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The entire Matrox MXO2 product line is cross platform - PC and Mac.

Posted by Dennis Hoffman
December 2, 2009

The MXO2 product line provides interoperability with Matrox RT.X2 and Axio. Matrox MXO2 products include the Matrox color correction plug-in for advanced primary and secondary color control from within Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Color corrected sequences created in the field using Matrox MXO2 products will playback in realtime when edited on Matrox RT.X2 and Axio systems. In addition, Matrox MXO2 products also support the Matrox 1440 x 1080 MPEG I-frame format so that footage captured with MXO2 products from various SDI, analog, and HDMI sources including AVCHD can be transferred to RT.X2 and Axio systems for realtime editing.

Key features of Matrox MXO2 LE, MXO2, and MXO2 Rack on the PC

Works with Windows 7 (64-bit), Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Windows XP (32-bit) laptops and desktops
HD/SD SDI, HDMI, HD/SD analog component, Y/C, and composite inputs and outputs
Genlock - SD analog black burst (bi-level) or HD tri-level sync
Unique Matrox calibration controls for 10-bit HDMI monitoring including blue-only
10-bit realtime hardware downscaling on output
Professional audio inputs and outputs
Works with all the codecs supported by Adobe Premiere Pro including AVCHD, HDV, DVCPRO HD, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO, and DV
Captures to HD and SD codecs - 8- and 10-bit uncompressed and highly efficient Matrox MPEG-2 I-frame
Includes Matrox A/V Tools, an easy-to-use application for fast capture/playback of audio, video, and still frames
File-based workflow support - XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX, P2, P2HD
RED workflow support
Works with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 4.2 and provides WYSIWYG support for popular motion graphics, animation, and compositing applications
Also available with Matrox MAX technology for accelerated H.264 encoding with Adobe Media Encoder CS4 4.2
Three-year hardware warranty and complimentary telephone support

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard on August 28, 2009

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
August 24, 2009

Apple today announced that Mac OS® X v10.6 Snow Leopard™ will go on sale Friday, August 28 at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard® users for $29.

"Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we’re happy to get it to users earlier than expected," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. "For just $29, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world’s most advanced operating system and the only system with built in Exchange support."

To create Snow Leopard, Apple engineers refined 90 percent of the more than 1,000 projects that make up Mac OS X. Users will notice refinements including a more responsive Finder™; Mail that loads messages up to twice as fast;* Time Machine® with an up to 80 percent faster initial backup;* a Dock with Exposé® integration; QuickTime® X with a redesigned player that allows users to easily view, record, trim and share video; and a 64-bit version of Safari® 4 that is up to 50 percent** faster and resistant to crashes caused by plug-ins. Snow Leopard is half the size of the previous version and frees up to 7GB of drive space once installed.

For the first time, system applications including Finder, Mail, iCal®, iChat® and Safari are 64-bit and Snow Leopard’s support for 64-bit processors makes use of large amounts of RAM, increases performance and improves security while remaining compatible with 32-bit applications. Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) provides a revolutionary new way for software developers to write applications that take advantage of multicore processors. OpenCL, a C-based open standard, allows developers to tap the incredible power of the graphics processing unit for tasks that go beyond graphics.

Snow Leopard is the only desktop operating system with built in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and it allows you to use Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal to send and receive email, create and respond to meeting invitations, and search and manage contacts with global address lists. Exchange information works seamlessly within Snow Leopard so users can also take advantage of OS X only features such as fast Spotlight® searches and Quick Look previews.

Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard, the next major release of the world’s easiest to use server operating system, will also go on sale Friday, August 28. Snow Leopard Server includes innovative new features such as Podcast Producer 2 and Mobile Access Server and is priced more affordably than ever at $499 with unlimited client licenses. More information and full system requirements for Snow Leopard Server can be found at www.apple.com/server/macosx/.

Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard will be available as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard on August 28 at Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) starting today. The Snow Leopard single user license will be available for a suggested retail price of $29 (US) and the Snow Leopard Family Pack, a single household, five-user license, will be available for a suggested price of $49 (US). For Tiger® users with an Intel-based Mac®, the Mac Box Set includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife® ’09 and iWork® ’09 and will be available for a suggested price of $169 (US) and a Family Pack is available for a suggested price of $229 (US).

