|
Week
of Jan 25
|
Jan
29
|
 
Canopus Corporation has updated its
DVRex-M1 and DVRaptor video
and audio capture and editing solutions.
Available free on February 1st to current
DVRex-M1 and DVRaptor customers, the
software updates include support for
Premiere 5.1; new patent-pending
audio/video synchronization technology;
and an improved DV software Codec that
delivers up to 30% faster rendering times.
These features are designed specifically
to increase nonlinear video editing
performance and productivity for
videographers.
- Premiere
5.1 support includes device control,
batch capture, seamless capture beyond
2 GB and direct play from timeline to
tape.
- The
Audio and Video In Synch technology
keeps the audio in synchronization when
capturing long streams of video from DV
cameras. It automatically corrects
sampling rate discrepancies introduced
by some camcorders and is especially
important when capturing over 2 GB of
video in one pass.
- The
DV Codec's video quality has also been
enhanced, particularly in editing
situations requiring multiple-pass
rendering.
These
improvements can be found in DVRex
software update 2.03 and DVRaptor software
update 1.01. The software updates are
available at no charge to current DVRex
and DVRaptor customers
<www.canopuscorp.com>
Kona Systems has added
browser-based remote support functions to
KonaVision, its visual Web
communicator. The new functions allow
support personnel to remotely view
portions of the desktop of any Web site
visitor, and to exchange files. There is
no preinstalled software required on the
visitor's computer, other than a Java
1.1-capable browser.
The
new functions are supported for users with
either Netscape Navigator 4 or Internet
Explorer 4 and is optimized to operate
across low-bandwidth dialup Internet
links. In addition to exchanging desktop
capture images, users of KonaVision
can:
- Use
digital cameras to exchange
photographs
- Send
any file from their computer to the
support personnel, securely, without
the need for FTP.
- Communicate
in real-time using drawings and text
that are added to the desktop
images.
- Interact
using common Web graphics files, such
as those in GIF and JPEG
format.
KonaVision
is now available on a limited beta-release
basis for the Windows 95, 98, and NT
platforms.
<www.konasys.com>
In a head-to-head "shootout" at Showcase
99 ReplayTV - the tapeless VCR and
service network - outscored competitor
TiVo in audience balloting that
followed back-to-back onstage
presentations. Audience members were asked
to rate each company on its product and
business model, casting votes using
interactive scoring pads. ReplayTV
garnered 67 percent of the votes in the
eight, nine and 10 range while TiVo scored
45 percent in the range.
Replay
Networks will begin volume shipments of
ReplayTV in March of this year, starting
at $699. ReplayTV customers will receive a
free lifetime subscription to the Replay
Network Service.
[While
the scoring is impressive, readers should
remember that the voting is based on a
number of factors including "business
model" and the quality of the presentation
itself can dramatically effect the scores.
This rating my not reflect actual product
differences even though it might be a
predictor of the success of the company -
Ed]
<www.replaytv.com>
Imagine Products has announced that
Adobe Systems is bundling a free
copy of The Executive Producer Lite
For Premiere video logging software
with Adobe Premiere 5.1. Both a Macintosh
and PC version of TEP LE are available.
TEP LE is a reduced feature version of
Imagine Products' video logging software.
TEP LE provides a way to log video clips
on another computer, output a batch
digitizing file to Premiere, and continue
logging while Premiere is digitizing or
rendering.
Features
of TEP LE for Premiere include RS-422,
RS-232 and LANC control of a VTR, grabbing
timecode, typing in shot descriptions,
reorganizing clips, printing out lists,
and importing and exporting Premiere batch
digitizing files. Users can upgrade to the
TEP Standard version with thumbnail
capture or TEP ACT Auto Capture
Technology.
<www.imagineproducts.com>
Nikon USA has evidently
acknowledged that the CoolPix 900S
digital camera is sold out. They say that
new Nikon products will be announced Feb
18th, and recommend that those considering
buying a CoolPix 900S wait for that
announcement..
<www.nikonusa.com>
|
|
Jan
28
|
Dynamic Digital Depth Inc intends
to revolutionize the television industry
with 3D solutions that allow broadcasters
to bring 3D television to the masses.
According to the company,
'stereoscopic' 3D programs have
previously required two dedicated
channels, thus reducing the number of
digital channels available.
DDD
uses Dynamic Depth Cueing (DDC), a
software-based process, to transform 2D
television programming to 3D, while using
nominal additional bandwidth. DDC also
preserves the 2D image, allowing both
conventional and 3D programming to be
delivered simultaneously. To achieve this,
an advanced set-top box allows the viewer
to choose whether to watch in 2D or
3D.
The
company is already in negotiations with a
number of cable companies and advanced
set-top box manufacturers to license the
DDC technologies.
<www.3d.com>
Inverse Network Technology's
December 1998 Internet measurement results
reveal that America Online was the
only provider of 28 tested to receive an
A rating for the number of seconds
it takes to download a web
page.
