NZVN September 2012

SEPTEMBER 2012

Easy Streaming We’ve had a number of stories recently about streaming and web things in general – some for the serious and some for the mildly interested. Here’s one for novices wanting to get into it with a “painting by numbers” simplicity. To tell us what they had on offer, I met up with Alex Liu and Frances Chang from AVerMedia at Imaging Technology in Auckland.

Ed: Alex, your company in Taiwan has many products and in the streaming area in particular, you’re making big advances?

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Frances: We have two models, one called the AVerCaster Combo, the other one called AVerCaster HD Duet. Both of them stream and are suitable for portable usage at less than 1kg each.

Ed:

But they don’t have batteries?

Frances: No, you need a power adapter. How they differ is that the AVerCaster Combo supports live DVB-T streaming and has one AV input for streaming live video.

The AVerCaster HD Duet is our secret weapon because it

Alex: We have put a lot of our resources into streaming technology for more than five years. Our engineers spent a long time studying this technology and then, about two years ago, we introduced our first generation product to the retail market and we’ve won a lot of positive feedback from our customers.

Ed: So you must have seen a market that television companies were looking at other ways of improving their revenue, other than broadcasting, and you produced products to suit that. And I guess also you’ve seen smaller operators who understand that they can narrow-cast.

Your streaming products would be useful for educational facilities?

Alex, Chon (holding the DarkCrystal HD Duo) and Frances.

Alex: Yes, of course, broadcasters are one of our target users but, just like you mentioned, recently we have found there is a big demand from education. They want local network streaming so we have refined our hardware and software to develop a total solution for the education market.

Ed: Now Frances, in your product line you’ve got some nice little black boxes here, a medium silver box and a large black box? Let’s start with the little black boxes – what do these ones do?

comes with two HDMI and a component inputs. It allows for two live HD video contents streaming simultaneously.

The best thing is that it comes with two Ethernet ports.

One is for Internet so you can do the remote control and the other one is for local network streaming.

Ed: And that’s all you need – basically your camera on a tripod, HDMI feed into this little box, a power supply for the box and an Internet connection and you’re away?

Frances: Yes, as Alex mentioned, it’s designed for school announcements, corporate announcements and especially for live event broadcasting. It’s also good for

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P21 It’s time we shared more.

P22 Ross– more than a good mixer.

P30 Choosing the Right Camera.

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component video and audio I see. So much more friendly for camera operation than for the situation where you have an already broadcast signal that you want to stream internally.

Frances: Correct.

Ed: Now, in the mid size, the AVerCaster Pro RS7100 series, in the silver box, has three variants. These go one step further ( and we’ll go back to Alex for this one ) because these do similar jobs to the smaller ones, except you’ve got a much better choice of codecs, is that right?

Alex: Yes, that’s correct and also you can define the data rate. For example, if you want to stream at 300K or 200K, you can define the data rate accordingly, because sometimes your bandwidth may not be enough to transmit like a 2 megabit stream.

Ed: And you don’t do that directly with switches on this box, it’s all controlled from your PC? Alex: Yes, we provide a very user-friendly UI and you just need to open your browser and then you can do all the management.

Ed: So the Pro RS7100 series do two streams while this very large box here, which looks like a mainframe computer of old, actually does 16 I believe?

Alex: Yes, the AVerCaster Pro RS3400 supports 16 streams – the DVB-T, known as Freeview – can handle up to 16 streams from different TV channels at one time. So that’s why you have the bigger box and multiple TV tuners embedded.

Ed: So this would be useful for a very large facility … a broadcast facility or a very large institution?

Alex: Yes, that’s correct – our Pro RS3400 can help someone, like a university, to provide all the Freeview channels and also the TV channels to the internal network.

Frances with a couple of little streamers.

the cameramen because they are very compact and light to carry around.

Ed: And it’s about the size of a 500 gram box of chocolates?

Frances: Yes, that’s good – perhaps we should paint it a chocolate colour next time.

Ed: Just so that I’m clear on the difference between the two boxes, your AVerCaster Combo is the baby of the units. It’s more for analogue camera in, or taking a digital TV feed in or analogue TV feed in through an RF connector, but the HD Duet has two HDMI ins as well as

Ed: So they can take in outside broadcasts, but I guess, they can also take their own material, and when you connect this up to a server, you’ve got a searchable library, not only of stuff that’s come off TV, but also of stuff you’ve produced yourself?

Alex: Yes, of course. The AVerCaster distributes video according to standard streaming protocols. That means you can use a VLC player, a free media player that supports various streaming protocols, to get the live TV broadcasts over a network.

Ed: OK, so that’s streaming … but not quite. You’ve come up with one little gadget here today that is brand new. I haven’t seen this before and Frances, tell us a little bit about this? This is a card that obviously plugs into a PC? more on page 6

Page 2

Frances: Yes, it’s especially designed for high-def capturing. It supports up to 1080p with 60 frames per second, and the best thing is that it supports up to two HDMI, DVI or Component connections, and also two SVideo or Composite connections simultaneously. So, in short, it can support up to four streams, two from HD sources and two from SD ones.

Ed: So this is the DarkCrystal HD Capture SDK Duo … and Chon, two channels in, now who is going to use that? Is it something where somebody would have two cameras and feed this into the one computer?

Chon: Yes, this is for where you have an event with multi cameras and you need to capture two video pictures at the same time.

Ed: So you don’t need your on-board recording, you can do this straight into a computer?

Chon: Yes, you are right, two channels at the same time. And also, they can be used independently for streaming.

Ed: So it just extends the DarkCrystal Capture series to another level?

Chon: Yes. Ed: Now Chon, today you’ve taken Alex and Frances around the country a little bit and you’ve visited a number of organisations and one of them was a large integrator who puts together packages for schools. You showed them the AVerMedia product and they were impressed?

Chon: They were very impressed with it. They think it is a good idea for live streaming to the classrooms, plus also to do the live capture of their teaching.

Ed: Okay, so they’re not just looking at one box, they’re looking at a number of AVerMedia products to put together as a package?

