Production and Post at NAB 2008
Red Digital Cinema 5K Epic
Photo: D. W. Leitner
Cameras
By D. W. Leitner
At this, the final NAB Show of the analog era (the NTSC shut-off is Feb. 17, 2009), issues surrounding “the fourth screen” took on new urgency, as a simultaneous Feb. 17 roll-out of mobile ATSC became an odds-on probability. (The fourth screen comprises mobile handheld devices including cell phones. The first three screens are cinema, TV, and Internet.) Fortunately for high-end production, anything that looks terrific on a 20ft. screen looks equally so on a credit-card-sized screen — just ask owners of certain recent Apple products.
Predictions at the show of $2 billion in new ad revenues by 2012 from free, over-the-air mobile TV should come as welcome news to the entire production and post community, talent included. (See more on mobile TV at NAB 2008)
At the same time, commercial digital cinema has finally sunk roots in the United States, due largely to industry-wide embrace of Hollywood's Digital Cinema Initiative standards for digital projection. According to NAB's weekend Digital Cinema Summit, 4,600 commercial digital screens have been built in the United States since the 2005 DCI roll-out, compared to 851 in all of Europe. Digital projection and HD camera advances have breathed new life into stereoscopic 3D as well: 18 3D features are set to hit theaters in the coming year. Large, packed rooms took in summit panels and demos on stereoscopic editing, production planning, post effects, and dimensionalization of 2D to 3D.
High-end cameras continued to set the pace of digital cinematography at NAB, with two accelerating trends: smaller/lighter — which plays directly into the hands of 3D production — and acceptance of lossless compression.
Aggressive newcomer Red Digital Cinema embodies both trends. Its groundbreaking 4K Red One has emerged from birth pangs to roil the waters of competitors both on price point (still $17,500) and CMOS sensor capabilities. (Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara duology, The Argentine and Guerilla, which premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival, were shot with Red One — the first filmed in 2K with anamorphic lenses, the second flat in 4K.)
At NAB, Red unveiled its next masterstrokes: prototypes of a 2/3in. single-CMOS 3K Scarlet (3K for $3K) and a 5K Epic, half the size of the flagship 4K Red One. In a break with PL-mount lenses, the pistol-grip 3K Scarlet will feature a built-in zoom. It will record up to 100Mbps of RAW or RGB to dual CompactFlash cards using Redcode wavelet compression at frame rates up to 120fps. (Red One records at 36Mbps.) The 5K Epic, which retains the PL mount, will likewise generate 100Mbps of RAW or RGB. Both will be available by next NAB, per Red.
Vision Research and development partner Abel Cine Tech showed impressive progress in their 4K single-CMOS camera. The compact Phantom 65 (massive CMOS the size of a frame of 65mm negative) was shown with a wooden Aaton handgrip, Sony color HD viewfinder, Hasselblad lens mount, and a new Flash-memory 512GB Phantom CineMag that extends the Phantom 65's 4K recording capacity to 32 minutes of uncompressed RAW at 24fps (the camera is capable of 125fps at 4K).
Lying flat like a paperback novel, CineMag docks atop both the Phantom 65 and sibling Phantom HD (2K or 1920×1080), or, for downloading to hard disk, snaps into the new portable Vision CineStation, only slightly larger. CineStation is not a storage device per se, but rather connects to a laptop using Gigabit Ethernet to save CineMag's contents to disk, or to play back CineMag clips on a laptop screen, over dual HD-SDI ports, or as component video.
Vision also introduced a head-turner: Its new, 3.5lb. Miro camera could pass as a digital SLR. Nevertheless, it's a high-speed digital cinema camera with a larger-than-2/3in. CMOS sensor that captures uncompressed 800×600 RAW images to CompactFlash at up to 1265fps with 500 ASA-equivalent speed.
