Highlights from NAB 2009

Welcome to our annual review of the National Association of Broadcasters convention, held in Las Vegas April 20 - 23.  As usual, this isn't a complete review of the NAB Show, but we wanted to  be sure you knew about the technologies we're focused on at Annex Pro.

Attendance was reportedly down, but there were as many from Western Canada as ever, and almost everyone we talked to had a project[s] coming up, which is certainly cause for optimism. [Stuart, Kalinka, Kerry at the Autodesk party. Bryon took the picture!]

Please enjoy "our take" on NAB 2009, as reported by Annex Pro staff, Kerry, Stuart and Bryon.  And if you are in need of technical support, training, software or hardware, or have a question of any kind, please let us know. 

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And now a word from our sponsor:  Annex Pro is blowing out loaners, demos, obsolete and discontinued Audio and Video gear that has accumulated over the past year.  To see the complete lists, click here:  AUDIO   VIDEO

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Annex Pro Awarded EditShare Canadian VAR of the Year!

Without a doubt, the highlight of the show, for us.  Annex Pro was awarded "EditShare Canadian Value Added Reseller of the Year", which recognizes our company for having installed and supporting more EditShare systems than any other dealer in the country.

Thanks to our customers who wisely decided for EditShare, including Force Four Entertainment,  Greedy Productions [The Electric Playground],   Parallax Film Productions,   Milky Way Marketing [BTV],    4REAL,   "Heartland" [CBC]  >read EditShare Success Stories

NAB announcements include:

• Still the only shared storage with unique project sharing for Avid and Final Cut Pro
• Ark is shipping for safety and off-site backups, long-term archiving, or returning raw material to clients
• Flow 1.2 for scheduling file-based ingest, able to capture multiple codecs to a single Universal Media File
• Technology partnerships with Automatic Duck [Avid/FCP workflow], Assimilate/Scratch [RED DPX + 4K DI workflow], ON-AIR and Vector 3 [playout systems], and continued relationships with FilmLight, DaVinci and Panasonic. 
• Pro Tools no longer requires iSCSI to connect to EditShare [Windows now, OS X coming]. 
• All storage now offers Active Directory
• Sales for EditShare are up 60% over the previous year 

"EditShare is the only non-Avid solution that offers Project Sharing for Avid applications. And we are also the only solution – period – that offers simple straightforward project sharing for Final Cut Pro.”  CEO and Founder Andy Liebman.  Watch an interview with Andy about what makes EditShare unique at Macvideo.tv

Click here to request the free 12-page white paper "The EditShare Value Proposition".

Annex Pro is ready to discuss how EditShare can integrate into your workflow, and provide incredible ROI.  Ask us for a free no-obligation live web demo of EditShare that you can watch from your own office or studio.

Avid/Digidesign/M-Audio/Pinnacle/Sibelius

Five Industry Leaders Becoming One.

So we think this is pretty cool:  After spending the last year talking to customers, selling off assets [like Softimage], acquiring and redeploying staff, Avid was back at NAB. 

Under the direction of new CEO Gary Greenfield, Avid has unified 5 teams into 1, with a completely new sales and leadership team, and a whole new "customer-centric" look and feel.  The upshot?  The Avid video and Digidesign audio teams are finally working together!

Well there's more to it than that, but you can check out avid.com for the complete story.  Here's what was new at NAB:

• Avid promises to develop new products around open industry IT standards
• Apple Final Cut Pro is now qualified to run on Avid Unity and ISIS shared storage
  
• Co-installation of Pro Tools and Media Composer is now supported on the same workstation
• An entirely new support structure and 4 new support offerings for all audio and video customers, including Standard, Priority, Uptime and Enterprise.  [ "per incident" support will continue to be available] >>>read more
• The recently released Media Composer v3.5 features "the death of the dongle", keyframable colour correction, 3D stereoscopic workflow and new workflow integrations with 3rd parties such as RED [native support], Sony [XDCAM] and Panasonic [P2] and Apple [see above]
   
• A renewed commitment to training and education.