Chon: Yes, as a solution for the school users.

Ed: And as well as that, you’ve seen one of our local resellers, and they can see advantages in the AVerMedia product to support their computer editing builds?

Chon: They think that it is a good product because of the support and also the codec support, the SDK plus the Microsoft Windows support so it’s easier to integrate into their software.

Ed: Okay, so that’s sort of two areas, both the professional cameraman side of it and also the integrator. What are your thoughts as the AVerMedia representative in New Zealand?

Chon: We now have a much wider range of products that we can offer to the market in both high definition capture and in streaming solutions.

Ed: So Chon, how do people get hold of AVerMedia product or find out more about it?

Chon: Either from solutions.avermedia.com or www.imagingtechnology.co.nz or any of our resellers’ websites.

Ed: So how do they find out if this product actually works for them and would work in their computer?

Chon: From our website. We have a full description of the products and there is a link to the AVerMedia website.

Or we will do a live demonstration here in our Auckland offices.

Ed:

A last word Frances?

Frances: We are proud to be supported through our local certified partner, Imaging Technology.

Chon has much experience in this field and we believe his support for our AVerMedia total solutions for system integrators will be expanding very quickly and we will provide the support, onNZVN site or by remote, to any of our AVerMedia customers.

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Alex with the big ones.

Beer, Pizza & Product at Protel It’s another “Beer and Pizza” evening at Protel in Auckland and again on Wed 18th in Wellington … Ken Brooke has brought me my beer, but I’m still waiting for my pizza …

Ken: The pizza’s on the way being delivered as we speak.

Ed: Excellent, glad to hear it. You’ve got to look after reporters, food and alcohol is pretty important. But while I’m waiting, Ken, I’d have to say it’s quite a gathering here tonight and you’ve got more than one product on show. There’s naturally a big Sony presence, we’re going to talk to Scott and Leonard shortly, and that’s pretty important to you, having the Sony support here?

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Ken: It’s very important to us and it’s also important to have some of the other suppliers here with us as well, to assist in knitting all the products together.

Ed: That’s it isn’t it, someone can buy a camera, but it’s all those extra little bits and pieces that you need that enable you to do your job?

Ken: Yes and we have a wide range of accessories to suit all our cameras. We’ve got the Metabones adapters so you can connect an EF lens to the Sony NEXFS cameras, Petrol Bags, Plaber HPRC Hard Cases, Vinten Tripods, ReflecMedia, Blackmagic and AJA accessories and converters etc etc. …

Ken “sitting on it” to prove a point.

Ed: Somebody did mention “Metabones adapters” – what are they?

Ken: They allow you connect a Canon EF lens onto the Sony camera. If you own DSLR cameras with lenses, you can use those same EF lenses with these Sony cameras. We also obviously have other products here like the Atomos Ninja2 and the Samurai and Brad is here to assist us.

Also tonight we have a representative from Digital Rapids to discuss streaming, which is becoming a very important thing with everyone in the industry.

Ed: That’s getting off the camera questioning line – what about the shoulder mount rig, is that something that you have yourself?

Ed: So what you’re saying is, when you get into this realm of the FS100 or FS700 or F3, you’re into the realm of cinematography and you need all these extra accessories – or do you?

Ken: Initially no, but it’s good to know these products are available and will fit onto the camera and work.

Depending on what you’re shooting, you’ll buy the lens and accessories to suit the job.

Ed: So, for example, with the FS700, you can start off with the basic camera package?

Ken: Yes, you can just buy the basic bare bones camera, and if you already own existing suitable lenses, you buy a Metabones adapter to suit for about $590+GST. Ed:

Sony do have a zoom lens available don’t they?

Ken: We promote the Redrock rig because it’s solid.

There are a lot of rigs out there that are not so robust and we’ve found the Redrock is a good solid unit.

Ken: That’s right; you can buy the camera body with or without the Sony lens. The Sony lens is actually very cost-effective when purchased with the camera body.

We also have here on display the ReflecMedia ChromaFlex Bundle HD green screen / blue screen – with LiteRing. http://www.reflecmedia.com

Ed: So it’s something that, if you want to get into this “shallow depth of field” business and something special in a new style of cinematographic camera, you can do it reasonably cheaply to start with and then accessorise to give you those extra features?

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Ken: Yes, and many have purchased the NEX-FS100, which is the lower cost unit, to achieve great results.

Page 8

You’ll notice that that was advertised in your magazine last month – again, with a Metabones adapter. If you want to go to the next tier down from the NEX-FS700, then the NEX-FS100 is ideal. Some of our customers are using it for weddings, to give you that lovely look; we’ve got a broadcaster using one for chroma keying for virtual set work because it’s providing such a sharp picture. The image is stunning with the larger 35mm Super sensor.

We also have on display in our showroom the new Vision blue5 tripod from Vinten. The Vision blue5 offers the unique combination of continuous counterbalance and infinite drag. It provides a full ±90° of smooth tilt movement with a counterbalance range of 5.5 kg to 12 kg – perfect for supporting the latest portable digital cameras.

We have in our showroom the new Plaber HPRC Italian designed hard camera cases. These are very stylish; they’re built out of high impact resin.

Ed:

So I could actually sit on this?

Ken: You certainly could – as requested I’m sitting on one to prove the point.

Ed:

You could put a rocket launcher in that one?

Ken: Well yes you could. This model HPRC6500 here will fit a track system or a large tripod.

Ed:

And what’s the name of this range again?

Ken: Playber HPRC. Ed: HPRC – but they’ve got the “P” round the wrong way?

Ken: Exactly, it’s intentional, it’s their trademark.

Check out www.plaber.com to see the complete range of products available.

Representing Sony Media here tonight is Leonard Gildenhuys.

Ed: Leonard, you’ve got a little stand set up here, with the various media that you’re offering – obviously XDCAM, but there’s no tape – Leonard, I don’t see any tape?

Leonard: Well we’ve got LTOs, but it’s a different application to what we’re used to.

