How to get HD output from the IO HD in COLOR

Silicon Color probably never figured someone would want to work on seven layers of Color correction secondaries with a laptop, so they didnt work in support for Firewire connected devices with their original software. Since Apple purchased and re branded the software 'Color' they have since figure out a way to get SD devices to output. So, for now, the versatile AJA IO HD is only active in 525 10-bit as an option for output in Color.

Until now!

Sorta.

Here's the workaround:

1) Set the video output to be 525i29.97 10-bit in the Color
preferences.


2) From the AJA Control Panel>Format tab, you select the Primary as 525i
29.97, then the secondary as either 720p 59.94 or as 1080i 29.97. Also
within the Format tab, set the Upconversion to "Zoom Letterbox"


If you use this method you will get playback of the HD
material on an HD monitor. The output is scaled by Color for SD, then
re-scaled to the correct size - full HD resolution - by the IoHD.

This workflow was concocted by the tech support dudes at AJA. It definitely works as shown so now theres no reason not to master your film from your laptop!

Texas Production Roundup 2008!

This Post NAB Tradeshow will be on:

Tuesday, May 13
8:00 AM - 6:00 PM at the
Richardson Civic Center
411 W.Arapaho Rd. Richardson Texas 75080

Pre-Register HERE


PRODUCTS REPRESENTED THIS YEAR
Adobe
AJA
Apple
Avid
Bogen
Broadcast Pix
Canon
Cartoni
Dulce Systems
Data Video
Facilis Terrablock
Grass Valley/ Canopus
JVC
Lacie
Matrox
Newtek
Petroff Matte boxes
PAG
Panasonic
Quantum
Rimage
Sennheiser
Sonnet Tech
Sony
Telescript


Admission is free!

AJA IO HD in action on set with the RED ONE

This was on the set of David Maddox's webisode pilot, REEL DUDES (this scene shot at the luxurious offices of Videotex Systems). David's newly acquired RED had a problem with its HD-SDI output that was feeding his Panasonic BTLH1700. So in a pinch, his trusty IO HD was taken out of video village and strapped to the jib. The IO HD was set to input passthrough mode and fed HDMI straight through HD-SDI to the monitor. If you try this at home make sure you make a user setting that can be called up quickly and try not to power down the IOHD, cause if you do you must hook your Macbook Pro back up to it to reset your settings.



Here's where the second IO HD was put into commission, back over in the offload station where compact flash cards containing RED Code and QT proxies were offloaded onto two separate GRAID's. The 1K proxies were imported into FCP to test for QC. The IOHD was able to feed the timeline back out to the JVC 24" HD-SDI monitor in real time with the correct image ratio. (make sure you set your timeline for "unlimited"). According to AJA, the current drivers are not 100% ready for this proxy playback, but nonetheless it seemed to work. AJA does have some new drivers coming out soon that will officially have support for RED files for 2K and 1080 playback.

Randomness at NAB

I found myself drooling over this new made-for-the-RED zoom lens from legendary glass crafters Angenieux:




it ships in September for under $20K

The award for Best Swag has to go the Quantum for balsa wood airplanes, complete with wind-up propellers!


Quantum's Pro Video 'A' series drives have justifiably met a common workflow need for facilities who have transitioned to tapeless acquisition. The LTO-3A sits on your network, is accessed like an FTP site and can R/W to inexpensive 400GB tapes at about 65MB/s. Its definitely the next step up in archiving once you get sick of buying off-the-shelf-Firewire-drives.

and last but not least: If you must stay at a cheap hotel in Vegas, you might as well stay at the Imperial Palace (or as the insiders call it: the "IP")
They have some pretty strict rules concerning what you can and can't do on their balconies:

NAB Wrap up!

so heres my Post NAB wrap up:

APPLE: They werent technically on the floor but they had a huge presence in virtually everyones booth. Just about every company showing cameras, tapeless workflows, storage, data management, I/O hardware, FX plugs and encoding were showing Final Cut and sometimes Final Cut Server as well. Apple also conducted several behind scenes seminars and meetings on XSAN 2.0, the Promise VRAID's and Final Cut Server. Final Cut is unquestionably the NLE in command of the greater market.

AVID: Avid also somehow managed to turn around their negative buzz by announcing all new hardware I/O solutions on the first day of the show. The MOJO DX, The Composer Nitris DX and the Symphony Nitris DX (all bundled with Software for $10K, 15K, and $36K respectively, the Symphony Nitrix DX includes the 8-core Workstation)
I think the MOJO DX is in the right price camp for alot of Avid users... yes, its still more expensive than buying a FCP/KONA LHE... but so was the Avid Xpress Pro/MOJO bundle which had RCA connections and only output SD (!). Avid users are willing to pay a bit of a premium, but not too much. SD/HDI and HDMI are all good things, plus Avid annnounced support for 64-bit Vista in June. The new Avid boxes were present in Panasonic's booth as well as a few other hardware booths... There was some good floor buzz going with people asking where they could see the new Avid stuff.

