Wednesday, August 20, 2008

RED module added to upcoming Sacramento Final Cut Pro training

Due to popular demand, Larry Jordan is adding time to the tapeless media portion of his training to specifically talk about ingesting and editing RED media.

Silverado is hosting Larry Jordan's North American Seminar Tour for two days of jam-packed Final Cut Pro training in the Sacramento area on September 8th and 9th.

We now have a seminar discount code for registration. Enter the code SILVER8 upon registration at www.larryjordan.biz/seminar and you'll get 10% off the course registration fee.

Different than the other locations, each registrant for the Sacramento training will get a free Final Cut Pro keyboard cover--your choice of desktop or laptop cover.

We'll also have a large sampler of RED media for participants to copy and take home--just bring a hard drive and we'll copy it off for you.

Best of all, each participant will get a free entry into OpenCut 3.

This is our 3rd year hosting Larry in Folsom and he always gets rave reviews for the technical material along with his witty presentation and sage wisdom. I highly recommend anyone looking to sharpen up their FCP skills to attend these courses.

Register today at www.larryjordan.biz/seminar

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

AJA posts updated 6.0 software for Kona 3 and Io HD

Just got this in from AJA!

Io HD and KONA v6.0 Software Now Available. VTR Xchange v4.0 Application Now Available.

AJA has now released the anticipated 6.0 drivers for the Io HD and KONA products. They are available for download from the AJA website. Additionally, AJA has also posted a new version of the VTR Xchange application to the website. Details regarding these releases are outlined below.

Io HD New Features
  • Additional format support for true progressive formats in 1080
  • Additional format support for intermediate formats
  • Added Audio Delay for Input and Audio Delay for Output controls
  • Stand Alone Mode enabled
  • Io HD LCD display now allows users to choose between the display of primary and secondary video formats or the primary video format and timecode
  • Io HD now a FireWire "plug and play" device (can now be connected or disconnected to host computer without rebooting to recognize device)
  • Active Video Output Filter added
Io HD Improvements and Fixes:
  • Component and composite now provide simultaneous output
  • General improvements to A/V sync performance
  • General improvements for multi-user environments
KONA New Features
  • RED Support added (KONA 3)
  • For more details on KONA 3 support for RED workflows, consult the version 6.0 manual, page 24.
PLEASE NOTE: When working with RED Easy Setups, AJA recommends changing the Dynamic RT setting to "Unlimited RT" for the best playback results.

Active Video Output Filter added (KONA 3 and KONA LH)

KONA Improvements and Fixes
  • 64 bit firmware update (KONA 3)
  • General improvements to A/V sync performance (entire KONA product line)
  • Custom LUT support now implemented for dual link output in addition to single link output (KONA 3)
  • General improvements for multi-user environments (entire KONA product line)

VTR Xchange v4.0 New Features
  • Multi-channel discrete audio output via new Audio Routing feature
  • Batch capture feature added
  • PLEASE NOTE: VTR Xchange does not offer batch logging and capture, only batch capture from a pre-existing batch list
  • Apple script support added
  • Support for playback of 23.98 fps movie files at 29.97 fps or 59.94 fps
VTR Xchange 4.0 Improvements and Fixes
  • RP-188 and LTC timecode is now displayed in the main window during capture
  • General UI enhancements
Please read the release notes for more details on Io HD and KONA v6.0 software and VTR Xchange 4.0 Application.

NOTE: There is important configuration and installation information contained in the READ-ME for both the KONA and Io HD software releases, so please be sure to read it completely.

The new v6.0 KONA and Io HD software is further proof of our commitment to build value and refinement into our Desktop products. KONA and Io HD offer professional features not found anywhere else, and our products are the most reliable and best supported solutions for any type of post-production work!

KONA v6.0, Io HD v6.0 and v4.0 VTR Exchange software can be found here:

http://www.aja.com/html/support_swd.html

Monday, August 18, 2008

OpenCut presentation at Sac Film & Music Festival

I was honored to be invited by the board at Sacramento Film & Music Festival to talk about OpenCut and screen the top three entries.

I talked about RED vs. Film workflow and went over how RED material made a 35mm editing competition possible.

The coolest part of the presentation was seeing three cuts of "Susannah" shown on a 40-foot screen at full res 1920x1080 HD.

I played back ProRes files from my MacBook Pro equipped with a G-Tech G-SPEED eS connected via an ExpressCard. It worked flawlessly.

I was really excited that Sean Wells--one of the top editors--was able to make it to the panel to answer questions about the editing experience. He offlined his version "Susannah" on a MacBook with FCP, then onlined his final version on an octo-Mac with Adobe After Effects.

