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cartProduct Spotlight a Safe Harbor blogE-on software Customer Showreel 2010
For those of you who couldn't watch it at this year's SIGGRAPH, the e-on software Customer Show Reel 2010 is finally available, in HD! Take a look at the fantastic work some of the best Vue artists have done! Problems viewing in this window? Watch it on Youtube here. CalDigit HDOne Testimonial
David was also kind enough to include a great picture of the Museum at night as well as several pictures of his editing suite: EMP|SFM at night
Edit Suite 1 with HDOne on right
Edit Suite 2
Edit Suite 3
Edit Suite 4
Edit Suite 5
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Panasonic AG-HMC40 AVCCAM solid-state camcorder
The highest video quality setting of "PH" records the full 1920x1080 or 1280x720 HD resolution at 21Mbps, with settings of 1080i60, 1080p30, 1080p24, 720p60, 720p30, and 720p24. 1080i may also be recorded using the "HA" or "HG" quality settings at 17 and 13Mbps respectively, with the most economical setting being the "HE" mode which records 1080i as 1440x1080 at 6Mbps. Of course, the lower the data rate, the more video you can fit on the card, so if you’re simply shooting a talking head video like a conference, you can get up to 12 hours of recording on a single 32GB card! For jobs that require a higher quality, just choose an appropriate format. Even at the highest quality setting, you still get a full 3 hours of recording time on a 32GB SDHC card. SDHC media is much less expensive than the P2 and SxS media used on other solid-state cameras, which is an attractive feature of the AG-HMC40. This camera has a single card slot, unlike P2 and SxS-format cameras which have dual slots that allow swapping of cards on the fly for uninterrupted recording. Being used to changing HDV tapes every 60 minutes myself, I don’t think the recording time "limit" of 3 to 12 hours would present any issue to most users. This is my first time using a solid-state camcorder, as my previous experience has been with DV and HDV tape-based units, shooting wedding, event and corporate videos. Since the full Panasonic specs and other reviews are readily available in print and online, I won’t seek to do a thorough technical review here, but rather will list my first impressions of the camera from a videographer’s point of view, as I would in sharing my observations with a friend or associate. So, don’t expect any resolution charts or signal-to-noise ratio graphs here! I received the AG-HMC40 as a demo unit from our distributor, so the battery was already charged and attached. I simply powered up and started shooting right out of the box, finding it easy to start using immediately before looking at any instructions. The flip-out LCD offers touch-screen control, and with just a few taps, I found I could quickly switch to any of the 9 video recording formats.
After shooting several scenes around the office, I moved outside to take in the panorama of the first Wisconsin snowfall of the season to check how the HMC40 handled bright images. I next switched the camera to playback mode, and saw thumbnails of each clip I’d just shot displayed on the LCD. Touching any one of them began instant playback, which is great when you’re used to rewinding and fast-forwarding through tape! Playback controls include slow-motion forward/reverse, fast-forward/reverse, and frame-by-frame playback, all without distortion due to its purely digital nature. I connected an HDMI cable direct to a 24" LCD and was able to preview what I’d just shot and found it looked very good! The SDHC card can also be placed directly into many Blu-ray players for instant playback. I’m used to shooting 1080i HDV, which uses a reduced resolution of 1440x1080 and Long-GOP MPEG-2 compression. The HDV format has a tendency to show compression issues at times, for instance with fast action or whip-pans, which will cause the image to degrade and show blocky artifacts. No such problem with the AG-HMC40 – I did some very fast back-and-forth whips of the camera outdoors, and the 1920x1080 video playback was crisp and sharp with no apparent artifacting using the best PH record mode. After playing with the camera for a bit, I went back to investigate the contents of the box, and was impressed with the included accessories. A 3-hour battery and AC adapter/charger are included, and I was happy to see that the battery can actually be charged on the charger – most cameras require you to charge the battery on the camera, meaning you can’t charge batteries while using the camera. Nice touch, Panasonic! Optional larger batteries can provide up to 7 hours of record time. Component and composite AV cables are included, or you can use your own HDMI cable. A small infra-red remote control is handy for playback duties, or recording when the operator might wish to get in front of the camera for taking video or stills. The bonus plastic stylus for the touch screen proved to work much better than my large fingers when navigating menus on the LCD, working accurately with the lightest touch.