The
Web Page Time-to-Download (TTD) metric
measures the average number of seconds it
takes to download a web page from the 20
popular sites that Inverse tests,
including www.yahoo.com, www.schwab.com,
www.mtv.com. America Online received an A
rating for the average time-to-download of
27.64 seconds -- nearly three seconds
faster than the next provider, BellSouth,
at 30.43 seconds. No provider received an
A+ rating. Providers who received a B
rating include BellSouth, Pacific Bell
Internet Services, Sprint, MindSpring and
Bell Atlantic-North. The industry average
was 33.93 seconds.
AOL
logged top performance numbers in web
page-download time despite the fact that
its web throughput at 2.83 Kbps (kilobytes
of data transmitted per second) was only
slightly better than the industry average
of 2.79 Kbps. For the first time in a
year, Internet call failure rates went up
when compared to the same month of the
previous year. According to the Inverse
report, the likelihood of a user's failing
to connect to his Internet service
provider (ISP) on the first try in
December 1998 was 8.5 percent, just
slightly worse than the 8 percent rate of
the previous December; the data are for
the evening-hour (6 p.m. to midnight)
period. During every other month in 1998,
the user had a better chance -- in some
months a dramatically better chance -- of
connecting on the first try than in the
same month in 1997.
For
both the evening and business (9 a.m. to 5
p.m.) calling periods, December 1998 call
failure rates were virtually
indistinguishable from those of the
previous month. For the October-December
quarter as a whole, only one provider,
AT&T WorldNet Service, earned nine out
of nine possible A+ grades, measured for
all three call failure metrics (24-hour,
business-hour and evening-hour) during
each of the three months. Three additional
providers -- BellAtlantic.net, Cable &
Wireless and Pacific Bell Internet -- had
nearly perfect records, with eight A+s and
one A.
<www.inversenet.com/news/releases.html>
Spritz Public Beta 3 is available. Spritz
is a freeware tool for creating QuickTime
Movies with Interactive content. Beta 3
adds: Compression settings, movie preview,
keyboard control, multiple sprite
selection and improved memory
handling.
<home.earthlink.net/~dmcgavran/spritz>
|
|
Jan
27
|
Yesterday Liquid Audio announced new MP3
copyright add-ons. <Genuine
Music
Coalition>
Now comes MP4, which was developed
by Global Music Outlet's MP4
Technologies Group, utilizes encoding
technologies licensed from AT&T Labs.
MP4 provides better accountability for
copyright owners with Solana Technologies
digital watermark which reportedly allows
tracking even when broadcast in an AM/FM
radio signal. MP4 produces smaller files
and shorter download times (a compression
ratio of 16:1 compared to 11:1 for MP3; a
three minute song is approximately 2.3MB
in size--a 30% reduction from MP3). GMO's
MP4 files include an embedded player
(currently PC only) which eliminates the
need for a software audio player, and
secure encoding which allows copyright
owners to control the release of their
material.
GMO
is currently encoding MP4 files for all
copyright owners and are formalizing plans
with their technology partners to securely
sub- license MP4 encoders to online
artists, labels, distributors and
publishers. MP4s include color-coordinated
graphics, scrolling text and digital
watermarking.
<mp4.globalmusic.com>
Looking for somthing fun to do? Then check
out the D.FILM, Digital Film
Festival, which claims to be a traveling
and online showcase of films made with new
filmmaking technology. The goal of the
festival is both to entertain, by showing
audiences the very best work done by
today's new breed of digital filmmakers,
and to inspire, by actively teaching them
how they can do it themselves.
That's
the PR bit. The really interesting section
(apart from a resources page) is the
MovieMaker Game that has been
implemented usign Macromedia's Flash
Generator. Site visitors and create a
simple movie by choosing a situation,
characters, entering dialog and choosing a
sound effect. It's a limited, but
interesting demo, and makes you wonder
what other simple movie making interfaces
could be created using web based software
such as the Flash Generator, or even
Director's new multi-user
server.
You
won't create a great movie, but it's worth
checking out!
<www.dfilm.com>
The Stereo Quicktime web page
covers the simulation of three-dimensional
scenes by photographing a subject from two
slightly differing view points. This is
described using a 360 degree imaging
system that's constructed from a Stainless
Steal bowl -- the Bowl
Camera!
If
you're interested in QuickTime VR and
similar technologies then check this
site!
<"Stereo
QuickTime
WebPage">
|
|
Jan
26
|
Nichimen Graphics has released
version 1.1 of its 3D modeling and paint
application, Nendo. Nendo, which
means "clay" in Japanese, provides an
easy-to-use interface along with
verstility that the company says appeals
to both professional 3D artists and
beginners. Version 1.1 includes several
enhancements as well as added support for
import and export for 3DS, DirectX, .obj,
VRML and Game Exchange file
formats.
Nendo
1.1 will be a free upgrade and will
continue to be priced at $99 for new
customers.
<www.nichimen.com>
 
NEC Systems has announced release
1.5 of Web Animation Producer, a
multimedia authoring environment for
adding Java-enabled special effects,
animation, sound and interactivity to Web
pages without the need for plug-ins or
Java scripting.
