Sony gears up for Blu-ray 3D mastering and production in Japan

I spoke recently for the DFW-Professional Videographer’s Association and during the Dallas Producer’s Association’s “Production Roundup” about the critical importance of using video scopes while shooting, and in editing. It can be said many different ways but simply, if you understand the importance of using an audio meter to know the difference between audio that is too hot or too quiet, then a waveform monitor is the same thing for video– just as essential.

The headphone volume knob can be adjusted any number of ways, the meter is the only objective measurement. So, too, a video monitor can be adjusted any number of ways, and a scope is the only objective way to measure and calibrate your video.

Apple lays off 40 from FCP team, before NAB?

Apple laying off 40 people from the Final Cut Pro software team has been noted on Twitter, but not corroborated anywhere else as I can find.

But if the layoffs are actually true, it begs us to wonder what Apple’s long term dedication is to high-end computers, and professional apps— especially considering that the vast majority of profits come from: iPods, iPhones, iApps, iMacs, iBookstore, iTunes music & TV shows, laptops and soon- iPad.

Smaller, More Powerful Computers.

As computing becomes ever more powerful, and “Netbooks” offer mobile computing power on the road with low-power chips, diminutive boxes with powerhouse capabilities are not only inevitable- they’re already here. While home theatre machines may be a “hobby” to some electronics companies, others are taking it seriously and offering some horsepower under the hood…

Switching from Mac to PC. How?

As regular readers know, I use a Mac. But the lack of a midrange model really has me fuming and I need a machine that does the job, at a price that doesn’t kick the buyer in the face.

I received a brochure for Dell the other day which showed off a nice little quad-core machine for pittance compared to a quad core Mac Pro. I could upgrade the dual internal drives to 1 TB drives, drop in a Blu-ray burner and, with Adobe CS4, I could be editing and burning HD video with aplomb, compared to standing around with my thumb up my Mac ass waiting for Steve Jobs to get past his “bag of hurt” feelings and make Blu-ray authoring on the Mac a reality.

But what sort of machine should I get?

The “Pro” Laptop… Has Arrived.

It’s one thing for small boutique electronic shops to build “gaming” laptops that feature some serious horsepower (and usually some honkin’ big external power supplies to match.)

But now Lenovo has taken the ThinkPad to the next level with the W700. This is big in two ways- first, Lenovo already has an “in” with every major corporation that already uses ThinkPad laptops, secondly, the sheer mass of common parts makes this a cost-effective evolution for them.

This laptop is what any “Pro” laptop ought to be– built from the ground up to kick some computing arse.

Tom agrees. Mid-level Mac needed.

It’s a strange thread… Tuan Nguyen of Tom’s Hardware wrote a extensive and detailed price comparison of Macs versus comparably equipped PC’s and the results were as expected- there really is no price difference for the core hardware- and- if you like Apple’s tight integration and free media Apps, the Mac easily wins.

But one paragraph in his article really hit home because it echoes what I and many others have been saying for years: Apple needs an affordable, mid-sized Pro machine. 

Blu-ray victory spells the end of tape.

Data DVD’s have already been used to distribute all sorts of media, as the replacement for the formerly ubiquitous floppy. From short raw DV files, to completed commercial spots, 4.7 GB of space is pretty good. But for completed TV shows in a HD codec, a DVD is very small.

Blu-ray’s recent vistory bodes well for the independent producer because economies of scale will bring down the cost of both the 27 GB and the new 50 GB Blu-ray disks. The optical media that is at the heart of Sony’s Professional Disk system.

HD DVD dead. Let’s move on.

Remember more than two years ago when Apple CEO, Steve Jobs held the Sony’s HVR-FX1 HDV camcorder up on stage and called it “The year of HD.”

Here we are several years later and, mostly because of the protracted “format war” between HD DVD and Blu-ray, we have been left with almost everyone sitting on the proverbial fence.

The war’s over folks. There’s only one direction to go and it’s been picked for us. 

ROCK (tech) HARD PLACE. Yea.

The proverbial “between a rock and a hard place” is basically a tough place to be.

I was corresponding with a fellow videographer who works for a government video department. He tried to explain the troubles he faces with regard to new gear purchases. It’s beyond trying to decide between P2 or SxS. It’s beyond tape or flash media. It’s, well, let’s just say it basically covers the last 20 years of video production- every single day.

Panasonic’s 9.5mm Blue-ray burner- wither slot load?

In yet another case why slot-load drives which continue to be used by a few laptop manufacturers despite their notable problems– you can’t easily eject a bad disk, you can’t read optical disks from camcorders, you can’t read business card disks, loading and ejecting mechanisms die, yadda, yadda, yadda…

Panasonic takes Blu-ray burning from 12.7mm to the 9.5mm thinness that UMPCs just love…