Vanguard Awards 2007

Every year, as the days get shorter, Digital Content Producer's editors and contributors get together and compose a list of the year's most groundbreaking new products for video-production professionals. Anything released within the calendar year is fair game. Whether it's a free downloadable media player, a $399 effects plug-in, or a 4K digital-cinema camera, as long as it promises to make an editor or cinematographer more powerful or more productive, the participants will debate its merits.

Then, after exhaustive discussions and voting, the truly groundbreaking is separated from the merely new and improved, and once again, we can present the Vanguard Awards. This year, the winning products represent a particularly wide gamut. Maybe that's because the definition of what constitutes a digital content producer keeps expanding. Your father might be uploading video to YouTube and trying to maximize his compression settings, and your 14-year-old might be doing format conversion. You might be shooting high-definition video and wondering how best to protect those images as they're processed in post and deployed to the Web.

And every year on the blogs, in the magazines, and at the tradeshows, we see a parade of new gear that promises to shift our paradigms and optimize our workflows. That's mostly hype, but not completely. The end of the year is a great time to take stock: Whatever you're currently doing and however you're doing it, there's always a better way. With that in mind, here are this year's 13 Vanguard Award winners.

Panasonic's new implementation of MPEG-4/H.264/AVC for its P2 HD line, called AVC-Intra, is an intraframe-only compression scheme that promises 50-percent bit savings over previous MPEG-2 codecs. All that without long-GOP sequences. Full-resolution AVC-Intra 100 is said to approach D-5 quality at 100Mbps, which offers 10-bit precision, 4:2:2 sampling, and either 1920×1080 or 1280×720 pixel resolution. “Hard to believe coming from a little P2 card, but true,” says Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner. The budget-bit 50Mbps version, AVC-Intra 50, is well-suited for solid-state image capture, offering 10-bit precision, 4:2:0 sampling, and 1440×1080 and 960×720 frames (for 720p and 1080i video, respectively).

Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro adds standard-def component,
S-Video, and composite video connections for both NTSC and PAL to make it a more mainstream capture solution.

Last year, Blackmagic Design's Intensity card introduced HDMI-based I/O to editors' desktops, opening up some compelling options for uncompressed high-definition monitoring and capture. Now the Intensity series gets a Pro version — which adds standard-def component, S-Video, and composite video connections for both NTSC and PAL — to make it a more mainstream capture solution for your production suite. Component and HDMI video are switchable between HD and SD. All you need is $349 and an open single-lane PCI Express slot in your PC or Mac Pro. “Utterly reliable and the best bargain in town,” says Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner.

Panasonic's new implementation of MPEG-4/H.264/AVC for its P2 HD line, called AVC-Intra, is an intraframe-only compression scheme that promises 50-percent bit savings over previous MPEG-2 codecs. All that without long-GOP sequences. Full-resolution AVC-Intra 100 is said to approach D-5 quality at 100Mbps, which offers 10-bit precision, 4:2:2 sampling, and either 1920×1080 or 1280×720 pixel resolution. “Hard to believe coming from a little P2 card, but true,” says Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner. The budget-bit 50Mbps version, AVC-Intra 50, is well-suited for solid-state image capture, offering 10-bit precision, 4:2:0 sampling, and 1440×1080 and 960×720 frames (for 720p and 1080i video, respectively).

The Sony PMW-EX1 uses SxS flash-memory cards to capture full 1920x1080 video as 25Mbps and 35Mbps MPEG-2 in MP4 wrappers.

This year, Sony has entered the solid-state recording arena with a camera that records high-definition video to SxS cards, codeveloped with SanDisk, that use the familiar ExpressCard/34 standard — the slot found on new MacBook Pro and PC laptops. The small-format PMW-EX1 has three 1/2in. CMOS chips and records full 1920x1080 video as 25Mbps and 35Mbps MPEG-2 in MP4 wrappers. At 4lbs. 13oz., the EX1 packs a lot of features: a built-in 14X Fujinon zoom lens, two SxS card slots, HD-SDI outputs, and a 921,600-pixel LCD screen that does 2X magnification for true 1:1 pixel matching. “Sony has shoe-horned so much innovation into the compact PMW-EX1, it's hard to know where to start,” says Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner. (See Leitner's first look at digitalcontentproducer.com/cameras/revfeat/first_look_xdcam_ex.)

