American Cinema Editors and Manhattan Edit Workshop bring editors, filmmakers and moviegoers alike the biggest blockbuster event of the summer; the only thing small about this year’s EditFest NY is the price tag
See the remainder of the press release at: News: EditFest NY 2011: The Summer’s Hottest Editing Extravaganza Returns
They haven’t figured out exactly how to make money on it all yet but they do like what Netflix has done over the past year. Maybe they’ll try their own channels of distribution shortly…maybe.
Tellywood Works to Reach You Any, Every Way They Can
“You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!… All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” – Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), Sunset Blvd., Paramount (1950)
This article was sent in by:
Andy Marken Marken Communications
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If it weren’t for James Cameron’s (Avatar + fame) session at NAB, you would swear you were at a mash up CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and an IT (information technology) conference.
Most of the sessions and discussions focused on:
– social media and mobile delivery
– how Tellywood was going to optimize their network/content assets
– cloud computing/storage (we’ll look closely at this in a few weeks)
– how the old guard was going to protect their stuff/squeeze out kids who seemed more interested in viewers than profits.
Joe Gilles looked over the proceedings and said, “You don’t yell at a sleepwalker – he may fall and break his neck.”
Cameron loves technology almost as much as he loves movies.
He took his shots at the broadcast folks saying it was their fault we still don’t have a lot of 3D on our entertainment devices.
3D Still Breathing
As for 3D II it’s getting its second wind:
– ESPN, Discovery regularly have 3D shows and they’re heavying up for 2012
– There are about 25,000 3D movie screens worldwide (8K in the US)
– 160 3D movies were released between 2008-2011, 140 projected for 2012-2015
– In the US, 10 3D channels will launch this year, 25 in 2012
– Similar shifts are taking place in “Europe, Australia, Asia, the Middle East
– About 1/3 of US households will buy 3DTV in the next three years (aahh…2/3 won’t)
– In Europe, 42% of homes are projected to have 3DTVs by 2014
– 95 million 3D devices — including gaming devices, set-tops, PCs — will be sold worldwide this year
– Western Europe, Japan, the U.S. will be the largest markets, accounting for 93% of 3D device sales in 2011and by 2014 the global installed base is projected to be nearly 900 million 3D-capable devices
A lot of that is contingent on people accepting the idea of wearing glasses for their viewing or refining glasses-free technology.
Cameron likes to push Hollywood as well and said it was time to break from its celluloid past of 24FPS (typical shooting frame rate) and shoot at 48 or 60FPS to deliver entertainment images that are as important as the creative work.
Doing it will only require a projector software upgrade so it won’t be long before you’ll think your movies are better and you won’t know why.
Now you know.
But that wasn’t the real plot for this year’s NAB and beyond.
A person we respect distilled the mad rush of Tellywood, IP firms, Telco to be dominant in the consumer’s mind by saying, “Entertainment. It’s what we’ve boiled our lives down to. We’re not too worried about our livelihood. We work…to fund our entertainment. Sad isn’t it?”
Guess if you’re in – or want to be in – the entertainment industry that’s a good thing.
Coming Out Party
Google isn’t used to paying for much, just giving you some services and rake in the money from clicks, ad sales.
But offering to put up Tellywood’s content (legally) didn’t sit well with the studio/net moguls since the other guys — Netflix, Hulu, networks, cable companies – “volunteered.”
They finally decided to come out of the closet and admit they were a media company.
Boy, that was a well-kept secret!
Network – After years of saying they weren’t a content company, Google finally came out of the closet and said that they were going to fund professional content production that would be aired on YouTube. They will also set up more than 20 video channels with more in the planning stages. It can only enrich their ad revenues. Illustration – Agency France Presse
They didn’t buy YouTube for a measly $1.6B five years ago just to let folks everywhere upload their stuff (24 hours of video every minute).
Growing Numbers – Content developers upload more than 24 hours of video a minute to YouTube and the site regularly has more than two billion visitors a month.
Source – comScore
They have the traffic – about one billion viewers a month — but the viewing attention span is pretty short. That’s probably why they put out $100M to indies and others willing to produce higher-end content.
To help with the production generation, they bought Green Parrot Pictures, an Irish video-enhancement firm.