Miro uses C-mount lenses, which will open many doors to industrial and scientific imaging. But C-mount lenses have not kept up with the requirements of HD imaging. This has also proven to be a thorn in the side of Iconix, whose superb golf-ball-sized, progressive 1/3in. 3CCD C-mount cameras have attracted considerable interest over the past several NABs. So it came as significant news at NAB that Band Pro, the outfit that spurred Zeiss to create the DigiPrime series, has convinced Schneider to create a new series of HD-caliber C-mount lenses for Iconix. Rumor has it that Fujinon will also produce new HD C-mount lenses.
Iconix, for its part, demonstrated a new Studio2K version (2048×1080 pixels) of its HD-RH1 camera, along with a new HD-RH1F Digital I/O CCU with dual link for 4:4:4 RGB.
Aaton Penelope
Photo: D. W. Leitner
Dalsa, which started the whole 4K ball rolling at NAB 2003, finally downsized, introducing the long-anticipated production version of its streamlined Evolution 4K camera (svelte alongside the behemoth Origin 4K) with a new onboard Flash-memory Flashmag system for recording 20 minutes of uncompressed or 40 minutes of losslessly compressed 4K RAW (similar to Vision Research's CineMag).
Also introduced were Dalsa's new line of 4K anamorphic lenses, brainchild of Dalsa President Rob Hummel. They include 10 fast primes (many of them T 1.4) from 18mm to 180mm, two T 2.8 zooms (35mm-80mm and 70mm-210mm), and three lightweight T 2.0 zooms. Notably, their anamorphic squeeze is only a mild 1.2X instead of the conventional 2X squeeze, due to the fact that Dalsa's unique frame-transfer CCD possesses a 2:1 aspect ratio to begin with.
Arri upgraded its Arriflex D-20 to a new D-21 model, adding 2K RAW output and talking up the ease of use of conventional anamorphic lenses with the D-21. (Arri's 35mm-sized CMOS sensor possesses a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio.)
Sony finally tossed its hat into the PL-mount, single-sensor ring (unless you already count Panavision's Genesis, which contains a Sony CCD and signal processing). December's rumors of a single-sensor version of last year's F23 materialized at Band Pro's booth, where the impressive new F35 sat perched on a dolly.
With a newly developed CCD the size of Super 35mm and a commensurate $250,000 price tag (lens not included), the F35 sets several new highwater marks in 4:4:4 RGB cameras. Sony says it achieves better dynamic range and signal-to-noise than the F23 (itself no piker), plus 1fps-50fps variable speed in 4:4:4 (compared to F23's 1-30fps). You get every pixel you pay for: This is full-on 1920×1080 RGB — no Bayer-interpolated missing R and B pixels in this baby.
High end leaked into the low end at NAB this year too. How else to explain the introduction of Sony's PMW-EX3 mere months after the arrival of the PMW-EX1? Like the EX1, the EX3 is a 1/2in. 3CMOS that both captures true progressive 1920×1080 and records it (35Mbps MPEG-2 to SxS cards). Novel to the EX3 are interchangeable lenses (a maverick new lens mount, wide as a PL), a weird oversized viewfinder based on the EX1's LCD, a slightly longer body to permit bracing against the shoulder, a multipin connector for remote CCU control, and a clever dial on the operator's side to adjust frame rates from 1fps-60fps in 720p or 1fps-30fps in 1080p.
Also new was Sony's PDW-700, its first 2/3in. 3CCD XDCAM HD optical disc camcorder for 1080i/p and 720p at both 60/50 rates. 4:2:2 color subsampling, high-quality 50Mbps MPEG-2, dual-layer 50GB discs — but no 24p, which hobbles this otherwise exciting newcomer.
Panasonic launched its first solid-state P2 Varicams, the AJ-HPX3700 and AJ-HPX2700. With new 2.2-megapixel 2/3in. CCDs, the 3700 elevates Varicam to full 1920×1080 HD acquisition and provides both uncompressed 4:4:4 RGB dual-link output and full-HD recording of 4:2:2 1920×1080 in Panasonic's AVC-Intra 100Mbps lossless compression. (No more tape-based DVCPRO HD subsampled to 1280×1080.) The 3700 also records to AVC-Intra 50 (1440×1080, 4:2:0) and DVCPRO HD (1280×1080, 4:2:2). The 2700, with three 1-megapixel 2/3in. CCDs (like the original Varicam), records to the same three compression formats.