Along with those fundamental changes comes a new brand identity [and logo, forming a visual connection to iconic shapes that represent "volume up, volume down, play, pause, record and forward"]. 

In short, you can expect Avid Audio [Digidesign] to continue releasing scalable products that perform to professional industry expectations, and offer unique, customer-friendly upgrade paths.  Avid Video continues their commitment to providing superior end-to-end workflow for media creation.  Here are the NAB Show Specials:

The NAB 2009 Avid/Digidesign "Stimulus Packages":

• Step up to Avid Media Composer v3.5 from Xpress Pro for only $500.
• Axiom/Pro Tools LE Offer: Buy any Pro Tools LE plus an M-Audio Axiom Pro 49 or 61, and get a Digidesign Virtual Instrument Box Set at no charge  [SRP value $1,100.]
• Free Command|8 with Pro Tools|HD Core: Buy any Pro Tools|HD 2 or 3 system with HD audio interface, and get a Command|8 control surface at no charge [SRP value $1,600.]
• ICON D-Control ES:  10% off SRP [save thousands]
• C|24 HD Bundle Promotion:  Buy a C|24 and Pro Tools|HD bundle at a reduced price, and get a Sputnik microphone and pair of DSM2 monitors at no charge
• Move up to ICON D-Control or D-Command with higher trade-in values than ever before!  Contact Bryon Low for details
• Save Almost $USD30K with New ICON Bundles. Contact Bryon Low for details
• Pro Tools|LE Hardware Exchange program is back >>>read more
  
• All offers for a limited time only.  For more information on the Avid/Digidesign Stimulus Package, contact Bryon Low
• Stay tuned, there's a lot more to come.  For more information visit avid.com/red and digidesign.com
  

New Products With Legendary AJA DNA:

Quality.  Reliability.  Support.

The AJA booth was one of the busiest at NAB this year, visitors crowding in to get a look at a new "lens to post" breakthrough.  The new AJA Ki Pro records files to the Apple ProRes codec directly from camera, allowing you to skip the process of re-rendering to an editing codec by giving immediate access to 10-bit full raster edit-ready ProRes files.  Cool.

Already endorsed by ARRI, RED and Canon, Ki Pro will streamline decision making on-set and in post production, can provide direct transfer to a ready to edit format.  Using Ki Pro with an Apple Final Cut Pro workstation on set, production teams can have instantaneous real time playback for take selection.  Very cool.  We're taking advance orders so get in touch with us ASAP to reserve yours.  Ki Pro ships in June for around USD$4,000.

Also new at AJA was the Kona LHi, which adds to the LHe feature set HDMI I/O, full 10-bit realtime up/down/cross conversion, 3G SDI and LTC support, all for approx $1,750. [$350. less than the Kona LHe used to cost!].  Kona LHi is available now for OS X users, and the XenaLHi will soon be available for the Windows platform.

Speaking of the very popular Kona LHe, the price has been reduced by $600. [now around $1,500.] which should make it a no-brainer for FCP editors, with it's feature set, quality build, 3 year warranty, and legendary AJA technical support.

Also announced was the new ioExpress, a cross-platform, portable and affordable I/O interface that flexibly bridges file-based workflows, shipping this summer for under $1,000.  And finally, 2 new mini-convertors Hi5-3G and HDP2.  More info at aja.com

Welcome to the Future of Storage for Apple Users

"At Active Storage we are leading the charge toward the next generation of data storage for Apple users.  Our team of developers knows storage and knows what Apple users need, and we will deliver it.   From sophisticated Xsan deployments to simple direct attach, at Active we provide the best performance, reliability and user experience."  Alex Grossman - CEO of Active Storage [Formerly Senior Director at Apple for 6 years while Xserve storage and server products were developed]

The Active Storage team of has more combined Apple storage knowledge that all the other storage companies out there put together, and we REALLY LIKE THIS STUFF!

