Exhibitor News

Setting The ShowEast Record Straight | Celluloid Junkie

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Another factor Sunshine might not be considering is that digital cinema is maturing, growing out of its infancy and into adolescence. The technology is responsible for one of the greatest, if not most disruptive, transitions the motion picture exhibition industry has ever seen. By now, there has been some shakeout in the number of companies who entered the digital cinema space, and those that remain are naturally looking to augment their marketing plans. This is a common trend in emerging markets and industries, though unfortunately this phenomena is taking place in digital cinema during a record setting recession.

[Editor again: One hesitates to argue with Sperling, who was there, but…This moment in the transition is more important to more people than at any other confab…except the next one. The last 7 years has been important for the early adoptors, but now there is even more change that will be vital…and the decisions will be made for hundreds and in some cases thousands of systems. The April 2010 transition to SMPTE qualifications for equipment signifies the potential for many (perhaps unspeakable) things that exhibitors need to be on top of.]

Read the original article at: Setting The Record Straight On ShowEast Setting The Record Straight On ShowEast

Celluloid Junkie » Posted by J. Sperling Reich | November 6, 2009 5:23 pm

That’s why the number of trade show booths at this year’s ShowEast declined from around 205 to 190. “Most of the companies that were there in the past were there, they’re just downsizing,” Sunshine pointed out. “Guys who took four booths were taking two, …

What remained unchanged at this year’s ShowEast (the 25th year the event has been held) was the quality of the program itself. …

ShowEast has become known for giving exhibitors their first peak at some of the award season’s most likely Oscar contenders and this year proved no different. Lionsgate presented “Precious”, Warner Bros. brought…

There was some murmuring throughout the week about Disney not showing up with a film, as they did last year with “Bolt”. Specifically, ShowEasters were hoping to see “The Princess and the Frog”. While Disney originally made plans to bring a film to the show, …

Though there may be some who question the future of ShowEast, rest assured it will be back next year. Organizers attempted to move …

The rumors that Nielsen’s contract for ShowEast expires after 2010 are false says Sunshine, mainly because … We wish them a lot of luck with their show in 2011, but the other shows that we run, Cinema Expo International, CineAsia and ShowEast will continue as usual.”

In that case, I’ll see you all in Orlando next October.

In the News

Major SSL Encryption Flaw Hits Web/Tech Companies Using SSL | IT Pro

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[Editor’s Note: At first glance, this story looks a lot like last September’s and last August’s stories of SSL vulnerabilities. In fact, this is far worse. It is not our purpose to make your life harder by forcing you to know how often SSL encryption is used in your life. Suffice to say, this is not going to get handled by a simple patch a week later Firefox or Apple. And now, even worse, is that it is in the open…the bad guys know where to attack.

How does it affect you as the above average user? First off: Everything that you learned about trusting the little lock on the browser window is no longer valid.

  1. Make certain that your employees are extra vigilant with all computers, and with all USB sticks. We don’t know how the BlackHats are going to exploit this yet.
  2. Don’t download anything that doesn’t come directly from someone that you know.
  3. Don’t trust any email that says that “We are helping you, just click here.”
  4. Don’t trust any email with a link where the link isn’t showing and where the section of the address immediately before any slashes isn’t .com or .org or .co.uk. For example, http://www.ebay.com.hacker.ru shouldn’t make you feel comfortable that it came from ebay.com – the end of the URL (Uniform Resourse Locator) just before the / is the controlling item.
  5. And, of course, right now —
  • a) make certaint that your back up system is working, and it makes several iterations of the back-up, and
  • b) make certain that your virus software is up to date, and
  • c) make certain that all wifi signals are using WPA2 security with a password that doesn’t have any dictionary word, and
  • d) systematically reformat the USB sticks that are being used to take keys to your Digital Cinema Servers.

My suggestion:

  • If you have a computer network in your office, hire a security expert to come and train your employees on security for an hour or two, in addition to checking our your network for vulnerabilities and un-updated software (including Flash/Shockwave, Reader, Firefox and all virus software. They’ve all been updated recently for multiple security reasons.)
  • Wait one week, then have the expert return and answer any questions that the employees now have since they learned what to look for.