Of course, film remains a moving target too. Although Kodak was absent this year, film still sets the bar for digital cinema cameras. If Kodak had attended, surely the company would have touted its new Vision3 500T 5219 35mm negative, which has met with wide acclaim for its two additional stops of visible detail in highlights and grain so tight you can pull clean detail out of muddy shadows. In other words, perfect for Super 16 and 2-perf 35mm.
So perhaps it was providential that the long-awaited 2-perf/3-perf 35mm Aaton Penelope debuted at this NAB. Penelope is an instant-magazine, sync-sound camera (23dB) that, at 24fps/2-perf, offers 9 minutes of continuous operation from a 400ft. roll. Not only does operating in 2-perf cut film costs in half, but it enables finishing in full 2.40 widescreen in DI without the costs and sacrifices of anamorphic lenses.
Penelope has other tricks up its slender sleeves. In a break with the past, the super-bright viewfinder is made by Munich's P+S Technik. A USB flash drive alongside the twin batteries captures not only mag number, frame rate, timecode start-stop, and JPEG stills, but organizes the results into PDF “image reports” for later printout. The gate is attached by magnets, incredibly easy to lift out and clean.
Come to think of it, what isn't a moving target at NAB?
(For further detailed coverage of NAB, see my NAB blogs at blog.digitalcontentproducer.com/nab and my wrap-up article in Digital Content Producer at digitalcontentproducer.com/cameras/revfeat/nab_wrapup.)
Cine-tal Cinemage
Color and Post- production
By Dan Ochiva
What to do with color?
Capable digital technology is now in use throughout productions, and manufacturers are addressing one of the most difficult issues: controlling color throughout the production process.
Of course, color management is critical for the final look of a project, so manufacturers have tackled the issue on many fronts over the years. Back in 2006, for example, Thomson announced that its Bones open postproduction software framework complied with the American Society of Cinematographers Color Decision List (ASC CDL) standard that had been recently ratified. ASC CDL was intended to create a standard method of describing colors.
Calibration, it turns out, is key to pulling this off.
HP attempted a big splash at NAB 2008 with its announcement of DreamColor Technologies, a joint venture with DreamWorks to develop displays with 30-bit color and a “simple color-management process.” These displays feature a LED-backlit LCD screen that, HP claims, will match the quality of studio-level LCD displays at a fraction of the cost.
Over satellite, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg waxed enthusiastically about the technology at the show. “Prove to me it will be useful first,” was the wary reaction of a couple of DPs that I spoke with. The underlying HP/DreamWorks technology wasn't entirely a debut — it was rolled out last year, aimed at users of HP printers (i.e., mainly graphic artists and professional photographers). The color-management process does not use an open standard, which is potentially problematic to the high-end production market — although with the DreamWorks imprinteur, there may be surprises to come.
Cine-tal Systems continues to make a claim for leadership in comprehensive color management. At the show it announced an agreement with Rising Sun Research (RSR) to acquire that company's cineSpace color-management technology and product line. CineSpace will continue to be marketed as a standalone solution for color management for effects and DI post.
At NAB, Cine-tal and RSR demonstrated cineSpace with Cine-tal's existing product lines. CineSpace was shown supporting display profiling and matching LUT generation using Cine-tal's eL 1000 (a display processor and calibration-control unit) and Cinemage (an LCD reference monitor). In the future, Cine-tal will work to integrate cineSpace software with its own display-management software that has been in development for several years. The idea is to ensure constant quality as both captured images and digital effects move through the stages of on-set production, DI, and finishing. Otherwise, different image display systems that reside in different production and post facilities can radically affect the final image.
UK-based FilmLight, which has been developing tools for color calibration in post, unveiled a new focus on production with the debut of Truelight On-Set at the show. It's an increasingly competitive space: Arri, Da Vinci Systems, and LaserPacific are among the other companies working on products and proposed solutions.
