• Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015
Framestore deploys Vicon T40 cameras for pre-visualization of "Paddington"
This image released by The Weinstein Company shows a scene from "Paddington." (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company)
OXFORD, UK -- 

Vicon, the motion capture technology specialist for the entertainment, engineering and life science industries, announced that its T-Series motion capture cameras were used on the recent feature film version of Paddington.

Paddington, directed by Paul King and co-written by original creator Michael Bond, was released in the U.S. on January 16 and held the number one spot at the U.K. box office for two consecutive weeks. The film follows Peruvian bear, Paddington voiced by Ben Whishaw, as he journeys to London and finds a new home with Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins).

Framestore employed Vicon’s T40 optical camera system to explore the movement of Paddington bear during the pre-production and pre-visualization stages. The system provided the animation team with real-time feedback and allowed them to visualize and develop the interactions between the cast and the animated bear.

“The Vicon cameras enabled us to act out entire scenes in real time during the pre-vizualisation stages. This provided us with the flexibility to guide the creative process and produce key poses and illustrate movement with greater accuracy. Using the system gave the team instant feedback on what scenarios were working well in a shot, and also how the timing and performance of the different mocap performers vastly affected the character of the bear - ultimately advancing the character development of Paddington," said Gary Marshall, motion capture supervisor at Framestore.

“We’re very proud to have been involved with the development of such an iconic character,’ said Imogen Moorhouse, CEO, Vicon. ‘It’s great to see the lovable Paddington Bear bought to life by Framestore with the help of Vicon technology.”

  • Monday, Jan. 19, 2015
Czech Television upgrades to Pablo Rio for color correction
Quantel's Pablo Rio system
NEWBURY, UK -- 

State broadcaster Czech Television has upgraded one of its long-serving Quantel eQ finishing systems to a turnkey Pablo Rio 4K system. Pablo Rio will be used for high quality color and finishing of Czech Television’s episodic TV programs and local movie productions. The Czech Television network includes channels, CT 1, CT 2, CT 24, CT sport, CT :D, and CT art.

Pablo Rio is Quantel’s high quality color and finishing system that provides productive post workflow. Pablo Rio runs on high performance PC hardware and exploits NVIDIA Maximus multi-GPU technology to deliver true interactivity and maximum productivity, with realtime performance at 4K 60p and beyond. Pablo Rio is available as software only and as a range of Quantel-backed turnkey systems.

Ivo Ferkl, Czech TV technical director, said, “The system will provide us with future-proof technology, not just for HD services, but at 4K and beyond.”

Martin Mulligan, Quantel sales director, said, “Czech TV and Quantel have had a long-standing relationship since the mid-1990s so we are delighted they have once again chosen to make such a significant investment in our post technology as they look ahead to a 4K future.”

  • Monday, Jan. 19, 2015
Inaugural Director’s Award, WIF Product Grant to be presented at Slamdance & Sundance
ROCHESTER, NY -- 

Kodak will once again support the independent filmmaking community at the Slamdance and Sundance Film Festivals, which run concurrently in Park City, Utah, beginning later this week.

At Slamdance, the inaugural KODAK Director’s Award will be presented on Jan. 29 during the festival’s awards ceremony. The winner, who will be chosen by a jury of Slamdance judges, will receive a Kodak Product grant valued at $10,000.

Over on Main Street at the Sundance Film Festival, Women In Film (WIF) will present a Kodak Product grant for 5,000 feet of film as part of their Women In Film/The Incentives Office Grant on Jan.  25. This award--chosen by a jury of educators, filmmakers and artists from WIF--is presented to a female director in the Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program.

“These two festivals showcase innovative filmmakers who bring fresh ideas and a new perspective to the screen every year, and Kodak is dedicated to supporting their art,” says Andrew Evenski, president and general manager for Entertainment & Commercial Films at Kodak . “Motion picture film plays an important role in the indie community, giving these unique storytellers the creative freedom and option to tell their stories as they envisioned.”

Many films screening at Sundance were produced on Kodak Film, including A Walk in the Woods (Dir Ken Kwapis, DP John Bailey, ASC); Christmas, Again (Dir Charles Poekel, DP Sean Price Williams); Digging for Fire (Dir Joe Swanberg, DP Ben Richardson); I Smile Back (Dir Adam Salky, DP Eric Lin); Mississippi Grind (Dirs Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, DP Andrij Parekh); and Umrika (Dir Prashant Nair, DP Petra Korner), among others. At Slamdance, Tired Moonlight (Dir Britni West, DP Adam Ginsberg) chose Kodak film, alongside several shorts in the lineup.

  • Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015
Google to stop consumer sales of Glass to redesign device
GoogleGlass (AP file photo)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- 

Google will stop selling its Internet-connected eyewear to consumers until the company can develop a more polished and affordable version that's less likely to be viewed as a freakish device.

The sales moratorium on the nearly 2-year-old "Explorer" edition of Google Glass goes into effect Jan. 19. The decision announced Thursday coincides with Glass' spin-off from the secretive Google X lab where it was invented.

Glass will now operate in a division run by veteran marketing executive Ivy Ross. She will report to Tony Fadell, who runs the smart-appliance maker Nest Labs that Google bought for $3.2 billion last year.

Glass is a hands-free device featuring a thumbnail-sized screen above the wearer's right eye. It cost $1,500 and raised privacy concerns for its potential to secretly take pictures and videos.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015
Cinedeck, axle Video roll out SetMeUp
SetMeUp
NEW YORK -- 

Cinedeck and axle Video have launched SetMeUp, a complete, pre-packaged, cost-effective HD and 4K/UHDTV on-set workflow solution enabling acquisition/playback, radically simple media management and ingest storage for live and episodic broadcast TV production.

A solution for the approaching TV pilot season, SetMeUp is built into a convenient, wheeled, rackmount enclosure, and includes everything needed to capture, playback, store and manage HD and 4K/UHDTV video content on-set. With these capabilities, SetMeUp delivers an ultra-fast and easily affordable gateway from production-to-editorial, and frees production teams from the traditional expense and lock-in of proprietary systems.

The main components of SetMeUp are:

• Cinedeck ZX – a modular, on-set 4K/UHDTV-1/HD/SD record/playback platform with four simultaneous record channels and native encoding to ProRes, DNx, XDCAM, AVC-I, or virtually any other codec and wrapper. Cinedeck’s ingest channels also automatically create H.264 proxy files that are used for instant browsing in axle Gear Pro.

• axle Gear Pro media management system – offers browser-based cataloging, search, review and approval via a simple user interface. Axle’s easy and intuitive user-interface and storage-first approach mean the on-set team will be instantly familiar with how media is stored and managed, and no training is required.

• Ingest storage – SetMeUp comes configured with 18TB of storage optimized for capturing incoming media. The Cinedeck ZX is configured with 2TB SSD storage (with an 8TB option) for immediate capture, regardless of any network connectivity, while the axle Gear Pro is configured with 16TB of usable RAID10 NAS storage for longer-term capture and management of media.

These SetMeUp components are mounted in an easily-transportable rack case to simplify on-set deployment, along with a wide variety of support gear. This includes a powerful Gigabit Ethernet network switch, with 12 open ports, for the attachment of workstations, additional storage, routers, audio and wireless equipment, and a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to handle intermittent loss of power.

The SetMeUp system makes media instantly available, while keeping native assets secure and easily searchable. It delivers seamlessly to non-linear editing systems from Apple (FCP7, FCPX), Adobe (Premiere Pro CC, Prelude CC, and Anywhere distributed editing solutions) and Avid (Media Composer).

The system also includes open rack space, Gigabit network interfaces and power connections to accommodate two types of optional integrated storage: editing and archival. Supported editing storage options include Facilis Terrablock, Avid ISIS 5500, SmallTree GraniteStor and DDP Dynamic Drive Pool disk arrays. Archival options include QNAP and SpectraLogic Verde NAS appliances, XenData SX-10 LTFS appliances and IBM LTFS tape libraries.

SetMeUp is available for purchase from resellers starting at $59,950, for rental at rates from $8,000 per month. There is also a range of lease-to-buy options and additional configurations include 10GB Ethernet connectivity. All configurations are available immediately. Axle Video and Cinedeck will demonstrate SetMeUp at a customer event to be held in February.

  • Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015
EditShare hires Martin Bennett as EMEA marketing director
Martin Bennett
BASINGSTOKE, UK -- 

EditShare, a supplier of media management solutions for broadcast and production industries, has appointed Martin Bennett to serve as EMEA marketing director. The hire reinforces the company’s continued drive to grow business across the region after expanding its sales operation during 2014.