For the ultra techs, here is the links for the basic research on this:
MITM attack on delayed TLS-client auth through renegotiation
Renegotiating TLS

End Editor Note]

For the original article, please read:
Major SSL encryption flaw hits the web | IT PRO
By Asavin Wattanajantra, 6 Nov 2009 at 15:53

Researchers Marsh Ray and Steve Dispensa are believed to have shown the flaw to a working group of affected vendors, which included Microsoft, Intel, Nokia, IBM, Cisco and Juniper.

In a statement, PhoneFactor said: “[We] volunteered to delay disclosure on the vulnerability until early 2010 to allow time for vendors to make the necessary patches available.”

“However, an independent researcher discovered the vulnerability and posted it to Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) mailing list on November 4th… News of the vulnerability quickly spread through the IT security community,” it added.

PhoneFactor added that this was a protocol vulnerability rather than an implementation flaw, so the impact was far reaching.

“All SSL libraries will need to be patched, and most client and server applications will, at a minimum, need to include new copies of SSL libraries in their products,” the firm said.

“Most users will eventually need to update any software that uses SSL.”

Andrew Clarke, senior vice president for Lumension, said in a statement that the SSL flaw was likely to bring a large number of patches in the near term from vulnerable vendors.

Tangential Art and Science

HP: Cleaning up IT’s dirty little secret

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[Editor’s Note: There really isn’t much more to this article of interest, unless you enjoy reading a pantheon to HP in disguise of a news story. I just thought that these first percentages were thought provoking. The article goes on for pages, and you can read it at:
IT PRO | HP: cleaning up IT’s dirty little secret By Matt Chapman, 13 Oct 2009 at 18:30  [End Editor’s note.]

 

Such an alarming figure isn’t going unchecked by an industry that now finds itself fighting to conserve materials, improve efficiency and recycle more of its products.

“People totally underestimate the amount this industry invests in research and development pushing the boundaries forward. You’ve only really got to look back a few years and see just how fast we’re printing now and how much the quality has ramped up in such a short period of time. The amount of investment that’s gone on there is staggering,” says Peter Mayhew, director at Lyra Research.

“It’s inevitable you now see that coming out through environmental initiatives.”

…

Tangential Art and Science

eBay and Skype founders settle lawsuit | IT PRO

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[Editors note: I can’t think of any reason that this is connected to Digital Cinema…it is just interesting. For months, the previous billionaires who had sold Skype to eBay were saying that they didn’t sell the code that makes Skype run. There was some consternation that this would cause the rediculously priced Skype to be worth even less, as eBay had been unable to create a software version in its stead.

So, the previous owners admit that the code is eBay’s, allowing eBay to sell a good portion of the company, and the original owers get part of the company back, but they had to pay cash for it. Sounds as convoluted as the p2p software that Skype is based upon.

The whole article is at: eBay and Skype founders settle lawsuit | IT PRO
By Nicole Kobie, 6 Nov 2009 at 17:26

End Editor’s note]

Silver Lake and Joltid have apparently agreed that Skype owns all the software which it previously licensed, giving it control over the software. On the other hand, Zennström and Friis will join Silver Lake, bringing a “significant capital investment” and being handed a 14 per cent stake in Skype.

That will leave Silver Lake and other investors with 56 per cent of the company, while eBay will keep 30 per cent.

It also means the previously agreed deal between Silver Lake and eBay will close at the end of this year, with the investors buying their stake from the online auction firm for $1.9 million, suggesting Skype is worth $2.75 billion.

“Skype will be well positioned to move forward under new owners with ownership and control over its core technology,” said eBay’s president and chief executive John Donahoe.

“At the same time, eBay continues to retain a significant stake in Skype and will benefit from its continued growth,” he added in a statement. “We look forward to closing the deal and focusing on growing our core ecommerce and payments businesses,”

Silver Lake managing director Egon Durban said his group was “very pleased” the legal battle was over. “We remain confident in a great future for Skype, and we look forward to working with Niklas, Janus and the other investors as partners to help the company achieve its full potential.”

In the News

Urgent – Adobe fixes five critical Shockwave flaws | IT PRO

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See the full article at: Adobe fixes five critical Shockwave flaws | IT PRO
By Asavin Wattanajantra, 4 Nov 2009 at 15:51

Nicolas Joly of VUPEN security was credited for reporting the four issues and working with Adobe to protect customers.

