22 TVBEurope
Beyond HD: 4K Challenges
NEWS INBRIEF Boyle shot a commercial on four Alexas, mostly using
New BBC iPlayer
The BBC has released a new version of the iPlayer for the web and for TV. BBC iPlayer mobile and tablet apps will also be updated within months. The new iPlayer has better multiscreen integration and also features a Collections function, which groups programmes by series, season, event or theme. The Playback page has been updated too with an improved recommendation engine and on-the-fly Favourites addition.
Prime Focus to acquire DAX Prime Focus Technologies, the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DAX, a provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications, for a base consideration of $9.1 million. PFT through its US subsidiary will acquire all the assets of DAX for an upfront payment with balance payable over three years. The acquisition gives PFT ownership of DAX’s patented technology and products including the Digital Dailies solution.
ProRes, except for specific shots that they knew would be heavily composited, which were recorded externally using 10-bit DPX, “making sure we did the right thing for each section of the job.” “You need to make the most of
the available media you have got, so you’re not wasting time, storage and processing,” added Isaac. However, Boyle would prefer
to work from the original files for grading and finishing, “because we don’t know how far we are going to want to push them. There is always more available on a Raw format, depending on the camera, than you are going to get out of a DPX,” which is an old format, created more than 15 years ago by Kodak to deal with the needs of that time, when cameras didn’t have the dynamic range some do now.
Processing power “We can edit 4K on a Mac Mini. The computer is not the relevant issue,” said Jordan, even if it will
take longer to render. “Which means that most of us are obsessing about the wrong part of the computer. You don’t need a 12-core Mac Pro.” Adobe and Apple have
already “reached the upper limit of what they can get out of CPU power, and are offloading all the rendering, and their I/O functions, to the graphics card,” he said. “If you put your money into the dual GPU, you’ll discover that the system flies.” Also buy as
much RAM as possible - 16GB for small projects, 32GB for anything larger (a Mac Pro supports 64GB), and get fast storage. “A hard disk goes 120MBps; uncompressed 4K is about 500-520MBps for a single stream, so you need a RAID with at least six drives,” he said. And USB 3.0 isn’t fast enough, so you need eSATA, Thunderbolt 1 or Thunderbolt 2.
“The things that take the most
time are debayering images, rendering, graphics processing and encoding at the end of the job, which do need considerable processing power,” added Isaac.
“4K doesn’t need to wait for
downloads and higher quality displays” Alister Chapman, cinematographer
Long-term planning For archive, Boyle feels that “LTO 6 is the sensible way to go.” Unfortunately, added Jordan, LTO 6 “prices are
broadcasters before it will catch on, because of
artificially high,” at $6,000 to $10,000 per system, making it “a stretch” for many smaller companies or individuals, and the industry needs an entry-level system around $3,000. He hopes to see one or two new entrants into the market at NAB with LTO systems in that price bracket. LTO tapes can last 25-30 years, but as each new generation of LTO machines is introduced, there is a continual need to copy tapes onto the latest version, so Jordan advises users to budget for having to upgrade and copy
every five years. Boyle sees any of the
current archive options as short term. “Maybe if you
really care about what you’ve got, you transfer to film separations, and maybe it will still be here in 100 years.”
www.gboyle.co.uk www.glassworks.co.uk www.larryjordan.biz www.xdcam-user.com
www.tvbeurope.com April 2014
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