Here's my top 10:
1. AJA Ki Pro:
- record 10-bit, 4:2:2, full raster, intra-frame data in the field no matter what camera youre shooting with. It can work with cameras with HD-SDI and cross/upconvert cameras with HDMI or analog outputs. Now you dont have to drag your IOHD and workstation into the field with you to avoid in-camera compression. 'Lens to Post' is the new AJA workflow.
Oh, and did I mention you can control the GUI with your Iphone? (!)
2. Panasonic HPX300:
- technically this camera was announced and started to ship right before NAB, but most people hadnt really seen it till NAB. Going along the way of full raster 10-bit aquisition, its the first AVC-Intra native camera thats in the sub $10K price range. (look for it to come in around $8500 w/ 17X Fuji lens). The HPX300 is killer in low-light, and also adds in some features normally found in higher end cameras like slot-in audio receiver capability and Proxy-recording to SD card (an awesome dailies option)
3. JVC HM700
- this was another announcement right before the show, but it didnt start shipping until April. JVC finally embraces an on-board tapeless format with the 700. Users have the option of shooting pre-wrapped 35Mb/s QT's to SDHC cards for FCP workflows. Or, they can get the optional SxS recorder which allows XDCAM EX recordings to SxS or SDHC (better for Avid workflows). This cam would be a prime candidate for use with the Ki-Pro as users can record 4:2:0 backups direct to SDHC at the same time as they shoot Intra-frame 4:2:2 to the Ki Pro.
4. Matrox MAX Technology
- Matrox intro'd a whole new H264 encoding acceleration technology with MAX. In its base form, its a PCIE card that sits in your mac or PC and exponentially increases your encoding of Blu-ray, Ipod/Itunes, and Flash encoding:
- the hardware encoder is also available via the Matrox MXO2, MXO2 Rack or the newly introduced MXO Mini
5. Newtek Tricaster XD300
- aka the Tricaster HD, which is the long-awaited HD box from the mega-popular all-in-one production switcher. The gui has been updated and there a bunch of enhancements to the virtual sets. Look for the unit to ship later this year for under $15K.
6. Facilis 4.0 w/ File level locking:
- theres not really a good pic to display a upgrade to a file system. But this upgrade is really something to look at. Until now, if you wanted a true file level SAN, you had to fork over the mega bucks for Avid Unity or the mega bucks and mega IT infrastructure of XSAN. Now you can have Read and Write access to any shared volume on any workstation without having to deal with the permissions issues of a volume level system. The file level upgrade will be shipping very soon for the PC and later this summer for the Mac.
http://www.facilis2.com/
7. Sonnet QIO:
- I wish I had a better pic for this guy. Its a simple box, that connects via express 34 to your laptop and gives you 2 P2 Slots, 2 SxS slots and 2 Compact Flash slots. It also has a built in eSata hub w/ port multipliers so you can connect external eSata storage like Sonnets nifty little F2. Ever since the duel adapters started having issues with OSX, P2 users have been looking for a new inexpensive P2 offloading-in-the-field solution. Look for it to come in under $1K.
8. Blackmagic UltraScope
- Blackmagic released a ton of new products at the show, but I think the Ultrascope is the coolest. Post facilities are always looking for inexpensive ways to bring hardware based scopes into their facilities, now for $695 you can get a card w/ software that can live in a basic off-the-shelf PC. Just connect a regular DVI monitor for the interface and now you have a hardware scope that can live in the edit suite or in the control room.
9. Cache-A LTO4 Prime Cache
A start-up company called Cache-A licensed the LTO3A technology from Quantum and have released updated appliances which use 800GB LTO4 tapes. These units can operate via FTP like the older Quantums, but they can also talk to storage directly from USB or express34. The box "caches" all directories to a local hard drive before dumping to LTO, thus preserving the info for future organization and searching. Definitely cool stuff for facilities shooting alot of tapeless media and looking for reliable long term archiving.
10. Arri Locaster LED Light:
Arri released several LED lights to compete with the Lite Panels Mini-plus. I cant seem to find a good pic of one at the moment, but the unit felt rock solid and is fully dimmable. Color temps have hard switches and can be adjusted incrementaly from 2800 to 6500. The bundled kit should list for around $1800
Honorable Mention:
- Panasonic releases E-Series P2 Cards! The new P2 cards come in at under $1K for a 64GB card and $450 for a 16GB card. They are less expensive cause they're life is limited to approx 5 years. (The specs say one run per day for 5 years, so I suppose thats 1825 uses.) when you get down to approx 200 uses the camera will give you a on-screen warning. You'll also be able to track the lifespan of your cards via the new P2 Formatter software provided by Panasonic.
Future award goes to JVC who showed a prototype 4K camera that fed to a live 4K display! The camera had no on board controls and a Nikon mount. Control was sent using an attached CCU. Word from someone at JVC is that this camera is going to be developed for live IMAG and 4K presentation instead of cinema applications.
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