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Users must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, whichever comes first. For more information please visit www.apple.com/macosx/uptodate. Snow Leopard requires a minimum of 1GB of RAM and is designed to run on any Mac computer with an Intel processor. Full system requirements can be found at www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html.

*Testing conducted by Apple in August 2009 comparing prerelease Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard with shipping Mac OS X v10.5.8 Leopard on a shipping 2.0 GHz MacBook® system and a shipping 2.66 GHz iMac® system, both configured with 2GB of RAM. Performance will vary based on system configuration, network, file sizes, data sets and other factors.

**Testing conducted by Apple in August 2009 comparing 64-bit Safari 4 to 32-bit Safari 4 on prerelease Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard on a shipping 2.0 GHz MacBook system and a shipping 2.66 GHz iMac system, both configured with 2GB of RAM. JavaScript benchmarks based on the SunSpider Performance test. Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection, and other factors.

Apple Updates Final Cut Studio with More Than 100 New Features

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
July 24, 2009

Apple® today announced a significant update to Final Cut Studio® with more than 100 new features and new versions of Final Cut Pro®, Motion, Soundtrack® Pro, Color and Compressor. Final Cut Studio features Final Cut Pro 7 which expands Apple’s ProRes codec family to support virtually any workflow and includes Easy Export for one step output to a variety of formats and iChat® Theater support for real-time collaboration. Motion 4 includes enhanced tools such as 3D shadows, reflections and depth of field for stunning motion graphics and visual effects, and Soundtrack Pro 3 features new multitrack audio tools to streamline audio post production. Color 1.5 includes better Final Cut Pro integration and support for full color resolution, and Compressor 3.5 adds new features that make it easy to set up and customize your export options. At $999, the new Final Cut Studio is $300 less than the previous release and is also available as an upgrade for just $299.

"With 1.4 million users and 50 percent of the market,* Final Cut Pro is the number one professional video editing application," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The new Final Cut Studio includes more than 100 new features and dramatically expands Apple’s ProRes family of codecs so editors can work in the studio with the highest quality video or on location at low bandwidths."

Final Cut Pro 7, the latest version of Apple’s Emmy Award-winning editing software, includes new versions of Apple’s ProRes codecs to support virtually any workflow with the addition of ProRes Proxy, for offline and mobile editing at low bandwidth; ProRes LT, for general purpose editing; and ProRes 4444 for editing and visual effects at the highest quality possible. Easy Export allows users to continue working on projects while encoding is done in the background and the sequence is exported to YouTube, MobileMe™, iPhone™, iPod®, Apple TV®, DVD or Blu-ray. iChat Theater support allows real time collaboration by sharing Final Cut® timelines or individual source clips with iChat users anywhere in the world, even if they don’t have a copy of Final Cut Pro. Other new features include new speed tools to change clip speed with ease, alpha transitions to create dramatic effects using moving mattes, and native AVC-Intra support for the latest high quality Panasonic cameras.

Motion 4 extends award-winning, easy to use animation tools so video editors can quickly create everything from basic titles to animated credit rolls to stunning motion graphics. Enhancing 3D compositions is faster than ever with new customizable features that add point and spot lights to cast realistic shadows or turn any shape, video plane or paint stroke into a reflective surface. Motion 4 gives editors the flexibility to adjust the depth of field within a 3D canvas by selectively highlighting a single object or using multiple objects to create a racking focus effect.

Soundtrack Pro 3 adds powerful new audio editing tools including Voice Level Match which extracts volume information from the vocal content of one clip and applies it to another without altering any other audio content so editors can easily correct mismatched voice levels. An enhanced File Editor includes new tools to make sophisticated edits and fine tune volume adjustments by targeting specific frequencies such as the rustle of a paper or the bump of a desk without affecting dialogue. The new Advanced Time Stretch feature stretches and compresses audio with incredible precision using three Apple-designed algorithms or other algorithms available as third party plug-ins.

Color 1.5, Apple’s easy to use professional grading application, now works with a greater range of sequences and effects from Final Cut Pro and an integrated workflow allows editors to complete projects entirely within Final Cut Studio. New 4K support works natively with files from cameras such as the RED ONE and outputs directly to ProRes for HD or DPX for film. Expanded support for new high quality formats includes AVC-Intra, XDCAM 422 and ProRes 4444, for grading with the maximum amount of color information.

