News

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced the Cintel Film Scanner was used by Cinema Arts, a subsidiary of the Vasallo Vision Group, to restore more than 20 Mexican film classics for distribution on Spanish-speaking channels Cine Nostalgia and Cine Estelar.

 

Also owned and operated by the Vasallo Vision Group, Cine Nostalgia and Cine Estelar feature a number of movie genres, including comedy, classic western, drama and action from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, streamed in HD over cable platforms DirectTV, AT&T, Verizon, Cox and Frontier, as well as America TV and Canal 41 Miami. Cinema Arts, which is located in Mexico, was tasked with bringing the channel’s large volume of Mexican 35mm film classics to digital HD.

 

“It's not just about restoring a film,” states Cinema Arts CEO Carlos Vasallo. “Our goal is to present the highest quality and be faithful to its artistic and historical work as envisioned by the original producers, directors and screenwriters.”

 

Over the last three years, Cinema Arts has restored 1,000 of the 2,000 films stored in the Cine Nostalgia and Cine Estelar vault, from 35mm to full HD, with a goal to complete the HD migration before the end of 2016 with help from the Cintel Film Scanner. Cinema Arts invested in the Cintel Film Scanner, one of the first owned in Mexico, to meet the accelerated timeline.

 

“With Thunderbolt support and seamless integration with DaVinci Resolve Studio, the Cintel Film Scanner offers a much faster film restoration workflow than comparable products. Within the first few weeks of owning the system, we were able to successfully restore more than 20 movies. That's more than twice the speed in which we had been restoring the previous films,” notes Vasallo. “This was echoed by the people who attended our Cintel training. Many had experience with other film scanners, and they were absolutely astounded with Cintel’s realtime performance! Once we add the Cintel’s 16mm and audio gates, our results will be even better, exponentially speeding up the project to make our goal.”

 

Cinema Arts’ intensive film restoration workflow is based on the Cintel Film Scanner, DaVinci Resolve Studio color grading and Thunderbolt technology. First, staff physically remove the film’s visible damage, then use Cintel, connected to a Mac desktop system via Thunderbolt, to scan the film in realtime. Cintel’s extensive calibration capabilities let staff tweak digital elements to output a DPX file that is equivalent to the original film quality.

 

“The Cintel calibration tools take into account the photo and color quality of the original film, and thus we have been able to correct 70 to 80 percent of the film defects due to wear and tear,” says Vassalo. Once the scanning has been registered according to the parameters set up by the production and post teams, files are downloaded and digitalized to a DPX extension to begin the color grading part of the workflow using DaVinci Resolve Studio. No re-uploading or transferring needed.

 

Cinema Arts’ film restoration project features Mexican favorites, including films from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, with actors like Andrés García, Jorge Rivero, Sasha Montenegro, Maribel Guardia and more.

Press Photography

Product photos of Cintel Film Scanner and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Steinberg has announced the availability of the 8.5.15 maintenance update for Cubase Pro 8.5 and Cubase Artist 8.5. Two issues have been fixed with this minor maintenance update. This update resolves the issue where VCA connected channels are rendered unusable when adjusting the volume fader with the mouse scroll wheel alongside an issue with the video engine stopping when outputting video to external devices.

Panasonic's AW-SF100 software offers the system that assists in tracking targets using Panasonic PZ cameras AW-UE70, AW-HE70, and AW-HE130 (as of March. 2016). By template matching and motion detection, the tracking target is automatically detected from the video that the integrated camera transmits. And the camera is controlled according to the movement of the target.

What is the AW-SF100 Auto Tracking Software key?