The update also solves a boundary condition issue that could have lead to Denial of Service (DoS).

Shockwave Player is described as the ‘web standard for powerful multimedia playback’ by Adobe, and allows users who download it to see interactive web content such as business presentations, advertisements, entertainment and games.

The flaws can be patched by downloading the latest Shockwave update.

Tangential Art and Science

Consulting 101; Figure Your Rate

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“Hi; Yes, I’m a Consultant. Great, sure; I would like to work with you on this project. How much do I charge? It all depends. I use a Shrodinger Cat modification on Sartre’s Principle of No Regret.”

And so it goes. Except, now there is a tool. Science to the rescue. And just in time, it appears. More and more people are being given their Permission to be a Consultant papers.

Go to this site: FreelanceSwitch Hourly Rate Calculator

Please don’t waste your time reading any more of this article. All the intelligent stuff is at the above link.

Workflow

Conference for Visual Media Production – London/12-13 Nov

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“CVMP offered a good mix of research people in graphics and vision as well as industry experts in production and post-production. Surprisingly for such a smaller conference, papers, speeches and posters were continuously of good quality. The time I spent in London was a good investment.”
Jurgen Stauder, Technical Advisor, Thomson Corporate Research

Who should attend?

• Chief Technical Officers
• Technical Directors
• Pipeline Architects
• Engineers
• Academic Researchers in Signal / Image / Video Processing, Graphics and Computer Vision

CVMP

What can I expect?

Submitted papers determine a substantial part of the line up. Have a look at them here, and our confirmed keynote speakers include:

Peter Hillman, R&D Software Engineer at Weta Digital
Prof. Marc Pollefeys, ETH Zurich
Dr. Toni Mateos, Barcelona Media Come and join the discussion.

Special Sessions this year are:
1. Advanced Technology in post production
2. Capturing 3D Worlds

How can I contribute?

CVMP is reliant on paper submissions. We need to know what you’ve been up to. See our Call for papers.

The Best papers from CVMP 2009 will be published in a special issue of JVRB. All proceedings will be published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

When is CVMP?

CVMP takes place over two days. November 12th and 13th.
Don’t miss out, Register now

Contact us…

In the News

Upgrade Firefox 3.5.4 and Reader 9.2

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The latest upgrade to Firefox, dated 27 October, in particular for the Mac 3.5.4, has 6 “Critical Vulnerabilitioes” listed sine the September 3.5.3 update – See: Security Advisories for Firefox 3.5 – This rounds out to 25 Critical fixes since the June release of 3.5

Should you update? No question. Just look at the definition of Critical – Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing.

There will be confusion by those who have heard that there is a new release that is a beta. Do not be confused. A beta of 3.6 is iminent – it was expected on the 28th, but has been delayed.

=-=-=

Reader Update: 2 weeks ago Adobe Reader was upgraded to 9.2 – This release of Reader is mandatory as well. 9.1 was plagued with vulnerabilities and required many updates to stay current and secure. It is best that you and that everyone you know is upgraded.

Spread the word.

Workflow

Mac ZFS is dead – Storage Mojo

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Editor’s notes: The computer evolves and the operating system of your computer needs to evolve with it. One of the parts that hasn’t evolved is the file system. This would only matter if file sizes were getting larger and hard disk sizes were growing.

So two years ago when Apple announced that it was putting in engineering time on a system that Sun had worked on and made open source, there was great interest. That file system is ZFS…or was. This article explains some of the why for its departure.

For the entire article:

Mac ZFS is dead – by Robin Harris on Tuesday, 27 October, 2009

=-=-=-=

Indemnification?
Sun is being sued by NetApp claiming that ZFS infringes on NetApp patents. If NetApp won, Apple would find itself in a tough position unless Sun shouldered the financial damage. That’s indemnification.

IMHO Sun has a good case that NetApp’s patents will be invalidated by prior art. But with all their other problems and the Oracle purchase it was a headache they, Oracle and Apple didn’t need.

Where does Apple go from here?
Apple has hired some smart file system engineers and wants to hire more to work on “state-of-the-art file system technologies for Mac OS X.”

I’m not convinced: it sounds like standard HR boilerplate and a snare for the unwary. But hey! it could happen.