Two versions are now available - XRAID with up to 16TB and dual 4 Gb/s Fibre host ports per RAID controller and redundant cooling and power supplies, works with Apple Xsan and includes Mac OS X-native storage management software for US$14,999.

The new economical XRAID ES was launched at NAB in 4TB and 16TB configurations for a breakthrough cost of US$0.67 cents per GB.  This is a high-performance storage solution ideal for Apple-based infrastructures for business-critical, science and education use [but not the 24/7 365 day duty cycles of a large enterprise, post-production or broadcast facility]

Annex Pro are an Authorized Apple VARs, and Xsan Certified with Active Storage IN STOCK.  We can assist you with integration of any type of Apple storage or servers in the Apple Xsan environment.  Let us know how we can help you.  >>>more

Those Magicians Are At It Again....

*SPECIAL NAB OFFER - 0% Zero Percent Interest on any Video Hub:  Get any Videohub at zero interest for 12 months.  Limited time offer, OAC, must have VISA or MC.  Contact us today for details.

Compare Videohub Models - Specifications

Enterprise Videohub is perfect for the largest facility or broadcaster.  It's one of the largest routers available, offering 3 Gb/s SDI, auto standard detection for SD, HD and 3 Gb/s HD-SDI formats, re-clocking with 144 inputs, 288 outputs and 144 deck control ports in 16U and only 3 inches thick.  Redundant power supplies and new Videohub 4.0 routing control software included for USD$29,995. or USD$2.499.* per month + taxes [converted to CAD$ at current rate]

Broadcast Videohub features exactly the same high performance features of the larger model with 72 inputs, 144 outputs, 72 deck control ports, in 8U, 3 inches thick for SRP USD$14,995.  or USD$1,249.* per month + taxes [converted to CAD$ at current rate] IN STOCK

Studio Videohub features exactly the same high performance features of the larger models with 16 inputs, 32 outputs and 16 deck control ports in 2U for USD$4,995 or USD$416.* per month + taxes [converted to CAD$ at current rate]

Ultrascope is the world’s first 3 Gb/s SDI and optical fiber SDI scopes designed for editors and colorists, with the technical accuracy broadcast engineers require - Available in June for USD$695.

DVI Extender lets you locate all your noisy computers in one central place and then use your router to connect your computer and video monitors to any room in your facility.  Avail in June for USD$395.

HDLink Optical Fiber replaces HDLink Pro [now only USD$495] features traditional copper SDI input and optical fiber SDI input.  Available now for USD$795.

Mini Converter Optical Fiber converts from SDI to optical fiber, as well as optical fiber to SDI simultaneously, available now for USD$495.

Media Express 2.0 software features frame accurate batch capture of DPX, QuickTime and AVI files, and supports a dramatically improved user interface with batch lists, metadata editing, support for double speed capture on Sony HDCAM-SR decks and more. Due in June at no charge, and will work with all DeckLink, Multibridge and Intensity cards. Available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Linux Support is now available for DeckLink, Multibridge and Intensity cards. You will be able to switch between platforms and run on all of them and available as a free download in June [along with developer SDK supported on Linux

Price Reductions:

Intensity Pro was USD$349 and is now USD$199.
DeckLink SDI was USD$395 and is now USD$295.
HDLink Pro replaces the original HDLink, and has been reduced to USD$495.

Recently arrived from France, Focal self-powered 2-way studio monitors have been winning awards with cutting edge technology which produces a very true sound for music, post and game development.

From USD$$650. [CMS50] to USD$950. [CMS65].  Call ahead and come in for a listen!  >>>read more

The Soundcraft Si2 is a smaller version of the popular Si3, and is bound to appeal to those wanting a compact and highly-featured digital live console at a competitive price. 

Featuring 48 mic inputs mapped on 24 faders and digital signal processing [on-board Lexicon effect engines] on all channels and outputs, this "one box" concept can be dropped into an existing analog console location and is even compatible with existing analog cabling. 

