Welcome to the Annex|Pro NAB 2008 Update

Annex|Pro Find Apple Booth at NAB 2008!

Although Apple announced it would not have a booth at NAB this year, as one of Canada's top Apple Pro Video/Audio dealers, Annex|Pro was was not willing to just leave it at that.

With much effort, and diligent sleuthing we FOUND THE APPLE BOOTH AT NAB AFTER ALL.  And we have the pictures to prove it:

Stuart Dean and Kalinka Corlett from Annex Pro, with Jeff Booth [middle] from Apple Canada, at the legendary Canadian Suite, April 14, NAB 2008

We hope that this demonstrates how hard the Annex|Pro staff will work, whether it be to track down technical issue, a hard to locate product, or even finding Apple at NAB!

We should mention also that there's nothing ominous about Apple not displaying at a trade show.  Executives from Apple have been very open about their decision not to display at NAB, but rather to put their marketing efforts behind more local events, and supporting dealers like Annex|Pro to bring you all the good things happening at Apple.

Our report, as usual, is from the post-production perspective, but we hope each reader will find  something of interest.

Please enjoy our report on NAB 2008, and let us know if you'd like further information about anything

Apple Exceeds 1,000,000 Final Cut Pro Users,

Ships Final Cut Server

At a private Apple meeting for invited enterprise clients from the North American post-production industry, Apple announced it had recently exceeded one million paid Final Cut Pro users

It's no secret that Final Cut is popular with the "Sundance crowd", with an 80% market share of independents.  But significantly, in the past year Final Cut accounted for 49% of new NLE sales to the Broadcast and Post market [Avid runs second with 22%]

And if there's still any doubt of Apple's standing in Hollywood, 20th Century Fox announced that it is implementing an entirely new post-production workflow for feature films, using HD video and Final Cut Studio >>>read more

All of the top Hollywood studios edited major releases on Final Cut Studio last year, including the Cohen brothers' No Country for Old Men [configured with AJA Kona 3] >>>read more

Just prior to NAB, Apple announce that Final Cut Server is now shipping, and it looks like the wait was worth it.  Final Cut Server scalable, designed for workgroups with 3-4 editors, up to facilities with 100+ users, and is priced accordingly.  A technical "road show" for Final Cut Server will come to Vancouver this summer >>>read more

Additionally, over 1,000 seats of Final Cut Studio are now in use for broadcast news around the world.  A new web page at apple.com features information on how Final Cut Studio is being used in post, film, TV, broadcast production, sports, live events, and many other applications >>>read more

All-in-all, although Apple didn't have a booth on the NAB show floor this year [there were 50+ partners featuring Apple solutions], Apple's leadership position in the broadcast and post industry can't be seriously questioned. 

AJA Introduces Kona and IoHD Software v6.0

AJA user have come to expect a lot from this amazing company, and they were not disappointed at NAB.  A packed AJA booth showed new versions of software, new convertors, and plug-ins

Kona 6.0 software will be available free next month, with enhanced support for RED camera workflow in Final Cut Studio 2 and QuickTime

i/o HD v6.0 will allow this portable ProRes convertors to function as a standalone convertor, and feature an audio slewing adjustment. 

XENA 3 for Windows now feature realtime capture and playback of DVCPro HD, and have dropped in price to USD$2,990.  Kona and XENA are now interchangeable, so you can run either board in either a Windows or Mac, with the appropriate [free] software.  Let us know if you need more detail

Andy Liebman, Founder and CEO, EditShare

EditShare Debuts Complete Collaboration

At a standing-room only dealer meeting on Sunday, EditShare announced that sales have more than doubled each of two years in a row, and that there are now over 800 installs of EditShare worldwide.

“Complete Collaboration is a natural extension of the original EditShare workflow.  Tools to share, exchange, manage, and safely store media are developed specifically to support the wide range of post and broadcast workflows.  With the EditShare philosophy at the core, Complete Collaboration ensures that users can leverage the editing applications and content creation tools of their choice,’” said Andy Liebman, founder and CEO, EditShare.

Eight regional offices and 120+ dealers now handle growing demand from mixed Apple/Avid and OSX/Windows facilities that want the advantages of a project sharing workflow, without the expensive fibre-channel infrastructure, or the limitations of proprietary networks

Annex|Pro believes that EditShare is perfectly positioned between Apple Xsan and Avid Unity, to provide a lower cost, but still high performance shared workflow.  Buyers are recognizing the value proposition of EditShare, with installs at Virginia Tech University [with 60 FCP users], BBC, Cutting Edge [Australia], ION Media Networks [UK], Next Entertainment, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Montreal Canadians and many more.