But writing new file systems isn’t easy. It takes 5-7 years for a new file system to achieve the maturity needed to support large-scale deployment. Even replacing QuickTime is non-trivial.

 

The article continues to tell of different possible futures…

The Future Holds...

Laser Light Engines | Doug Darrow | CEO

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Originally published as: Laser Light Engines Hires Industry Veteran Doug Darrow as CEO | Business Wire
October 26, 2009 08:00 AM Eastern Time  

Continues:

“Doug’s experience developing the Digital Cinema market is unparalleled,” said Jiong Ma, principal, Braemar Energy Ventures, and director of Laser Light Engines. “His leadership will be invaluable to the continued progress of Laser Light Engines.”

Mr. Darrow succeeds Bill Beck, Laser Light Engines’ co-founder, who will remain active in the company as executive vice president, business development. “We started Laser Light Engines two years ago to bring the benefits of high brightness, energy efficient solid-state laser illumination to Digital Cinema and other large scale projection applications. Having demonstrated our technology, it is now time to drive commercialization and widespread adoption,” said Mr. Beck. “We are all very pleased to have one of the most experienced players in the industry to lead the next phase of the company’s growth.”

Laser Light Engines combines advanced laser technology with high volume manufacturing processes to provide high brightness, energy efficient, long lifetime, color-controllable light sources for demanding illumination applications worldwide. The company is developing solid-state light sources for 2D and 3D Digital Cinema and other large venue projectors. Laser Light Engines will produce light sources that have three to five times the brightness, 100 times the life and half the power consumption of arc lamps, the incumbent technology. The company will manufacture a light source module that can be incorporated into a standard Digital Cinema or advertising projection system.

“I am very excited to be joining the Laser Light Engines team and look forward to bringing high brightness laser engines into the market,” said Mr. Darrow. “These innovative solutions have many advantages that promise to revolutionize large screen applications.”

Prior to joining Laser Light Engines, Mr. Darrow spent twenty-three years with Texas Instruments. His most recent role was in the DLP Cinema® Products Division where he led all marketing for the division, as well as its effort to develop break-though solutions for Digital Cinema. He played a key role in changing the entertainment industry, driving digital movie distribution and transitioning the theatrical industry away from its 100-year old film format. A leading expert on the future of movie distribution and 3D, Mr. Darrow has been a featured panel member at CES 2009, a keynote speaker at 2008’s ShoWest and a recipient of that event’s “Digital Cinema Pioneer Award.”

Laser Light Engines’ investors include Braemar Energy Ventures and Harris & Harris Group.

About Laser Light Engines

Laser Light Engines designs, develops and manufactures OEM laser-driven light engines that enable broad new product categories. The company’s advanced solid state lighting combines advanced laser technology with high volume manufacturing processes to provide high brightness, long lifetime, energy efficient, and color controllable light engines for demanding illumination applications worldwide.

Laser Light Engines was recently named to the 2009 AlwaysOn OnHollywood Top 100 Private Companies list, which honors the best up and coming companies in digital media and entertainment.

Contacts

Laser Light Engines
Bill Beck, 617-290-3861
[email protected]
or
CJP Communications
Gina Sorice, 212-279-3115 ext. 243
[email protected]

Connectivity

MCE 8X Blu-ray Disc External Recordable Drive Drive delivers speedy performance via USB

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  • For the full article, read: MCE 8X Blu-ray Disc External Recordable Drive Review | Storage | From the Lab | Macworld
  • Oct 16, 2009 1:30 pm    by James Galbraith, Macworld.com

    • The drive can burn 25GB Blu-ray (BD-R) discs and 50GB BD-R DL discs at speeds of up to 8X. Burning data BD-R/RW is supported by OS X’s Finder or through a third-party application like Roxio Toast. You can burn high definition Blu-ray discs to watch on your home theatre or component Blu-ray players using the latest version of Apple’s Compressor (; part of the Final Cut Studio), or with Roxio’s High-Def/Blu-ray Disc plug-in for Toast Titanium. And though some Windows software allows you to watch Blu-ray movies on your PC, these high definition discs are not viewable on your Mac. Aside from Blu-ray media, the drive can burn all flavors of DVD, +/-, RW, DL, as well as CDs and CD-R discs.

