Over the course of the last week, there was lots of discussion on the mailing list about streaming the meeting. A last minute effort with a few of our members and we were up and running with our first live stream of the Seattle FCPUG meeting. Thanks to Guy Cochran at the DVEStore for loaning the group the gear necessary for streaming. Contact Guy if you’re interested in what was used for your own needs. We also want to thank Gordon for taking the reigns behind the camera and to Sara for getting the word out to everyone last minute.

Hopefully we’ll be able to continue to provide a stream to future meeting and will keep folks posted when we plan to stream.

If you missed the meeting, here are the recordings. If for any reason the embeds are not working you can find them here, livestream.com/dvestore.

Direct from NAB, AJA is pleased to announce major new products, significant product updates and deeper integration with it’s partners, Autodesk and Adobe!

New products this year include two additions to the Ki Pro family: the Ki Pro Rack and Ki Pro Quad.

The Ki Pro Rack is a space-saving 1RU form factor with the familiar Ki Pro user interface. It is designed for file-based workflows, supporting both Apple ProRes 422 and Avid DNxHD codecs. The Ki Pro Rack is available now for US MSRP $3995. Read more about the Ki Pro Rack here.

The second addition to the Ki Pro family, the Ki Pro Quad, is a special “NAB Sneak Peak”, that is a solid state video recorder that, when paired with new high-resolution cameras, becomes the hub of breakthrough new 4K workflows. Ki Pro Quad brings AJA’s lens-to-post workflows to HD 4:4:4, 2K, and 4K resolutions! Learn more about Ki Pro Quad here and watch the video here.

AJA is also introducing the T-TAP, a device designed for laptop editors that need external monitoring. The T-TAP provides high-quality HD/SD-SDI and HDMI output from any Thunderbolt™-enabled computer. The T-TAP will be available soon for US MSRP $249. Read more about T-TAP here.

Just prior to NAB, AJA released the UDC Mini-Converter; a 10-bit hardware based up/down/cross converter. The UDC is available now for US MSRP $695. Read more about the UDC here.

New at NAB, Ki Pro Mini v4.0 firmware is now available for download! v4.0 adds support for Avid DNxHD! Read more about v4.0 at http://www.aja.com/en/articles/176/.

AJA supports Adobe CS6, including huge performance improvements, native sequence workflows and Adobe Mercury Transmit support. Read the press release here.

Last but not least, Autodesk Smoke for Mac now supports AJA Io XT for video and audio I/O and machine control.

We would like to again thank our Platinum Sponsor, AJA Video Systems, for their continued support of the Seattle Final Cut Pro User Group. Be sure to visit www.aja.com to learn about the tools they make for storytellers.

Our Platinum Sponsor, AJA Video just announced the release of the new Io XT. Just in time now that FCPX offers external monitoring.

The Io XT offers Thunderbolt-enabled I/O with unique dual-port “daisy-chain” connectivity. Apple’s newest generation of computers feature powerful Thunderbolt interfaces, offering a mind-blowing 10Gbps available bandwidth, allowing no-compromises uncompressed video I/O eve on Macbook Pros.

AJA’s Io XT is the ideal portable companion for lightning-fast uncompressed 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 video capture and playback for professional postproduction and on set applications.

Read more about the Io XT here.

CrumplePop has released a new plugin for Final Cut Pro called Lumineux and until May 2nd you can get a $20 discount. Check out the video below looks like a cool plugin.

From CrumplePop:

There’s been a dull roar recently about the introduction of FCPX at NAB. Some editors have complained that the new application, particularly the GUI overhaul, is too much like iMovie. Many of the complicated tasks that seasoned pros have become adept at navigating may be simplified or outright eliminated in this new version. I wonder if this simplification of editing is driving some of these complaints.

Clearly, Apple has been and remains focused on removing obstacles to creating content. And this democratization wave appears to have unsettled some of the entrenched pros who could regard this new version as an affront to their trade.

A glimpse at the recent history of the industry reveals the hypocrisy behind this mindset. This is especially true when those views are held by the beneficiaries of previous changes in technology.

For the first 15 years of my editing career, I worked in large and expensive linear editing suites with dedicated hardware. The hourly rates for these rooms ranged from $465 to $750 at the high end. The initial investment required to acquire this equipment, or the total rental bills to use the facilities presented a barrier to entry due to cost. Those without vast resources were limited to creating the best show they could in the limited hours they could afford.

The first sea change that challenged this model was the introduction of disk based random access editing. This allowed editorial decisions to be accomplished rapidly at offline resolutions. The final product of this effort was an edit decision list that was taken to a large facility for final assembly.

In due time, technology caught up with the industry. Avid and other manufacturers were able to deliver tools that offered quality that was ~acceptable for final delivery. But in doing so, they had reversed the tables on themselves. Now the high cost of the Avid system itself was the barrier to entry for many people.