A technology preview featured EditShare XStream, featuring ultra high-performance for very high data rates [100 streams of SD or compressed HD].  >>>read more

If you'd like more information, or a no-obligation one-hour demonstration, please contact Annex|Pro

Autodesk Demonstrates Workflow at User Group

In an awesome display of raw power and software finesse, Autodesk presenting a workflow demonstration to users on Sunday, which showed how Systems users [Flame, Smoke, etc] can collaborate with Maya and Toxik.

Also announced was that Sapphire plug-ins will soon be available for Toxik. 

Looking ahead a few months, Stig Gruman, VP of the Digital Entertainment Group at Autodesk, commented that Autodesk would present their vision for stereoscopy at SIGGRAPH 2008, in August. 

To highlight the importance to our industry of the coming stereoscopy revolution, Jerry Katzenberg [CEO, Dreamworks] was quoted as saying that "I believe that stereoscopy is the greatest opportunity for movies and for the theatrical exhibition business that has come along in 30 years”   >>>read the entire article

Digidesign Shows ICON and Pro Tools at NAB Booth

Unlike it's parent company Avid, Digidesign participated as usual with a full booth at NAB.  Digidesign highlighted Pro Tools and the exciting ICON integrated console family.  For further details about current offering from Digidesign, contact Bryon Low

Avid Intros Media Composer 3.0, Mojo DX, Lowers Prices, "Recommits" to OSX

As was announced months ago, Avid did not have a booth at NAB 2008.  Instead, at a private dealer meeting on Sunday, Avid demonstrated that there was more to their new slogan "new thinking" than words alone.  The surprising announcements made should shake up the NLE world as word gets out, and new products start to ship.

The new lineup includes next-generation versions of Media Composer (v3.0), NewsCutter (v7.0), and Symphony (v3.0) software, as well as new I/O and processing hardware such as Mojo DX and Nitris DX.  A huge increase in power and performance is the result of an architectural design that integrates Avid software with new hardware that takes full advantage of the PC or Mac CPU, host graphics card and [finally] the PCI Express bus.  Everything is promised to be cross-platform [Windows and OSX] and shipping by June.

Starting with Media Composer Software at 50% off it's previous price [now USD$2,495]; a new Media Composer/Mojo DX HD bundle for USD$9,995;  MC-SW/Nitris DX bundle for USD$14,995;  Symphony Nitris DX for USD$36,000 and the DS Nitris DX for $100,000.  Here's an article from POST that we thought summed things up well >>>read more

Remember that while Xpress Pro has been discontinued, you can still get current by upgrading today to Media Composer Software, through Annex|Pro, for a mere USD$495

Take a look at Avid's "new thinking" here >>>read more

Blackmagic Announces New DeckLink Extreme HD,

Broadcast Videohub, Mini-Convertors

This small manufacturer just blows us away.  Announcements included a new version of the Decklink Extreme HD card the world’s first SD, HD and 2K switchable editing card with SDI, HDMI and analog capture and playback, 3D Lookup tables, and 3 Gb/s SDI technology....still only USD$995 >>>read more

Large post and broadcast facilities are going to be very interested in the new Broadcast Videohub.  Broadcast Videohub includes 72 SDI inputs, 144 SDI outputs, 72 deck control ports, twin redundant power connections, SDI re-clocking, and 3 Gb/s SDI technology all in a compact 8 rack unit chassis less than an inch deep, all for a very affordable USD$14,995.  Now even more studios can eliminate complicated manual patching between workstations and decks   >>>read more

Also announced were a new family of powerful Mini Converters with innovative features and technologies.  There are 5 models in the Mini Converter family, plus [in our opinion, the sleeper of NAB] the new Broadcast Converter, a combination rack mount all-in-one model providing twice the conversion for half the price of anything currently on the market  >>>read more

Aspera Unveils Next Generation Data Transfer

Aspera Inc, the pioneering company behind market-leading file transfer technologies deployed throughout the media and entertainment industry, introduced several innovations of interest to the film, TV and games industries. 

Bringing high-speed transfer capability directly to content creators, Aspera introduced a suite of plug-ins for the leading audio and video production software from Avid®, Apple® and Digidesign®  >>>read more

Do you have a question, or curious about something you heard about at NAB?  Contact ANNEX|PRO

Thanks for reading!