It was such a good experience that we've been asked to repeat the presentation at an upcoming Capital Film Arts meeting. If you missed the first presentation, we'd love to see you around for the next one.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Can you help us set another world record?

OpenCut is an open-source film editing competition that gives editors 35mm film grade material and allows them to complete their own version of the material.

OpenCut 1 "Susannah" has been submitted for a world record as the "greatest number of cinematic film edits from a single set of source media." We had 51 separate versions of "Susannah" submitted by editors from around the world. You can see the different cuts here:


OpenCut 2 "The Alpine Meadows Shoot" is a new attempt. We want to submit for the "greatest number of commercial spots from a single set of source media."

Interested in being part of this world record attempt? We'd love to have you take part. You can register here:

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

New edit site--CutScape--an outright copy of OpenCut?

I was surfing across the net today and saw this:

http://www.cutscape.com

It was "created" by Ted Chandler of http://www.makemymovieonline.com/

I say "created" because its a knockoff of http://www.OpenCut.org which we started a few months ago. I would list the similarities, but they are way too numerous to mention--there are dozens.

I am thrilled that the idea of OpenCut would provide such an inspiration for Ted and others to follow. I wish him the best of success in this endeavor.

However, if you look at CutScape--its amazing how so many things are lifted from OpenCut. How is CutScape any different than an outright duplication of the OpenCut project? We didn't put all the thought and energy into OpenCut to have it shamelessly knocked off.

I guess good ideas are emulated, but great ideas are stolen...

tl

Thursday, July 3, 2008

World's fastest production SCRATCH CPU by Silverado - shipping at 4.19 Ghz

New product release! The world's fastest production SCRATCH CPU by Silverado - at 4.19 Ghz!

4.19 Ghz SCRATCH CPU

Production stable at 4.19 Ghz and runs very cool with our liquid cooling system.

These things are real beasts, but extraordinarily fast. We'll be putting it through its paces tomorrow when we hook up a Dulce PRO RX via PCIe and measure disk speeds with IOmeter. We'll post the IOmeter results once the tests are done.

Best of all--we back it up with a 4-year warranty which I believe is one of the longest coverages available on this class of machine.

These are available to order immediately--they are custom-built upon order and ship within 5-10 business days.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Silverado to build Apple Xsan-based editing facility for NASA

We received word last week that we won a major contract to rebuild the SAN-based editing infrastructure for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Silverado is providing the infrastructure and our excellent partners Meta Media Creative Technologies are providing all installation and training.

Yeah...its kind of a big deal.

:-)

tl

Press release for OpenCut.org

Here is the press release for OpenCut.org:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OPENCUT.ORG DEBUTS AS THE WORLD’S FIRST OPEN SOURCE FILM COMPETITION – USING 35mm FILM GRADE MATERIAL SHOT ON THE RED ONE DIGITAL CINEMA CAMERA PLATFORM

SACRAMENTO, CA (May 21, 2008) – What would happen if you took a professionally shot, but raw and unedited film--and gave it to over 200 editors along with a script and told them to edit the project any way they wanted?

The answer will be discovered soon through the OpenCut project. Silverado Systems, Inc. ignited a revolution in the film industry today when it debuted the OpenCut project – the world’s first open source film competition using 35mm film grade material acquired exclusively on the RED ONE Digital Cinema Camera platform and made available internationally to editors of any and all skill levels.

OpenCut material is fully scripted and professionally produced using a skilled film crew and talented actors in real-world settings and shot on RED ONE. This film-quality material is then made available internationally to editors of any skill level to edit with as they please in a time-limited competition between storytellers.

Should the story be told rapidly, or should it have a dramatic feel? Can the story incorporate a lot of visual effects and an imposing background score? Or should the dialog take precedence over everything else? These are questions that the editors will have to answer for themselves as they read the script and review the media.

This project is something that could not have been feasible just a year ago—delivery of 35mm film-grade material to hundreds of editors on consumer-sized hard drives. However, because of the advent of the RED ONE Digital Cinema platform and the ability to create film-grade material in a compact file size, you can now edit Hollywood-class film sequences on desktop computers. With the introduction of OpenCut, this material can now be disseminated worldwide in a broad competitive format.

The main goal of OpenCut is to create a new open-source model previously unavailable in the film industry. OpenCut encourages creativity among editors and filmmakers by allowing them to work on 35mm film grade material—regardless of skill-level, industry position, or time in the craft. OpenCut also seeks to promote the use of RED in production and post-production and stimulate creative discussion among editors and filmmakers.

