Videoguys' NAB 2013 Wrap-Up: An Industry In Transition
Videoguys' NAB Wrap-Up: NAB2013 Coupon has been re-activated through 5/07/13 Order now at Videoguys.com and you may also use the NAB2013 coupon toward any pre-ordered item when you place your order by 5/07! Wow! I wasn't expecting this year's NAB to be so exciting. Our industry has gotten mature and so have the products. But, from the start of our dealer meetings on Sunday, I could tell that something big was happening, not a huge tidal wave of change, but several big waves rolling in one after another that would have a dramatic impact on the future of our industry. Each of these waves on their own is interesting. When you look at the convergence that is going on it adds up to very important and powerful changes that will shape the future of content creation. 1) 4K and Ultra HD are here When HD first came out we had 720p and 1080i. When asked which would ultimately win out, I said neither, our customers would want to turn it up to 11. Which at that time meant 1080p. Well if 1080p was 11, then 4k is more like 20. Not just because you get that much more resolution, but because the files are that much bigger and working with 4K, either compressed or uncompressed, is going to push current computer technology to the limit. We have a long way to go for cost effective 4K NLE workflows and deliverables. That said, just because it's expensive today, doesn't mean it won't be in a year or two. 4K is here and we'll be seeing much more of it in the future, so it is important that all content creators keep it on their radar. 2) Live Streaming and Post Production collide Newtek launched this category back in 2005 with the TriCaster. A remarkable product that has become the industry standard for live multi-camera streaming production. Now, the TriCaster has grown into a whole family of products starting at $5K. At NAB we saw several interesting products that will also go into this space. Grass Valley was showing the GV Director - a product that they're promoting as the world's first non-linear live production solution. GV was still working out the pricing, but from what we could gather it will start in the $35K range, with 8 inputs. Broadcast Pix was showing Flint, a $8,995 live production solution that really blew us away. We also saw both Streamstar and LiveStream with their own dedicated live streaming computers. Before NAB we introduced the Matrox VS4 bundled with Telestream Wirecast for under $2,500 or fully integrated into a turnkey solution by a Matrox certified system builder starting at around $5K. Live Video Streaming is affordable and not as complicated as you may think. We are talking to some of the streaming video service providers and we hope to be able to offer streaming services bundled together with our streaming hardware/software products in the very near future. 3) Thunderbolt is hitting full stride
4) Video Editors have more choices that are more affordable and powerful than ever before! Both Avid and Adobe had big time announcements and product demonstrations at the show. Avid launched Media Composer 7, at a new $999 price point and they are offering a FREE upgrade to anyone who purchases MC 6.5 between April 7th and product launch, targeted for late June. All I can say is Hallelujah, it's about time! Avid is the industry standard for video editing. If you are watching a Hollywood movie, or the latest series on cable or broadcast television, you can bet it was cut on an Avid. Every nominated Oscar film was, and so are the most watched shows on television. Avid had to move the price down on Media Composer to fight off the competition coming from Adobe and the always improving FCPX. We're glad they did. Now everyone can afford Avid, and if they invest the time and training, they can become and Avid editor! Adobe didn't launch a new version of anything, but they did give us sneak peek at new versions of everything! Adobe provided no time table on when or if CS Next would ship. What they did tell us was that everyone who subscribes to the Creative Cloud will get each new product update as they become available, no need to wait for the next official version of CS Next. This is big. We watched demos of the new features coming for Premiere Pro, After Effects, Prelude, Audition and Photoshop. If you have Creative Cloud, you can upgrade to them the instant they become available. Grass Valley Edius is gaining traction, especially in newsrooms. Many call letter stations are changing over to Edius. Edius is a full featured video editor that is very quick and efficient. It handles almost every HD format natively, and the Canopus HQ CODEC is a fantastic digital intermediary. We've been running a $299 crossgrade promotion on Edius and at NAB we worked with the folks at Grass Valley and had this program extended. Almost any video editing program qualifies for this crossgrade, from consumer titles like Premiere Elements or Pinnacle Studio up to professional NLEs like FCP, Media Composer & Adobe Premiere.