Martin has worked in the media business for 20 years, having previously held senior leadership positions with leading technology manufacturers and resellers including Avid Technology, Digital Vision and Tyrell CCT.

“It’s a great time to be joining EditShare as it takes new technology to market and expands it operations within Europe and across the world,” said Bennett. “The company has built up a fantastic range of solutions, such as its Flow MAM platform, that have been quietly taking market share and allowing customers to manage content and collaborate across complex projects. It’s part of my role to make sure even more customers understand the key benefits EditShare can bring to their own workflows.”

EditShare offers networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the postproduction, TV, and film industries. EditShare’s products include video capture and playout servers, high-performance central shared storage, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks, which is billed as the first three-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

  • Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015
NUGEN Audio releases 3 audio toolkits for music producers, engineers
NUGEN Audio's Master Pack
LEEDS, UK -- 

NUGEN Audio has released Producer Pack, Master Pack, and Mix Tools, three new product bundles tailored to music industry producers, mix engineers, and mastering professionals. Each toolset provides a custom selection of NUGEN’s audio plug-ins to deliver functionality tailored to the specifics of each craft.

“We recognize the need to make customized solutions according to our clients’ requirements for each aspect of their production process. Last year we launched Stereo Pack, a highly accessible and configurable toolset for stereo image enhancement. These new toolsets are unique solutions designed to encompass a much wider range of applications for music industry professionals. They incorporate our newly introduced plug-ins — MasterCheck SEQ-S and the latest version of Visualizer,” said Jon Schorah, founder and creative director, NUGEN Audio. “With Producer Pack, Master Pack, and Mix Tools, we’ve consulted hundreds of audio professionals and studied very meticulously how to meet the specific requirements of mix engineers and mastering pros while also providing high value.”

Combining seven world-class plug-ins, NUGEN Audio’s Producer Pack augments the mix and mastering suite with essential tools producers need to create top-quality audio from start to finish. Producer Pack includes:
• Visualizer, providing indispensable audio analysis for quality audio production with a standardized reference set of professional tools managed via a unique, intelligent window.
• ISL, a true-peak limiter that enables audio engineers to listen to true-peak-compliant audio “in place” without needing to check louder sections separately for traditional limiter artifacts and true-peak compliance.
• SEQ-S, an all-new and uniquely powerful EQ for sonic sculpting and EQ matching up to 7.1, with linear phase technology that delivers transparency without phase smearing and provides sharp transients.
• MasterCheck, a new tool from NUGEN Audio that demystifies loudness-normalized playout on streaming services such as iTunes® and Spotify. MasterCheck enables producers to mix and master music utilizing maximum dynamic range for each streaming platform.
• Stereoizer, offering a full range of stereo image enhancement capabilities, from gentle width adjustments to huge dynamic ambiences. Stereoizer offers full mono compatibility without unwanted artifacts.
• Stereoplacer, delivering pan control for the 21st century. Stereoplacer allows frequency-specific stereo placement using unique stereo-positioning technology, offering precise control that is not available within a traditional mix setup.
• Monofilter, a low-frequency management tool that enables producers to sharpen and define their bass to provide the foundation for real power and definition.

Master Pack is a professional-grade mastering package with five plug-ins assembled specifically for the needs of mastering engineers. Master Pack brings groundbreaking functionality including low frequency management, stereo correction, pristine limiting, and a full suite of audio analysis tools and playout delivery measures. Master Pack plugins include Visualizer, ISL, MasterCheck, Stereoplacer, and Monofilter.

Mix Tools delivers the big sound professionals strive for. Designed to provide essentials for use in the mix process, Mix Tools includes Stereoizer, Monofilter, and Visualizer for stereo image enhancement, bass management, and comprehensive audio analysis. Mix Tools offers mix engineers deeper control, sonic enhancement, and diagnostic support at any stage of the production process, leading to increased quality and efficiency in any project.

  • Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015
Apple camera patent gives GoPro stock jitters
GoPro camera
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- 

Apple has patented a new design for a digital video camera that could potentially compete with the rugged portable cameras made by GoPro, a move that sent GoPro's stock tumbling.

GoPro shares dropped more than 12 percent on Tuesday after reports of the new patent surfaced on tech blogs and financial wires.

Apple has not announced any plans for the patent, which covers a design for a remote-controlled, digital camera that can be attached to a helmet, surfboard or scuba mask.

