime soon, there might be a lot of Europeans interested in avid.

[cinebuddy]

Yeah I was hoping that cineform would have something together since they are so well integrated into adobe.

[Spec-Comm]

Aside
Up front, I wanted better software support for the HD & HDV cameras, better Mac support for MXF files, a new version of Final Cut, a P2 Store with a larger drive capacity, a timeframe announcement for 16GB P2 cards, estimated release dates for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, a cineporter demo, and a few naked showgirls that grant wishes.

Hello Howdy, (that was redundant) :)

Just wanted to mention on this thread that there will be news VERY soon on the latest with the CinePorter™ on our website. Some new pictures of a finilized mock-up and a list of the new specs. A release date will be following that a little later.

Hope this helps.

P.S. We can't help you with the Show Girls. Not too many of those in Maryland. :)

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman

[HowdyDoo]

Great! I still haven't bought my HVX yet. Maybe I'll buy that and a cineporter together! Any package deals available?

[danny d]

lets be real Avid and the rest of the NLE gangs care nothing about you and I. a decade ago they were revolutionary thats what most of us were trained on alongside the moviola's. today the moviola is gone they really only care about high end corporate stuff. indie filmmakers have seen revolutions from Final Cut and now RED, thats what we need just as super 16mm and the Dvx helped us get our stories across the makers of Red are true heroes, film is not all about bread and butter, or as briceman put it "The experience of making a movie is not just about the computer and the camera. You know its the whole picture, its your life-Brandon Rice" NAB is for broadcasters and ENG folk. Cine Gear expo is what we all look forward to thats where RED will shine. its not all about camera buzz its the ability make a movie without some uncreative fool in suit telling you what sells. this is a real evolution, we are the lucky ones to be in the time of red. get the camera when it comes out go out and shoot a movie.

[carlone]

Sweet!

Let me ask this. Do you really think that companies like Avid and Apple Don't care about the tools WE need to be creative? What Indie guy here could really afford a Moviola (in it's day). It's Both Avid and Apple that first put the tools (not the inspiration, just the tools) in our hands (and continue to do so). Thank God Panasonic and Sony stepped up to the plate with cameras that were affordable to many.

The RED camera is exciting but TODAY the only way you would be able to "edit" or"capture" that great movie from that 4k camera would be with an Avid product. Indie productions are at least 2-3 years aways from having a full "cost effective" workflow to match a camera like the Red. Storage, Computing power and an Editing system that is efficient enough to handle this much data TODAY would cost you many times more than the camera.

[Jarred Land]

Red will shoot down to 720 if your concerned about support.

[JanBee]

Geeeez, I'm feeling like living on another planet with all that fuzz about RED. I wish I could afford a $30K+ camera system like you guys. On the other hand... what are you doing here in the HVX forum? :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

[HowdyDoo]

These large acquisition formats continue to be offered in what has been an avalanche of camera releases over the past year, all the while, one of the most important issues that I'm still waiting to see resolved didn't seem to be at NAB.

Archiving.

Where do you put all this giant footage? I mean, what good is a cheap 4k camera if the cost to archive the footage can exceed the cost of the camera itself in just a few short years?

At this point, I'm now totally satisfied with what's available for acquisition. I want to see some real world solutions for storing this stuff.

[SamG]

HowdyDoo I must concur.

As the saying goes, amateurs talk strategy and generals talk logistics.

Or, to re-write and re-contextualize a haiku from a certain Democratic campaign strategist.

4K
2K
It's the backend, stupid.

:)

Sam

[richkuhr]

Hello,

I have used FCP and Premiere Pro for the last few docs I created and I just bought AVID's xpress PROHD and it is awesome.

It is a far more mature tool then previous NLE's I have used but I bought the 3 pack training DVD from videoguys and I am learning quickly. This is an awesome tool despite what people say, and it has the best support for the HVX at this time. The color correction, speed, and quality are hard to beat for the price. Also I bought a new 17" Inspiron 9400 2.16 Ghtz Dual Processor Laptop with all options and AVID runs fast. All the major industry editors cutting shows like LOST, ALIAS, 24, and others are using AVID systems -- it's a good tool to learn with a true upgrade path.
FCP would be a strong second choice or if I had more money to invest at least another $5k in Mac system hardware.

