2K Cineform 444

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While Cineform’s initial products were developed for broadcast-level HD 10bit 4:2:2 YUV editing, they have added many other features to their compression format, many of which I have had the opportunity to take advantage of during my last few projects.  One of the first improvements that was made over a year ago was an increase in the maximum frame size, from 1080p to 2K.

Originally the only way to generate Cineform AVI files at this resolution was to scan film to DPXs, and then convert those image sequences, presumably in After Effects.  Interestingly, while being at 2K resolution, these files were being downsampled to YUV colorspace, which improved compression rates and performance, at the expense of the quality certain color information.  Eventually the SI-2K camera provided a second root source of Cineform2K imagery, that did not involve converting from an uncompressed source file at any point in the process.  I anticipate we will see 2K data being captured over SDI directly to Cineform files in the near future, if they are not doing so already, as both AJA and BMD have products with the required hardware capability.

The SI-2K brought with it one other new option to the format, which was an alternate pre-debayer RAW ‘colorspace’ instead of the YUV data that was normally being compressed.  CineformRAW video files had even better compression ratios, but the only way to take advantage of the benefits of pre-debayered images was by tapping directly into a single sensor imager, as the SI-2K did.  This eventually led to a third underlying option, with the development of Cineform 444.
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XDCam Format Updates

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Sony has been moving forward with a number of significant developments in their XDCam line of products.  Two of the three new variations of the XDCam line that were announced back in April at NAB2007 have begun to ship to customers.  The dual layer upgrade to XDCam-HD increases the capacity from 23GB to 50GB, effectively doubling the recording time, but is only available in the newest revision of the XDCam-HD products, with the F335 and F355 camcorder replacing the previous F330 and F350, and the F75 deck replacing the F70.  Doubling the capacity is the only major feature enhancement in these new products.

The solid state flash memory based XDCam-EX is obviously targeted to compete with Panasonic’s P2 flash based recording.   XDCam-EX is different from standard XDCam-HD in a number of ways.  Instead or relying on BluRay based optical ProDiscs discs, it records to ExpressCard34 based Flash memory cards called SxS Pro cards.  While still 35Mb/s at maximum quality, the new EX format is able to encode the full 1920 pixel width for 1080i/p frame sizes instead of downsampling to 1440×1080 like XDCam-HD and HDV.  Clips are still saved as files on the recording medium, but XDCam-EX uses the MPEG4 wrapper with the .MP4 extension instead of the previous XDCam .MXF wrappers of the Media eXchange Format.  Continue reading →

AXIO 3.1 & Sony HDV

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News has been a bit slow recently.  The new Intel processors are not shipping in volume yet, so they have had little impact on the market.  The only recent items of interest that I am aware of are that Matrox released the 3.1 version of their AXIO software, and Sony announced two new HDV camcorders, that won’t ship until next year.

 AXIO 3.1 has few major improvements.  Besides overall stability improvements and bug fixes, Canon’s 25f HDV mode is now supported for you PAL folks, and AXIO systems are now compatible with Omneon media servers.  Nothing significant that effects the workflow of the other 95% of their users.

 Sony’s new HDV Cameras have a couple of interesting features.  The HVR-S270U is shoulder mount camcorder while the HVR-Z7U has the more usual ‘Handycam’ formfactor.  Both cameras use a similar imaging solution to the HVR-V1U, with three CMOS imagers at 1920×1080.  The larger HVR-S270U supports full sized DV cassettes, for over four hours of continuous recording, and has an HD-SDI output.  The smaller HVR-Z7U has a cheaper HDMI output instead of the SDI, and is limited to standard 1-hour MiniDV size cassettes.
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4K Is Coming/Has Arrived

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Red released their image processing tools RedAlert and RedCine to the public on Wednesday.  I took note, downloaded the required files, and added it to my to-do list.  I was not ready to experiment with all of that just yet.  Then today, Cineform released a beta of Neo4K.  That got me ready in a hurry.  I immediately downloaded the new Cineform build, and installed Neo4K and RedCine on my workstation to start testing.

The current Neo4K workflow is to use RedCine to export Cineform4K MOV files from the RedOne camera’s native R3D files.  These compressed files can be played in realtime, usually at 2K display resolution, in Premiere, AfterEffects, and a variety of other programs.  Filmout is the primary application for 4K finishing, and most filmout facilities are still going to require DPX files as the final step, but Cineform can be used for all of the steps prior to that point.  If they optimize their downsampled playback correctly, realtime CCR in Speedgrade should be possible in the near future, with 2K live playback and 4K renders.  Iridas needs to get Speedgrade working correctly in HD and 2K first though, before we get too far ahead of ourselves.