Ed: But you still have video tape back at the office, don’t you?

Leonard: yes.

We still have lots of tape back at the office,

Ed: Phew, I feel much better. Now you’re showing some really cool little devices here, just run us through a couple of them?

Leonard: We’ve got the USB Smartphone charger – this is all consumer ( as opposed to professional ) product I’m starting with for you.

Ed: Yes, yes, but we need consumer product, I mean we are consumers ourselves and we have peripherals that we need to keep running when we’re out there on a job, so yes, go for it.

Leonard: So the CP-ELS USB Smartphone charger for all those cameramen who have run into difficulty with their batteries going flat when they’re out and about.

We’ve got a 2000 milliamp rechargeable battery pack.

Ed:

Why don’t you just say 2 Ampere?

Leonard: I can, I guess. That’s the way we market it, and it’s on the box, so we’ll run with that.

Consumers like big numbers, anyway.

Ed:

Remember you’re being recorded Leonard.

Leonard: That’s right, I can’t take this back can I? Actually it makes it easier to refer to, especially if the number is not a round thousand, like 2500mAh and not 2.5 Ampere.

Ed:

Go on, keep going, dig yourself deeper.

Leonard: So we’ve got that. It charges from a USB port, either an AC adapter off the wall or through your computer. It takes about five to six hours to charge up and retains 80% of its charge over one year.

Ed: And a portable hard drive, that looks very nice in pink?

Leonard: Yes, it comes in pink, black and silver, 500 GB, USB3 and it’s got a lot of software with it, like Transfer Accelerator, Backup Manager, Password Protection Manager and FAT32 formatter if you need that format. It also comes in a brushed aluminium finish, which gives it a nice good quality look. At the moment we’ve even got an additional little pouch that comes with it as well, as a value add.

Ed:

Pouch included?

Leonard:

Pouch included.

Ed: Fantastic. Now, the highlight of the show, an XQD card?

Leonard: XQD – brand new format.

As far as I’m aware, it’s a competitive product to the CompactFlash …

Ed:

In that it’s a very high data rate?

Leonard: It has a very high data rate which exceeds the CompactFlash’s maximum speed. We have the H-Series which has a read/write speed of up to 125MB/s and the S-Series which has a speed of 168MB/s.

Now, at the moment we don’t actually stock them, but we can get them in.

There is only one camera, the Nikon D4, that uses it currently, so limited application at the moment, but I would venture a guess that there will be more applications.

Leonard offers “pouch included.”

Page 10

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Ed: It will come, but for now, there’s one clever little adapter that you can use from Sony?

Ed: So why aren’t there more Sony cameras with discs?

Leonard: That’s right, it has an Express card adapter and also a USB reader as optional accessories, which of course allows you to put your XQD card inside it, and that could go into your SxS camera, or you can download it onto your laptop.

Scott: The majority of the two-third inch camera market caters to broadcast news acquisition. Sony introduced the PDW530 (SD) and then the PDW700 and PDWF800 for HD. Feedback from News customers was that they wanted a file based workflow that allowed them to get content back to the station as quickly as possible and to air. They loved the performance of the XDCAM disc cameras and wanted a solid state media option based on the same camera. This produced the PMW500 as used by TVNZ. In fact TVNZ has a mixture of PDW530, PDW700 and the PMW500. We now have the PDW680 which utilises CMOS sensors and XDCAM disc, but by using CMOS, the camera is cheaper in comparison to the PDW700 or F800.

Now this would be an alternative for some people to using an SxS card. We see it the same as the SD card solution and do not recommend it. You don’t have the same performance and peace of mind you get when using the correct professional solution. We recommend using SxS cards for the best results.

Ed: So it’s a product that’s been developed that’s sort of waiting for some more uses from Sony do you think?

Leonard: That’s right, yes, it was developed and one by one I guess there will be more applications for it.

Ed: And beside the LTO tapes we have the XDCAM discs and I see that beautiful red one there, but that’s …?

Leonard: That’s 50 GB. The reason I’ve got that up there tonight is they’re going to start producing those preformatted which, up to now they have not been. So from next month, we’ll be starting to see the 23 GB disc come in, preformatted. The user will not notice much difference; it will be printed on the case and the box that it’s preformatted, but apart from that, it’s pretty much the same thing. So it will be able to be used just like the current one. One thing to note though, is that to insure this, you have to have the latest firmware update – see Clive. So Clive can expect a few calls I think, but updating your firmware is something you’ve got to do anyway, keep it up to date.

Ed: But there’s no sign of any mini-discs coming along is there?

Scott: No I think Sony had its go at mini-disc … I can’t see them going back there.

Ed: Now you mentioned CMOS and Sony really has been in the forefront of producing CMOS cameras?

Scott: Yes, especially with “Exmor R” and its back illuminated technology.

We’re seeing some really amazing developments with CMOS, especially in terms of light sensitivity and low noise. It’s a big area of the company, not only for our products, but supplying external customers as well. I can only see our sensors getting better and better as time goes on.

Ed: Because there are issues aren’t there, with a CMOS … I know I experienced this myself with a cheap LED panel and the rolling shutter of CMOS and I got

The preformatted 50 GB disc will be supplied closer to the end of the year.

Now we’ll talk to Scott Webster about the cameras Ed: Scott, we’ve just been talking about various media Sony-wise, and XDCAM discs … still a popular format Scott?

Scott: Yes, absolutely, XDCAM disc is probably the most popular format for recording television in New Zealand and dominates over 90% of the TV networks in Australia.

Ed:

So the old 700’s still going strong, and the 800?

Scott: Yes, and the PDWF800 – in fact most of the very popular TV series The Block was shot on 700s.

The two-third inch broadcast camera is still very much the workhorse of the TV industry.

Ed: Because there were a few grizzles I remember a couple of years back, when Sony suddenly came out with solid state and some of the 700 operators were saying “now we can’t use our discs any more, they’ve all gone solid state” but I think they were a bit premature weren’t they?