AJA Video Systems Io HD represents the only way (so far) to hardware-encode Apple''s new ProRes 422 codec, which offers 1920x1080 or 1280x720 intraframe compression.

AJA's new professional break-out box, fittingly, has a compact form and a sturdy handle — the better for on-set editing of high-def material on a MacBook Pro. The Io HD represents the only way (so far) to hardware-encode Apple's new ProRes 422 codec, which offers 1920×1080 or 1280×720 intraframe compression (DCT, 4:2:2, 10-bit, VBR, target bit rates of 145Mbps and 220Mbps). Io HD combines realtime up-/down-/crossconversion with every conceivable audio, video, and timecode I/O — including FireWire, HD-SDI, and HDMI. It brings the missing link of universal connectivity to the studio-in-a-box that is Final Cut Studio 2.

“It has become something of an occupational hazard that the viewfinders in today's low- and mid-range camcorders leave a lot to be desired,” says Vanguards judge Barry Braverman. For the increased resolution of HD video, accurate monitoring becomes that much more crucial. Panasonic listened to shooters' concerns and introduced the BT-LH80W, a 7.9in.-diagonal, widescreen 800×450-pixel on-camera monitor that's compatible with 1080/24PsF, 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i. The LH80W has an HD/SD analog component input and (optionally) an HD-SDI input. There's a built-in waveform, and Focus-in-Red and Pixel-to-Pixel Matching both assist focus.

Red Digital Cinema Red One is offered as a modular system, with PL-mount lenses, recording drives, monitors, and an accessory cage sold separately from the body.

The famous Red One digital cinema camera, star of the past two NAB shows, is finally on the market — kind of. The first 100 Red One cameras have been delivered, although “engineering delays” have limited the camera's availability on the general market. Still, filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh and Peter Jackson have already taken a crack at the open-system CMOS-based digital cameras (prototype versions, at least), proving their viability for the highest end of the market. “Quite an accomplishment for a new motion-picture camera company with an untested 4K sensor technology and workflow,” says Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner. For the rest of us, the camera body itself lists at only $18,500, but this is, of course, a modular system, with PL-mount lenses, recording drives, monitors, and an accessory cage sold à la carte.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 incorporates Color, adapted from Silicon Color FinalTouch, expanding the suite''s options for inhouse tasks.

Now that Apple has introduced a full-fledged, professional color-correction module (Color, adapted from the acquired Silicon Color FinalTouch) into its Final Cut Studio suite, almost any task can be accomplished inhouse. The question Apple users must ask themselves: How much do I want to learn? Luckily, Apple's hefty documentation is comprehensive and very clear. What's new? In Final Cut Pro 6, the open-format timeline allows you to drop assorted codecs onto the timeline and edit away without rendering. There's a new, virtually lossless codec for the NLE, called ProRes 422, and support for the FXPlug filter format. Motion 3 adds true 3D cameras, match-moving, and, borrowing some Shake capabilities, a new image stabilizer and the SmoothCam effect. Soundtrack Pro 2 has a new single-window interface designed around common audio-for-video tasks.

Microsoft Silverlight is many things, including a player, a development environment, and a platform. Assessing the technology merits of the latter two is a long-term proposition, and it will largely be irrelevant without significant market adoption. As a player, however, Silverlight offers Microsoft's most cohesive Mac/Windows/Linux strategy to date, with a low-profile download and many easily accessible and compelling player features. Silverlight supports playback of WMV, WMA, and MP3 media content across all supported browsers without requiring the Windows Media Player. It also promises to deliver smooth streams of HD via Microsoft's VC-1 codec. “For many casual Windows Media publishers, Silverlight offers an easy route to enhancing the viewer experience, and broadening the audience — with Microsoft footing the bandwidth costs via Microsoft's currently free Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live service,” says Vanguards judge Jan Ozer. “Note that someday you'll probably have to host Microsoft advertisements to use the service.” (See Franklin McMahon's review of Expression Studio, which includes a discussion of Silverlight, at digitalcontentproducer.com/videoedsys/revfeat/microsoft_expression_studio.)