    The drive was one of the fastest Blu-ray burners we’ve tested, though the speeds were similar whether I used USB 2.0 or eSATA. In fact, when copying data from DVD-R disc to the desktop, the drive took longer when connected via eSATA than when connected via USB 2.0. The drive wouldn’t work at all with Roxio’s Toast when connected via eSATA. I wish the drive didn’t include an eSATA port–it’s no faster than USB when burning optical discs and relatively few people have eSATA cards installed in their Mac. But the eSATA port is included, and because it was flaky, I have to ding it.

  • The MCE 8x Blu-ray Disc External Recordable Drive is a relatively speedy optical drive. Its USB 2.0 connection worked flawlessly, creating no expensive coasters during our testing. Its eSATA performance was no faster than USB and the drive couldn’t burn discs with Toast when connected in that way. If you intend to use the drive with USB, it’s worth a look. Timed Trials

    Interface Burn and Verify
    DVD-R at Max
    Speed in Finder Copy Data
    from DVD-R
    to Desktop Burn DVD+R DL
    at Max Speed
    Toast Burn BD-R at
    Max Speed
    Compressor Copy 8GB from
    BD-R USB 2.0 eSATA

    10:58 4:48 27:05 13.5 8:05
    10:58 4:57 N/A 13.53 7:57

    Scale = minutes:seconds Specifications

    Mechanism Connections Write Speeds Included Software

    Matshita BD-MLT SW 5584
    USB 2.0, eSATA
    BD-R: 8X max; BD-R (DL): 8X max; BD-RE: 2X; BD-RE (DL): 2X; DVD-R: 16X max; DVD-R (DL): 8X max; DVD-RW: 6X max, DVD+R: 16X max; DVD+R (DL): 8X max, DVD+RW: 8X max; CD-R: 32X max; CD-RW: 32X max
    None. Toast Titanium 10 is a $100 option.

    [James Galbraith is Macworld’s lab director.]

    • Exhibitor News

    EU Commission [Including EDCF Response] Wants To Hear from You re: DCinema

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    European Cinema in the Digital Era Questionaire, EDCF response attached:

    The US currently has the lead in digital cinema. A digital master is already available for 90% of all US new films whereas in France (the EU’s biggest film producer) less than half of new films are available on digital. In addition, the US developed the VPF (Virtual Print Fee) model where third parties collect part of the money saved by film distributors which can then be used to finance digital equipment. In Europe, only 2428 screens have been converted so far for digital projection. Worldwide, some 12.000 screens have been digitally equipped on a total of around 110.000 worldwide. By 2012, it is estimated that nearly 20% of cinemas worldwide will be converted.

    Recently, the European Commission issued the document European Commission seeks views on the opportunities and challenges for digital cinema. The paragraph above comes from the text immediately following the invitation for “EU film exhibitors, distributors, national film agencies, and public and private film organisations to share their views.”

    One reads a document like this, giving it an extra dose of substance due to the gravitas of the agency. Yet it proofs the rule which asserts that everything one reads, if not written by an expert in the field, and/or not given enough space for nuance, is subject to being very wrong while appearing very right…which is OK, as long as one knows that one has then entered into the propaganda world that some special interest has thrown into the author’s universe.

    The US currently has the lead in digital cinema – as a statement is somewhat correct, as long as one qualifies the word ‘lead’ as a dubious honor (as will be shown below.) By quantity and percentage there are perhaps more digital screens  and more digital movies on US soil. The projector though is doubtlessly designed and manufactured in Canada/Japan (Christie) or Japan (Sony or NEC) or Belgium (Barco), since those are the only projectors compliant with the security-centric specifications of the major studios. The servers as well are probably not entirely of US origin; Doremi, with the largest installed base, is as much a French company as a California company. Except for Dolby, which also has a large presence in England, most successful server manufacturers are from outside the US.

    The VPF model may have developed in the US, but the first implementation (though not immediately successful) was attempted in Ireland. And frankly, the VPF agreements are a large band-aid on an even larger problem. The companies who have used them thus far are shells of their former selves, with much more debt and diluted stock than dreams of excitement for being in the ‘lead’.

