Vanguard Awards 2008

When they consider the tools they use daily, professional video
producers notice that their software tends to get more expansive
and more complicated as the cameras and display gear get smaller
and lighter. The computers, of course, are continually optimized
for the ever-more-powerful software, and software is, in turn,
rewritten to shine on the faster machines. Video codecs improve
incrementally and then take occasional leaps when a new format
emerges and earns wide acceptance.

This is the way of things. It's what we expect and what we
demand from the new gear that we inspect at tradeshows and
showrooms. But not all progress follows a straight path. Our annual
Vanguard Awards recognize the disruptive moves, the technological
leaps, and the product introductions that initiate a new path.

Our Vanguard Awards judges engaged in a passionate debate on the
relative merits of almost all the major camcorders introduced in
2008. Many new camcorders, especially the Varicam models from
Panasonic, embodied combinations of several appealing technologies
introduced in the past couple years. The new Varicams offer a
choice of several high-quality, efficient HD formats, and they
record 10-bit video in a plethora of frame rates and to nonlinear
media. Combinations such as these represent smart business for the
manufacturers and appealing choices for consumers. But when our
judges considered what really fit the appellation
“vanguard,” some excellent new products seemed less
like disruption than the result of previous technological risks
paying off. Which, of course, is still a very good thing.

The Vanguard Awards reward 2008's risks, innovations, and
revelations. So without further ado, and in no particular order,
here are the 14 products that we've judged to be the most
groundbreaking. Thank you to our judges and congratulations to all
the winners.

Judges: Barry Braverman, Trevor Boyer, Gary Eskow, D. W.
Leitner, Franklin McMahon, Dan Ochiva, Jan Ozer, and Cynthia
Wisehart.

Blackmagic Design Video Recorder

Simple, tiny, and oh-so-useful, the Blackmagic Design Video
Recorder is a USB-based hydra that records composite, component, or
S-Video to the web-video-friendly H.264 format. In a world where
content is king, you're leaving money on the table if your analog
video library isn't online. And for $119, there's no excuse. During
downtime, your intern should be loading tape after tape, steadily
increasing the supply of eyeball bait for your various video
channels that pay per click (on Metacafe, YouTube, et al).

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection

Postproduction suites don't get more complete than Adobe's
Master Collection, and the new CS4 version does fill some previous
gaps — such as adding a Mac version of OnLocation and finally
making Flash keyframe-friendly, but a few forward-looking features
make the suite truly compelling. Most notably, speech-to-text
transcription in Premiere Pro and Soundbooth promises to automate
the generation of metadata, amplify the googlability of any video
you put online, and ease your documentary or news-editing workflow
by several degrees. Then there's the fact that Photoshop CS4
Extended is now a real 3D-animation tool (see p. 37). Who knows
what video artists will do with all that power?

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector

Micro-sized projectors are nothing new. At the past few InfoComm International shows, manufacturers exhibited paperback-sized models projecting plasma-screen-sized images using feisty (not to say bright) LED lamps. This year, manufacturers are able to exploit the continued advances in LED technology and Texas Instruments' new DLP Pico chipset to produce powerful-enough — and affordable — micro models. Optoma is the first out of the gate with the 4oz. Pico Pocket Projector, which comfortably ducks under the $500 price point and ships with a kit to connect to Apple iPhones and iPods. At 2”×4.1”×0.7”, the Pico is about the same size as these devices. Miniaturization definitely brings challenges: The Pico's battery-powered (rechargeable Li-ion) has a listed life of only 1.5 hours; there's one 0.5W built-in loudspeaker; and the maximum image size is 60in. Still, the Pico is harbinger of things to come. “Expect to see more variations on this form factor,” says judge Dan Ochiva. “Cell phones are said to be next.”