You’ll also see YouTube change their home page from the “you hunt for, find it” approach to a set of channels.
They’re starting with 20 channels featuring hours of professionally produced original programming a week with more added – channels, content – as the year progresses.
YouTube’s channels will also include new social-networking features, including the ability to identify video content that is popular with their circle of friends.
Adults 18 + average 5 plus hours of TV viewing daily, according to Nielsen.
Computer viewing still averages three-five minutes a day.
The Streamers
Of course, that hasn’t stopped folks from proclaiming that the rush to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube viewing is an obvious trend that people are cutting the cable and are moving to IP-based entertainment.
Movie Entertainment – Online users regularly go to entertainment locations like Hulu, Tremor Media, adap.tv, BrightRoll, Nabbr, AOL YouTube and other online video sites for their entertainment. In the younger demographics, these numbers continue to grow.
Source – Lightspeed Research
True, you’re watching more stuff online; but frankly, a lot of you are just watching more stuff.
Norma looked on in disgust and said, “I *am* big. It’s the *pictures* that got small.”
But online viewing has offered another opportunity for young and old, according to comScore. They reported online video viewing increased last December, compared to the year prior:
– 88.6M daily viewers compared to 67.3
– 5.8B sessions compared to 5.1
– 201 videos per viewer compared to 187
– 14.2 hours compared to 12.7
Tellywood finds the shift “interesting.” But they’re more interested in the demographics and viewing trends.
Video Demographics – It is true there is an upswing in the number of people who turn first to the web to watch their video content when it is convenient to them; but broadcasters, cable companies, telcos and other content delivery options focus on the up-and-coming age groups’ trends and projections on their future viewing habits…that’s where the money is. Source – eMarketer
They can handle today, but they’ve got to be ready for your tomorrow.
Norma advised them, “They’ll love it everyplace.”
They spent a lot of sessions and hush-hush meetings discussing this anywhere, any device viewing phenomenon.
That’s why the mobile providers kept bragging about who had faster, more real 4G/LTE.
They talked about who would be first to meet the content consumer’s needs.
The Mobile Gotcha’
They don’t care what the video content is they just want the bandwidth usage.
More Video – While feature devices and smartphones do enable people to call one another, most of the bandwidth is consumed by video and to a lesser degree complex data content. Source – Cisco
Their problem is, they don’t understand that people are only inpiduals, inpiduals who have phones, tablets, netbooks, notebooks, TVs.
One – very reasonable – plan per person is mandatory.
Not a cute little fine print agreement for every device you have in your viewing arsenal.
YouTube doesn’t care what the content was either, as long as folks are using their portal.
The cable’s and theaters’ value are in their silos. They’re struggling with keeping eyeballs on their screens as people become accustomed to watching what they want, where they want, how they want. YouTube and the other online content producers/providers can slice and dice content for viewers (and the advertisers).
After five years of operating “in the community’s interest,” Google is in the mood for some serious payback on their YouTube investment.
But don’t forget that content and the people are important.
Even more important is the entertainment consumer.
Just remember what Norma said, “Without me, there wouldn’t be any Paramount studio.”
Open Source tools are described throughout the DCI specifications, and the nuance of using them is detailed in the myriad SMPTE (and ISO) documents of Digital Cinema. The Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is a complex joining of various video and audio standards coupled with several security protocols that make the transport, local storage and playout of entertainment able to be used by any combination of the available ‘compliant’ media players and projectors.
Since official compliance is a new part of the dcinema world, this hasn’t been an easy task. It is made more complicated by the several transitions that the equipment is going through; Series One and Series Two projectors, external to internal media blocks (IMBs), InterOp to SMPTE compliant systems are a few of the major examples.
For the last 10 years packages have been made by the classic companies, Technicolor and Deluxe, and more recently by some of the integrators such as Cinedigm, ArtsAlliance and XDC. Dolby has long had a separate group making packages.
There are several manufacturers who make package creation systems. The two most popular are from Doremi (CineAsset) and Qube (QubeMaster Pro and Xpress). Fraunhofer makes a package named EasyDCP. All of these systems cost in excess of $5,000. All are using somewhat user-cuddly front ends to steer the user through the many details and choices available. It is well known in the field that any product that pops out the other side needs to be tested on each variation of cinema player and projector to make certain that it will play when needed.