    And finally, to the 3rd sentence of the Commission’s paragraph, that 2428 screens have been converted is not a bad thing. The dirty little secret in the mix of the systems that are in the field is that none of them (with the likely exception of the Sony unit which has only been shipping relatively recently) will meet the standards that all equipment must meet after (somewhat nebulas) 2010 deadline. The deadline is a contractual obligation to run to the next level of security mandated by the ISO Standards (as described by the SMPTE standards and as initially described in the previously mentioned studio mandate, the DCI Specifications.) In practical terms, the Texas Instruments engine which powers almost all of the projectors in the field must be upgraded to a Series 2 level. It is unlikely that any Series 1 equipment will be able to be upgraded to those standards. It is not only a security issue as the Series 2 engines allow for other features that the modern facility needs, allowing a better level of subtitles, as well as open and closed captioning for the hearing and visually impaired.

    And that is merely the quickly scribbled notes from one paragraph. Nothing earth shattering really. Nothing to say that the early adopters were wrong. Some of them can point to valid statistics that showed that digital screenings out-pulled film-based movies by 5:1. The current flurry of 3D movies were also only shown on digital equipment.

    But it would be an easy premise to support that it would have been wrong for every facility to have converted by now, even if it were financially or technically possible. Certainly the science experiments that began appearing in the field in 2002 had all the excitement of a program that would lead one to believe that one was falling behind if they weren’t digital. But since the digital equipment is 2.5-3 times as expensive as the equipment it replaces, that is not necessarily the case. And given that few can point to a computer that works reliably 100% of the time for 100 stressful hours a day, and which is also 5 years old…well, there is a lot to be said for waiting.

    So, following the grand question that insiders have asked for every year since George Lucas’ May 2002 digital Star Wars II release, “Is this the year?” and, “How do we get there?”

    Respond to the EU Commission’s interest at the link: European Commission seeks views on the opportunities and challenges for digital cinema

    Ingest

    Digital Domain Florida eyes games

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    Read the entire article at:               [The press releases are at Digital Domain’s bizarre flash based website.]

    Digital Domain Florida eyes games – Variety
    By DAVID S. COHEN

    David Rivera, chairman of the appropriations committee for the Florida House of Representatives, told Daily Variety, “Anything we can do to incentivize growth of (the film) industry is good for our state.”

    DD Florida will focus on videogames and animation, said Cliff Plumer, CEO of Digital Domain. “We can do that now …

    Digital Domain has been developing its own animation projects internally, and with the new…

    The new studio also will have a defense division working on creating high-quality graphics for military simulation and training,…

    The incentive package requires DD Florida to have at least 500 employees, paid an average of $65,000, within four years….

    That will greatly expand DD’s total workforce, which now numbers around…

    Plumer also reiterated that Venice-based DD will keep its headquarters…

    “The decisionmakers, the filmmakers, are all in L.A. We need to have our core presence there for that part of the business,” he said.

     

    Workflow

    ASSIMILATE announces ROCKET FUEL

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    See the entire release, with slide detailing the different bundles at:
    fxguide quick takes »     ASSIMILATE announces ROCKET FUEL Filed under: fxNewswire by Jeff Heusser @ 12:31 pm on October 15, 2009

    ASSIMILATE PRESS RELEASE:

    October 15, 2009, REDucation, Los Angles, CA – Today at the REDucation Community Day in Los Angeles, CA (Los Angles Center Studios), ASSIMILATE™ announced its new, ROCKET FUEL bundle that includes the needed tools for real-time ingest, conform, delivery and output of RED ONE™ 4K digital camera material. Created specifically for cost-sensitive indies, filmmakers, and post-production facilities, and priced aggressively at $10,999 USD, ASSIMILATE’s ROCKET FUEL includes an Nvidia Quadro FX3800 SDI board, RED’s RED Rocket card, and ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH® CINE 4K post workflow.

    The first integrated product solution to support RED ROCKET, and offered exclusively by ASSIMILATE, the ROCKET FUEL bundle, along with a PC-based workstation, gives anyone working with RED 4K material the following workflow functionality:
    • Tape dailies to a variety of formats, from NTSC and PAL, up to dual-link 2048X1080
    • Screening in virtually all formats
    • Accelerated data output to Quicktime and file sequences
    • Quality check (QC) for on-set and for post dailies
    • R3D conform from editorial EDLs
    • Pan/Scan and Output in real time, with animated curves
    • Set-up for SCRATCH FINISH – a low-cost method of getting timelines set-up for migrating to FINISH for final mastering and delivery
    • Set-up and transcode for DI – a low cost method of getting timelines set-up and rendered for migrating to other DI systems.