Into this environment stomped Apple, with a product offering that produced good images at a groundbreaking price.  And like a herd of stampeding buffalo, a new generation of content creators were born. They brought with them a whole new way of thinking about gear, expenses and workflow. They didn’t rush to Sony, Grass Valley or Ikegami. Instead they found solace with some new faces in video production – Canon, Red and even GoPro. They could easily produce videos for far less than $20,000. And as long as they got done, who cares if they used bins or named anything?

I am all for advances and changes in the industry. I started as a Motion Picture Specialist (84C) in the U.S. Army in 1982. I’ve seen a great deal of advances in technologies and methods. I believe that making tools accessible to more people is good for everyone. I believe that the removal of cost, quality and now complication as barriers are positive steps for my craft.

But it seems that some of those that have rode these technological advances want to close the door behind them. They stormed the castle walls and overcame serious obstacles to get a foot in the door. Yet they seem to have grown quite comfortable in their throne and would prefer that the industry remain closed to newcomers.

This is what makes me perceive the “It’s too easy” backlash as protectionist whining. I’ll address the iMovie comparisons separately, but when was easy ever wrong?

Apple, or any manufacturer, will never invent technology that knows WHY to trim an edit, or HOW to tell a compelling story. Only skilled editors can provide that knowledge and the great customer experience that goes along with it. Those are the two things that keep me fully booked, not the fact that I figured out a piece of software, or could afford an editing system.

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A post-production professional with global expertise, Ed McNichol started his career as a Motion Picture Specialist (84C) in the U.S. Army in 1982. A recognized leader in his field, Ed spent eleven years teaching editing worldwide for Sony. His articles have appeared in Post, TV Technology, Video Systems and more. He is a freelance editor, post-production supervisor, trainer and workflow consultant based in Seattle. He is currently serving as the Video Project Manager for the National Science Foundations Visions’11 Expedition and is also an Observer Diver and Producer/Editor for the NOAA Ocean Media Center. More information can be found at www.mcnichol.com.

For those of us that didn’t make it to the FCPUG Supermeet at NAB last night, here are some videos on what happen. As we’ve all suspected, a sneak peek of the newly rebuilt Final Cut Pro X.

Supermeet Apple Final Cut X presentation from Emmanuel Pampuri on Vimeo.

Supermeet Apple Final Cut Studio X presentation 2eme partie from Emmanuel Pampuri on Vimeo.

Tell us what you think of the new Final Cut Pro X.

Thumbnail photo credit: pampuri.net

I’m attending the FCP SuperMeet in Las Vegas next Tuesday. This is an annual meeting at NAB of all of the FCP User Groups from all over the world. In it’s 10th year, the SuperMeet has been an opportunity for firms to make short presentations about how their products are helpful to Editors.

This year’s event had an agenda posted that included the same group of presenters. However, that all changed suddenly yesterday. Word has spread through the industry that all of the presenting firms were informed that they would not be allowed to speak. Instead, one firm has requested the entire event for their own presentation and they will not allow any other firm to share the stage with them. The organizers of the SuperMeet have agreed with this request. The new firm that is occupying the entire night of the SuperMeet? It’s widely believed to be Apple.

I look forward to seeing what they’ve been working on, and the improvements they’ve made in my everyday tools. I’ll report back from my own expereinces, but I wanted to make sure you knew something was afoot.

Additional information can be found at;

ProVideo Coalition

Apple Insider

So the folks over at Singular Software, the ones who made our life easier by giving us Plural Eyes, has come out with a new time saving software called Presto. This program uses visual recognition to automatically place slides throughout your video. If you shoot any type of lecture or presentation, this little program, like Plural Eyes could save you hours from having to edit in the slides manually. If you’ve used Plural Eyes you’ll have no trouble with Presto. It works very similar as a companion program to FCP.

You will have to take another camera with you on the shoot just for the screen, but Singular claims that even a lower cost camcorder will work. Perhaps even a Flip?

They give you a 30 day, fully functioning trial of the software so you can test it out. And even provide a test project and files with a quick video tutorial. The test project is short, just about 2 minutes, so the software works pretty quickly. I’m eager to try it out on a larger project with an hour lecture to determine how fast it can really do the work. Either way, the idea of the software doing all the work for me might just free me up to catch up on my Hulu queue.

Presto for FCP is currently in beta, but when released I’m sure it will be priced similar to the Presto for Vegas version at $249. Hopefully they’ll have it ready by the time the 30 day trial ends.

HD Video Encoding for Vimeo using Compressor from Ed McNichol on Vimeo.

Instructional screencast showing how to use Apple’s Compressor to encode HD content for uploading to Vimeo.
Screen grabs of this process and the droplet created in this tutorial can be downloaded from;
mcnichol.com/​vimeo.htm

© 2008 Mumbian Enterprises, Inc.