OpenDCP is no different2, but until now its interface was by command line (CLI), which added a layer of complexity to the learning curve. This month a new release was posted on the open source code site http://code.google.com/p/opendcp/.
The package roadmap tells of some of the features that hold it back from being the perfect tool for all users. One item not listed is that the GUI version will only create single reel packages (though the CLI will create multi-reel packages). And like all DCP creation packages, the user needs to test the package on the target system.
This brings up the point of “Why”, which becomes easily understood if one searches the net for requests by film-makers and directors who want their product played at film festivals and local cinemas that use digital projection systems. These artists commonly have eaten their relatively small budgets getting the entertainment shot and edited, where there is enough format and standards confusion. Often the festival site doesn’t know the answers either since this is yet another technical area in flux, manned by volunteers who only get fragments of data to pass on to their constituents. The topics of using DVDs or Blu Ray discs comes up. There is a commonality of panic as each question brings up further confusion. The nuance of multi-track audio and going from TV-centric HD standards to truly HD cinema standards (wider color space, 4:4:4 color depth instead of 4:2:0 and different White Points for example) brings up more decision points that can’t be universally answered.
Thus, one more complication in the road to cinema salvation by Alternative Content. While there are many good arguments that these details are best handled by pros who have experience with permanently set-up and maintained professional tools, the reality is that many of these artists just don’t have the money (or rather, they have time that they are forced by circumstances to value at less per hour.) One recent local film festival worked with a patron who charged a flat 200€ fee for the transfers, while the Venice Film Festival transfers materials gratis (in exchange for publicity, which Qube and D2 have taken advantage of for the last two years.)
There is also a need at cinemas to create and package local commercials or theater policy trailers for insertion into the pre-show of the movies and sport and concerts that they show through their digital projection systems. This might be easily handled in larger cities where there are companies who can make economies of scale work in their favor. But spending thousands getting a DCP made will eat all the profits from a quickly shot local pizza parlor ad. New tools such as the RED Scarlet, the Canon 5D MkII, GoPro or Drift cameras and easy to use editing software make this a nice adjunct to a clever facility…only held up by the expense and ease of creating the DCP.
With this background, we spoke to Terrence, the lead programmer for the OpenDCP project. He is a cinema owner of a 7 theater cinema facility which was one of the first independent complexes in the US to go completely digital. He has had extensive experience in the computer field as well, and it was just this need for making local commercials that got him on the project. After listing some of the features of this new DCP creation system with the Graphical User Interface, we’ll ask our Three Questions.
Features
One last point – Open Source does not necessarily imply free. There is a lot of nuance in just this point, but for example, the EasyDCP system of Fraunhofer also uses tools that follow Open Source standards within its structure, yet it is a highly priced (and highly valued) package. More detail can be found at: GNU, Free Software, and Open Source Software – Linux 101
Hello Terrence. For all the great and required features of the OpenDCP software, what in reality should a user expect as they dive into its use? Without knocking any other package, what advantages and disadvantages will one see when using OpenDCP?
OpenDCP: Let’s continue on the conversation about Open Source tools to illustrate some points. In the current version of the OpenDCP package we use an open source encoder named “openjpeg” that does the work of encoding from the TIFF images to JPEG2000 package. The commercial products can afford to license much faster encoders. Their highend tools might create packages at 15 frames per second (fps) while the OpenDCP packages are converted at 3fps. On long-form projects this can make a significant difference in time. Not quality, of course, and for the short commercial or under 20 minute project this would be an acceptable compromise.
Another advantage that open source projects seem to take better advantage of is the methods of communication with their users. Where commercial entities have to beware of odd statements that live forever on the internet, as well as hackers and spammers and the like, our control issues are not as great and so the OpenDCP user forum can be more open and vibrant. It fits our spirit of cooperation to point to the work of an independent expert in the digital signatures field like Wolfgang Woehl of Filmmuseum Munich whose github digital_cinema_tools social coding site is filled with practical and historical information. He, as a support board monitor, and others of his skill are able to help guide the product and test it in ways that build on the fundamentals of Open Source. People can look through the code and make certain that the standards are kept, and that we don’t do things that commercial entities are often tempted to do.