I Updated/Rewrote the following section Saturday morning after further testing and research:
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2K Monitoring

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There are much fewer monitoring options if your workflow requires full 2K resolution monitoring.  The primary reason for this is that most consumer gear and broadcast equipment all top out at 1920×1080.  The HD-SDI and HDMI interfaces are both limited to 1080p in most cases as well.  HSDL (High Speed Data Link) is an older standard, developed specifically for transmiting 2K image data over regular BNC cables at HS-SDI frequencies.  AJA’s Xena2Ke and Kona3 cards support HSDL, but HSDL usually runs at 15fps, and is therefore not realtime, and not a useful option for monitoring.  Dual link HD-SDI as well as the new 3Gb/s SDI are both capable of 2K, in various forms.  Certain products use 3Gb to carry full 1556 line 2K images, but most 2K hardware only supports 2048×1080 resolution over SDI varients.  The other two primary connection options are VGA and Dual Link DVI.  VGA has a maximum standard resoultion of 2048×1536, although a fairly rare 2304×1440 is also an option (Sony 24″ CRT).  Although perfectly 4×3 (1.33 aspect ratio), 1536 lines of vertical resolution is a little short of the 1556 lines of a standard 4perf full aperture 35mm film scan.  For 1.76 and 1.85 aspect ratios (1152 and 1080 vertical), VGA provides full resolution support.  Dual-Link DVI supports 2560×1600 when connected to a 30″ LCD, which is more than enough for every variation of 2K.  So that leaves us with four ways of driving our display: Dual-Link HD-SDI, 3Gb SDI, VGA, and DL-DVI.  Other proprietary methods exist, but will be difficult to incorporate into an Adobe based PC workflow.
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New Intel Xeon CPUs

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Intel has released a major update to their Xeon family of CPUs and Chipsets.  At the peak of the performance spectrum, the 5400 Harpertown series of Quad-Core Xeons will replace the previous 5300 Clovertown series released last November.  In the middle level, 5200 Wolfdale series of Dual-Core Xeons will replace the 5100 Woodcrest line of Dual-Core Xeons that were released back in June of 2006.  To accompany these new CPUs, Intel has also announced a new series of chipsets.  The 5400 Stoakley chipset will power the highest end systems, with the 5100 CranberryLake chipset being a more economical option.  A single socket CPU for ultra high end consumer systems was also released, the QX9650 Core2 Extreme.

The biggest change in the new generation, is that these chips are based on Intel’s new 45nm process.  This will allow them to run much more efficiently, requiring less power, and generating less heat.  There are also some marginal increases in maximum clock speed, but it is rumored that the new process has much more headroom for future speed increases.  The primary reason I can imagine why Intel might be waiting to push the speeds higher, is that the competition from AMD doesn’t require them to increase speeds to stay ahead, and they are holding that capability in reserve, in the event that AMD does release something powerful, so that they can respond quickly with a faster product.  Regardless of how far Intel is currently pushing the envelope, they currently provide the most powerful processors for most applications and uses.  The new release bumps the top models from the X5365’s 3.0Ghz to the new X5482’s 3.2Ghz (or 3.4Ghz for a Dual Core X5272).  The highest end chips also have a FSB increase from 1333Mhz to 1600Mhz (333Mhz to 400Mhz if you don’t count Intel’s Quad Buffering marketing terms).

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HD Monitoring

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There are not too many basic options when it comes to choosing an HD monitoring solution.  There are the old heavy CRTs that many people swear by, newer flat panel LCDs, and projectors of a few varieties.  Prices for all options vary from under $1000 to over $100,000 depending on what level of accuracy and features you need.