FilmLight claims that On-Set enables the director and DP to set, during the shoot, a look that will serve as the foundation for color correction in post. The software integrates profiles of calibrated cameras and displays with color correction, all keeping to the ASC CDL format, of course. This means that any color decisions made on-set can be transferred to other ASC CDL-compliant devices used in postproduction. On-set corrections are applied in realtime to a 4:4:4 HD-SDI or DVI signal.
FilmLight makes a point of describing Truelight On-Set as “very user-friendly.” Most directors and cinematographers are tech-savvy, but the company believes they don't want to go through any technical training or complexities when they're working on a production. FilmLight also announced Truelight Unlimited, for exporting 3D LUTs to the rest of post (say to Autodesk Lustre or Flame).
FilmLight has also developed a high-end scanner to challenge the Thomson Grass Valley Spirit. While the two companies compete in that area, they're collaborating to enable FilmLight's Baselight color-grading system to control a Spirit. Turns out the well-thought-out control interface panel of the Baselight unit is a hit. High-end colorists around the world have converted to using Baselight color grading, but many of them want to use it to control the Spirit. Now they can.
Da Vinci Systems Resolve R300
I also saw a demo of Bones Dailies, part of Thomson's DI toolset. Bones speeds workflow by making it easier to automate the production of daily review copies of a previous day's shoot. Expect the company to push the new CDL metadata standard as the basis for everything from Bones dailies through to final finish.
Colorists got a lot of attention at NAB — Quantel had a parallel announcement of an innovation in control surfaces. Colorists will enjoy sitting in front of the Neo color-correction control panel for the Pablo color corrector. It's a clean, simple panel. The colors and the feel of the buttons and knobs, for example, seem pleasant and carefully chosen to soothe eyes and fingers over long days. Ergonomics and interactivity seem well-matched here. Neo features dedicated one-touch controls for all major functions, an integrated keyboard, and glide pads for maximum comfort during long grading sessions. For those who hate going through levels of drop-down menus, Neo gives one-button access to all menus, e.g., HSL, RGB high/low, DVE, and shapes.
By allowing database sharing between two separate post islands, Da Vinci expects to break down barriers that have slowed workflow. The database sharing goes on between the company's Revival image restoration system and the Resolve digital mastering suite. Here's a scenario for which Da Vinci proposes its new solution: Currently, during restoration, when colorists encounter specks or other damages within frames, they make a handwritten list noting the location of each. They then pass that list to another operator, who searches for the exact frames to repair. It's clearly an unwieldy and time-wasting process that is prone to error.
Now, by integrating Revival and Resolve, the frames marked for repair are saved to the shared database, from which they are retrieved and then fixed by the Revival technician. Automatic updating of the database gives the colorist instant access to the fixed image so he or she can keep working.
Da Vinci also announced technology that harnesses Nvidia's Cuda development language. (Nvidia software gives a programmer direct access to the graphic card's powerful GPUs for more general-purpose use.)
Da Vinci's CORE (Cuda Optimized Resolve Engine) is central to the speedy re-engineered 4K Resolve. The company claims that the Resolve R200 — with a single CORE card — works faster than any system Da Vinci has ever delivered, while the Resolve R300 — with two CORE cards — is twice as fast as the R200. The system closely integrates a storage system from Bright Systems, which is gaining a rep for delivering storage that has specific enhancements for media playback. By working with Bright's APIs, Da Vinci was able to optimize how data is recorded to the drives, allowing for faster reads and writes.
Keeping everything file-based to improve high-end workflow was also the theme at MTI Film's booth. Working with Arri and Pandora International, the company created a 2K dailies workflow. It starts with an Arriscan Film Scanner, which captures 35mm film to 2K DPX files and records them to a SAN. YoYo, Pandora's nonlinear data management technology, took each camera roll's data as it was scanned, generating a realtime HD 4:4:4 stream for color correction via a Pandora Revolution color corrector. Finally, MTI Film's Control Dailies captured the color-corrected HD 4:4:4 media, as well as essential metadata, including an ASC CDL. How do you view it? Control Dailies also generates SD proxies from the HD 4:4:4 media.