Scott: Yves Simard tells a great story about shooting on disc. He was at a stand-up and he was shooting on disc and one of his fellow cameramen was shooting on solid state and Yves said to the solid state cameraman “what are you doing once you’re wrapped?” and the solid state shooter said “well, I’m going back to my hotel room, I’m transferring the footage, I’m checking it and I’m backing up 3 different copies. I’m then hopping in my car, driving to the client and dropping off the hard drive to production.” And he said to Yves “what are you doing?” Yves said “I’m handing over this disc and I’m going home!”

Page 12

Scott has an FS700 flavoured pizza.

some horrible banding, but once you know that, the actual upside of the CMOS sensor is huge?

Scott: Yes, I’ve got to say that story in NZ Video News was a fantastic article … ( April 2012.)

Ed:

And well written too, wasn’t it?

Scott: Shakespeare that was Grant, Shakespeare!

But, no, a lot of people read that article, took it on board and I think you probably saved a lot of people a lot of grief going forward, walking into situations where they haven’t been in control of the lighting, utilising LED lights that may not be up to the standard of some manufacturers, and causing issues with CMOS sensors.

Ed: Yes, but the real value of the CMOS sensor is that low light capability which, when you go back to a different sensor camera, you really notice?

Scott: Yes that’s true, and I guess we read about DSLRs now and their staggering ISO performance – you know ISO3200 and yes, that’s a useable shot, it’s just amazing, and we’re seeing that technology flow on to motion capture CMOS sensors, so yes, great things.

Ed: Now we’ve talked about off-board recording, we’ve talked about on-board recording and in most of the medium price Sony cameras, the on-board recording is at a compressed format, AVCHD or some other compression, onto a card and people go out and say “oh well, I need to buy an off-board recorder?”

Scott: I guess it’s giving people the option. If they don’t feel the on-board codec is suiting their purposes, they do have the option of picking up an offboard recorder. Certainly, there’s a lot of cost-effective

budget recorders out there, giving you the option of ProRes or DNxHD via SDI, via HDMI. But what you find is actually, in the majority of cases, the on-board codec, 9 times out of 10, is perfectly fine for the customer requirements. It may only come to where you are doing a heavy grade, or a tricky key, that you’re looking to push that picture more than the on-board compression allows and so that’s where you get the added benefit of introducing the off-board recorder.

Ed: One would think that Sony would actually have done the R&D and figured out that this was a pretty good codec before they put it in the camera?

Scott: Well they are very good codecs. AVCHD at 28 megabit has been compared very favourably to the EX format at 35 megabit, so you’re not losing a great deal out there, and certainly you ask anyone that’s done a shot-by-shot comparison, there’s very little in it.

It’s only in those challenging situations that you’re looking to push it, and you’ve got to remember, as the data rates go up, we need to move past the cheaper card media. So you can no longer use SD cards to record, because as you move past that 35 megabit threshold, you need to move to faster professional media to deal with the increased data.

Ed: So people should really try the on-board setup first?

Scott: Yes, most of the people that I’ve talked to about off-board recorders, that’s very much it. They add the off-board recorder when required; if they feel they don’t need it, they just go with the on-board, but they have the option there.

Page 13

Ed: And of course the other option is that they buy an F65?

Scott: Yes – that should be the first choice Grant, absolutely.

Now from Corsair Solutions, representing the Atomos digital field recorders, we have Brad Morton.

Ed: Brad, you have the Samurai and the Ninja 2?

“produits de jour” the

Brad: Yes, on the Ninja 2, the new features are HDMI input and output ( whereas our previous Ninja was only input ), so that allows external monitoring and other things like that.

We’ve also got the Atomos 3.0 software, which has added all sorts of new features, a lot of new focus aids, zed ring, false colour. We’ve also added the new XML metadata function, so you can actually trim clips and decide on favourites, or reject clips, within the recorder; and you can export the XML metadata back to the hard disc and then import that straight into Final Cut Pro. So it’s a great new feature set that not only is in the new Ninja 2, but it’s also been added to the Samurai, so all the existing customers can pick it up as a free update from the website.

Ed: Now it is a very competitive business isn’t it?

There are a number of manufacturers out there making off-board recording solutions and I guess, these camera manufacturers coming out with quite highly compressed codecs in their cameras is great for you, but you know, you’ve got to keep up?

Brad: Yes, look absolutely.

We provide a storage mechanism that can allow for larger files.

We use the ProRes codec, DNx codec is coming soon, so we have files that are more than 10 times larger than the native recorded format of the camera, which allows greater quality and better flexibility, because we don’t have the constraints of a memory card.

Ninja and the Samurai very cheaply, around say $50 for five caddies, and then you put good quality 2½ inch hard drives in them. We don’t force you to buy them from us, they not like specialised.

We have recommended models that obviously are there for the best performance, but you can buy them from anywhere you wish.

Ed: So your whole workflow becomes cost-effective because you don’t have to buy a lot of high speed cards, or have somebody transferring off those high speed cards onto a hard disc while you’re shooting the next high speed card?

Brad: Yes well it’s not only just while you’re shooting in fact, because obviously people with the native cards have only so many of them, because they’re quite expensive. If you’re doing a lot of shooting, you’re going to find yourself in the field copying them off and then reusing them.

Apart from that lack of reuse with the large storage, the Ninja and the Samurai drives are fast enough that you can edit off them. You actually lose the capturing time totally; you don’t have to do it. You can go out and shoot to your five 500 gig drives, like 50 hours of footage and then, when you want to edit them, you just simply mount the drive in the dock and edit instantly.

Of course you can transfer to a NAS or a SAN …

Ed:

So what connection are you using off the caddy?

Brad: The dock uses FireWire 800 or USB3 or USB2, so it’s a capable product.

It comes with the Ninja and the Samurai, obviously it comes in the flight case with two batteries, a battery charger, the dock and two empty caddies or drives, if you choose to buy it that way.

But, yes, it’s FireWire 800 for Mac computers or USB3 for Windows computers.