Compressor 3.5 makes encoding and delivering in multiple formats easier than ever with the ability to automatically detect QuickTime® settings and create an Easy Export template or a mini "droplet" on the desktop that automates specific Compressor actions. New, customizable sharing options make it easy to publish to YouTube and MobileMe, or export for iPhone, iPod, Apple TV and mobile phones. For the highest quality HD material, menu templates and encoding presets make it fast and easy to create Blu-ray discs. Final Cut Studio also includes DVD Studio Pro®, a powerful DVD authoring environment with drag and drop tools, on screen editing and real time previews.

Soundtrack Pro and Compressor are also available as part of the new Logic Studio®, allowing Final Cut and Logic® users to collaborate and share files.

Apple today also introduced Final Cut Server 1.5, the asset management and automation tool for Final Cut Studio. Final Cut Server 1.5 includes powerful new features like lightweight, offline editing with ProRes Proxy, production hierarchies to organize media, and support for still sequences to easily view and manage image sequences for graphics and effects workflows. Final Cut Server now includes unlimited client licenses and is available for $999 or as a $299 upgrade for existing users.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Studio is now available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $999 (US) and existing Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Pro users can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $299 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Studio can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutstudio. Final Cut Server 1.5 is now available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers and includes unlimited client licenses for a suggested retail price of $999 (US) and existing Final Cut Server users can upgrade for suggested retail price of $299 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Server can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutserver.

WEVA Partners With Universal Studios Florida For WEVA EXPO 2008 Tour

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
April 17, 2008

WEVA International has partnered with Universal Studios Florida Production Group to plan an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of the Universal Studios Production Facilities for professional videographers in conjunction with the WEVA 18th Annual Wedding & Event Video Expo, August 11-14, 2008. WEVA EXPO 2008, the wedding and event video industry's largest convention and trade show will be held at Orlando Grande Lakes Resort, just 10 minutes from Universal Studios Florida.

The largest working motion picture and television studio outside of Hollywood, Universal Studios Florida boasts 9 state-of-the-art soundstages, multiple broadcast studios, and more than 100 backlot sets. Numerous feature films (including The Waterboy, Matinee, and Parenthood) have been shot on the studio backlot.

Home to cable network’s Nickelodeon, Universal Studios Florida has hosted TV programs as diverse as The Ellen Degeneres Show; The Food Network's Emeril, Live!; The Steve Harvey Show; America's Most Wanted; Fear Factor; BattleBotsIQ and TNA (Total Nonstop Action). TNA, today's popular contemporary wrestling show, is taped in Stage 21 - (adjacent to the park).

This summer, WEVA EXPO 2008 attendees will have a rare opportunity to take an optional pre-convention, behind-the-scenes tour of Universal Studios that is being planned for Monday August 11, 2008 (starting early afternoon, ending before the official WEVA EXPO 2008 Opening Night Gala at 5:45pm).

"As announced at our NAB event this week, WEVA is already at work with the Universal Studios Production Group (USPG) designing a backlot tour that is ‘professional to professional’ rather than the standard ‘visitor’ version normally presented to park guests," relates Dan Argenas, WEVA’s Director of Association Communications. "Our goal is to offer WEVA EXPO 2008 attendees an inside view of state-of-the-art television and film production that’s up close and personal."

The WEVA and USPG teams are finalizing details of the tour, including ground transportation (private busses will depart from the JW Marriott). Watch WEVA.com for more news on the Universal Studios Tour and continuous updates on all WEVA EXPO 2008 Wedding and Event Video Sessions, EXPO 2008 Trade Show, and EXPO 2008 Special Events.

Apple Ships Final Cut Server

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
April 11, 2008

Apple® has announced that Final Cut Server, a powerful software solution for media asset management and workflow automation, is now shipping. A scaleable server application, Final Cut Server automatically catalogs large collections of assets, allows searching across multiple disks and SAN volumes and enables viewing, annotation and approval of content from anywhere using a PC or Mac.

"Whether producing a 30-second spot, the nightly news or a major motion picture, Final Cut Studio is the choice of editors around the world," said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. "With the introduction of Final Cut Server, collaboration just got a whole lot easier for millions of editors, producers and clients who work with Final Cut Studio."