Videoguys' Top Products of NAB 2013 |
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G-Technology G-Drive Pro, G-Dock & G-Drive EV The folks over at G-Tech have done it again! I can't believe how powerful, affordable and cool their new line is of storage products! The G-Drive Pro is a 4TB Thunderbolt storage solution that delivers 480+ Megs/sec data transfers. This is simply amazing! No one at the show could figure out how they can deliver the same throughput as SSD drives at a fraction of the cost - just $849. Think about that, at around $400 for a 512GB SSD, you would need 8 drives for 4TB and that would run you well over $3,000!! G-Drive Pro 4TB is expected in May and we are now taking backorders. As Ian Andes, VP of sales for G-Tech explained on the NAB show floor "Fifteen minutes of 2K footage is just under 200GB of space, which would take over a half hour to transfer via FireWire800. With G-Drive Pro you can get that down to under 6 minutes. Now let's talk 4K. Fifteen minutes 4K footage takes almost 800GB of data, which would take over an hour and 50 minutes to transfer via FireWire800. With G-Drive Pro you can get that down to 36 minutes." G-Tech was also showing what they call the next evolution of storage. The G-DOCK ev - a Thunderbolt Expandable RAID storage solution with two removable hard drives. G-DOCK ev is a removable cartridge based Thunderbolt solution. G-DOCK connects to your computer via Thunderbolt and accepts two G-DRIVE ev cartridges that can be configured as JBOD, RAID-1 mirror or RAID-0 for maximum throughput. Each ev cartridge has both a SATA port for connecting to the G-DOCK and a USB3 port for use as a stand alone drive. G-Drive ev is a 2 1/2" media cartridge that gives you 136 Megs/sec on its own via USB3, or you can mount it into the G-DOCK, stripe the drives together as RAID-0 for over 250 Megs/sec. The G-Drive evPLUS is a slightly taller cartridge that gives you 250 Megs/sec, or a blistering 500 Megs/sec when striped RAID-0 in the G-DOCK! HOLY SMOKES, that's fast! The G-DOCK ev, which includes two 1TB G-DRIVE ev modules, will be available in May for an MSRP of $749.95. Designed as a flexible and scalable ecosystem, additional 500GB or 1TB G-DRIVE ev modules can be purchased separately for $149.95 and $199.95 MSRP, respectively. For increased performance the 1TB G-DRIVE ev PLUS modules can also be purchased separately for use with the G-DOCK ev with Thunderbolt. The G-DRIVE ev PLUS modules will be available this summer for $349.95 MSRP. Check out Post magazine's video interview with G-Technology at NAB 2013 |
G-Technology G-DRIVE Pro with Thunderbolt G-Technology G-DOCK ev with Thunderbolt (2TB) |
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Matrox Monarch HD Streaming Appliance The Matrox Monarch HD is a $999 stand alone streaming appliance. All you need is an internet connection. You set it up via a webpage interface, just as you would to configure your home router. At their dealer meeting demo, they were using an iPad to set up and control the Monarch HD. Now that is cool! The Monarch supports a wide range of streaming service providers, from free services like Ustream and Justin.TV up to high powered pay services like Wowza. The Monarch is more than just a streaming device, it also allows you to simultaneously capture the footage in stunning Blu-ray quality MPEG-4 files. You can record them directly onto SD cards via the integrated writer or attach USB drives via the two available USB ports. As Matrox VP of sales Frank Scartozzi said on the NAB show floor "Anything worth streaming is worth recording. With Monarch you can record your footage at the very highest quality MPEG-4 for either archiving, burning to disc or for editing later using your favorite NLE." |
Matrox Monarch HD Live Streaming Appliance |
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Avid Media Composer 7 Why did Avid drop the price - competition and the financial reality of today's economy. Over the past two years Avid has run several crossgrade promotions at $999 and when they did, sales went through the roof. Why limit this to just promotions? Let's make it the everyday price, so that everyone, everywhere can edit with Avid. We love it! To match the new pricing Avid also lowered the cost of upgrades.
Check out this Videoguys' Blog post with a collection of videos on Avid Media Composer7 What's new in Media Composer 7? Here's the quick list from Avid's website. We'll have more in depth information as we get closer to release.