But as first reported by the blog "Patently Apple," the company's application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says Apple's design improves on aspects of GoPro's camera. Apple says GoPro's camera "can cause excessive wind resistance and presents a high profile that is more susceptible to damage."

Representatives for Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, California, and GoPro Inc., based in San Mateo, California, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Patent office records show Apple first applied in 2012 for the patent, which was granted Tuesday.

But one tech analyst cautioned against reading too much into the filing. "Apple develops and patents lots and lots of technology all the time. Only a fraction of it ever sees the light of day in commercial products," said Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research, who tracks consumer tech products.

Apple already has developed sophisticated camera technology for its iPhones and iPads, added Dawson, who said he doubts the company would want to sell a stand-alone camera unless it could be tied in with Apple's broader family of products and services.

Still, the news seemed to make some GoPro investors nervous.

"Anytime Apple enters a market, it can be bad news for existing players," Dawson noted.

Go Pro's shares ended down $6.91 to $49.87.

Apple shares gained 97 cents, or slightly less than 1 percent, closing at $110.22.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015
Genstar Capital to acquire Telestream
Dan Castles, co-founder/CEO, Telestream
NEVADA CITY, Calif. -- 

Private equity investment firm Genstar Capital has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Telestream, Inc, a provider of live and on-demand digital video tools and workflow solutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed as both companies are privately held. The transaction is expected to close mid-January.

Telestream will continue to operate as an independent entity with existing management teams continuing their current roles. Headquarters will remain in Nevada City, California with offices in Virginia, San Francisco Bay Area and Germany.

“Genstar’s mid-market focus and deep expertise in the software industry will enable Telestream to further accelerate our growth,” said Dan Castles, Telestream’s co-founder and CEO. “Over the past several years, Telestream has experienced its most significant growth. We look forward to our new partnership with Genstar as we increase our investment in existing products, accelerate our reach into new customer verticals and fuel our next phase of development through additional M&A activity. Our product portfolio and business models are well suited for the Genstar environment.”

Eli Weiss, a managing director of Genstar, said the acquisition “is consistent with our strategy of investing in vertical market software companies. Telestream is a leader in its market and has posted profitable growth since its founding. As even more content is generated and viewed on more devices, we believe the company will continue its demonstrated growth trajectory, and we will support Telestream’s experienced and successful management team to expand organic growth via new product releases and pursue add-on acquisitions.” 

Telestream’s growth and profitability has consistently outpaced the market and has been achieved both organically and through strategic acquisitions. The company’s product line includes media processing platform Vantage, live production and streaming software Wirecast, and its new video playback and inspection tool Switch. 

  • Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015
Rickard Öhrn joins ChyronHego as COO
Rickard Öhrn
MELVILLE, NY -- 

Rickard Öhrn has joined ChyronHego as chief operating officer. Öhrn brings a 20-year career in executive-level business management to ChyronHego, where he is responsible for the company’s global operations and business growth in EMEA. Öhrn is based in Stockholm and reports directly to ChyronHego president and CEO Johan Apel.

ChyronHego (NASDAQ: CHYR) is a leader in broadcast graphics creation, playout, and real-time data visualization with a wide range of products and services for live television, news, and sports production. Joining forces in 2013 with over 80 years of combined industry expertise, Chyron and Hego Group offer award-winning solutions--such as the TRACAB™ player tracking system and the end-to-end BlueNet™ graphics workflow--under the collective ChyronHego brand. Headquartered in Melville, New York, the company also has offices in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining ChyronHego, Öhrn served as CEO of Research and Analysis of Media (RAM), a research and marketing firm for the media industry with close to 1,000 customers in 17 countries. As CEO, he led the business to achieve a 20 percent profit margin. Prior to RAM, Öhrn served as chief operating officer for Svenska Tracab AB, a ChyronHego partner at that time and a leader in real-time digital player-tracking technology for arena-based sports. He also previously founded and served as CEO of two Swedish management consulting firms, Novocap Management and Borneo Management Consulting, and was CEO and founder of Active Time Investment Ltd., a Hong Kong-based investment firm that established the first online poker gaming site in Russia.

He holds a degree in French from the Université de Savoie in France and a degree in Economics from Lund University in Sweden, and has completed courses in marketing and project management from Sweden’s RMI Berghs School of Advertising and Marketing.

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