News

Tutorials in the new EDIUS Basics series describe basic functionality of the Grass Valley EDIUS Pro 8 and Workgroup NLE applications.

The world is moving to 4K high dynamic range for streaming and digital broadcast. From the recent Apple TV 4K announcement, to existing 4K HDR services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and others, there is a rapidly growing need to create new high resolution, high dynamic range content. HDR gives you a much larger color palette and incredibly wide dynamic range so you can use color and light to help tell your story in new and exciting ways! URSA Mini and DaVinci Resolve are the perfect tools for a complete, end to end 4K dynamic range workflow. Together with Dolby and Moai Films, we’ve created a short video to show you how fast and easy it is to shoot, edit, and master Dolby Vision HDR content.

Sony has announced three new 4K HDR camcorders: the XDCAM PXW-Z90, the NXCAM HXR-NX80 and the Handycam FDR-AX700. Featuring Sony's Fast Hybrid AF system, all three palm camcorders combine a fast and reliable autofocus (AF) function adapted for shooting with a 1.0-type stacked Exmor RS CMOS image sensor, delivering stunning image clarity alongside a range of versatile shooting features. The new camcorders all support an instant HDR (High Dynamic Range) workflow, enabling users to produce HDR content with minimum post-production to suit a range of content creation scenarios and applications.

The Fast Hybrid AF system ensures highly accurate focusing and tracking during shooting, delivered by 273 phase-detection AF points that cover approximately 84% of the shooting area, high-density placement of autofocus points and a newly developed AF algorithm. This reduces the burden of focusing, especially when accurate focusing is required for shooting 4K films. In movie recording mode, the appearance of phase-detection AF frames indicates the focused area and easily allows users to monitor a subject that is in focus. The new camcorders feature a high-resolution OLED viewfinder (0.39-type OLED, 2,359k dots) and advanced touch screen operation, on the 3.5-type large LCD screen (1,555k dots), to allow users to quickly switch focus from one subject to another, while the AF Drive Speed, Tracking Depth Range and Subject Switching Sensitivity can all be configured as required for different subjects and content styles.

The new camcorders support 4K HDR recording with HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), offering an instant HDR workflow. This enables users to reduce the post-production work and produce high-quality HDR content without grading, which usually requires a highly skilled technique and specialist knowledge. They also have the following key technology features to support versatile shooting, including;

4K (3840 x 2160) full-pixel readout without pixel binning, using an enhanced BIONZ X image processing engine

Super Slow Motion recording up to 1000 fps in PAL resolution (without sound, 4K not supported), which is industry leading among palm categories and Slow & Quick Motion Full HD recording up to 100 fps in PAL (without sound)

S-Log3/S-Gamut3 capabilities for users to create and work with images as they desire

29mm7 (35EQ) wide-angle ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* 12x optical zoom lens and 18x Clear Image Zoom (18x in 4K, 24x in an HD mode)

Less image distortion (rolling shutter phenomenon), in comparison to conventional models when shooting subjects in motion

Workflow efficiency benefits such as Proxy recording, relay recording and simultaneous backup recording are also delivered thanks to the new camcorders' dual memory card slots and multi-camera operation capabilities supported by TC (time code)/UB (user bit). The three new camcorders also have REMOTE terminals, Multi-Interface Shoe, and HDMI Type A to ensure enhanced operability.

In addition to the above key features as series, the XDCAM PXW-Z90 and NXCAM HXR-NX80 also feature dual XLR audio input, a detachable handle, and access to Content Browser Mobile -- a supporting smartphone application to enable Wi-Fi monitoring, Camcorder remote control and optional wireless timecode sync between multiple cameras.

The PXW-Z90 also includes several features to suit broadcast-specific requirements including XAVC format recording, which provides high-quality images at 4:2:2 10 bit (HD) and 4:2:0 8 bit (QFHD) in addition to conventional broadcasting MPEG2HD9 format recording, 3G SDI connectivity for compatibility with existing broadcasting equipment, and networking functions to support news reporting, such as compatibility with XDCAM air, the Sony cloud-based ENG subscription service.

NXCAM HXR-NX80 and Handycam FDR-AX700 adopt XAVC S10, an extended format of XAVC for consumer use which can record high-defined 4K2 films.

The XDCAM PXW-Z90, NXCAM HXR-NX80 will be available in December and Handycam FDR-AX700 will be available in October.