“As there is no "one way" to tell a story, so too can stories benefit from being re-edited and re-told from many different vantage points and perspectives.” stated Torrey Loomis, project director of OpenCut and CEO of Silverado Systems. “With a single script and crew, you can take a story and tell it 300 different ways. The power to do this lies in the editing.”

Loomis adds “Just like in the film industry--there is no handholding here. For some editors, this will be like drinking from a fire hose.”

Editors are expected to use the immense resources available on the Internet to answer any workflow questions they might have, including resources like RED forum REDUser.net and training site fxphd.com, which hosts a lot of RED-related training online.

Combined with the information and training found online, and the film-grade material provided by OpenCut—editors have everything they need to create a Hollywood-class entry.

OpenCut’s first project is “Susannah” a gritty tale of two characters apparently fighting over a girl. But with any good story--nothing is as it appears and the script and plot of “Susannah” allow for surprising twists.

Shot on location in the Salton Sea, “Susannah” stars Ben Bray as “Ed” and Johnny Bogris as “Jacob.” Bray is a talented stuntman and has performed in some of Hollywood’s biggest films such as “No Country for Old Men” and “Spider-Man 2.” Bray has also stunt coordinated features such as “Smokin’ Aces” and “Lakeview Terrace.” Bogris is a skilled actor with credits including “NYPD Blue” and “End of Days.”

“Susannah” was directed by aspiring director Evan Nicholas, along with director of photography and talented RED ONE operator Brian Hamm. The project was executive produced by director Joe Carnahan of “Smokin’ Aces” and “NARC” and CEO Torrey Loomis of Silverado Systems, Inc.

“I hope that tons of people check out the script, read the storyboards, and ultimately come up with their own version of the movie.” said Evan Nicholas, director of “Susannah.” It’s amazing to think that through OpenCut, our storytelling is not limited to one or two editors—but is literally open to editing by potentially hundreds or thousands of people worldwide. As a director, that is something that is very exciting.”

The rewards are significant for participating editors. The grand prize is an AJA Io HD, a coveted piece of editing equipment valued at $3500. Further, the winner of OpenCut will be named as the “editor-of-record” in IMDB—the recognized source for movie production information. They will also have their cut finished in 4k resolution and a DCP (Digital Cinema Package) will be generated which will allow distribution to any digitally-equipped cinema in the country. The winning cut will also be submitted to multiple film festivals throughout the country on behalf of the editor.

Regardless of place, the licensing of OpenCut allows all editors to use their own cut of “Susannah” on their personal reel. For some editors, this is access to 35mm material they have never been able to feature on their reel before.

OpenCut 1.0 is open now for registration at http://www.OpenCut.org. Editing begins on June 1st and submissions are required to be submitted to VUZE (an online video hosting platform) on or prior to June 30. People can register to compete in OpenCut for $25 and will submit a hard drive to OpenCut. Their hard drive will be returned with media, scripts, and supporting documentation.

About Silverado Systems, Inc.
Started in Folsom in 2003 by founder and CEO Torrey Loomis. Recently named #13 in rank as a member of Sacramento Business Journal’s “100 Fastest Growing Companies in Sacramento” for 2007. Silverado is frequently described as an “Apple Store for Professionals.” Silverado is a one-stop-shop for creative professionals--serving filmmakers, editors, graphic designers, artists, directors, and media personnel. Silverado specializes in the high-end of Apple technology and focuses on being “Outfitters to the World’s Foremost Apple Professionals.” With the recent acquisition of new cinema technology from RED Digital, Silverado is on
the forefront of 4k digital cinematography and post-production.
http://www.silverado.cc

About director Evan Nicholas:
Working on projects like “Smokin’ Aces” and GM’s critically-acclaimed recent “Cadillac” spots--and the upcoming feature film “Killing Pablo”--Evan Nicholas is director Joe Carnahan’s right-hand man. “Susannah” is Nicholas’ directorial debut and was very open-minded towards the OpenCut project by handing over his entire short-subject to be treated to the OpenCut editorial process.
evan.nicholas@gmail.com

Long time...no blog...

I've been up to my ears in hard drives. About 180 to be exact. We've been duplicating 170 Gb per drive for OpenCut...

What is OpenCut, you ask? Next post!

tl

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Friday, February 1, 2008

Brother Blog

In my attempts to find new ways to completely avoid work altogether, I navigated over and read some of Tyler Berry's posts at his blog, Mountain Peaks and Metadata.