[Brandon Rice]

Yeah! Avid rules!

[Harry Frishberg]

All the major industry editors cutting shows like LOST, ALIAS, 24, and others are using AVID systems -- it's a good tool to learn with a true upgrade path.


I am trying to find work in LA for a Final Cut Pro editor on a TV show (LOST and 24 are my favorite shows on Television). It's not easy, so I am trying to learn Avid Xpress DV. I don't like it as much as FCP and I would like to stick with Apple.

Besides "Scrubs", what TV shows are using Final Cut? And since NAB didn't bring us a FCP update, when can we expect one?

[HowdyDoo]

Expect the Final Cut update this summer. I'm almost positive it will be released when Apple releases the new intel towers. I know I've been getting emails about their upcoming World Wide Developer's conference where they will preview the new OS "Leopard" so it may happen then.

On a side note... since Panasonic has yet to release a Mac version of their MXF capturing and logging tool, and the one company that did release a similar piece of software decided to charge a gazillion dollars for it, if anybody is interested in writing one on their own think about entering it into this:

http://developer.apple.com/ada/index.html

[Spec-Comm]

Great! I still haven't bought my HVX yet. Maybe I'll buy that and a cineporter together! Any package deals available?

Finalized pricing and packages haven't been released yet but will be.

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman

[thebman18]

I'm waiting for dealers to stock up on HVX200s, besides that I can say Apple at NAB2006 was a disappointment. 5.1 thats old news...

[Illya Friedman]

Expect the Final Cut update this summer.

You're more accurate than you know :)

I.

[John Morgan]

Did no one visit Matrox for other than MXO? Did no one notice them demonstrating native editing of P2 and XDCAM MXF files on Axio? I guess there are few Axio owners on this list, but I'm one and I'm jazzed about that news!

My HVX200 is ordered and coming in 1-2 weeks.
John

[John Morgan]

Whether Adobe does or doesn't get on the MXF bandwagon right away, Matrox has...both for AxioHD and LE.

Current beta of AxioUtils demoed at NAB does not support native modes from the HVX (yet) but soon will. Planned release date is "end of summer". A lot to be excited about for those who like the Adobe Production Studio set of tools and for those who like real-time native editing of HDV, DVCPro25 and 50, DVCProHD, uncompressed 10-bit 720 and 1080, and now MXF. Matrox's track record of Axio development in the past year is stellar. Last year at NAB they rolled out Axio in beta for version 1.0. This year they rolled out beta of 2.5....that's 4 generations in just a year, with each upgrade offering huge gains over previous.
John

[alpi69]

Axio is definitely a top-solution hardwarewise. LE costs 3990 i believe and it comes with Premiere only. Wish you could use different software...

[wabbit]

(Avid)...is an awesome tool despite what people say...

Who is saying it is not? FCP, Premiere, and/or Vegas fanboys? :undecided

[Texture]

Expect the Final Cut update this summer. I'm almost positive it will be released when Apple releases the new intel towers. I know I've been getting emails about their upcoming World Wide Developer's conference where they will preview the new OS "Leopard" so it may happen then.


Oh Yeah!

[drdimento]

Yeah, but that $5000 price tag is a little out there. Don't hear of too many DVXusers using Avid to work with the HVX. Think their announcements will change that?


Avid Liquid was under $700 and works absolutely fabulous and Avid Xpress is hardly much more. Both are easy to use and stunning output. We use both but prefer Liquid because of its' total "all in one" application, practically any format on the timeline (even 15fps quicktime or mpeg), title dekko, dvd authoring, time warp, audio sound control . . geez, too much to mention. We love it! Thank you Avid . . and yes their booth was awesome, just wished I would have won one of the door prizes :(