For around USD$26K, this package will be highly suited for installations where a smaller footprint is critical, such as Theatres, Houses of Worship and smaller toursound systems. Contact Bryon Low for a no-obligation audio consultation. >>>read more

Asset Management that Final Cut Server Aspires To..

...OK, here's the disclaimer: Apple FCS is an incredibly powerful but complex tool, which can wind up sitting on the shelf without a commitment to some serious custom programming.

Most of our customers working with large amounts of audio and video media aren't looking for trouble - they just want a way to manage the growing digital media mountain.  CatDV helps you do that, right out of the box, because it was created with metadata [data about data] in mind, that describes your media assets and helps you manage them - quickly, efficiently and intelligently.  Supplied templates like "Reality TV" and "Sports Clips" help too.  CatDV is:

• A logging tool, ingesting video or audio media from tape or disk, and enabling subclipping and tagging of the media to turn them into usable assets. 
• A transcoding tool, automatically building offline proxies or web versions of your online media to save on storage and bandwidth
• A powerful database, letting you browse and search and filter your assets until you find that one special shot that's just perfect
• Above all, CatDV is a communication tool, allowing loggers, producers, audio and video editors to work together effectively and efficiently.  >>>read more
• While CatDV is great for do-it-youselfers, Annex Pro can customize, deliver and set up a complete solution tailored to your workflow.  Just ask for the "CatDV Custom Set-up"

At NAB, CatDV 8.0 was demonstrated with the Cache-A LTO-4 A-Series archive appliances, providing networked storage direct to data tape.  LTO-4 is licensed to Cache-A by Quantum, a world leader in IT storage

The Cache-A solution solves a critical need in the entertainment industry by providing an economical, archive quality media on which to store file-based audio or video content.  Every 800GB tape cartridge contains a directory of its content making each one a self-contained asset repository that can be shipped around the world or stored for long periods of time.

Your valuable audio or video content can be retrieved regardless of the application or software environment that recorded it!  This is important for both portability and longevity since the software and OS environment that recorded a cartridge may not be available across locations or may not persist 10, 20, or 30 years from now.

The Cache-A LTO-4 A-Series drives will hold 800GB per cartridge, equivalent to more than 60 hours of 25 Mb/s Standard Definition or more than 15 hours of 100 Mb/s HD content.   They will also provide fast file transfers over Gigabit Ethernet at data rates up to 50MB/s or more.  >>>read more.  Contact Stuart Dean for more information

Getting New VFX Artists Up-to-Speed Fast with SWAT

At NAB, the makers of compositor Fusion and workflow management system Generation, talked up a training initiative that is aimed at getting artists who use other systems up and running on their own…in a language they understand, regardless of the system they currently use.

"SWAT, Software Artists Training, gives all the opportunity to learn Fusion but using their skill set on our software," says Eyeon's Joanne Dicaire, director of biz dev and marketing at Eyeon. 

Eyeon will send trainers to assist new customers on-site to ensure artists transition seamlessly to new versions.  As part of SWAT there are also certified training certificates and guide at VFXpedia.com that will have all the different "languages" used by artists of the various compositing systems on the market.

Training partners on track to become SWAT-certified include Class on Demand, cmiVFX, Digital Tutors, NADS, NYU, Seneca College, Sheridan College and others. Contact Annex Pro if you'd like more information about artist training   >>>read more at eyeonline.com

If you need to protect 10s to 100s of terabytes of data then cost is important.  Never mind that MatrixStore software reduces administration costs dramatically over tape based solutions (TCO data) but couple that with the fact that scaling a nearline or deep archive to protect hundreds of terabytes of data can only be economically feasible using non-proprietary commodity hardware then 'The MatrixStore' is well placed to be the safe location for data in your workflow.

Build it yourself using MatrixStore software running on the Apple Mac OS. MatrixStore is software that turns low-cost disk (Active Storage, Promise, Xserve RAID etc.) into a safe place to store your digital assets. It is a secure store to archive all your digital creations for as long as you want to keep them. It puts all your archived assets onto your network, available to search and use instantly.