"For the past few months we’ve been using a beta of Final Cut Server to manage our entire workflow pipeline, 24/7, and it held up beautifully," said Evan Schechtman, CTO of Radical Media. "Best of all, Final Cut Server integrates seamlessly with our home-grown solutions so it’s actually adding new value to systems we’ve relied on for years."

Final Cut Server automatically catalogs media and generates thumbnails, poster frames and low-resolution clip proxies for quick browsing in user specified formats. A cross-platform client enables a PC or Mac to use Final Cut Server’s broad search capabilities, which extend from simple keywords to complex combinations of IPTC, XMP and XML metadata. Final Cut Server also configures a range of highly specific access controls that define user permissions on an asset or project basis.

Final Cut Server scales to support workgroups of different sizes, ranging from a two-person post house to a multi-national news organization and can automate as much, or as little, of the production pipeline as needed. A configurable event-based response model tracks job status, monitors media changes, and automates review and approval notifications and complex sequences of tasks—all through a series of simple menu selections.

Tightly integrated with Final Cut Studio® for a seamless extension of the workflow, Final Cut Server includes Compressor 3, Apple’s industrial strength digital encoding and compression tool, which delivers pristine format conversions for publishing to DVD, broadcast television, the Internet, Apple TV®, iPod®, iPhone™ and other mobile phones.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Server is available immediately through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $999 (US) for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses, and $1,999 (US) for one server and unlimited client licenses. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Server can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutserver.

Apple Introduces New Mac Pro

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
January 14, 2008

Apple has introduced the new Mac® Pro with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor. The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799 MSRP.

"The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we’ve ever made," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market."

The new Mac Pro features the latest Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture running up to 3.2 GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor for breakthrough performance and power efficiency. With a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in memory throughput.

Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualization and large display walls.

The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, featuring four internal hard drive bays with direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives, totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives. With optional 15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance, the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors. Combined with SATA or SAS drives, using an optional Mac Pro RAID card offers the ultimate data protection and disk I/O performance on the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front and back so users can connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire® 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analog audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.

Every Mac Pro includes Leopard™, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac. Featuring an improved scheduler and other multi-core technology, Leopard is a perfect companion to the Mac Pro, making applications faster and helping application developers take advantage of multi-core systems.

The new ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard now ships with every Mac Pro and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 makes it easy to reduce cable clutter with the optional Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse.

The new Mac Pro is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes the following:

two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses;
2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory;
320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
16x SuperDrive™ with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots;
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; and
ships with Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.

In addition to the standard configuration, the Mac Pro offers numerous build-to-order options including: one 2.8 GHz, two 3.0 GHz, or two 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered ECC memory; up to four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm or up to four 300GB SAS drives running at 15000 rpm; Mac Pro RAID card; up to two 16x SuperDrives with double-layer support; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 graphics cards; AirPort Extreme 802.11n; Apple USB Modem; Apple wireless Aluminum Keyboard; Apple wireless Mighty Mouse; and Mac OS X Server Leopard.

AJA Io HD Chosen by Miami Dolphins to Deliver Broadcast of UK Game to Local Fans

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
November 6, 2007

AJA Video, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, delivered an Io HD to the Miami Dolphins to facilitate a remote HD editing solution during the team’s recent visit to play the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium in London.

AJA’s Io HD, provides 10-bit quality video over Firewire for Apple’s Final Cut Studio, and natively supports Apple's New ProRes 422 format, enabling HD editing on MacBook Pro and Mac Pro computers.

Brendan Nieto, Senior Manager of Production and Programming for the Miami Dolphins credits the Io HD with enabling the team’s Miami-based fans to view the London game and events. "The best thing about the Io HD is that I got it, plugged it in and it worked—it’s really as simple as that. We would not have attempted to do this sort of live, quick turnaround HD production before the Io HD. The Varicam, a laptop and an Io HD are all you need to get the high quality results that previously demanded much larger, more cumbersome and more expensive solutions."

Nieto heads up the production of all of the Miami Dolphins’ HD material for the stadium video boards, the team website and a local broadcast network. The London game was particularly exciting for the team as it was the first in-season game ever played outside of the United States. Nieto needed a mobile HD editing system to take along on the trip. He wanted to get HD video into an Apple MacBook Pro laptop from various professional cameras including the Panasonic P2 enabled cameras and the Panasonic Varicam at the event. Nieto took HD SDI video straight out of the Varicam and into Io HD, recording it right onto the laptop’s hard drive using the Io HD's hardware-based Apple ProRes 422 encoding capability.