Assimilate Scratch CONstruct
MTI also announced the availability of Convey for Control Dailies. The idea here is to automate the creation of file-based deliverables such as DVDs. Convey does all encoding for all of the deliverable formats, and it gains power because it shares Control Dailies' project management, database, and scan-list parameters. That means you don't have to spend time with an assistant explaining who gets what and how to do it. All templates and configurations can be saved and recalled later, eliminating redundant input and setup.
Improvements in computer technology have also allowed Iridas to introduce SpeedGrade XR, designed to handle a flood of RAW data poured out by high-end digital cameras. The Munich-based company, which demonstrated live de-Bayering from a camera, claims to be the only company to do this for all available RAW formats, sans Red. (De-Bayering decodes an image from the CCDs' Bayer matrix to a full-color picture.)
Jim Hays, digital workflow supervisor at Paradise FX, was in the booth to discuss using SpeedGrade XR. He's supervising post on Dark Country, a new stereoscopic feature film shot with Silicon Imaging's 2K camera. The Iridas software is being used for dailies and pregrading.
With partners at hand (in this case, Silicon Imaging, CineForm, and Wafian), Iridas also promoted end-to-end digital workflow. A Silicon Imaging SI-2K digital cinema camera captured to the CineForm RAW format, using the SpeedGrade OnSet software, which is actually built into the SI system. Wafian was in the booth to present its family of recorders — including the new HR-2-DS Direct-to-Disk HD Video Recorder, which can record and play back a single 4:4:4 stream or stereoscopic 4:2:2 streams as CineForm format clips for grading in SpeedGrade DI.
Assimilate brought out Scratch Cine, a virtual telecine for projects shot on Red Digital Cinema cameras. The idea is to emulate operations that used to be handled in telecine suites, such as dailies, one-light color grading, and color and shot management. This virtual telecine is specifically designed to work with the native Red .r3d file format. Offhollywood Pictures is currently using it to post the Red-shot film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead, an “indie vampire comedy.”
Once the Redcode RAW .r3d files are loaded into Scratch, users can review, assemble, conform, play back in realtime, color-correct, and finish. Output is available to any format at any resolution, up to and including full 4K.
Swedish company Digital Vision presented the latest version 4.0 of Film Master, its color grading and finishing system. Now capable of handling 4K in realtime via a grid-computing network and open SAN storage, the setup allows facilities to begin editing, conforming, grading, and finishing 4K material without any ingest delays. The company claims you'll save time and storage costs and simplify data management. Release is set for Q4 2008.
Digital Vision also presented newly reconfigured Digital Vision Optics (DVO) tools. The software now includes more than 20 tools for sharpening images, removing dust and dropouts, changing and controlling grain, and converting formats. It works with the company's finishing systems: Film Master and Nucoda SD and HD. Four new restoration tools were introduced at the show; they eliminate film weave, automatically align RGB separation prints, remove vertical scratches typically missed by dust/dirt removers, and more.
In preview was Turbine, a new high-performance render accelerator for all Digital Vision software. The scalable system is based on the latest Dell computing blades; it allows facilities to assign as many CPUs as are necessary to a project. DV claims it delivers 8X more processing power than any other high-end finishing system available — in half of the rack space and requiring less power.
3D on Parade
By Dan Ochiva
With all the talk of a new age of stereoscopic 3D on its way, it's no surprise that technology addressing 3D in post popped up on the showfloor. (Check BlogLive@NAB at blog.digitalcontentproducer.com/nab for more day-by-day 3D coverage, including at the Digital Cinema Summit.)
But much of the 3D product news seemed to come from camera systems, presentation, and even broadcast (3ality's cool demo). Sensing a new market opportunity, the 3D@Home Consortium debuted at the show, with some 22 international firms hoping to "speed the adoption of 3D entertainment in the home." There are some big names involved: Disney, Philips, Samsung, and Thomson, along with IMAX, 3ality, DDD, Fraunhofer Institute, and Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The nonprofit alliance plans to develop industry standards as well as educate the public. (More info at www.3dathome.org.)
Companies involved in post, however, seemed to take a more modest, incremental approach.