It isn’t out of the question that we could license a faster JPEG 2000 encoder. We’ve discussed ways to do this on the site – there is a yearly cost of $10,000 to meet. Maybe we could do this with a Pro version, spreading the cost over a number of users. Or maybe we can help spur the OpenJPEG programmers along…anyone out there who is a math genius that wants to help?
DCTools: That’s out of our league, but hopefully there’s someone out there who can apply their genius to the task. How did you decide to take on this OpenDCP task?
OpenDCP: The origins of OpenDCP started in Oct 2010. I had wanted to create a policy trailer for my movie theater. Unfortunately, the cost to have one converted was around $2000 and the cost of the commercial DCP software was in the $5000 range. After some research I came across some people that were attempting to create DCPs using various open source tools. They had success, but the process was a bit involved. It required a half dozen tools, some knowledge of the DCI specifications, compiling of tools. I had some programming experience, so I decided I could take what I had learned and create a tool everyone could use. The first version had a command line interface and it’s feature set grew over a few months. It simplified the process a lot, but I really wanted to add a GUI and last month I released the first GUI version of the tool.
There is certainly a lot of interest in film festivals. A couple have floated the idea of an OpenDCP Film Festival. Unfortunately, I have neither the time or knowledge to plan that sort of thing.
DCTools: There is a great deal of interest toward the inclusion of the hard of hearing and the hearing and visually impaired audience into the great culture known as “Going To The Movies”. Indie producers who I’ve spoken to point out that there are thousands of professional movies shot but only hundreds get finished. Of those, only a small percentage get distribution. So added features like closed captions, narrative tracks and even sub-titles for other markets gets put on the “If List”.
On the other hand, the US Department of Justice will be handing down their directives or rulings soon on how many open and closed caption movies should be played in the commercial cinemas, and the EU is walking toward that path with the recent inclusion of the UN Human Rights documents being used as the basis for inclusion of people’s with handicaps in the marketplace.
How does OpenDCP handle these things, and what else is on your road map?
OpenDCP: Right now, we handle one narrative track per DCP. [DCTools: Many HI/VI equipment manufacturers can switch up to 4 narrative tracks per DCP.] Thus far the typical user hasn’t been doing anything too complex in those regards. OpenDCP will create SMPTE subtitle tracks. But we’ll get there with more options. For example, the GUI currently limits you to one reel per DCP. The command line allows multiple reels and the GUI will as well, just didn’t get done for the first release.
Subtitles are probably the biggest thing people want support for. OpenDCP can handle SMPTE subtitle tracks, but it doesn’t do anything with MXF Interop/Cinecanvas. For my own personal needs, I don’t use subtitles, they are pretty rare in the U.S. However, it seems almost everyone outside the U.S. really needs that support. The problem is that the majority want the Cinecanvas because they mention that SMPTE compliant packages are still not in the field. Most cinemas think that they aren’t going to upgrade their software until InterOp stops working, which is another challenge for SMPTE in general. My issue is that I don’t really want to spend my limited development time implementing features that will be deprecated.
As different packages are usable in the field it seemed like the DCPs that OpenDCP generated wouldn’t play on different sets of equipment all the time. Some media players seemed finicky while others would accept anything. It took several weeks of trying, but it finally worked. It was good because it helped find some slight differences between the MXF Interop and SMPTE packages and flushed out some bugs in my code.
I actually wasn’t even all that aware of how closed caption support in DCPs was handled until a month or so ago. Most of the information I used building OpenDCP came from the DCI 1.2 specification and sort of reverse engineering countless DCPs I had collected from my theater. Then when somebody was having trouble getting a DCP working on the player they were using, they donated a set of SMPTE documents to the project. Reading through the various documents really helped and thats when I learned about the CC stuff.
We hope to have material at the next ISDCF Plugfest. That will hopefully give us more feedback from the professional users.
I’ve gotten feedback from people of all different skill sets that have been able to use OpenDCP to create DCPs. Some have been using it for preshow/commericals, a few are using it for archiving, and independent film makers are quite happy with the results. The current version takes a tiff image sequence and does the jpeg2000 and XYZ color conversion for the picture track. The audio track is created from 24-bit 48/96khz PCM wav files. It supports pretty much supports the entire DCI specification – 3D, 2K/4K, 24, 25, 30, 50, 60fps, digital signatures, etc.