The AW-SF100G is a software license for Panasonic auto tracking software. The following Panasonic remote cameras are compatible with the auto tracking feature as of March 2016:

 

- AW-UE70 series: 4K/HDTV integrated camera

- AW-HE40: HDTV integrated camera

- AW-HE130 series: HDTV integrated camera

 

Advantage of Panasonic auto tracking system: The use of high-performance "motion detection" system which is the combination of the multiple detection algorithm makes it possible to track the subject with minimum tracking error regardless of where the person facing, even in situations such as lecture where the lecturer is writing on a blackboard showing his/her back to the camera. In addition, since this function does detection/tracking with streaming video from the camera, it is not necessary to have the video capture board needed for capture on a PC. This reduces the processing load for video capture, thereby eliminating the need for a high-performance PC.

Is there any client software available from Panasonic?

Yes, following two versions are available as well as a 30-day free trial. To activate the software, please purchase AW-SF100G software keycode. Visit following website for more details and download http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/products/aw-sf100g/index.html

 

- Standalone version runs on Windows OS

- Web application version runs in the Google chrome for Windows web browser (even on mobile devices), requires an HTTP server separately.

 

How can I obtain Panasonic Auto Tracking Software?

You can download the software (30-day trial) from Panasonic website at http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/products/aw-sf100g/index.html. And it can be activated with AW-SF100G software keycode option.

 

Do all Panasonic remote cameras support the auto tracking feature?

Following products are capable of the feature as of March 2016.

 

- AW-UE70 series : 4K/HDTV integrated camera

- AW-HE40 : HDTV integrated camera

- AW-HE130 series : HDTV integrated camera

 

I cannot activate Panasonic Auto Tracking Software
Internet connection is required to perform activation. Please double check if your computer is connected to internet.

 

Do we need to arrange the AW-SF100G keycode for each client? Or each camera?

Please arrange the AW-SF100G keycode for a number of PCs, which is to run client software.

Can I run both standalone and web versions on a single computer.

It is no problem to do.

 

What operating systems can run the auto tracking software?

– Windows 7 Professional(SP1), Ultimate(SP1) 32bit and 64bit

– Windows 8.1 32bit and 64bit
– Windows 10 32bit and 64bit

What is the minimum requirement to run the auto tracking software?
CPU: Intel Core i5, 2.6GHz or higher

RAM: 4GB or larger

Display resolution: 1920x1080 or higher

 

Can I connect a single camera to multiple client PCs simultaneously?
A single camera can connect to a single PC only.

Is the auto tracking performance perfect?

Tracking may unexpectedly go off-track due to several reasons. Panasonic recommends you to evaluate if its performance meets your requirements in advance. The software comes with a 30-day trial.

What happens when the system has lost a subject?

The system goes to idle mode until any subjects come into a frame again. There is a menu setting to let the camera be home positioned when certain time has elapsed with no subjects.

What will be the typical causes that can make tracking go off-track?

Typical causes:

- Multiple persons are in the frame.

- Another person cuts across in front of a person currently tracking.

 

Is the system featuring a facial recognitiontechnology?

Facial recognition technology is not in use. The system is realized by motion detection and a pattern matching technology.

Is personal recognition possible?

Unfortunately no. Since the system is not featuring facial recognition, personal recognition is not available.

 

Can the system start tracking automatically? Or do we always need to specify a target and start tracking manually?

Auto tracking start feature is available. The system starts tracking automatically when a person comes into the frame.

 

Can we adjust camera-related settings depending on the situation of installation?

 

Yes, typical settings of the camera (example: Pan/tilt speed, zoom limit etc.) can be adjusted in the software.

 

In the camera setting (Setting > Camera), there are „Height” and „Distance” settings. What are they?
Height and Distance information are necessary to calculate a basis of Angle presets (Upper body, Full body, Full in Setting > PTZ Ctrl > Angle setting). Height: Height from the foot of the tracking object to the camera lens position (Absolute value). Distance: Distance from the foot of the tracking object to the camera lens position.

I heard the system can link with the AW-RP50 pr RP120 remote panel. What can we do when linked with them?

Following operations can be performed directly from AW-RP50 or AW-RP120 remote panels when linked.

- Selecting a camera to be controlled

- Turning ON/OFF tracking operation of a camera.