"With this setup we were able to edit material on the fly, and send MPEG 4 video onto our server so that local fans could watch our features at a viewing party on the High Definition Daktronic Video boards at Dolphin Stadium in Miami," Nieto explained.

The Miami Dolphins are a longtime AJA customer, with several KONA LHe cards in their studio, based out of the team’s training camp facility. "AJA is a great company to work with and are one of the better vendors out there when it comes to video—their products work well, they do what they’re supposed to do and the company support is unsurpassed," Nieto concluded.

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Leopard on October 26

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
October 22, 2007

Apple has announced that Mac OS® X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple’s online store is now accepting pre-orders. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac®.

"Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we’ve ever released," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "And everyone gets the ‘Ultimate’ version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129."

Leopard’s new desktop includes the redesigned 3D Dock with Stacks, a new way to organize files for quick and easy access with just one click. Leopard automatically places web, email and other downloads in a Downloads stack to maintain a clutter-free desktop, and users can instantly fan the contents of this and other Stacks into an elegant arc right from the Dock. Users can also create their own Stacks for quick access to folders, documents or applications. Leopard’s gorgeous new look extends to all applications, with every window on the desktop offering a consistent design theme and active windows outlined by deeper shadows that make them stand out.

The updated Finder includes Cover Flow® and a new sidebar with a dramatically simplified way to search for, browse and copy content from any PC or Mac on a local network. Content on any computer on a local network can now be searched using Spotlight™, browsed using Cover Flow or copied across the network with a simple drag and drop. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their remote Macs over the Internet.

Quick Look is the fastest and easiest way for users to look inside files without launching them or even having the application that created them. With Quick Look, users can instantly view full-screen, high-resolution files of virtually anything, even media files, from any view in the Finder.

Spaces gives users a powerful new way to organize their work by creating customized desktops which can contain only those applications or documents needed for each project, with the ability to quickly switch between Spaces with the mouse or keyboard.

Time Machine lets users easily back up all of the data on their Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac.* In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it’s ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine data on an external drive.

Mail has been updated in Leopard and features more than 30 stationery designs and layouts that look great on a Windows PC or Mac so users can easily send stylish, personalized emails with beautiful graphics and photos. Notes and To Dos help users stay organized by acting just like emails that can be easily created, saved as drafts, synced across multiple Macs and stored in Smart Mailboxes. Data detectors automatically sense phone numbers, addresses and events so they can be added to Address Book or iCal® with just a few clicks, and users can keep up-to-date by getting the latest news and blog feeds delivered directly to their mailboxes with a built-in RSS reader.

iChat®, the easiest-to-use video conferencing application on any personal computer, offers even richer video chats in Leopard with iChat Theater, which makes it easy to show photos, presentations, videos or files in a video conference; screen sharing which lets users remotely view and operate another Mac; and Photo Booth® effects for fun distortions and video backdrops that can instantly make users appear to be anywhere they choose.

Other new features in Leopard include:

improved Parental Controls, aiding parents in managing their kids’ online activities with automatic identification of unsuitable content before allowing website access, plus time limits and activity logs that can be accessed from any Mac on a home network;
the complete Boot Camp® release, previously available only as a beta, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;**
Web Clip, bringing anything that a user wants from a web page to Dashboard as a live widget;
new Photo Booth features, helping users create animated iChat buddy icons or fun effects and backdrops with still or video images;
an enhanced Dictionary with Wikipedia built in, allowing users to access up to date information on virtually any subject in a snap;a newly updated iCal with multi-user calendaring based on the new CalDAV standard; and
an updated version of Front Row, making it even easier to play music or watch movies, TV shows and photos on a Mac using the ultra-simple Apple Remote.

Pricing & Availability
Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple’s retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $129 (US) for a single user license, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple's online store (www.apple.com) starting today. The Mac OS X Leopard Family Pack is a single-household, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 (US). Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Leopard requires a minimum of 512MB of RAM and is designed to run on any Macintosh® computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor. Full system requirements can be found at www.apple.com/macosx/techspecs.

* Requires an additional hard drive sold separately.
** Copy of Windows XP or Vista required.