Ed: Now that’s it – your particular format you have plugin hard drives, so you’ve got lots of storage capability on yours as opposed to some who just have high speed cards?

Brad: That’s right. We can use 2½ inch mechanical drives, or SSDs depending on the application.

If you have an application where you’ve got a lot of vibration, then we recommend SSDs, but obviously per gigabyte, they’re more costly. So mechanical drives, like we use in the Ninja and the Samurai, are unbelievably cost-effective.

I couldn’t talk exclusively in New Zealand dollars, but you know, say $150 for a 750 gig drive, and that on a Ninja or a Samurai would give you between 7½ and 15 hours of recording time. So that means that, with your recorder, you can have a large number of drives, so if you’re doing shoots on the back, of shoots on the back of shoots, you don’t find yourself taking your media, recording, removing from it, sticking it back in. We sell the caddies for the

Brad offers us a Samurai or a Ninja 2.

Page 15

Ed: Now the other sort of major issue I know of with any off-board recorder, is the conforming. You record onto your off-board recorder in a particular file format that the recorder offers, then you’ve got to get that into your editing system and use it. Quite often you might think that that codec is editable by the computer, but a little light comes up and says “need to conform this data.” Does that happen with your product?

Brad: It depends on the editing application. Our files are native for Final Cut Pro; they work just as well in Adobe Premiere, Grass Valley EDIUS, Sony Vegas Pro … the only editing system that has some compromises with our ProRes files is Avid, because they have their own file format which obviously they prefer. Now there are obviously some limitations with that at the moment; it can be used, but there are certain caveats with it.

With that in mind, we are supporting the DNxHD format for the Ninja 2 and the Samurai in the future, in a software upgrade.

Ed:

So that’s it – it’s a work in progress always?

Brad: Yes absolutely, but the ProRes files we have work fine in all the common editing systems. The issue that crops up sometimes with ProRes is where editing applications are optimised towards DSLR files which are also QuickTime files, and so obviously a ProRes file is a totally different type of file. So the editing application is best to fall back to the standard QuickTime framework to do that – like for example early versions of Adobe Premiere, CS5.5 didn’t work with those ProRes files, but then a patch came out that fixed it. So standard system way is the best way to go and, like I say, Avid’s the only one that has some issues that we’re going to resolve.

support. I like Ken, he’s a good man and we work well together.

Ed: Yes, but obviously they’re selling some good product?

Neville: Absolutely. Ken is quite au fait with our products and I’ve just come across to support him on some new prospects that we’ve got.

Ed: Because web streaming is becoming more and more important, and I guess some of the major broadcasters don’t want to develop things themselves, they want “plug and play”?

Neville: Well I think what’s happening with the TV stations is that they’re looking for alternative revenue opportunities and they’re seeing that they can take existing content or existing products that they’ve got, and actually deliver them over multiple platforms to generate more revenue. I think that’s become quite an important aspect of modern television.

Ed: And that’s basically what Digital Rapids does – and it’s not just one stream, you can do lots of streams, lots of different compression formats, all at the same time?

Neville: Yes we can obviously send out multiple streams at adaptive bit rates so that whatever the device and whatever speed of stream is required, it can be received by any device. In other words, there are numerous end user products that can receive our streams.

Ed: And you’re here for some particular reason – what’s the connection between Corsair Solutions, the Atomos product and Protel?

Brad: Protel’s a very important dealer for the Atomos products. Obviously Corsair is the Australia-New Zealand distributor for Atomos, and as such ( as with all our other agencies ) we participate as much as we can in the New Zealand market.

It’s a very important part of our market and we want to come here and support our dealers and the customers locally.

Atomos gives us terrific support and we try and bring that to the customers here in New Zealand. So we make sure that a representative from Corsair Solutions Tyrone and Neville with the last slice of real pizza. is in New Zealand at least every three months, and that’s to serve all of our vendors. We Ed: It sounds like it’s a fairly complicated process … is it something that needs a Digital Rapids engineer on the want to sell a lot of products here and give good ground at all times? products to customers at the right price.

Neville: Not really. Once our software is configured And last but not least we have Neville Paterson from it’s virtually “plug and play”.

Digital Rapids Once you’ve set up your profiles, you don’t really need Ed: You’ve got a rather large territory Neville? to do too much more.

Neville: Yes, I actually look after Australia, New Most of our solutions accept live or file based inputs, we Zealand and South-East Asia, so I’ve got my hands full. have watch folders that process the files as they are Ed: Right, so you’re here at Protel because they’ve received – the file goes in and then, depending on how been good? you configure your workflow, the file is transcoded to whatever format you require and delivered where you Neville: Yes they have actually. Ken and Protel need it. have been very good to us and they really give us good more on page 19

Page 16

Lighting Now being distributed

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Ed:

And most of the controllers are software control?

Neville: Yes absolutely, it’s basically software control or remote control, but with the way that everything is set up, it is unbelievably reliable.

Ed: And I guess the major issue here in New Zealand is our pipelines … they’re not very thick?

Neville: Well yes, I think that’s probably a problem, but I think going forward lots of these things will be resolved over time.

With all these additional networks going in, it can only start getting better.

Ed: But at the moment, Digital Rapids has the product that can send out multiple streams, but as time

goes on and as the pipes get thicker, you can adjust that?

Neville: Yes, absolutely. here are newer codecs coming out which are less bandwidth hungry. Once more bandwidth is available, more channels will be available, and adaptive streaming will be able to provide content to more devices.

Ed:

Oh dear – not better quality?

Neville: Well I think the quality is definitely there, but there will just be more options.

Ed:

I meant the artistic quality?

Neville: Well, the artistic quality will depend on the source material – that’s not something we can control.

NZVN

Page 19

It’s Time we Shared More Well, I’ve tried a number of times over the years of publishing NZVN to share an idea, a technique or warning with you, and some have joined me – but there must be more. Some I have spoken with have been reluctant to say anything perhaps because they would be embarrassed if they were wrong. Don’t! I will check your information first and then get the opinion of someone expert in that field to see if they think it’s a good idea too. As well, you don’t have to be named if you don’t want to be.