A quick-start printed manual covers the basics only, but a full .pdf user’s guide is included on CD. The CD also includes a "Restorer" program to fix files damaged by power loss during recording. An "AVCCAM Viewer" utility can be downloaded from Panasonic’s website, and can also be used to create metadata files to load into the camera. I was surprised at the inclusion of 3 RCA to BNC adapters, for those that might need to connect the component video output to professional gear having BNC inputs. Most manufacturers expect you to run down to Radio Shack for connectors, but that can be a huge inconvenience for many users in rural areas, so the inclusion of these adapters is appreciated. Also included for a limited time is a Panasonic 16GB SDHC card. Other quality brands of SDHC card should work as well, provided that they are Class 4 or higher. The last goody I found was a top carry handle for the camera. It quickly attaches over the shoe mount using two knurled thumbscrews and provides a handle that works well for low-angle shooting, and it also has a shoe mount on top to get mics and lights up away from the camera. Unfortunately, there is no handle-mounted zoom rocker switch like the AG-HMC150 has. Back to the camera, it includes a built-in stereo mic and there is a standard mini-jack input for connecting an external mic. Mic volume can be adjusted using the touch-screen LCD controls, and a headphone jack is provided for monitoring. Optionally, Panasonic offers the AG-MYA30G two-channel XLR interface box that attaches to the camera via a multi-pin jack. This add-on also accepts a shotgun mic, and would be a good option to consider if quality audio is important for your intended use.
The camera has a 12x optical zoom, and I really like the smoothness of the variable-speed zoom rocker. At the slowest speed, it took over 2 minutes to go from full wide to telephoto, which would work quite well for dramatic effect at weddings. The LCD shows the zoom setting in increments of 0 to 99, which I found helpful to judge where I was at in the zoom range. While most pro and prosumer camcorders will have a pair of manual zoom and focus rings up front, the AG-HMC40 has but one ring. A switch at the left front of the camera lets you choose between focus or zoom/iris control for the ring, with the zoom or iris preference being set in the menu. If moving the switch during recording, the noise is picked up by the built-in microphone. The ring does offer smooth control, whether adjusting focus, iris or zoom. There is a thumb wheel for iris adjustment, and notably, the user can change the direction of adjustment in the menu. I found the iris wheel to work opposite of what I was used to with my own camera, so I switched direction in the menu. Little amenities like this are appreciated. The camera doesn’t have a lot of manual control buttons, as many functions are handled through the touch menu on the LCD. To make up for it, there are 3 "User" buttons which can be programmed with various duties to suit the user’s most common needs to avoid having to access onscreen menus during shoots. The AG-HMC40 does offer many higher-end features not usually found at this price point. Benefits include color bars, black balance adjustment, and zebra pattern settings from 50% to 105% in 5% increments. Timecode options include DF, NDF, Free Run and User, and the ability to set a start point for the TC counter. A pair of camera Scene Profiles can be saved as well for quick camera setup, and metadata can be included in recorded clips. A few other notable features are Focus Assist, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), face recognition, one-touch High Gain (34dB), digital zoom and a Pre-record function that starts recording 3 seconds before you hit the record button, bettering your chances of getting the critical shot every time. Time-lapse recording is also possible using the Interval Record feature. The Synchro Scan feature allows monitors to be shot without flicker by matching the shutter speed to the display refresh rate. The camera doesn’t shoot standard definition formats, but will downconvert video output to NTSC with conversion options of Letterbox, Side Crop, or Squeeze. The latter two options are usually not found on cameras at this price level. AVCHD is a very complex codec, so it requires a lot of processing power to edit. For a limited time, the Grass Valley EDIUS Neo2 with Booster NLE software is currently included for native