 

Supported versions:

For AW-RP50 series, ver.3.21 or higher

For AW-RP120 series, ver.2.31 or higher

System example (standalone and web applications).

Standalone:

Web application:

What is a suitable distance between a camera and a subject?

Recommended distance between camera and subject is 5 to 30 meter (16.4 to 98.4 ft.). Tracking accuracy will become lower when its distance is shorter. When you use angle presets, please also refer following table.



I want to make a detection exclusion area in the picture frame to avoid tracking of another person unexpectedly. For example, in a school, camera should only track a teacher but sometimes the camera changes to students who are sitting on front of the teacher.

You can mask upper and lower part of the frame as the exclusion area:

 

 

Camera's reaction to subject's motion is a bit too sensitive. Is it possible to define a no reaction area? I do not want the camera to chase a subject so sensitively.

Yes, this kind of area (Tracking Disable Area) and follow-up speed (Sensitivity) can be set. Tracking Disable Area: Rectangular no reaction area can be set on the image. The camera stops chasing a subject until the subject goes out of the user-defined area. Sensitivity level: Follow-up speed can be set in 10-steps. When increase a number, sensitivity level becomes higher, and the camera reacts subject's motion so rapidly.

 

The camera lost target.

The following are rather normal operation. Please select again original target object manually.

 

1. During the detection/tracking, sometime tracking shifts to different object which across the target object with movement (Other person, Hand, etc)

 

2. During the detection/tracking, sometime tracking shifts to different object (No movement, Like as Edge of white board etc).

 

3. During the detection/tracking, sometime tracking shifts to different object (To projector screen, other video etc)

 

4. When target object does not move and other object moves in same camera angle, templates moves to moving object automatically.

 

5. When AUTO DETECT=ON, sometime template goes to arm or leg

 

6. When multiple object (Person) exists in same camera angle, sometime templates does not goes to target object

There are some functions that do not operate within the Web browser on a tablet?
The following functions are not available within the Web browser application:

- Tracking Disable Area: Cannot set its area by dragging

- Scene File setting

 

It is possible that some other functions also cannot operate from web browser, depending on type of web browser.

It is important to use high speed UHS-1 SD cards. These are some SD cards which we have tested using ProRes HQ. The following SD cards will record at a maximum of 1080p60 and are recommended when using HFS+ or exFAT:

SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB SDSDXP-016G-A46

SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB SDSDXP-032G-A46

SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB SDSDXP-064G-A46

SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB SDSDXP-128G-A46

SanDisk Extreme Pro 256GB SDSDXP-256G-A46

SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GB SDSDXP-512G-A46

 

The following SD cards will record at a maximum of 1080i60 using HFS+ or exFAT:

Lexar Professional SD XC 600x 128GB

DelkinDevices 633x 8GB

 

The following SD cards will record at a maximum of NTSC using HFS+ or exFAT:

 

SanDisk Ultra SD HC 8GB

SanDisk SD HC 8GB

Transcend SD HC 8GB

 

The following SD cards are discontinued and are not recommended for recording on Blackmagic Video Assist:

Panasonic SDHC Gold Series 16GB

Panasonic SDHC Gold Series 32GB

 

Important Notes About SD Card Speed

Please ensure your chosen SD card is UHS-1 only. The above list are the SD cards we have currently tested, however there are many other available SD cards which will be compatible. It’s worth testing your card’s speed using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to accurately measure whether your SD card will be able to record at the rate you require. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test uses data to simulate the storage of video so you can get results similar to what you’ll see when capturing video to an SD card.

Panasonic Corporation announced the release of the enhanced BT-4LH310 professional-use 31-inch 4K LCD Monitor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) and BT.2020 color space compatibility. Panasonic has also revised the price of the BT-4LH310 (17.000 USD) to contribute to increase 4K production. This new image quality support and price revision will help to increase 4K applications in broadcasting and movie production.