The cheapest full resolution solution for viewing HD footage is definitely to use computer LCD monitors, usually 23 or 24 inch models, that have a native resolution of 1920×1200.  This allows 1080p content to be viewed pixel for pixel, but LCDs are inherently progressive, so issues based on interlacing will not always be visible on them.  Consumer LCD displays can be connected via DVI or HDMI, either directly to a computer graphics card, or through a hardware video I/O card, like DVI on an RT.X2 or HDMI on a BMD Intensity card.  DVI signal can also be generated quite efficiently from professional HD-SDI signals, so through the use of an SDI-to-DVI convertor, LCD screens can monitor HD video content without a computer involved.  There are also professional level LCD video monitors that accept SDI signals directly.  Some of the more expensive options can use this to display the full dynamic range available with 10bits per color channel, that would be reduced if converted to an 8bit DVI connection.  The new Sony BVM-L monitor is also supposed to correctly compensate for the display of interlaced content.  Cine-tal, eCinema, Panasonic, and JVC all have professional LCD monitoring solutions that are more affordable than Sony’s new top of the line LCD monitor.
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Blackmagic for CS3 on OSX

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I have a strong personal preference towards using Windows PCs over Macs running OSX.  That said, Adobe’s release of an OSX of their CS3 suite of video products has recently brought me into more frequent contact with Apple’s products.  I currently have a MacPro tower in my office, primarily for testing purposes.  Until last week, the Mac version of Premiere Pro had no hardware I/O support, limiting its usefulness in professional environments.

Blackmagic has become the first company to support the Mac version of CS3 with their line of hardware products, with the version 6.6 release of their drivers on Oct 26.  I was aware of this at the time, but didn’t report it here until I had a chance to experiment with them myself.  I have installed a Multibridge Extreme in my MacPro and done some quick tests.  Everything seems to be in order, and most of the issues I encountered can be attributed with my lack of familiarity with the Apple way of doing things.
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Graphics Cards-NVidia vs ATI

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I have had an NVidia vs ATI article in mind for a while now, but two recent announcements have brought that topic to the top of the list.  Both NVidia and ATI released information on new products this week.  NVidia added a new mid-level option to its GeForce8 line in the 8800GT, and ATI published details of its upcoming HD 3800 generation of DirectX10.1 cards. The ATI announcement is of little consequence, since there are few applications for DirectX10.1 in the post-production workflow, and ATI is rarely the solution of choice in this field.  The GeForce 8800GT on the other hand, has a few unique feature that might be of benefit in the post-production world.  The first is support for PCIe 2.0 which simply put, doubles the available bandwidth to and from the card from the motherboard.  The increasing the bandwidth FROM the card is of little use to the card’s target audience, gamers,  since all almost output from games is sent to the monitor, BUT applications that depend on the GPU to process video before saving it back to disk could see more significant benefits from this.  With performance almost equal to the 8800GTX, the new card will take up one less slot, and if initial reviews are accurate, it will generate less heat and noise, and draw less power than any similar product.  This is especially important in the post-production environment, since the average high-end workstation is stuffed full of drives and I/O cards, and excessive noise is detrimental to certain creative processes.

As newer post-production software is developed to squeeze every last bit of available performance out of available hardware, the GPU is becoming a more important factor in building a high performance workstation.  A few pieces of software that I use that depend on the GPU are: Matrox’s AXIO-LE, Red Giant’s Magic Bullet (especially Colorista), and Iridas’ SpeedGradeHD.  Each has a list of supported cards, and hopefully there will be some intersection in those subsets, or these software applications will be incompatible with each other.  For any given product, there are usually a variety of options, sometime ranging in price from $50-$2500.  Determining which of these options best suits your needs is an important decision, and sometimes the best choice is not immediately apparent.
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Portability-HD Acquisition

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While it is clearly possible to achieve high levels of processing performance in a portable laptop solution, the major limitation will be professional level I/O.  There are few simple solutions, but a fair number of possible work-arounds.

The simplest solution that provides HD-SDI input to a laptop is the Motu V3HD.  Connected via Firewire, it allows capture of digital and analog High-Definition video signals at DVCPro-HD quality.  Limited to 1280 pixels in width, and 100Mb/s, this is a lower end HD solution, but bears mention none the less.  I have not personally used one, but it is supposed to be compatible with Premiere Pro CS3, as well as Final Cut Pro.  The data rate and processing requirements allow this format to be used on most high end consumer laptops, but those looking for full resolution 1920×1080 solutions must look farther.

The next solution is currently only available to Mac users in Final Cut Pro, but is a significant  technological development.  AJA’s “I/O HD” is a Firewire800 based solution that can capture and playback full resolution material, with 10bit color, in Apple’s new ProRES codec.  Although not a PC based solution, it does enable mobile users to capture high quality, full resolution footage.
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