ADOBE: No realy new product announcements, but they did show Premiere Pro 3.2 with native XDCAM workflow (no transcoding). Also, they were the only major NLE platform with an actual booth on the floor. Adobe also got a bump from AJA as they announced drivers that will work with KONA cards on the Mac. (in addition to the XENA cards for PC)

PANASONIC: Showed new 2/3" P2 Varicams; one in the old 1280 pixel count and a new one with 1920 native res. Neither have been officially priced or are ready to ship. The other fairly big announcement is the HVX170, which has the same lens as the HVX200A, but in a slightly smaller form factor, also HD-SDI out, the 5-year P2 Warranty and no DV tape mechanism. Word on the street is that it will be out in September.


JVC: Showed new HD-SDI switchers (apparantly there wasnt already enough to choose from), and a new attachable back for the HD200 cameras that will allow HDV recording to generic SD cards! Also, no flimsy firewire connection.



SONY: Had alot of traffic around the new EX3 camera, which is like the EX1 but with interchangeable lenses and studio connections like Genlock, TC and a control protocol. They may be trying to enter JVC's HD250 market on low cost HD studios.

The general trends at the show were data management and workflow enhancements; meta-data cataloging, full tapeless workflows and archiving. Only Sony was promoting Tape decks at all. (Im not sure if I saw a DVCPRO HD deck anywhere) Several companies besides Apple showed workflow automation programs like Final Cut Server; some of which include: CatDV; SNS PostMap; and both Editshare and Gridiron have new products called FLOW.

Another thing I wanted to quickly mention was the Matrox MXO2, which offers a full slew of In and out connections for FCP. It will come with a express card adapter and a PCIE workstation card for dual use. Plus it has a 4-pin XLR connection for easy connection to field power like Anton Bauer or IDX. This is something that IOHD users have been requesting for awhile. The MXO2 (which looks mysteriously like the MOJO DX.... hmmm) is gonna come in an attractive $1595. This could be the product that brings Matrox back into the mainstream.

NAB 2008 Preview!

NAB starts On Monday and here is who is in charge of the buzz:

1. Apple & Avid - wait, what? huh? somehow even though nether of these companies will actually have a regular booth, both will have huge presence all over the south hall. Apple will be showing XSAN 2, the Promise VRAID and the (finally shipping) Final Cut Server. Avid has PROMISED a major product announcement for Monday morning. What will it be? new hardware? new software? my vote is inexpensive I/O for Media Composer. (or maybe just HD output)
Final Cut will be present in plenty of booths... the big hot button this year is media management, archiving and workflow.

2. Matrox: theyre promising a product announcement at the show. My guess is AXIO compatibility with Premiere on the Mac.

3. AJA: they've got the I/O for the industry down pat with FCP, Premiere and Autodesk in their camp. Whose left but Avid? Also, look for new mini-Converters and functionality with the FS1.

4.Blackmagic: im sure there will be something.. just not sure what yet.

5. Grass Valley/ Canopus: a new converter that takes in HDMI and converts it to HDV for injest. Good alternative for people looking at the Intensity, but needing a portable solution.

6. Panasonic: look at the DVX100B replacement, the AG-HMC150 which will record AVCHD. Also take a look see at the new BTLH 17" monitor with 120 hz, waveform and vectorscope!

7. JVC: The HD200 camera now has the ability to output both 720P and 1080i from the FW port. Also look for more integration with Firestores. As a side note: Focus Enhancements will have a refresh on their Firestore line as well as new products for Media Management and archiving for Final Cut Pro workflows.

8. Canon: new versions of the XL H1 and the XH A1.. the big one I see is embedded audio over HD-SDI on the XL H1 (Finally)

9. Autodesk: new features and announcements for Toxik. Maybe third party hardware integration?

10. 8GB Fiber Channel: just when you decided that dual 4GB fiber wasn't quite fast enough. Check out ATTO, Ciprico, G-Tech and Facilis's booth for implementations.

11. Sachtler: wait, how did they make it onto this list? the SOOM multi-purpose tripod has the most buzz ever seen by a tripod.

this is far from a complete list... more coming soon!

Betamax to HD-DVD Converter

buy one here!


Awesome! I think everyone needs one of these. Plus its Bi-directional! Convert your HD-DVD's to betamax for long term storage!
Plus it uses electricity, and comes with a freakin sweet remote.