In
addition to new support for GIF animations
as objects within Web-based presentations,
Release 1.5 adds extensive control over
GIF animations, including the power to:
- edit
individual images from a GIF
animation
- add
sound effects synchronized to
individual frames
- add
interactive special effects --
including rollover effects, text
effects, transitions
An
included 5,000+ media library now includes
over 1,000 GIF and JAVA
animations.
NEC
Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of
NEC Corp.
<www.animation.neclab.com>
David Mowbray at Baobab
Productions did some tests to see how
Windows DV software worked with
files created by other applications. He
found that DVMaster can open all
DVSoft files (also DV300 and Sony
VAIO), but DVSoft systems (Adaptec, Spark)
cannot open DVMaster files. DVMaster and
DV-Rex files can't be opened in any other
systems; DV-Rex files won't even open in
QuickTime 3.0. He believe's this is
because neither Fast nor Canopus follow
the Microsoft DV-AVI file
specification.
As
a result, he was written a computer
program for Windows that can convert
DV-AVI files so they can be recognized
across systems and even lets DV-Rex files
be opened in QuickTime 3.0. DV
Converter is available at their
website as a 20 day trial version. It does
not convert between PAL and NTSC and is
for DV-AVI files only, not for
QuickTime.
<www.baobab.net/dvconv.htm>
Liquid Audio and a group of record
labels, software and MP3 vendors (and
others) have announced the formation of
the Genuine Music Coalition. The
mission of the coalition is to use the new
"Genuine Music" open standard enhancements
to digital music formats, including
MP3, to provide digital
authentication of the origin and ownership
of music. Coalition members will display a
new "Genuine Music" mark logo in every
piece of legitimately-encoded content sold
or freely-distributed on the Internet.
This
new effort is not intended to compete or
replace the Secure Digital Music
Initiative (SDMI) which is intended to
provided a secure system for distributing
music.
Th
promotional press release says that "This
will allow consumers to more easily
distinguish between pirated content and
legitimate content that has been approved
by the content owner...[and it
provides]...consumers with confidence
that the content they downloaded is
authentic."
<www.liquidaudio.com>
[This
whole effort I find a little odd. I really
wonder whether people downloading music
from the web really worry whether the
music they are downloading is
authentic.
The
issue of copyright infringement -- if it
is a problem -- can only be addressed
society wide. I think that the problem
with companies such as record companies
etc. attempting to address this issue is
that they often only appear to be greedy
self-interested parties at work. To really
mean anything to society copyright needs
to be promoted by the government, or
ideally,the Copyright Office.)
-Ed]
|
|
Jan
25
|
Is a Digital Camera always the right
choice?
For getting still images into a
computer a digital camera is just about
the best input device available. But it's
not the only method as I outline in my
latest column:
<Multimedia
Musings: Is a Digital Camera always the
right
choice?>
MetaSynth 2.5 is now available.
MetaSynth is an interesting interactive
application for creating digital music.
You don't need to know how to play an
instrument; instead you can draw and
distort waveforms to create
sound.
This
version adds a new Wave Shaping Tool that
lets you remap the waveform of any sound,
by hand and a Spectrum Synthesis Process
that derives Spectrum files from any piece
of audio. Use these Spectrums to design or
filter other sounds.
MetaSynth
2.5 is available at a suggested US retail
price of $299. Registered owners of
earlier versions may upgrade to version
2.5 for $50.
<www.arboretum.com
web page "MetaSynth
2.5">
Sony published a press release that
they were "premiering" there new
PCV-E314DS VAIO Digital Studio
desktop PC at the Sundance Film
Festival.
According
to Sony it provides an aspiring filmmaker
or hobbyist with all of the
post-production tools required to create a
digital masterpiece, including digital
video editing, music management and
digital imaging capabilities at a fraction
of the price of comparable systems.
Features include an Intel 400MHz Pentium
II processor, 10.8GB hard drive, 64MB
SDRAM, 5X DVD-ROM drive (max.) and 8MB
VRAM, i.LINK (IEEE 1394) and Optical
Digital Audio Out. Bundled multimedia
software includes Sony's DVgate Motion,
Adobe Premier LE and PictureGear Image
Management Software.
Available
next month, I somewhat assumed that this
would be somewhat expensive; the $1,499
estimated price really caught my
attention.
<www.sony.com>
For those buying the new Mac G3 --
which includes Firewire ports --
Digital Origin (formerly Radius)
will release a software only version of
EditDV for the new G3 computers.
The current EditDV will run in one, but it
requires the Radius hardware as well.
Alternatively,
the FireMAX bundle from
ProMax includes FireSoft DV drivers
and Premiere 5.1 for the new G3s without
the unneeded DV card, for $399
<www.digitalorigin.com>
<www.promax.com>
Sound and Vision magazine has a
review of the Sony TRV900 DV
Camcorder online.
<www.soundandvisionmag.com
web page "TRV900
review">
|
|
|