ProTools 11 |
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Adobe CS Next Before we go into some of the new features, I think it's important to clarify just what CS Next is and isn't. As of today there is no such thing as CS7. That's not to say that someday there won't be a CS7 release, but Adobe has taken to a new path for product updates. Those Adobe users who subscribe to the Creative Cloud will get access to each new version and update as they become available from Adobe. It is then your choice if you want to install them or not. You won't have to wait for any formal CS7 release and you won't have to pay for any upgrades. So while it may take until the end of the year or beyond for Adobe to actually release new CS7 suites, Creative Cloud subscribers get instant access to the new updates as they roll out, because all updates, upgrades and new versions are included as part of your subscription. As an example, while Adobe may release the new Premiere Pro update this spring, they may not offer any upgrade for sale to existing CS6 owners until who knows when. Videoguys offers Adobe Creative Cloud for Teams for $599. Groups of five or more can save an additional 5%. If you are looking for even more seats, give us a call and we can review your needs and provide even bigger discounts. The big difference between Creative Cloud for teams and the individual Cloud is that Team gives you more storage per seat 100GB vs. 20GB, and you can manage how much space each user gets, as well as who your users are and what they have access to. Down the road, I can't imagine Adobe Anywhere being offered as part of the Individual Cloud since it is an enterprise based collaborative product. What's new in CS Next? Adobe Premiere Pro overview After Effects overview SpeedGrade overview Adobe Prelude overview Adobe Audition overview |
Adobe Creative Cloud You get the entire collection of CS6 tools and exclusive updates, along with lots of team-specific features that make working together — and managing licenses — easier than ever. All for one low price. Click here for the Videoguys FAQ |
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In addition to our Top NAB 2013 picks, we saw a bunch of new products and added some new vendors that we look forward to offering in the near future. Here's a run down for you, in no particular order: Teradek Another cool product from Teradek is the Bolt. The Teradek Bolt is a latency-free wireless transmission system that sends 4:2:2, 1080p60 video at up to 300ft. Bolt comes in two varieties; the unicast Bolt and the multicast Bolt Pro. We see this as a great solution for Live Streaming when you need to have a camera completely untethered. Bolt is available for HDMI starting at $1,490 or SDI starting at $1,990. AJA The good news was that the much anticipated and long awaited KiPro Quad is finally shipping! KiPro Quad is a new solid-state portable video recorder enabling true 4K camera-to-editorial workflows. Ki Pro Quad enables a breakthrough 4K/Quad HD/2K/HD workflow with the efficiencies of Apple ProRes and the flexibility of RAW data in a compact solid state recording and playback package that easily mounts directly onto a variety of cameras supporting workflow needs today and into the future. AJA did introduce a very cool new product called ROI, Region of Interest Mini-Converter. It's a DVI & HDMI to SDI scan converter with region of interest for $999. With incredible image scaling, extensive aspect ratio and frame rate conversion, and audio functionality ROI fulfills the growing need to properly incorporate computer signals into the video world without sacrificing budget or space. AJA also announced support for Avid Pro Tools 11 with the entire AJA line of KONA and Io products. AJA supports all of the SD & HD frame rates and resolutions that ProTools 11 currently utilizes through the Avid Video Engine. Avid customers can now utilize the same range of popular AJA I/O products supported by Media Composer, via the new Avid Video Engine in Pro Tools 11. Atomos At NAB Atomos also announced that they were lowering the price on their connect line of mini converters. Connect Converters are the ultimate conversion and test tools for anyone who needs to convert content from HDMI to HD-SDI (Connect H2S) or from HD-SDI to HDMI (Connect S2H). At $295 they are the perfect addition / must have solution to your live streaming productions. They also announced AC powered versions at the same low price. Matrox Matrox was also touting the VS4 four input streaming card for use with Telestream Wirecast. The VS4 Wirecast bundle will allow you to produce multi-camera live streaming events, with professional graphics transitions, titling and more. With the VS4 hardware you can not only stream live, you can record each video stream independently during the event, then bring them into your favorite NLE to edit them later. The VS4 now supports direct capture to DV, DVCPro, DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD as MOV files which you can then easily edit with Adobe, Apple or Avid editing solutions. Matrox would not commit to anything, but when I asked them about future support for DNxHD or ProRes, I did detect a slight grin on the product manager's face. Editshare Editshare also sells a wide range of shared storage solutions and media management tools. We're working with them to see if they have some solutions that would be a great fit for our customers in small workgroups, who need to collaborate and share files, but need it to work on a budget. When we get there, you know we'll be posting about it everywhere. Convergent Design Small Tree TitaniumZ-5 is a full featured, high-performance video editing shared storage appliance with advanced file sharing capabilities. TitaniumZ-5 is designed to enable video editors with limited resources to focus on the task of editing videos and meeting their schedule requirements. It's an all-in-one Ethernet-based shared storage solution with the networking and storage (5 drives) integrated within TitaniumZ-5’s portable & rugged case. The 10TB unit starts at around $7,500 with the 15TB at $8,500 and the 20TB at under $10K. axle Video axle Video is aiming to bring radical simplicity to media management for small and mid-sized workgroups. axle's software is designed to be installed and configured in less than an hour, and works with nearly all existing file systems and storage vendors. axle 2012 rev. 8 software is priced from $1,295 for 5 users. axle Gear is an integrated rackmount system that integrates browser - based media management with powerful transcode capabilities. The system incorporates two of Apple’s Mac mini 2.6GHz quad - core Intel i7 CPUs running in a tightly - coupled configuration to provide high - throughput processing of a wide range of media files. Up to 5 named users can log in to the system from any modern web browser; the system supports iPads, Windows PCs, and Macs as browser clients. axle Gear software/hardware appliance is priced from $6,995. Its a wrap! That wraps up our NAB2013 report. We have been posting a ton of articles and video on our blog from all over the web. Use keywords to find the specific NAB news that interests you.
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