    All this functionality, and more, is from full-resolution, uncompressed, fully debayered and demosaiced 4K. Fully tested, SCRATCH CINE v5.0 is a native 64-bit application with Win7 x 64 as the operating system.

    “The big news here is that with ROCKET FUEL, we’ve created a highly affordable option for boosting the performance of 4K that didn’t exist until today. Aggressively priced – at half the cost of SCRATCH CINE alone – it’s the first product bundle for RED ROCKET that meets the needs of the PC user,” says Jeff Edson, CEO at ASSIMILATE. “When considering the overall cost of a 4K workflow, this is a huge win for all filmmakers and post houses who can now afford the essential tools to push the performance of their 4K tools to the outer limits and achieve high quality output comparable to 35mm.”

    As RED’s first partner for a 4K post workflow, ASSIMILATE set the post-production standard with SCRATCH for the needed real-time 4K post workflows – simplified ingest of native REDCODE files, streamlined end-to-end workflow, conform, color grading, finishing and mastering. “We’ve earned our stripes as the go-to vendor for 4K post workflows,” says Lucas Wilson, ASSIMILATE Director of Business Development. “We’re ‘out in the field’ every day, working side by side or over-the-phone with users to ensure their 4K workflows are optimized and running smoothly. If they’re not yet working in 4K, the ROCKET FUEL bundle is a nice incentive to move to a powerful 4K workflow, create amazing imagery, and stay competitive in the marketplace.”

    Price and Availability
    Available in late October, ASSIMILATE’s ROCKET FUEL is priced at $10,999 USD. The ROCKET FUEL bundle includes SCRATCH CINE, an Nvidia Quadro FX3800 SDI board, and RED Digital Camera’s RED ROCKET card. To purchase ROCKET FUEL, contact ASSIMILATE or your local SCRATCH reseller. To learn more about ROCKET FUEL, SCRATCH CINE, and reseller contact details, see www.assimilateinc.com

    In the News

    Apple Admits Existence of Data-Eating Bug

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    Read the full article at:

    Apple admits existence of data-eating bug guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 October 2009 02.04 BST
    Bobbie Johnson, San Francisco

    (Other links at the end of this excerpt)

    Reports of the problem first surfaced more than a month ago, but it was only on Monday that Apple finally responded …

    “We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, …

    Although some users have been able to restore their data after being hit by the bug, many others …erased…

    “When logging in to my regular account, everything was gone,” said one user …

    “After I had logged out of that account and back into mine my enter home directory had been wiped…

    Some reported only minor data loss, however.

    “I accidentally logged into the guest account and then logged out and noticed that my background picture was different, and folders that were on the desktop were gone,” said another user. “I was mad, but nothing hurt me too much.”

    As well as concerns over, the episode also highlights the importance of properly backing up your data – a hot topic in recent days, given a massive failure to [sic] by Microsoft.

    Apple’s admission comes just days after its rival admitted that a problem with its own backup systems had left tens of thousands of American mobile phone customers stranded without access to their data.

    Customers who had subscribed to use T-Mobile’s Sidekick handset, which uses software produced by Microsoft … would not be able to recover any of their personal information – … after the company failed to properly back up user information.

    … there were no adequate backups to replace the data that had been lost.

    “Personal information stored on your device… that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost …

    guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
    Apple acknowledges Snow Leopard data loss issue | Circuit Breaker – CNET News

    AppleInsider | Snow Leopard guest account bug deletes user data [u]

    Snow Leopard wiping home directory after guest log-in? | MacFixIt – CNET Review

    This article suggests that:
    If you need guest account functionality and do not trust the built-in account because of this problem, for now just create a new non-administrator account (call it “Visitor” if you need a semi-decent alternative name) for use as a guest, and customize restrictions for it with parental controls. In most instances this will work just fine, since the only real difference in behavior for guest accounts is that data and settings are reset upon logout.

    …Like Tangents In Rain