Ciprico MediaVault 5100 series storage array represents the video industry''s first implementation of the direct-connect
PCIe bus architecture standard.

Ciprico has long been pushing the technology of storage designed for digital media. A new direct-connect PCIe bus architecture standard was ratified earlier this year, and Ciprico's new MediaVault 5100 series storage array represents the video industry's first implementation of that technology. “Now, instead of buying expensive Fibre Channel cards for your workstation,” says Vanguards judge Dan Ochiva, “you can easily configure a direct-attached outboard storage array that delivers over 5X the throughput of those pricey 4Gbps Fibre Channel connections.” Users can choose SAS or SATA II drives for higher performance or lower price (respectively). Although the standard arrays have either eight or 16 drives, there's support for controller-level spanning of several MV5100 series boxes to create single arrays of up 32 disk drives.

Web video is no longer a novelty, and deployment now has to work every time for every user. Flash 8 offered great video quality over low bandwidths, but it used to scare video publishers away for three reasons: the lack of a “standard” video codec, a relatively poor audio codec, and the lack of compatibility with iPods and similar devices. “By supporting the H.264 video and AAC audio codecs,” says Vanguards judge Jan Ozer, “Adobe eliminated all three objections, while throwing in graphics-card scaling to fullscreen during playback.”

Studios are understandably eager to clear out the last of their huge CRT monitors and install flatscreens, but the reference-grade units have offered significant technological advantages over LCD panels. Until now. Sony's new BVM-L230 is a 22.5in., 1920×1200, LCD reference monitor for 2K, 1080p60, and SD formats. It has an LED backlight that supports a wider color gamut and a 10-bit driver, and it incorporates Sony's new TriMaster technologies, which include a new wide-color-gamut panel, high grayscale gradation (1,024 levels), and color calibration. But how does it look? “Floor comparisons at NAB between a BVM-L230 and BVM-A series HD CRT confirmed that onscreen results were functionally equivalent,” says Vanguards judge D. W. Leitner.

It's nearly impossible to argue for an all-in-one professional media production suite more comprehensive than Adobe's new Creative Suite 3 Production Premium, comprising, as it does, the latest versions of Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects CS3 Professional, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Flash CS3 Professional, Illustrator CS3, Soundbooth CS3, and Encore CS3 (see digitalcontentproducer.com/adobe_cs3). Plus, on the Windows side, the Serious Magic acquisition has resulted in the inclusion of OnLocation CS3 (formerly DV Rack) for on-set monitoring and the chroma keying/virtual set software Ultra CS3. Some other big news for these CS3 versions: Encore now produces Flash video and Blu-ray Discs. Premiere Pro has an easy-to-use new time remapping effect. If that's not enough, Premiere Pro is once again available for Mac users.

Color correctors and many editors already have workflow for developing a scene's look on the desktop. For DPs interested in the final outcome of what they've shot, that process might seem inscrutable. That's why Red Giant Software has made its Magic Bullet Looks plug-in as user-friendly as possible, with an interface that emulates the steps of filming: light passes through a filter and a lens, exposing the film stock, which is then subjected to processing. Created by Stu Maschwitz, co-founder of The Orphanage, Looks offers 100 presets and 36 new tools, and the software is available for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro, and Avid systems. “The improved contrast and detail afforded, for example, by a polarizer or sky-control graduated filter cannot be reproduced in software emulation,” says Vanguards judge Barry Braverman. “For almost everything else, however, when it comes to achieving a specific look, Magic Bullet Looks is definitely the way to go.”

To comment on this article, email the Digital Content Producer editorial staff at feedback@digitalcontentproducer.com.