Future features including being able to convert more image types, read directly from video files, image resizing, and simplify the process even more.
Developing OpenDCP has been a great process, first just trying to meet the needs I had as a cinema owner, then really putting my EE degree and programming skills to use. One of the neatest things has been meeting and discussing digital cinema with all kinds of people. I’ve been lucky enough to see some really excellent independent short films and learn so much along the way.
2 The OpenDCP author wants to be clear that the project is still considered beta, and that the user should expect some issues depending on different factors. For example, while reading the forum this article’s author noticed that one user had difficulties with an older computer with a slow processor – changing the number of threads in the set-up let the build complete successfully. Thus, the recommendation is to start the DCP process with a small with 5-10 second clip. Get a successful workflow and then do a full conversion.
Weeks later, Sony still in trouble: Read Sony yet to fully secure its networks: expert | Reuters
For the past week, rumors about a potential breach of all customer information in the vast online PlayStation world has turned from ‘maybe’ to the worst possible situation. Read the Krebs On Security report for details:
While not directly associated with digital cinema, it shows the extent that hackers are able to cleverly exploit nuances of sophisticated code that even the largest corporations attempt to keep secure. One of the basic rules of encryption is that anyone can create a secure system that they themselves can’t breach.
One of the strengths of Open Source software is that a world community is able to research code to find and fix problems. This is the path that DCI and SMPTE tried to follow, using international standards such as AES and ___ for the packaging, transport and playout, to protect the intellectual property that we are all given to play to our customers.
It appears that the transition from PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 allowed some glitches into the code. These were apparently discovered when hackers worked to allow PlayStation 2 users to enter the online system that had cut them off. Code in the PlayStation 3 developers kit provided the tools. Where Sony didn’t use enough outside help to give oversight by “White Hat Hackers”, “Black Hat Hackers filled the gap. Now, only as an after thought post-catastrophe, outside help is being asked to help secure a newly designed system.
This is relevant to the DCienma world as we transfer from Series I to Series II projectors, external to internal media blocks (IMBs to the cognoscente) and maintaining InterOp format deliver while transferring to SMPTE compliant formats and equipment.
The lesson is: Learn more. Pay Attention. The other basic rule of security is Constant Vigilance, which requires a trained staff from top to bottom. That includes corporate executives, local management, chief techs, chief projectionist and each person in the stream who touches a security key.
Good luck to us all. The studio personnel are not the top of this chain. The artists, the producers, the writers and their lawyers are the top of the chain who are trusting us to keep their materials secure. As a professional in the industry, don’t let your name be on the list of defendants in a lawsuit for breach of duty.
RYAN REYNOLDS TO RECEIVE CINEMACON MALE STAR OF THE YEAR AWARD
WARNER BROS. PICTURES TO RELEASE “GREEN LANTERN” ON JUNE 17, 2011
HARRY POTTER FILM FRANCHISE TO RECEIVE CINEMACON HALL OF FAME AWARD
WARNER BROS. PICTURES TO RELEASE “HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS—PART 2”
ON JULY 15, 2011
KITCHENER — Cineflow Corp. has raised $1 million in new investment capital and received orders worth more than $500,000 for its digital cinema workflow systems.
The funding came from several sources including the provincial government’s Ontario Centres of Excellence and a Los Angeles-based digital production veteran who is joining the Kitchener company’s team in a sales and marketing capacity.
Marker Karahadian, who sold his video equipment rental network to Panavision in 2006, has invested $500,000 in Cineflow and will lead its sales and marketing activities, the company said in a news release.
In addition, Cineflow will deliver equipment worth more than $500,000 over the next eight weeks to two Toronto firms, the 3D Camera Co. and Sim Video. The products for 3D Camera will be used on a major 3D film being shot in Toronto beginning in April, Cineflow said.
Based on Otonabee Drive, Cineflow provides hardware and software solutions that allow movie directors and editors to review, edit, transfer and archive digital cinema footage.