AJA Releases Highly Anticipated Io HD

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
October 15, 2007

AJA Video, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, has announced first customer shipments of Io HD, delivering HD editing to the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro Pro via its unique Firewire 800 (IEEE-1394b) interface. Io HD is the first device to natively support Apple’s ProRes 422 video format in hardware, and has been recognized with six industry awards for technical innovation from Broadcast Engineering, TV Technology, Millimeter, Digital Content Producer Videography magazines and ChinaHDnet.com.

"The response to Io HD has been overwhelming and we are so excited to deliver this product to our customers," commented Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video. "We worked very closely with Apple to embed support for ProRes 422 directly into the Io HD, and the effort is yielding an incredible level of performance and video format flexibility to Final Cut Pro editors."

Along with unparalleled video and audio connectivity, Io HD includes a similar feature set to AJA's industry-leading KONA lineup; 10-bit hardware-based up-conversion, cross-conversion, and down-conversion, all performed in real time. Io HD runs on a new AJA-built driver, supporting features such as core audio, and very low latency. Within its portable and high style chassis, Io HD offers SD/HD analog inputs and outputs, SD/HD digital I/O including HD-SDI and HDMI, as well as RS-422, Genlock, Balanced analog and AES audio, and even LTC time code connections.

Io HD is available now through AJA’s global channel of dealers and integrators at an MSRP of $3495.00 US, and includes AJA’s 3-year international warranty and support.

WEVA Announces Location for January Event

Posted by Safe Harbor Staff
October 9, 2007

Las Vegas’ legendary Imperial Palace, located "Center Strip" next to the Flamingo, has been named as the host hotel for WEVA’s Wide World of Weddings & Events the brand new winter convention and trade show for wedding & event videographers, co-presented by WEVA and PMA® with huge Trade Show exhibits being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center this January.

WEVA/PMA guest room rates at the Imperial Palace start at under $71/night. Rooms are limited. To be assured of getting low-cost rates, make your hotel reservations now through PMA Housing toll-free at: 800-248-8804 or 517-788-8100 or email: housing@pmai.org.

Register Online - Over 200 WEVA & PMA Sessions Included
Convention registration has already opened! WEVA sessions will start Tuesday afternoon January 29, 2008 at the Imperial Palace hotel. Open to all videographers, registration is only $199 for WEVA members and is all-inclusive. A special WEVA/PMA hotlink for WEVA member discount registration will be announced shortly.

Attend your choice of over 45 cutting-edge WEVA sessions for wedding and event videographers that will all be presented at the Imperial Palace Tuesday afternoon January 29 thru Thursday January 31 when the 2008 Trade Show opens at the Las Vegas Convention Center (use the Imperial/Flamingo Monorail for easy Convention Center access).

The Trade Show will be open 3 days: Thursday January 31 through Saturday February 2, 2008, and will feature special WEVA events for videographers on the Show Floor, including hands-on edit system training, and more (see below) on all 3 Trade Show days. At this year's convention, your WEVA/PMA registration also allows you to attend your choice of over 200 PMA '08 sessions (listed at www.pmai.org) at no additional cost.

Cutting-Edge Wedding & Event Video Sessions
WEVA sessions at the Imperial Palace will feature wedding and event video seminars, workshops, extended system training, New Worldwide Showcase of WEVA Award-Winning Wedding Video Creativity, Same-Day Edit sessions, all-new WEVA Latino sessions in Spanish, New Mock Wedding & Love Story Shooting Exhibitions, HD Technology Panels, and more.

Featured speakers will include leading wedding and event videographers from the US, Canada, Mexico and the Asia-Pacific region, and renowned marketing experts, including top business consultant Robert Gordman author of the best-selling book The Must-Have Customer and a contributing writer for WEVA's Wedding & Event Videography Resource Guide.

The complete WEVA program line-up and trade show schedule will be posted soon on the WEVA website and www.PMAI.org where you can also view all other group sections of programming including digital imaging production, marketing, networking, special events, parties, and convention activities that are available at no additional charge to all WEVA registrants.