editing of the AVCHD video files. The Booster option allows Neo2 to handle more realtime streams of AVCHD than any current competitor. AVCHD is also supported by other edit packages in varying degrees, and some users prefer to convert AVCHD to an intermediate codec, such as Cineform Neo Scene, for easier editing. Files are typically transferred to the edit machine’s hard drive by inserting the SDHC card directly into a card reader, or files can be moved over a USB cable. Another option is to use a capture card to ingest the video playback from the camera in realtime via HDMI or analog Component, which records to a codec supported by the capture card and software. The Matrox MXO2 Mini and Black Magic Intensity Pro are two options for capture devices. In studio settings, users might appreciate the chance to capture the live video to their computer at uncompressed quality via HDMI, bypassing any in-camera compression of the signal, especially for green-screen work. Keep in mind that this camera uses ¼-inch CMOS image sensors, which are not known for great low-light performance, so consider that in certain situations, auxiliary lighting may be beneficial. The step-up AG-HMC150 model uses 1/3-inch CCD technology which is said to offer better low-light performance, though I’ve not tried that camera. In normal lighting though, the AG-HMC40 image looks great. I did find that I can use up to 24dB GAIN on this camera and still have a much cleaner image than my HDV camera at 6dB GAIN. Lowering the shutter speed will also let more light into the camera for better images. When shooting 1080i60 for example, drop the shutter from 1/60 to 1/30 to increase sensitivity. The AG-HMC40 also utilizes DRS (Dynamic Range Stretch), which adjusts the image to preserve details in shadow areas and also avoid blown-out bright areas when both appear in the same shot.
Videographers moving from DV to HD on a budget will welcome the versatility and features this camera has to offer. That said, it may not have all the manual controls and low-light sensitivity that wedding videographers desire in a main camera, in which case they might consider the AG-HMC150 as a main unit, with the AG-HMC40 (or a couple of them!) as B-cameras for multiple-camera ceremony shoots. For schools, this camera would be an excellent choice for student videographers. As a videographer, I’m impressed that a camera of this size and weight (just over two pounds) can provide the performance, features, and ease of use that it does at this price. Adding the XLR audio package and a wide-angle lens will make this a well-rounded performer for most applications without breaking the budget. Did I mention that registering the camera increases the Panasonic one-year warranty to three full years? The more I think about it, the better this camera looks! The Quadro FX 3800 with Elemental Accelerator for CS4
As long as digital video compression has been around, video producers have sought to get the best video quality while also keeping file sizes small. The current solution is the H.264 format, which excels at producing small files with excellent quality. It’s the format of choice today for solid-state camcorders, iPods, and cell phones and is also used for Blu-ray disc, YouTube and most other web videos. H.264 comes with a cost though – its quality and economy of size are the result of a very complex codec, meaning it takes a lot of horsepower to encode, typically taking much longer than realtime to produce the desired output. Whether you’re a wedding videographer making two-hour Blu-ray discs or a web producer creating dozens of small clips for the web every day, time is money and you can’t afford to have your edit system tied up for hours on end to encode videos. To address the long encoding times of H.264 files, Elemental Technologies has created the Elemental Accelerator software that works in conjunction with Quadro FX series display cards to supercharge H.264 encoding with Adobe CS4 (PC or Mac). The Elemental Accelerator uses the processing power of the Quadro FX card’s Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU, to greatly accelerate H.264 and MPEG-2 output. Additional benefits are available to expedite the CS4 workflow. The Adobe Fast Color Corrector, scaling, opacity, dissolve and a few other basic effects are accelerated. Editors of complex video formats like AVCHD will experience faster decoding using the GPU power, freeing up the computer processor for other tasks.