To give the reason that you don’t want to share your trade secrets is not one I endorse. Surely no one is that insecure in their client relationships that they think they will lose business if someone else has their ideas?

Most likely some others know all ready – but not all.

There are some basic misconceptions out there that need to be straightened out. We have all learnt from other people and we have a duty to “pass it on” and add what we’ve discovered too.

So send me your ideas, techniques and warnings related to what you do, and let’s share. Hey, it’s not like it’s body fluids!

Just to start you off, the first person to share is Glenn Miers from Protel. I asked Glenn what has been the major problem people have had in the last six months

that’s come to his attention. His reply – memory cards.

People are not understanding that there are different speeds of memory card and that you have to have one of a certain minimum speed, depending on what you’re using it for and in what device you’re using it. It’s no good going out and buying a large capacity cheap memory card, if what you need is one that requires high speed data transfer.

One more from Scott Webster at Sony. In the last six months, Scott’s “top call” he gets that he shouldn’t, is related to “progressive versus interlace”. Still the difference between the two recording methods is not well understood and people are recording progressive when they should be recording interlace – or just not knowing the progressive recording pitfalls.

Both of these subjects have been dealt with in past issues of NZVN and now you can find them on our website.

Go to www.finnzed.co.nz follow the link to NZVN and on the NZVN site ( under “Articles” in the left column ) you will see the article about memory cards ( August 2010 ) and “Progressive versus Interlace” ( September 2006 ).

More will be added on request.

Also read the story in this issue by Michael Zahn for his views on the recording methods (starts page 30). NZVN NZVN

Page 21

Ross – more than a good mixer

Amanda:

At a recent Ross presentation, supported locally by Gencom, I met some potential purchasers. Firstly, from Life Church in Auckland, we have Daniel Cotton.

Ed: Now Daniel, you’re actually not a Ross user at the moment?

Daniel: No, this is my first time having anything to do with Ross. To be honest, I heard from Gencom that they were one of the big three and I’m interested obviously to see what they’ve got in terms of products.

I’m familiar with Grass Valley and Broadcast Pix solutions so this was just something that I needed to come and check out.

No, I’m from Australia – Sydney.

Ed: And that’s a good thing, because Ross now has an office in Melbourne?

Amanda: Yes, we’re locally based. We manufacture out of Melbourne supplying the world with routers. We build them all there from the ground up, so it’s cool, and it’s allowed us to offer local support for Australia and New Zealand.

Ed: Aaah, but the rest of the Ross product comes from Canada, or other places around the world?

Amanda: Canada – and Spencer will be able to talk more about the manufacturing side of things.

Ed: So that’s it, you’re familiar with Gencom, you know the people there, you’ve bought products from them, you’ve had service from them, you trust them … and so you took this opportunity to come and see something new for you?

Daniel: Yes, correct.

I mean my industry’s pretty broad, so I’m just keen to see what is out there on any level because I have a lot of different projects.

So if I need to do something, and I know all the equipment that’s out there, then I’ve got better options and I don’t have to ask lots of people that know stuff.

Ed: Well we’ve been trying to tell our readers that they should follow this way of improving their knowledge for a long time and I’m glad to find someone who is actually doing it, so cheers Daniel.

Now you’re not actually unhappy with the mixing system that you’ve got now …?

Daniel: No, but there’s always projects on the go. Right now, we’re kind of in the R&D stages of a live streaming project, so taking our services and streaming them live to other locations, via satellite or fibre or internet, or however that works, and we’re just investigating all the different solutions involved.

Gencom is potentially part of that solution, so we are working with them and that was part of the conversation that brought me here today. So yes, there’s always projects that we’re doing that involve video stuff, so the more technology I can see and figure out what it does, the better.

Ed:

And Gencom’s the place to do it?

Daniel: Yes currently – I mean it’s not the only company we work with; we’ve worked with other companies before, we try and keep an open mind certainly. Given the industry I’m in, I’ve got to be very careful with the money that I spend, because it’s not mine. It’s like people are giving that cash in, so I just try and get the best scope of things that I possibly can, and Gencom are respected, they do a whole lot of stuff everywhere.

During a break in the presentations, I spoke with some of the Ross people – Amanda Leighton and Spencer Preece.

Ed: Amanda, you don’t sound as though you’re Canadian?

Daniel and Keith.

Ed:

How many plants have you got Spencer?

Spencer: Our major factory is in Iroquois which is about an hour south of Ottawa, Canada.

Ed:

And the only other one’s in Melbourne?

Spencer: Ed:

Correct, yes.

Wow – that’s good for the South Pacific?

Spencer: It’s fantastic, yes. We’ve got a lot of good support locally here and good feedback from companies. I mean, it’s very rare that a broadcast manufacturer is actually still manufacturing locally in this region.

Ed: Okay, but the support – that’s the key thing.

New Zealand’s a long way from Canada, a long way from that major support, but now you’ve got people on the ground a short flight away?

Spencer: Exactly, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re here today, is to promote the fact that we are local, that support for Ross is very important. Our business is grown organically through support. A lot of our customers are repeatedly upgrading and buying new equipment because our support is so good and the fact that we’re here now locally, we can provide good support, we have all our spare parts for our equipment based in Melbourne, so it means we can respond very,

Page 22

very quickly to customers who have issues which happen from time to time.

Ed: Right, so you’re familiar with the product, familiar with the name – that’s obviously a big plus for you?

Ed: It’s not an often occurrence that you need spare parts for a Ross piece of equipment is it?

Gavin: Yes. We’ve often looked at Ross for various things, right from vision switchers through to openGear interfacing for various bits and pieces.

Spencer: Ed:

Spencer: Ed:

Of course, yes.

Ross actually did a tour 2-3 months ago with the XPression which was quite interesting for us, because our transmissions are very graphic intensive, so anything that’s in that sort of market we’re actually quite interested in seeing what’s been developed.

Of course not?

Of course not, yes, of course not.