The company, which employs 12 people, was formed in 2009 by former employees of Dalsa Corp. who left the Waterloo-based firm after it ended its digital cinema camera project.
John Coghill, Cineflow’s chief executive officer, said the latest developments are good news after a potentially lucrative deal last spring with distributer Band Pro Film was delayed by circumstances beyond the company’s control.
With venture capital scarce in recent years, the provincial funding “was instrumental in enabling us to continue to move forward with our compelling story and attracting someone of Marker’s caliber to our team,” he said.
Coghill is optimistic about the company’s fortunes.
“We have a pretty clear read on the market for file-based (production) systems now and this year is shaping up to be pretty exciting.”
A little fun work to get to the music…or maybe it will be different for you.
The Eizo ColorEdge CG245W is a 24.1″ monitor aimed for use by editing and graphics professionals working with both still or moving images. It is designed and constructed solely by Eizo and nothing is outsourced so that all quality control and testing is done ‘in house’.
The CG245W monitor weighs in at a not too heavy 22.3 lb. including the stand. It was delivered in a well packaged box constructed and designed to protect from any shipping drops. I have been amazed at some of the poor shipping practices by some companies but that is not the case here. Opening the main container you have a long, flat box containing the instructions, a disc with the manual and software and the sections of the shading hood for either horizontal or vertical monitor setup. A monitor cleaning kit is also included. Lift that box out of the main container and the monitor was well cushioned by fitted Styrofoam protectors.
I was impressed by the circular base of the stand which functions in the same way that a ‘lazy Susan’ might. You can easily swivel the monitor either left or right, raise or lower the stand or tilt the monitor to your preferences. At the same time, the outer portion of the stand has a hard rubber ring which prevents the monitor and stand from sliding on your editing bay desktop. There is a solid stability to it. The vertical section of the stand is what enables you to slide the monitor up or down and while it works just fine, there is a cheapness to the plastic that is used. One small part of the lower tilt section in the back of the monitor popped off. I was able to ascertain that this was no high grade plastic. After fumbling with it a few times I was able to insert it back in place and have had no problems since. The stand also provides a cable protection and confining box which really is quite useful. Just thread your cable into the opening of the box and things look neat and straight. A lot better than the spider network of cables I usually have had to look at.
The review continues and gets nicely detailed by Steve Douglas at: Eizo CG245W Self-Calibrating Computer Monitor
Steve Douglas is a certified Apple Pro for Final Cut Pro 7 and underwater videographer. A winner of the 1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition, 2003 IVIE competition, 2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic competition, and the prestigious 2005 International Beneath the Sea Film Competition, where he also won the Stan Waterman Award for Excellence in Underwater Videography and ‘Diver of the Year’, Steve was a safety diver on the feature film “The Deep Blue Sea”, contributed footage to the Seaworld Park’s Atlantis production, and productions for National Geographic and the History channels. Steve was a feature writer for Asian Diver Magazine and is one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. He is available for both private and group seminars for Final Cut Pro and leads underwater filming expeditions and African safaris with upcoming excursions to the Cocos Islands, Costa Rica, Lembeh Straits, Indonesia, and Wakatobi. Feel free to contact him if you are interested in joining Steve on any of these exciting trips. His site is at: www.worldfilmsandtravel.com
Its first inclusion in a computer is in Apple’s MacBook Pro line, which refreshed earlier today with Thunderbolt ports across the line (see CNET’s hands-on here). Intel followed up a few hours later with a press conference about the technology, as well as its plans to bring it to computers and devices over the next year or so.
To help readers better understand what the technology is and why it matters, CNET has put together this FAQ.
What is Thunderbolt?
Thunderbolt is Intel’s new input/output technology that promises to bring transfer speeds that exceed what is currently available with USB 3.0, as well as extending that speed across several devices at once. In terms of where you’ll see it, Thunderbolt will appear as a new port on laptops and PCs, as well as on devices that support it.
Taken from the CNET article:
Intel’s Thunderbolt: What you need to know (FAQ) | Cutting Edge – CNET News
Intel Promo with more pictures, and PR from potential OEMs: Thunderbolt™ Technology
The technology itself makes use of existing DisplayPort and PCI-Express data protocols to open up what you can do with a single port into multiple uses and at high speeds. This includes “daisy chaining” up to seven Thunderbolt-equipped devices together, while retaining full speed across all of them at once.