Boris FX released a major new version of its flagship plug-in collection Continuum (formerly BCC). Building upon the previous award-winning release, Continuum 11 delivers even more powerful chroma keying and compositing tools, new streamlined titling options, and a new VR Unit for 360/VR editing and finishing tasks. The set integrates Photron's Academy Award-nominated keying algorithm and toolset Primatte, giving editors access to the same revolutionary keying tools used in blockbuster films like the Lord of the Rings series, Spider-Man, and the Harry Potter series.

The new Continuum VR Unit fills a much-needed gap in the burgeoning 360 video industry, by complementing Adobe's recent immersive initiatives and providing Avid Media Composer with a 360 finishing workflow. The Continuum VR Unit is the result of a collaboration with the award-winning Mocha VR development team and features five new filters, including VR Reorient, VR Insert, and VR Sharpen, that drastically reduce the often laborious post and VFX tasks related to 360/VR video. Continuum 11 is now available for Avid (Avid Media Composer, Symphony, and NewsCutter) and Adobe (Adobe After Effects CC and Adobe Premiere Pro CC) host applications. Continuum 11 for OFX and Apple will be released later this year.



Continuum 11: New Features

Primatte Studio: Based on Photron’s Academy Award-nominated Primatte green/blue screen compositing algorithm, Primatte Studio is a powerful, next-gen keying and compositing feature. Highlights include: automatic green/blue screen analysis, manual transparency tuning, adjust lighting to correct unevenly lit screens, foreground object detection to deliver a perfect key with a single color sample, and integrated Mocha masking. Primatte Studio is included in Continuum’s Key and Blend Unit.

Broadcast Safe: The new Broadcast Safe filter guarantees a project will pass rigorous broadcast-safe standards with a simple one-click solution. Choose the desired standard option and the filter automatically produces the final picture-perfect result. Broadcast Safe is included in Continuum’s Image Restoration Unit.

VR Unit: The new VR Unit gives 360/VR editors highly-useful tools, including VR Reorient, VR Insert, VR Blur, VR Sharpen filters, and VR Flicker Fixer, to work quickly inside their host timeline while also avoiding the seams inherent to regular non-VR filters. Based on Mocha VR’s award-winning 360/VR tech.

Title Studio: New improvements to Title Studio include a 3D render engine for realistic 3D cast shadows and depth-of-field, a spline-based motion path for animating multiple objects on one path, faster performance, a simplified user interface, and many more presets/templates. Title Studio is included in Continuum’s 3D Objects Unit.

The following certified SSDs are recommended for use with the URSA Mini SSD Recorder when shooting on the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro.

The following SSDs are recommended for 4.6K Lossless RAW up to 30p
Angelbird Pro XT 1TB

Samsung 850 PRO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 4TB

Sony G series Professional SSD SVGS48 480GB

The following SSDs are recommended for 4.6K ProRes 444XQ up to 30p
Angelbird Pro XT 1TB

Samsung 850 PRO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 4TB

Sony G series Professional SSD SVGS48 480GB

Western Digital WD Blue 1TB

The following SSDs are recommended for 2160p ProRes 422 HQ up to 60 fps
Angelbird Pro XT 1TB

Crucial MX300 2TB

Samsung 850 PRO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB

Samsung 850 EVO 4TB

SanDisk SDSSDP-064G 64GB

Sony G series Professional SSD SVGS48 480GB

Western Digital WD Blue 1TB

Wise Cinema 240GB CMS-0240 240GB



Important notes about SSD speed

Some SSD models cannot save video data at the speed the manufacturer claims. This is due to the disk using hidden data compression to attain higher write speeds. This data compression can only save data at the manufacturer’s claimed speed when storing data such as blank data or simple files. Video data includes video noise and pixels which are more random so compression will not help, therefore revealing the true speed of the disk.

Some SSDs can have up to 50% lower write speed than the manufacturer’s claimed speed. So even though the disk specifications claim an SSD has speeds fast enough to handle video, in reality the disk is not fast enough when used to store video data for real time capture.

Use the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your SSD will be able to handle high data rate video capture and playback. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you get results similar to what you will see when capturing video to a disk. During Blackmagic Design’s testing, we have found newer, larger SSD models and larger capacity SSDs are generally faster.