You are in marketing though, aren’t you?

Spencer:

I am yes, so I’m bound to say that.

Ed: But it’s true and Gencom wouldn’t have a product that didn’t work properly or broke down all the time would they?

Ed: I guess knowing your workflow and, as you say, very graphic intensive, you need something that’s going to do that for you?

Spencer: Never, absolutely not, no. But Gencom is fantastic … we’ve just recently gone exclusive with Gencom for New Zealand. We have a long history with Gencom which goes back about eight years. These guys are fantastic, they have a great depth of technical support and a great team here, so we’re very happy to be working with them.

Gavin: Yes, definitely. And also something that’s going to do it in the modern style.

Ed: And we’ll hear more about the latest product from Ross, not just routers but mixers and everything else, at IBC in the next issue, won’t we?

Amanda’s promised an interview.

Ed: Do you find it important that Ross is actually looked after by Gencom here in New Zealand – that you

Amanda:

Graphics tend to get a bit tired after about 12 months and we like to update them, so they look fresh and people can relate to them very quickly, get the information we’re putting up there very quickly, and move on to more information as things change.

I’ll be there!

On the way out I spoke with Gavin Richmond from the New Zealand Racing Board, based in Petone.

Ed: Now Gavin, we’ve actually been to the New Zealand Racing Board in Petone before, many many years ago, but you’ve come up to Auckland specifically to see the Ross demo here, or were you here anyway?

Gavin: No, we’ve come up to Auckland specifically to see the Ross demo.

There’s a number of products that Ross have got that we’re actually interested in; the other thing is that we always like to keep abreast of development from manufacturers and Ross is developing things for the future, so we like to keep up with that.

Ed:

Have you actually got some Ross gear at present?

NZVN

Gavin, Amanda and Spencer.

don’t have to go to some overseas supplier to get the Ross product?

Gavin: Oh yes, definitely. Having a local agent for them is actually a 100% plus for Ross.

Gavin: The Ross gear we’ve got is in our Hamilton studios, which is our DR studio. It’s a Ross mixer and I think that’s the only Ross equipment we’ve got that’s in the digital area. Up until about five years ago, we had some analogue OB trucks which had Ross vision switchers in them, but that’s all redundant now and that’s been moved on.

We like to keep in touch with the agents in New Zealand because they’ll also watch out for developments for us.

Ed:

If you have a chequebook, talk to the team at Gencom NZVN – they’ll love you for it.

Analogue is dead you reckon?

Gavin:

To us it is.

So it’s a good working relationship.

Ed:

Have you brought your cheque book?

Gavin: No … I write the technical business case, I don’t write the cheques!

Page 24

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Choosing the Right Camera At the offices of Michael Zahn of NZCameraHire ( you can tell that this is his office because there are wires and things everywhere, but we won’t take a photo of that will we Michael ) we’re here for two reasons. One is to chat about the sort of gear that you’ve got available for the community in New Zealand, but also, a question that keeps coming up about formats and the way they should be shot.

Ed: First of all, your cameras – you’ve actually got quite a range?

Michael: Yes, anything from the big Super 35mm chip F3, FS100 and FS700 cameras right down to little handicams.

Ed: So that’s not just for the broadcast user, you’re also catering for corporate and I guess the professional user who needs an extra camera, or their camera breaks down?

Michael: Indeed, some of the small cameras actually cut quite well with the bigger cameras, and the quality is right up there, so it’s covering a broad range like I said, from corporate or wedding videographers right up to commercials.

Ed: And you’ve even got an HDV camera that will match mine?

Michael: choice.

Yes – I can help you.

You even have a

Ed: Now also in your range, you’ve got some “matched pairs” so, if somebody needs two cameras of the same model that they want to mix together and they still look the same, you can offer that?

Michael: Absolutely. Because a lot of productions do need two or more cameras for cross-shooting where you cover the person being interviewed and the interviewer, or you have two different angles on a wedding, or on a sports field or you have different angles on a drama in a short or feature film, therefore NZCameraHire have decided to get pairs of our cameras to make it easier for you to get the same camera models on the same production.

Ed:

I’m sure you don’t have a pair of F3’s but …?

Michael: I can definitely get you a couple of F3’s if you want them and have the lenses to go with it as well … so maybe not the F65, but anything below there, I am sure I can sort you out.

Ed: So you’ve got your own sort of “in stock” cameras and equipment – all those accessories that go with

Michael with some of the full camera range at NZCameraHire.

them – but you’ve also got access to others that you can bring in?

Michael: By networking.

You need those connections because we are in such a small market. I may only have a couple of FS100 or EX3 cameras, but if I do need 4 or 5 of them, I can definitely organise them, and the same with the other cameras. I know people who own them, so therefore I can always call in the numbers to make it work for clients.

Ed: And with that level of camera, they actually have the software that you can set up one and then transfer that setup file to all the others?

Michael: That’s the beauty of cameras nowadays that, yes, you can save the settings of the cameras and transfer their settings to each camera so that all the

Page 30

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cameras basically look the same, and make it easier for the DOP when he sets up the cameras for the production.

Ed: But also, along with the cameras, as you say, you’ve got the accessories to go with them, such as tripods, microphones, but what are the “specialty” items that you might have as accessories?

Michael: Lenses, adapters, tele-prompters, monitors, shoulder rigs or dollies – yes, there are all kinds of extra equipment that is needed for productions.

We’ve got the whole range. And there are a lot of shooters or production companies that may have a camera but then they need a MatteBox with filters or lights or audio gear that they haven’t been able to purchase yet and so NZCameraHire is filling that gap.

It’s always worth checking back with me, if something is needed for a production but not on the web site; I may have it already in stock but have not been able to put it on the NZCameraHire web site.

Ed: Right – so you have this rental business, but also you’re a shooter. That’s the other side of your life, being out there and not making movies, but shooting corporate stuff … or what?