How fast is it?
Thunderbolt currently runs with a top speed of 10Gbps. Since there are two wire pairs, and the system is bidirectional, a single cable can have up to 40Gbps coursing through it at its maximum theoretical capacity (20Gbps upstream and 20Gbps downstream). Intel says that those speeds will one day top 100Gbps in data throughput when it moves from a copper wire to optical fiber. In the interim, copper wire has both speed and cable length limits, keeping cable length at 3 meters or less. The data transfer is also bidirectional, meaning it can both transmit and receive data at the same time, and at its top speed.
During Intel’s press conference about the technology this morning, the company demonstrated it working on a MacBook Pro, pulling four raw, uncompressed 1080p video streams through a Thunderbolt storage array, and feeding into a Thunderbolt-attached display, all the while topping more than 600MBps in its transfer speeds. An earlier test of just file transferring had gotten it up to 800MBps.
To put this in perspective of what’s been available up to this point, that’s twice as fast as the theoretical limit of USB 3.0, 20 times faster than USB 2.0, and 12 times faster than FireWire 800.
Here’s a demo from this morning’s Intel press conference that gives you an idea of what it’s capable of in a video editing and viewing work flow, as well as a file transfer:
When can I get it?
The long and the short of it is that you can get Thunderbolt today, so long as you buy Apple’s MacBook Pro, which is the first laptop to ship with a Thunderbolt port as a standard port across its entire line.
Following this is a good video and pictures. Read the rest of the article: Intel’s Thunderbolt: What you need to know (FAQ) | Cutting Edge – CNET News
The HPA Technical Retreat has come and gone, but the Schubin Cafe keeps posting slide shows and videos from the event.
Don’t miss these two posts:
Schubin Cafe » Blog Archive » Alternatives to Two-Lens 3D (HPA 2011 Tech Retreat Presentation #2)
Schubin Cafe » Blog Archive » Alternatives to Two-Lens 3D (HPA 2011 Tech Retreat Presentation #2)
and subscribe to the RSS link:
Schubin Cafe
Ethan at First Showing has a good write up: Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ Returning to AMC Theatres for Two Nights « FirstShowing.net
The worm then appears to have been introduced into Natanz via infected laptops or USB drives. There, Stuxnet infected the Siemens control systems and, specialists say, manipulated centrifugal speeds to a degree that caused permanent damage to the motors.
This article is derived from Stuxnet: five companies used as spring-boards – The H Security: News and Features which was taken from Symantics papers that can be seen here: Updated W32.Stuxnet Dossier is Available | Symantec Connect
It is interesting to the community because it shows that an attack on somewhat secure, but somewhat monoculture systems can be done. And since we have somewhat secure, but somewhat monoculture systems, it is a lesson toward the premise of being constantly vigilant.
Symantec managed to trace the worm’s dissemination pathways and infection figures because Stuxnet itself apparently logs the computers it infects. The logged information contained exact timings and served as the basis for Symantec’s analyses. According to the AV vendor, 3,280 unique samples of the worm were responsible for approximately 12,000 infections.
Reportedly, the first attack took place in June 2009, and further attacks followed in July 2009, March 2010, April 2010 and May 2010. Various organisations were targeted repeatedly by the Stuxnet authors, and some computers were successfully infected several times.
The creators of the worm deployed three variants of Stuxnet via targeted attacks, but only the variant deployed in March contained what was a zero-day exploit for the LNK hole in Windows at that time. Using the timestamps in the compiled code, Symantec concluded that the first infection was already successful only 12 hours after the first version of Stuxnet was completed.
The new analyses show that Stuxnet actually contained two sabotage routines to infect and manipulate two separate types of control, but that the second routine was incomplete and disabled. Experts assume that the developers ran out of time.
The industry group is named Laser Illuminated Projection Association, or LIPA and was co-founded by IMAX and the company they have contracted with to supply laser light engines for their projectors, the New England based Laser Light Engines, plus Sony and according to their press release, “other cinema-industry players”.
Kodak made a statement in October 2010 that said they supported LIPA’s goals, but had already made an application to the FDA for a waiver on their projection design, which they expected soon. Soon has arrived. Following is the press release from Kodak.
