Broadcast picks some of the other technology developments, innovations and enhancements worth knowing about from NAB 2009. Includes Imagineer, Automatic Duck, Red, The Foundry and Cintel.

Imagineer Systems pushed its Mocha for Final Cut Pro. A stand-alone tool, the FCP version of Mocha can help editors and VFX artists to finish projects within Final Cut by providing a solid 2.5D tracker for image replacement and stabilization. The tracking data is exported in XML format. It is available now for $199.
www.imagineersystems.com

Red Digital Cinema, the makers of the infamous Red One camera, were not at the show but word has it that Graham Nattress from the company has managed to develop a distribution codec for RED that puts full 4K of pixels down a 10 Mbit/sec pipe. That makes the possibility - one day - of 4k resolution pictures being streamed on an ordinary cable/broadband connection.

EditShare and Automatic Duck introduced a new workflow innovation that allows editors in a mixed Avid and Final Cut environment to switch back and forth between the two applications, using a common pool of media files, with entire timelines intact. EditShare's Universal Media File technology - a core feature of the Flow product line - allows a single media file to be used simultaneously by Apple and Avid editors. Automatic Duck's Pro Import FCP and Pro Export FCP allow editors to translate bi-directionally between Avid and Final Cut Pro sequences. Now EditShare and Automatic Duck have created a special version of Automatic Duck that understands EditShare's Universal Media Files and that knows how to retrieve information from the Flow database. http://www.automaticduck.com/products/

The Foundry showed an early version of a software toolset in Nuke designed to help resolve image issues created by CMOS sensors and their ‘rolling shutters'. Cameras with CMOS sensors - and their “rolling shutters” - can exhibit skew, wobble, and partial exposure. More here: http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/blog.aspx

Digital Vision, now happily back on solid financial ground, showed Dailies, a new platform that provides a complete workflow for all facets of the dailies process. With multiple workstations working together to streamline workflow it allows all logging, ingest, syncing and output to be handled through a simultaneously accessible common database. Integration with telecine's such as DFT Spirit and Cintel C-Reality is also included and available as an option on all of Digital Visions other software products.

Talking of Cintel, the Hertfordshire company displayed its new ditto film scanner. Evolution takes elements from the original diTTo scanner and provides fast shuttle capability, non-pin registration mode for archive scanning and a 3.2D density range. It can be used to create Digital Intermediates from negative film or as a multi-format machine for shrunken and damaged film. Because it's significantly cheaper than other telecine machines it offers, amongst other things, the chance for broadcasters or content owners to take their archive repurposing in-house.

Silicon Imaging caused a bit of a stir with an integrated system for shooting and viewing 3D content. By combining two cameras into a single control, processing and recording platform SI-3D enables shooting and instant playback like a traditional 2D camera but with added light and colour adjustment tools. SI-3D shoots uncompressed raw ‘digital negatives' from two synchronized SI-2K mini cameras. It encodes directly to a single stereo CineForm RAW QuickTime file, along with 3D LUT colour and convergence metadata. The stereo file can be instantly played back and edited in Full 3D on an Apple Final Cut timeline.

Root6 Technology added three new developments to ContentAgent, it's universal platform for managing, transcoding and distributing digital media files. Version 2.5 includes automated Blu-Ray authoring, a new MPEG2 codec and Auto Reel Assembly Node.

I-Movix launched an entry-level version of its ultra slow-motion product designed to be used by non-specialist operators. SprintCam Basic is for television companies and educational institutions and provides frame rates of 500 to 2,000 fps with SD instant replays.

Isilon Systems has integrated its IQ network attached storage with da Vinci's Resolve R-Series grading platform to create a new real-time 2K digital intermediate colour enhancement system. The resulting application will allow studios to speed the colouring process and “expand pipeline bandwidth to maximize new revenue opportunities.”

Finally British manufacturers Pro-Bel and Snell & Wilcox announced that the new company created through their merger will be known as Snell. The decision follows market research that identified Snell as best reflecting the values of the new company.

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