Or get MatrixStore pre-installed on enterprise quality components and ready to start protecting your assets from the moment you switch it on. 'The MatrixStore' is a plug-and-play solution ready for the secure archival of digital assets. It keeps data available and ready for re-use, automatically protects against component failures and allows for almost infinite future storage expansion.

Contact Stuart Dean for a no-obligation consultation

More Notable News from NAB

JVC GY-HM100U is the world's first native Final Cut Pro QuickTime file recording camcorders [also records ISO Base Media File Format, compatible with Avid and all major NLEs].  And JVC still offers the most cost-effective video monitors in the industry.  Check them out! jvc.com

Aspera fasp v2.5, is an emerging standard for the high-speed movement of large files over wide area networks, increasingly used by Hollywood studios and major broadcasters. To find out if Aspera fasp is right for your studio, contact Stuart Dean for a non-obligation consultation

Euphonix MC Transport is a compact media controller offering pro, hands-on control and navigation for music, audio post, film and video applications with ultra-high res jog wheel + shuttle ring, and programmable Soft Keys delivering an unmatched unmatched editing experience for USD$495. >more

JL Cooper Eclipse CX, MX, SX, NX TX, Bridge and 24 colorist controllers got a major upgrade with expansion options, so you can mix and match modules to get exactly the control you want over IFX, IRIDAS (Speedgrade), or Apple (Color/Final Touch).   Stop mouseing around and go pro! >more

Upcoming Events:

May 7:  Discover How to Make Better Games and Animation with Autodesk DEC Tools

Annex Pro invites you to come and learn how Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) tools accelerate the workflow of creative professionals in games development as well as animation and post.

Autodesk Technical Specialists Marcel deJong, Mark Schoennagel and Mark Noland will show you how real-world production challenges are solved using Autodesk tools that make you more proficient, productive and give you a competitive advantage, while providing excellent return on investment.

Common processes such as modeling characters and set extensions will be explored. In addition, character rigging and animation exchange will also be featured. Last but not least, rendering tools that culminate in the finishing of shots via Autodesk compositing solutions will be demonstrated.

Featured products include: Autodesk Mudbox 2009, Autodesk Motionbuilder 2009, Autodesk Toxik 2009, Autodesk Softimage 7.5, Autodesk Maya 2009 and Autodesk 3ds Max 2010.

May 14:  Up Close + Personal:  Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 with Louis Marcoux

3ds Max Product Specialist Louis Marcoux gives you an an "up close and personal" look at 3ds Max 2010, including new CAT plug-in. Whether you are new to 3ds Max, or a seasoned user, this is your chance to dive deep into some of the lesser known aspects of this phenomenal application, including CAT. Anyone involved in animation, game development or design visualization will benefit from attending.

What's CAT? 3ds Max CAT 2010 is a character animation plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 and 3ds Max Design 2010. It was designed by animators, for animators to help take the tedious technicalities out of 3D character animation. Its toolset enables easier character rigging, nonlinear animation, animation layering, motion capture import, and muscle simulation. 3ds Max CAT 2010 is faster, more stable, simpler to use, and is packed with cutting-edge features that help give artists an easier way to animate characters.

Louis Marcoux has been a 3D technical artist and software developer since 1994. He joined Discreet Logic in 1998 where he was involved in the broadcast graphics industry for 6 years before joining the 3ds Max team in Montreal [now a part of Autodesk]. Please visit Louis at http://area.autodesk.com/louis

May 19:  Autodesk Imagine Virtual Event

Join us online for two live virtual sessions and a chat session about Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) tools:

• Accelerate the workflow of creative professionals in games, animation and post. Discover how Autodesk DEC tools give you a competitive advantage.
• Accelerate your production pipeline with Autodesk's superior workflow toolsets.  Watch the experts, and learn how to solve real-world production challenges using Autodesk tools that make you more proficient, productive and competitive
• Chat Session: Autodesk Solutions for Production Workflows

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