For example Cine-tal Systems, working with Dolby Laboratories, announced a product that plays back 3D movies during production when a team is working with the Dolby 3D Digital Cinema process. Cine-tal Color Processor for Dolby 3D helps anyone that fits this description perform post operations such as color grading and screenings. The setup employs Dolby''s color processing for playback of any 3D source material that has not yet been packaged into a Digital Cinema Package.
Assimilate Scratch offers a stereoscopic 3D workflow that includes data management, conform, color grading, preview, dailies, realtime playback, rough cuts, and finishing. 3ality used a system to post the U2 3D feature. Scratch ran on a Boxx workstation and handled the two necessary hi-res streams via dual-DVI outputs from an Nvidia Quadro FX card.
Quantel had launched 3D chops for Pablo at IBC last year, and claims that 17 new Pablo workstations (or the stereoscopic 3D upgrades for Pablo) have been purchased in the past few months by post and DI houses working on 3D. New V4 software allows Pablo users to record left-eye/right-eye stereo signals at the same time in realtime. With the software, company claims to address colorimetry, sync, editorial, and imaging errors, stating they can all be fixed in context. Other special 3D features include a comparison mode (50/50 mix, left/right eye, difference map) and the ability to see when left/right eye link is broken.
All new Pablo 4K, iQ4, and Max 4K systems can optionally add on the new Stereo 3D toolset. (Current Pablo 4K or iQ systems can also be upgraded to stereoscopic 3D.) The Quantel Stereoscopic 3D Option for Pablo iQ and Max enables playout and manipulation of two simultaneous streams of HD or 2K in sync and without rendering.
Autodesk Pricing
By Dan Ochiva
Considering its many complex products and systems, just acknowledging everything Autodesk is up to can take a lot of bandwidth. While each of the major products announced have plenty of notable and usable improvements, I''ll vote for lower price points and the ability to work with compressed media as two of the company's more significant moves that herald future trends. Smoke 2009''s $64,000 tab for a turnkey hardware/software finishing machine—storage included—is a great breakthrough. For the first time, (fiscal) hope is offered to those many mid-level shops that blanch when faced with six-figure offerings. (At the show, this was described as an introductory price available through July 21, 2008.)
Acknowledging broadcast production by allowing the import of Panasonic P2 MXF files shows that Autodesk doesn''t want to turn its back on this quickly growing market. Likewise, the ability to integrate with third-party software and gear that employ common pro QuickTime codecs keeps Inferno 2009, Flame 2009, Flint 2009, and Smoke 2009 relevant to a new generation that widely deploys Mac-based products.
For pure creative fun, I enjoyed hanging out at the Autodesk booth and watching the Smoke demo. The Smoke artist showed how intuitive and powerful Batch FX—the app''s new tree-based compositing workflow in 2K—could be as she worked on an ESPN demo. Tying together Smoke''s editorial timeline with a 3D compositing interface makes a lot of sense. The straight-ahead speed and linearity of Smoke''s timeline somehow tames the excess that a pure 3D environment can engender. With a timeline, you know there''s a goal you have to reach, so adding and creating 3D elements to integrate with that goal delivers the richness of the added dimension without the pitfall of losing yourself in complex 3D space.
Part of the fun also came from the sheer interactivity that's delivered by the latest Nvidia card in that demo workstation. At the show, Autodesk announced it would be offering Nvidia''s Quadro FX 5600 SDI graphics in all of its new effects and finishing products, as well as in Autodesk Backdraft Conform 2009.
Meanwhile, Smoke's Extension 1 also gains Pixel Expression Language (PXL). The script tool is claimed to make it easier for compositors to create customized new effects (warps, blurs, transitions) without getting into C++ coding or building a plug-in from the ground up.
OpenEXR workflow was announced. It enables artists to perform composites using high dynamic range (HDR) files from apps such as Autodesk Maya 3D and Toxik software. Improved blur and glow tools look useful, while enhancements to the 3D tracking toolset enable faster match moving, and as well as auto-stabilization. WiretapCentral, finally, allows users to browse the Autodesk systems' clip libraries and encode media using a network-connected web browser.
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