I did several test encodes in CS4, using 1080i HDV source footage and exporting to various formats, using Elemental MPEG-2 and H.264 presets and comparing encoding times to native AME presets. The test workstation is an older Safe Harbor TSUNAMI with dual quad-core Xeon 2.33Ghz processors, running CS4 on Windows XP Pro and using the PNY Quadro FX 3800 GPU with Elemental Accelerator. Overall, encode times were consistently about twice as fast using Elemental presets, whether going to MPEG-2 or H.264. On short clips, time savings may be just a couple of minutes, but when dealing with a lot of these short clips on a daily basis, those minutes certainly add up. For wedding and event videographers doing long-form videos, the savings can easily equal many hours per project. Promotional materials from Elemental claim up to 11x faster encoding is possible. I noticed that their source video in the test was AVCHD, and I believe that time savings are compounded when Elemental is doing the heavy lifting on multiple tasks at the same time.
I placed a 1-minute 1080i 29.97 HDV clip in a 720p 59.94 project and encoded to Blu-ray, with and without Elemental. The resulting times were 0:52 and 3:59 respectively, so Elemental appears to really help when scaling is involved in addition to the encoding task. In other words, results will vary depending on what kind of video you are working with, what you are encoding to, and the computer hardware being used. In any case, you can expect to save a good deal of time on most any H.264 or MPEG-2 encoding job you may encounter. Quadro FX cards have always been known for their exceptional performance with Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere. Whether you’re building a new system, or just looking to add life to your existing system, a Quadro FX card with the Elemental Accelerator will definitely benefit your workflow all around. Test Results – using 5:00 1080i HDV source clip: Elemental Test Results – using 5:00 1080i HDV source clip: Adobe Instant Video Presenter
So you’ve always thought you could do better than the local TV weatherman, if only you had the chance? Well, here’s your chance! Instant Video Presenter from ej4 allows anyone with a PC and a camcorder or webcam to superimpose themselves over any still image background, or whatever is on their PC screen, such as a PowerPoint presentation or photo slideshow. There are a handful of backgrounds included, or you can choose your own images. All you need to do is sit or stand in front of a green screen (5’ x 7’ green cloth included), point the camera at yourself, run Instant Video Presenter, and you’re in business! IVP is perfect for non-video people, like real estate agents, salespeople, trainers, etc., that need to get their message across quickly without learning complex programs or hiring a video production crew. The software took just a couple of minutes to install, and is so easy to use that I had immediate results without reading the directions. My DV camcorder was automatically detected and I saw my own face live and onscreen in the IVP interface. I chose one of the many supplied background images, hit "Record" and produced a video of myself "live" in an exotic location.
As with any green screen software, lighting is critical to achieve quality results. In some situations, you may get a decent key right off the bat, but plan on adding some additional lighting for best results in most cases. The ej4 website offers several free training tutorial videos dealing with this and other issues which I found very helpful to tweak my results. IVP is somewhat unique in its function and purpose in that it allows the user to superimpose him/herself over the computer screen, on the same PC running the IVP software. Once you hit the RECORD button, the IVP interface is minimized and you can run your slideshow or application on the PC screen. Just push a user-selectable hotkey to begin recording once you are ready. It works well to place the camera just above the computer display, with you facing both, so you can watch the screen and position yourself accordingly. Videos recorded using IVP are not meant to be edited. In keeping with the "instant" part of the name, users choose from one of four quality presets before recording, do their presentation, and upon completion, the video is done and ready to email, upload to the web, or burn to CD – no additional encoding is needed. Of course, if you do wish to edit or add titles, that can be done later with your own editing software. Instant Video Presenter works as advertised, and anyone should be able to use it with almost zero learning curve even if they are not video or computer-savvy. While many users will be satisfied with the basic 5’ x 7’ green screen included, there are different packages available that include larger backdrops and even a high-quality webcam if desired. If your intention is to produce music videos or do video compositing work in your nonlinear editing software, then this may not be the right solution for you. IVP is meant for quick and easy live, one-shot recording of presentations, and is ideally suited for that purpose. If that’s your goal, then you should be very pleased with Internet Video Presenter. Just today, as I was completing my review, I got an email announcing a free upgrade to the 1.3 version of the application, which I checked out. They’ve been listening to customers and added several new features to improve the user experience. The upgrade includes reduced lag time when recording, better YouTube compatibility, smoother video quality, and several new graphic backgrounds with a corporate feel. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it just did! MediaShout Version 4
Many churches today are creating exciting worship programs by utilizing technology as part of their ministry efforts. Video monitors and projection screens are being used to get the congregation more involved in the service, displaying everything from weekly bulletin notes before the service, to Bible verses and song lyrics during the service so everyone can follow along and participate.