IK Multimedia ARC

Are you performing audio post or creating music tracks in a home studio? And with less-than-ideal reference loudspeakers? If you answered yes to the first question, you probably followed suit on the second. IK Multimedia's Advanced Room Correction (ARC) system offers an affordable way to boost your monitors' performance. “Purists may balk at giving an award to a software package that essentially imposes an EQ curve in order to improve the sound coming from your stereo monitors,” says judge Gary Eskow, “but I was knocked out by the results that ARC brought to my room.” The software operates as a plug-in within your digital audio workstation, and the system ships with a microphone that helps diagnose shortcomings in either your loudspeakers or your listening environment. After applying the EQ curve that ARC generates, expect a marked improvement in sound quality.

Apple iPhone 3G and Application Store

This award wouldn't be Apple's if YouTube hadn't adopted the iPhone-friendly H.264 for the encoding of its videos, if 3G broadband network technology hadn't been implemented in the United States, or if the touchscreen marvels hadn't gained such wide acceptance — and adoration. Leave it to Apple to once again offer the market a lightning rod for technology trends. What really sealed the deal for our judges is the emergence of the Application Store, a potential wellspring of tools for professional content producers. (Take Sonoma Wire Works' FourTrack. It's a professional multitrack audio recorder for the built-in iPhone microphone or any third-party mic.) Judge Barry Braverman reports that iPhones and video iPods have already done dailies duty on sets where he's worked. “In cameras fitted with a proxy encoder,” he says, “tiny MPEG-4 clips can be saved and then uploaded easily and efficiently for iPhone viewing on the set, perhaps over lunch in the commissary — or ultimately anywhere in the world.”

Inlet Technologies Semaphore 2.5

Crunching videos down to size for online consumption is fraught with hazards. Quality control used to mean a pair of trained eyeballs scanning every frame, but with Semaphore, Inlet Technologies has automated the process. The video-analysis tool lets you define parameters for quality, bit rate, dropped frames, and other metrics. Within minutes, the software can QC hours of video. Support for MPEG-2 and Flash is new for version 2.5, and these features suddenly make Semaphore a must-have for DVD and web-video producers. “Literally, there's no other way to see inside of a Flash file,” says judge Jan Ozer.

Panasonic AG-HMC150

Developed as a highly compressed flavor of HD suitable for hard-drive-based consumer camcorders, AVCHD always has held promise for the professional market. After all, its MPEG-4 compression is more efficient than HDV's older MPEG-2 — and it's scalable. Early pro camcorders (typically rebadged consumer units) brought better-than-expected image quality but little else in the way of professional features. Enter the Panasonic AG-HMC150. Part of the company's new AVCCAM line, the camcorder features a new PH mode that ups the AVCHD bit rate to an average of 21Mbps. The HMC150 records full 1920×1080 HD to consumer-friendly SDHC cards and packs a waveform monitor, focus assist, a prerecord cache, and dynamic range stretch — which judge Jan Ozer found to improve detail in extreme whites.

Panasonic BT-LH1760

Broadcast monitors based on LCD technology are not exactly new, but until this year, the market did not offer a superior model at an affordable price point. The 17in. Panasonic BT-LH1760 has claimed that mantle. The field-ruggedness, the built-in waveform display, and the generous connectivity options remain from the LH1700. New for the LH1760 is a doubled scan rate of 120Hz, which helps ensure the integrity of fast-motion scenes. There's no fan; the built-in vectorscope is switchable for 75-percent and 100-percent chromaticity; and the LH1760 includes look-up tables to match Rec. 601, Rec. 709, and EBU display standards.

Sony HVR-Z7U and HVR-MRC1

Sony HVR-Z7U and HVR-MRC1

What could a new professional HDV camcorder bring to the table in 2008? Quite a bit, it turns out. With the HVR-Z7U, Sony seems to have taken a best-of-all-possible-worlds approach to producing an affordable handheld HDV camera. There's the three 1/3in. Exmor CMOS sensors borrowed from the XDCAM EX line and the interchangeable lenses (a 12X Carl Zeiss is included). But perhaps best of all is the combination of the tape drive and the detachable HVR-MRC1 CompactFlash (CF) “deck” that creates an unparalleled number of recording options. “There is a matrix of choices,” judge D. W. Leitner says. “You can choose to record only tape. You can choose to record only CompactFlash, making the Z7 a true tapeless camcorder. You can record to both, saving the tape for your archives and using the CF for transfer to your NLE. You can record HD to tape and, simultaneously, downconvert SD to CF. You can record in relay mode so that after tape runs out, recording to CF continues without a break.”