Michael: To be honest, I have been shooting anything from feature films to commercials to television programmes and corporate’s. That’s actually how I started NZCameraHire because, as a working DOP, I collected too many toys over the years and somehow I thought “hey, there are other people who might like to play with some of those toys”, so I started the hire

business. Obviously it grew from there; there was a certain demand for the equipment in all kinds of different areas, from cameras to audio to lights to dollies and tele-prompters – and also I needed them for some of my productions. And because I am a working DOP I keep on thinking I need this and that for productions so I end up reinvesting more and more into the business and it keeps on growing and growing.

Ed: You mentioned in there “people playing with toys” and a topic has recently resurfaced about people shooting progressive and having problems. In fact, there’s another problem out there nowadays, and that’s the large sensor format that people don’t understand the difference between shooting that and shooting good old interlace. Could you, with your DOP hat on, give us a run through of those three formats – interlace, progressive, large sensor – with the pros and cons of those different formats?

Michael: Well interlace is what used to be your normal television picture, where you have 50 interlaced lines per second, made up of 25 upper and 25 lower lines – so if you’re shooting normal action, reality television or sports or so, you would shoot interlace because there is fast movement and you don’t want to see it blurring all over the screen.

Ed: Okay, so for the safest option, interlace would be the way to go?

Michael: I think so. If you want to be on the safe side, shoot at interlace 50i that’s fine. There are other issues with interlace video but that can get very

Page 32

technical and you may want to talk to Clive from Sony about that. If you want to be a bit more … well some people call it “creative”, then yes, shoot progressive, but the problem is, if you shoot progressive and you do fast movement with your camera, or you have fast action in your picture, then if it’s just 25p, it will appear to blur, because you have 25 full frame images displayed per second and so you don’t get a sharp image out of it.

Ed:

Or stuttery?

postproduction system can handle it, then by all means.

I mean look at The Hobbit now being shot at 48 frames.

Some people say it looks too sharp, but obviously they wanted to have some fast movement in there and they wanted the sharpness to be there. It may not look as “filmic” as people are used to, watching a film, but at least you get the clarity in the picture and I think 48 full frames for film or if you shoot at 50 – as we usually do with PAL – then it works. I am looking forward to seeing The Hobbit to see if it works and if it looks right.

Michael: Or stuttery – if you pan from left to right and you have it at 25p, yes definitely you see the stuttery effect because you only have 25 frames displayed in a second. If you do a reasonably fast pan then you will definitely notice – there’s one frame, there’s one frame, there’s one frame, it gets blurry. So, yes, it’s not ideal.

Ed: So the reason people shoot progressive is to have that filmic look?

Ed:

And another reason would be that you would future proof your show, but it would have to be in 50p.

But you can fix that by going to 50p?

Michael: If you go to 50p, yes obviously you double your numbers and then it is like 50i but with 50 full frames rather than 50 half frames or 50i. So therefore, yes, you would definitely get a sharper image out of that and the future of television is going to be 50p.

Michael: I think that’s the main reason, so you get the filmic look and if you want to extract a frame for instance, then yes, if you have a full frame then it makes it easier to take a frame out of your show for publication.

Ed: Okay. And now the third one, large sensors, which have been with us for a few years and seem to be taking over in a lot of areas, but again it’s not “one camera that rules them all” is it?

Ed: But then that has a downside doesn’t it, in the post situation where some nonlinear systems just can’t handle 50p at that sort of data rate?

Michael: Large sensors … yes, they are a bit of a challenge, but if used in the right way, they can deliver great pictures.

Michael: Yes, that’s a question for some editors for postproduction, but you definitely would have enough frames there to make it appear sharp, so if the

With the large sensor, you obviously can get the shallow depth of field and that is what a lot of people are after, especially in filmmaking. If you’re doing a

Page 33

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short film or feature film, then you often want that shallow depth of field, that’s what a lot of people are after, or in commercials, that’s why they use large sensor cameras.

The problem is people started shooting reality television on 5D’s and I don’t think a 5D … in the first place, it’s not a video camera; in the second place, you don’t shoot reality television with a large sensor camera because your depth of field is often very shallow.

Ed: So the workflow is entirely different, not only in the shooting where you need a tripod or a really steady hand, but it’s also depth of field that can look beautiful or you can mess it up?

Michael: Indeed yes, you can mess it up quite easily, because if you are using a long lens or you shoot with the iris wide open and your depth of field is only a foot, then you’re very limited.

Because reality television deals with everyday life, you kind of associate it with what happens to you in life, and usually in life, you see everything from a few centimetres in front of you to infinity in reasonable focus and you do want the same in reality television. So if there’s one person working in the background, you don’t want to see them out of focus, just because you’re shooting on a big sensor camera.

Ed: Because in post you can go out of focus if you want to, but you can’t take “out of focus” into focus?

Michael:

No, that doesn’t work.

Ed: But, you know, having said all of that, with a good camera on interlace, you can actually get a

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shallow depth of field can’t you, if you choose the right lens and you set it up properly?

Michael: Exactly – in the days when there wasn’t any progressive on TV ( except film ), we were shooting TV commercials on BetaSP cameras on a long lens or with the iris wide open, so you still get your shallow depth of field … the longer you shoot it obviously the narrower is your depth of field; and the wider you open your iris, the narrower it gets, so you still get a similar effect out of it and it can be a great picture. So you can make the shallow depth of field work with smaller sensors and in interlace as well; it’s not only on the super 35mm chip. It can work in all except maybe the smallest ones – I don’t think you can make it work in a one-third inch.

Ed: It’s also the size of the sensor isn’t it? If you have a small sensor, in fact it’s very hard to go out of focus?

Michael: Yes, a small sensor is very hard to get the shallow depth of field look. To achieve a very shallow depth of field you would ideally use a large sensored camera, a longish lens and an open iris.

My advice ( and I’m sure that Michael agrees ) is to test before you shoot for a job. Try different settings, different cameras and check the results before you have a critical job or a paying client. It may save your reputation.

If all else fails, read your camera’s manual and look up “interlace”, “progressive” and “large sensor” problems NZVN on the internet. Sift and digest carefully!

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