One piece of software for the PC that can really help to create dynamic worship services is MediaShout version 4. I was recently able to try out this latest version of the popular media ministry presentation software, and it’s better than ever! Installation from disc took just a few minutes, including the automated online registration. During the install, an easy utility helped me set up my multiple-monitor preferences, saving me the trouble of trying to do this later through the display card utility in my PC. It even covered options like screen savers and power management, which computer novices might otherwise have a hard time finding and configuring. You wouldn’t want the screen saver to replace the message mid-sermon! MediaShout v.4 might be compared to PowerPoint in functionality, and in fact it can play back PP files, but MS v.4 is much better suited to media ministry applications because song lyrics and Bible verses are built right into the program!
It’s very easy to add passages from any of dozens of included versions of the Bible, in multiple languages. Songs and verses are keyword-searchable, and song lists can be saved in custom groups for easy organization and recall. Presentations are set up easily with the nicely configured user interface. The included video tutorials will appeal to new users, allowing them to get going right away. The drag-and-drop interface makes it simple to put together exciting presentations that include song lyrics, Bible verses, graphics, custom text, video clips, DVD video, and even live website screens.
Segments can be programmed to "fire" manually or on a timed basis, with many custom transitions available. A neat feature is the ability to overlay text into the presentation "live", on the fly, without interrupting the flow of the presentation... "Blue sedan, License # 123-XYZ, your lights are on." can be instantly added to the screen. MediaShout v. 4 is typically used in a dual-display setup, with Display 1 showing the user interface for the operator, and Display 2 being the full-screen output for the viewers. Optionally, a third display can be used, and this is called the "Stage Display". It would face the minister or musicians, and shows white text over a black background for clarity, without any distracting background graphics. A second video display card could be used in a desktop PC to drive the Stage Display, but for laptops, MediaShout offers an optional external USB display adapter called ViBook. This device connects via USB and provides the third DVI monitor output necessary to drive the Stage Display. Windows Vista is the preferred OS when using ViBook, as Vista makes it much easier to configure the third video display device compared to Windows XP. I found MediaShout v.4 to have a very intuitive, clean interface, with many new and streamlined features that make it easy for volunteers to master, yet it has the tools that experienced users will appreciate when creating complex, dynamic presentations. MediaComplete offers a free, 45-day trial version of MediaShout v. 4, making it a no-brainer to try this out for your church today. You’ll be creating exciting, dynamic material right away that’s certain to liven up your services and engage the congregation. Matrox MXO2 Mini
I’ve been a fan and user of Matrox capture cards for several years now, beginning with the RT.X100, and more recently the RT.X2, which added HD editing capabilities. These cards offer analog video capture and playback, in addition to the standard 1394 Firewire i/o offered with most computers. If there’s a downside to the RT.X2, it’s that the desktop host PC hardware must meet specific requirements, and it doesn’t work with laptops or Mac computers. These concerns are addressed with the new MXO2 Mini.
The MXO2 Mini is a small, external box that works with both Mac and PC, laptop or desktop. It comes with your choice of a PCIe 1x host adaptor card for desktop use, or an ExpressCard/34 adaptor for laptop users. By simply getting an extra adaptor, the Mini could easily be moved between desktop and laptop for those days when you’d like to edit out on the deck and enjoy the weather. The Mini features HDMI in and out, which is very desirable since practically all new camcorders and LCD displays use the HDMI interface. This is especially helpful for users of AVCHD cameras, since the native format is difficult to edit. Just play back the footage from the camera and capture to a more edit-friendly codec via HDMI. On the output side, HDMI allows full-screen SD or HD monitoring, as well as color calibration on inexpensive LCDs, enabling them to be used for reliable color grading.