More Videographer Events at the 3-Day Trade Show
At the huge 3-day Trade Show (Thursday January 31 to Saturday February 2nd), in addition to a whole new world of exhibits, there will be additional WEVA events for wedding and event videographers on all three days - all optional and all at no additional cost right on the Show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center, including:

Free - Hands-On Edit System Training on Computer Workstations (Presented in Spanish & English).
Free - Live Demonstrations of Wedding & Event Video Shooting Techniques.
Free – All-new WEVA HD Camcorder Shoot-Out Using Live Bridal Models and Featuring Just-Released HD/SD Cameras Both Palm-Size & Full-Size.
Free – WEVA Mock Bridal Show Booth Exhibit
Free – New WEVA/PMA Exclusive 2,000 square-foot Pavilion Housing a State-of-the-Art, Industry-wide Event That Will be Announced Soon.

"There’s never been anything on a scale this large for event videographers. WEVA’s Wide World of Weddings & Events at PMA ’08 is an exciting ‘first’ for professional videography. It will mark the launch of a new era in the expanding worldwide digital memories industry," said Roy Chapman founder and chairman of Wedding & Event Videographers Association International. "This collaborative convention will give videographers the biggest competitive-edge in wedding and event video creativity, techniques, technology, networking – and business profitability — in the history of our industry."

Low-cost guest rooms at the Imperial Palace (available through PMA Housing are less than $71/night January 28-31. For Friday, February 1st (the start of Super Bowl weekend) you can obtain a special PMA registration discount coupon ($29) to apply to the Imperial Palace room rate, which increases to $160 on Friday.

Collaborate, Innovate - Profit!
"With low-cost registration and discounted hotel rates, this brand new convention is the season’s best value for wedding and event videographers – and it answers the call from our members for an international winter event that takes advantage of the impact, and the new profit centers, emerging from the convergence of digital video and imaging technologies," said WEVA Director of Educational Development John Zale.

"Videographers will be able to get together at WEVA’s Wide World of Weddings & Events to network and discover new techniques, cutting-edge concepts, and state-of-the-art technologies that are transforming not only professional videography, but the entire digital memories industry."

Teaming with PMA for an all-new winter convention in the U.S., Zale added, "is a natural, and progressive extension, as WEVA and PMA have had solid success collaborating on previous events for our industry worldwide. That includes our Australia conference for videographers in May, and our industry’s first-ever convention in Canada last month."

WEVA’s Wide World of Weddings & Events at PMA 08 will enable fresh advantages and a completely new professional development experience for wedding and event videographers, manufacturers, and sponsors.

"The advancements in digital technologies, including IT, portable video, DI technologies, and new media, combined with the rising demand for video content online have created a need for a collaborative, cutting-edge event in the winter season. One that recognizes, and utilizes, key changes in digital technologies and workflow so that professional videographers nationally and internationally can take their skills, and their profit potential, to a whole new level – faster," Chapman said. "And, it’s why WEVA will continue to provide professional development events in both winter and summer seasons."

Contact PMA Housing now to be sure of getting low-cost guest room rates at the Imperial Palace for WEVA’s Wide World of Weddings & Events this January!

About Photo Marketing Association International (PMA)
As an international professional trade association, PMA® helps the worldwide photo imaging community achieve business success and adapt to new technologies. Its commitment to 20,000 members in 100-plus countries is part of an 82-year legacy that connects business owners to a network of knowledge and support.

PMA furthers this purpose through the development of educational programs and business services, marketing research, publications, and trade shows. For more information, visit PMA online at www.pmai.org.

About Wedding & Event Videographers Association International (WEVA)
WEVA International is the largest professional videographers association and our industry's leading provider of education that's on the cutting-edge. WEVA is dedicated to advancing the professional interests of videographers worldwide through continuing education at events such as Wedding & Event Video Expo, technical support, group benefits, advocacy committees, new media, including Wedding & Event Videography Resource Guide and streaming video on WEVA-TV.

Join WEVA now to access valuable WEVA membership benefits that can help you succeed in your business, including weekday job opportunities through ImageSpan's CurbStream Platform, plus low-cost Visa/MasterCard Merchant Status, low-cost Equipment Insurance, E&O Insurance, the new Equipment Financing Program for Videographers, WEVA NEWS MINUTE videos, WEVA On-The-Air Podcasts, and more. Membership also provides opportunities for professional videographer (MPV) accreditation, and system-training at WEVA EXPO. For further details contact the association at 941-923-5334 or email: info@weva.com

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Safe Harbor's video and post production news blog offers you the latest announcements and updates from the industry.