Sachtler Soom

This transforming tripod system made a splash at NAB in a market segment that was starved for one. “For some reason, camera support has seen little innovation in the last decade or two,” judge Barry Braverman says. “That's why the Soom is such a breath of fresh air.” Our judges loved the system's versatility. It supports a camera (ideally Panasonic AG-HVX200-sized) four different ways: low to the ground (or a table) with the TriSpread; as a standard tripod with a 3in. head fixture; as a monopod with the Soom Tube (61.8in. max height); and elevated with TriPod, TriSpread, and Tube together, allowing it to extend up to 98.4in. All that comes in one package — a welcome innovation in these days of ubiquitous excess-baggage fees. Though it's a little heavy at 13lbs., the flipside is extra stability.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Digital SLR cameras have captured motion video for years, but until very recently, even the biggest SD cards had trouble storing a usable amount of footage that was heavily stepped on to boot. Now Canon's EOS 5D Mark II offers 1920×1080 24p image capture at ISO 3200, using MPEG-4 compression and capturing to MOV format. Need your still photographer to pull double-duty by capturing B-roll, especially from a tripod? The 5D could fit the bill. Consumer demand for high-res video capture and improved, lower-noise CMOS imagers have made this feature possible, according to judge Barry Braverman. Our judges picked the Canon 5D over the Nikon D90 because it has an 1/8in. jack for an external mic and it exhibits less in the way of rolling-shutter artifacts (but there's still room for improvement).

Sony PMW-EX3

With the PMW-EX3, Sony introduced several innovative features in a camcorder that closely followed the related EX1. Both are XDCAM EX models that record 25Mbps and 35Mbps HD video to SxS cards. So what's highest on reviewer and Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner's list of advances for the EX3? “Interchangeable lenses, a radical new lens mount design, huge LCD viewfinder, remote CCU operability, even a dial to adjust frame rate in one-frame increments,” he says. Modularity is key for the 1/2in. 3-CMOS camcorder: The EX3 has an extensible shoulder brace, and it can fit 2/3in. lenses using the optional Fujinon ACM-21 adapter.

Sorenson Media Squeeze 5

Video encoders don't get much better than Sorenson Media Squeeze 5 — accessible, complete, and output quality that's best-in-class. Squeeze is easy to use, and it's available on both Mac and Windows platforms. The program uses category-leader MainConcept's H.264 codec and produces high-quality VP6 and VC-1 output to boot. It's not perfect — de-interlacing remains a weakness — but no encoding tool is. “Overall, it's the most reliable performer in the sub-$1,000 class,” judge Jan Ozer says. (Read how it performs on p. 42.)

HP DreamColor LP2480zx

The new 24in. DreamColor LP2480zx 1920×1200 monitor from HP is no ordinary LCD screen. While it has the latest in LED backlighting, check out the imprimatur of DreamWorks Animation, which collaborated with HP over the course of two years to develop the DreamColor technology engine. The newly developed 30-bit technology delivers more than 1 billion color shadings as well as top-notch black-level detail, all with an accuracy that positions the $3,499 screen to deliver the proverbial shot across the bow against dramatically more expensive LCD reference monitors. Such audacity from a nontraditional supplier earns a Vanguard for disruptiveness, but the real winners will be folks using apps such as Apple Final Cut Pro, who will now finally benefit from Final Cut's top-notch color-correction ability. The LP2480zx includes the HP DreamColor engine software, which manages the display's color accuracy, and the DreamColor calibration kit.

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