Besides HDMI, analog audio and video capture/playback is also supported. On the Mac, video can be captured uncompressed or to any FCP-supported codec, including ProRes. For PCs, Matrox offers their own MPEG-2 I-Frame SD/HD codec, as well as uncompressed video capture. Using the MXO2 Mini’s 10-bit hardware scaler, video can be up, down or cross-converted during both capture and playback. This makes it much easier to mix SD, 720 HD and 1080 HD formats. The Mini doesn’t offer the realtime effects of the RT.X2, but it can be had with an amazing option known as Matrox MAX technology. MAX offers hardware-accelerated H.264 encoding at faster than realtime speeds. This is important because H.264 encoding typically takes 4-5 times longer than realtime to render, which can mean hours of lost productivity on each job. On the Mac, the MAX technology works with Apple Compressor, and on the PC, it uses the Adobe Media Encoder. Whether working on an 8-core workstation or a laptop, users will experience the same H.264 encoding speeds since the MAX hardware is doing all the work instead of the host machine’s CPU. As H.264 is the standard for Blu-ray, YouTube, iPod and many other export destinations, every editor can benefit greatly from this technology to deliver the final production to meet a variety of needs. Note: The MAX technology is also being offered by Matrox as a stand-alone item called CompressHD. This half-length PCIe card works in PC or Mac desktops, with the above mentioned encoding benefits available to users. An added benefit of the MXO2 Mini is the WYSIWYG support for both Mac and PC. On the Mac, any application that supports V-out can output video through the Mini, such as FCP, Apple Color, and Adobe After Effects. Used with a PC, MXO2 Mini can output video from Adobe Encore, Photoshop CS4, After Effects CS4, and other popular compositing and 3D applications. Whether you edit with Final Cut Pro on the Mac or Premiere CS4 on the PC, the MXO2 Mini offers a lot of great features at an unheard of price point. Besides, it just plain looks good on any edit desk, so check it out! LaCie LaCinema: Portable HD Media Playback Solutions
These are external USB hard drives that have AV outputs built into the drive enclosure. Just connect power for the drive, connect to a video monitor, and use the included remote-control to access and play audio, video, and photos that are stored on the drive. NTSC, PAL, and HD displays are supported.
Specs vary slightly between the Classic and Rugged models, but supported media formats include MP3 and WMA for audio clips, JPEG for photo stills, and MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Divx and more for video playback. Video is output via composite (with RCA stereo audio), or HDMI for HD displays (upscaled to 1080p). Digital audio outputs are available for home theater connection as well. An on-screen menu display is used to manage file playback and output options. Slideshows may be set up for still photo presentations, with user-defined durations and transitions.The drives weigh about two pounds, and use silent, fanless cooling. A USB 2.0 connection supports use with Mac or PC for loading your favorite clips onto the drive, and is also used for firmware updates. Audio, Video, and HDMI cables are included, a feature missed on many products today. All LaCinema drives come with a two-year limited warranty.If you’re looking for reliable, portable multimedia playback, check out the LaCinema Classic and LaCinema Rugged from LaCie. What is the difference between the RT.X2 and RT.X2 LE models?
The Matrox RT.X2 took the Premiere Pro editing world by storm when it was released in 2007. A year later, Matrox introduced the RT.X2 LE, with a lower price point and impressive list of features. What, exactly, is the difference between these two popular cards?
The RT.X2 has a DVI output that lets you preview HD video "pixel for pixel" on a compatible computer LCD display. The RT.X2 LE does not have the DVI output, but you can still monitor your HD video using the analog component output of the Matrox breakout box that comes with either RT.X2 card. Just connect any HD display that accepts component HD input to see your video full screen. Also, the RT.X2 LE is a ¾ length card and will fit more PC cases than the RT.X2, which is full-length. Both cards offer the same realtime features, with the DVI output being the only difference in operation.
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