Capture – with lens or microphone, perhaps moving electrons around with a stylus, or perhaps conversion from an analogue form. Regardless, the beginning is acquisition.
Late last week I picked up on a rumor that was circulating about European exhibitors. Apparently, they are rejecting digital 3D versions of DreamWorks Animation’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” in lieu of 2D digital and 35mm prints as a response to being told that distributors will not pick up the tab for 3D glasses. The film […]
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On the eve of ShoWest, the largest trade show for the motion picture exhibition and distribution industry, AMC Entertainment is set to announce that it will install Sony’s 4K digital projectors on all of their screens. According to Variety and the New York Times, the world’s second largest cinema chain will begin installing the equipment […]
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DTS Digital Cinema has been going through a bumpy ride in the past year, but appears to be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. One year ago DTS Inc. spun off its two non-licence division. DTS Digital Images reverted to being Lowry Digital under the new ownership of Reliance/Adlabs. DTS Digital […]
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Scrabble Entertainment has announced virtual print fee (VPF) deals with five Hollywood studios (”Hello Scott from SPE, in the back.”) to roll out digital cinema in India. This may be the last notable VPF deal for some time, if not for ever.
Scrabble has signed up Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, plus Paramount […]
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This software platform offers format conversion, restoration, optimization, enhancement, film simulation and retiming on a single workstation.
For more information, see the original article at Broadcast Engineering Online
So, what is in the coolness catalogue now. The two that everyone is talking about is the __________ and the ________, both introduced last fall and now released. Those who have to buy to fulfill a current project will do so. Those who can wait will do that, since the Red Scarlet is supposed to be just around the corner.
Red, as all good manufacturers should do, isn’t saying when the unit will be ready to ship. Jim Jennard wrote an interesting note to the RedUser Group giving an indication that there are possible delays due to the world-wide financial situation contributing to supplier problems. He says that smaller vendors get hit at times like these, not talking about themselves.
These details remind us of certain basics in the physics of these devices and how the different components need to be matched with each other; lens, sensor, monitor, storage speed and access. They also remind us that it is never to early or late to review or learn the basics. Robert Clark has an excellent write-up on essentials at Digital Camera Sensor Performance Summary at his ClarkVision site. [Don’t slag off and miss the references at the end. There will be a test next weekend.]
Introduction [from ClarkVision site]:
Modern digital cameras contain electronic sensors that have predictable properties. Foremost among those properties is their relatively high Quantum Efficiency, or ability to absorb photons and generate electrons. Second is that the electronics are so good in most cameras, that noise is as low as 3 or 4 electrons and rarely worse than about 15 electrons from the sensor read amplifier. With the low noise and high Quantum Efficiency, along with the general properties of how the sensors collect the electrons generated from photons, it is possible to make general predictions about camera performance. …
The ideal sensor absorbs every photon, each photon would generate an electron and every electron would be collected and counted to form the image, all done with no added noise. Would images from such a camera be perfect (no noise and infinite dynamic range)? NO! All measurements of light (photons) still have inherent noise, called photon noise. The dynamic range is not infinite, but would have a maximum of the number of photons collected. For example, if you collected 1,000 photons, the dynamic range would be 1000:1 or almost 10 photographic stops.
We’ll close here so you can go to the site and learn more.
Net Insight: South Hall, Upper Level, Stand SU1000. Net Insight has built its reputation around the world by developing and deploying systems that enable broadcasters, production companies, post-production houses, cable systems, and IPTV services to deliver perfect pictures and sound over telecommunications networks. Net Insight’s platform supports both IP and SONET networks and provides 100% guaranteed Quality of Service with extremely high (98+%!) bandwidth utilization. They are introducing a new set of high capacity IP modules for their Nimbra platform this year that let broadcasters transport 1080p video (and any format using less bandwidth) over IP networks.
Edgeware: Central Hall, Stand C1657. Edgeware makes a really interesting flash memory-based VOD server for enterprise IT, IPTV and cable applications. They’ll be showing a revolutionary new server that dramatically reduces co-location, power and rack space costs for CDNs and service providers by as much as 90% when compared to nearest competition. The Edgeware servers are truly unique and they are rapidly gaining acceptance throughout the world in major deployments.
Image Systems: South Hall, Lower Level, Stand SL7713. Image Systems will be exhibiting in the Photo-Sonics stand. They have a really interesting new 2K/4K film scanner called the GoldenEye. It’s small, economical and handles 16mm and 35mm film. The scanner uses a capstan-based movement, which results in less wear of the film and perforations and allows the scanner to handle archive film that may have shrunk or have damaged perforations.
Cobalt Digital: North Hall, Stand N3718. Cobalt makes an excellent line of conversion products. Their new line of OpenGear products are compatible with OpenGear frames and modules from other manufacturers. Cobalt produces some of the highest quality equipment on the show floor – stuff you can really count on. They have an incredibly comprehensive line, including UDC conversion, color correction, frame sync, audio embedding/de-embedding, audio delay, Dolby® decoding, and remote control panel operation.
Hugh R Heinsohn is founder of Hughcan.com LLC, a broadcast-centric, entertainment technologies marketing/implementation and consulting group. Hugh says that he can be followed on Twitter, which is something my mother warned me about…but which a lot of people swear by: Follow me on Twitter
+1 503 360 4844 [email protected] www.hughcan.com