Kodak has also said that they are laser system agnostic in their design, and though their demo unit uses Necsel devices (from California), they could also use a system from other companies, including Laser Light Engines. The two companies are a 400 mile (650 kilometer) drive apart.
So, let me guess? What does the public want to know? Ah! Time. This press release states “within two years.” Earlier releases have said, “12-18 months.”
For a concise look at the KODAK system at the time of its first demonstations in October 2010, see:
Large Display Report: KODAK Demonstrates Laser Projector
This magazine is editorially in favor of switching over ASAP. The advantages of an even wider gamut will be a great device for differentiating home entertainment from the cinema experience, and 3D will never look right until it is able to get out of the mud of <10 candelas. Lasers help this because they can not only push more light through the system economically, they can also put a coherent ‘spin’ on the photons. Typically, lasers put out a linear polarization which isn’t quite right for 3D…think about not having to move your head for 2 hours to keep the linear glasses aligned properly with the screen. But circular polarization is possible. It is just one more thing on the research plate, no doubt.
Cost? If a Xenon bulb costs $5,000 and a typical cinema spends that 3 times per year per projector, and if a laser system will last 10 years, that gives us a simple comparison to measure against; $150,000. Lenses for Xenon systems cost on the order of $15,000, while similar spec’d lenses of higher f# will be significantly less. Add savings for personnel costs (and the danger of handling Xenon bulbs) plus the advantages of 10 years of significantly lower air conditioning needs…against…against…hmmm…no one is talking figures for cost just yet.
FDA Greenlights KODAK Laser Projection Technology
ROCHESTER, N.Y., February 24, 2011 – The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has approved a variance that allows for the sale of KODAK Laser Projector Systems using KODAK Laser Projection Technology to cinema exhibitors without the need for individual site or show operator variances. This is an important step forward in delivering brighter 2D and 3D images that provide higher dynamic range and a wider color gamut to theaters.
“The FDA approval brings KODAK Laser Projection Technology significantly closer to the marketplace and validates the work we’ve done to ensure that this technology is safe and dependable,” says Les Moore, Kodak’s chief operating officer for Digital Cinema. “In addition to allowing the sale of KODAK Laser Projector Systems using KODAK Laser Projection Technology, the FDA variance serves as a template to be followed by manufacturers that we license to incorporate this new laser technology.”
Typically, digital projection systems using high power lasers fall under the definition of a “demonstration laser” and must follow existing regulations for conventional laser projectors, such as those used in laser light show displays. Kodak has been working in conjunction with laser safety consultants and the FDA to address potential safety issues. The unique optical design of KODAK Laser Projection Technology manages the projector output so that it can be considered to be similar to conventional Xenon projection systems. The FDA variance allows the sale of KODAK Laser Projector Systems with KODAK Laser Projection Technology and theater/show configurations incorporating them.
KODAK Laser Projection Technology promises to bring vastly improved image quality to theater screens, including significantly brighter 3D viewing, and to dramatically reduce costs to digital projection in cinemas through the innovative use of long-life lasers, lower-cost optics and more efficient energy usage. Kodak introduced its laser technology in September 2010. The technology has been received enthusiastically by exhibitors, manufacturers, studios and viewers who have seen the demonstrations.
Moore notes that KODAK Laser Projection Technology is a key ingredient to potential improvements in digital cinema picture quality for both filmmakers and movie-goers. “This laser technology is a significant breakthrough that promises to have a positive ripple effect throughout the cinema world,” adds Moore. “We at Kodak have always endeavored to provide filmmakers with the best possible tools with which to tell their stories. That philosophy has served us well for more than a century, and we will continue nurturing that partnership long into the future.”
Kodak is in discussions to license this advanced technology, with an eye toward marketplace implementation within the next two years.
For more information, visit http://www.kodak.com/go/laserprojection.
About Entertainment Imaging
Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division is the world-class leader in providing film, digital and hybrid motion imaging products, services, and technology for the professional motion picture and exhibition industries. For more information, visit:
Twitter at @Kodak_ShootFilm.
Media Contacts:
Sally Christgau/Lisa Muldowney
760-438-5250