Tyler writes very well and his posts are entertaining. We just completed an in-depth demonstration of RED and workflow for the folks at CBS yesterday, and Tyler posted up some tidbits from the visit.

Take a look - its a fun read.


tl

Friday, January 18, 2008

Macworld Special: AJA IO HD


Get a great price on an AJA Io HD--our Macworld Special--for only $3189 while supplies last through Macworld.

Here are some facts about the Io HD:

- 10-bit 4:2:2 full-raster HD over Firewire 800
- Apple ProRes 422 and Apple ProRes 422 HQ Codec hardware integration — SD, HD 720/1080, full-raster 10-bit 4:2:2, realtime

- Up/down/cross-conversion, 10-bit, realtime, in hardware
- SD-SDI and HD-SDI input/output (x2)
- Component input/output (SD and HD)
- Composite and S-video input/output
- HDMI video w/2-channel audio input/output
- Embedded SDI 8-channel audio input/output
- AES/EBU 8-channel unbalanced audio input/output (BNC)
- Analog 4-channel balanced audio input/output (XLR)
- Analog 2-channel unbalanced audio output (RCA)
- Genlock, terminated with buffered output
- RS-422 machine control
- LTC Timecode input/output
- All-new AJA-developed QuickTime driver software
- Core Audio support
- 3-year International Warranty and Support
- No proprietary cables!
- Designed specifically for Apple Final Cut Studio 2 on Mac OS X

Besides Io HD's completely unique Apple ProRes 422 hardware implementation, Io HD can also be used with DVCProHD and uncompressed workflows!

These other HD codecs can be used with the Io HD via software encoding/decoding. The Io HD can be used to capture to DVCProHD compression when used in combination with the MacPro series of Apple desktop computers; these computers provide sufficient processing power to software encode to DVCProHD compression in realtime. MacBookPro computers with attached SATA or FW800 drives via ExpressCard/34 and a minimum of 2GB of memory are also able to capture and playback DVCProHD material in 1080 and 720 formats. Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 and Uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 QuickTime playback is supported when using MacPro desktop computers along with the Io HD. (An adequate disk array for uncompressed HD playback is of course required.)

Io HD supports:

- Apple ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 HQ, SD and HD, 720 and 1080 formats, ingest and playout (natively)
- DVCProHD, 720 and 1080 formats, ingest and playout (CPU-based)
- Uncompressed HD, 720 and 1080 formats, playout (CPU-based)
- Uncompressed SD, 525/625 formats, ingest and playout (natively)
- DV, 525/625 formats, ingest and playout (CPU-based)
- DVCPro, 625 format, ingest and playout (CPU-based)
- DVCPro50, 525/625 formats, ingest and playout (CPU-based)

You can place orders for AJA IO HD here:

Order AJA IO HD from Silverado

RED Training in SF - 4k finishing using FCP and SCRATCH - Jan. 24th

Silverado is hosting a RED 4k finishing class next week in San Francisco.

RED 4k Finishing with FCP and SCRATCH

The training is free, but space is limited due to the venue.

You can get all the details on the link above. If you are interested in learning about SCRATCH and how it works with FCP, I really recommend you come.

We'll have a full RED ONE system setup and can go directly from camera, to FCP, and then to SCRATCH.

ALSO! We'll be showing a complete field portable tapeless archive and backup system that fits in an airline carry-on case. RAID 1 and LTO-3 tape backup--in one box!

If you have any questions that the link doesn't answer, please contact me directly at the e-mail address below.

Torrey
-----------------------------------------------
Torrey Loomis
President & CEO - Silverado Systems, Inc.
Outfitter to the World's Foremost Apple Professionals
2600 East Bidwell Street, Suite 280
Folsom, CA 95630
(916) 760-0032 • FAX (916) 404-5258
tloomis@silverado.cc
http://www.Silverado.cc

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Yeah...we toot our own horn around here...


Paul Blaise from Blaise Media just sent us a very nice letter.

Its awesome when the extraordinary trust that people place in you is vindicated by their incredible leaps in performance and productivity after an installation like this.

If you have an opportunity to stop by Blaise Media, ask Paul to show you their edit suite. And if you need work done in the Sacramento area, Blaise and crew are immensely talented at production and post.


tl

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Apple...could you take a look at Time Machine?

I got to work this morning and found this funny item on my desktop.

I was at a bit of a loss...

tl

Huge Apple demo and trainer sale...

We have a ton of nearly brand-new Apple and other gear that we use as demo machines and trainers here at the office and at various trade shows.

Since we rotate these machines constantly, we have recently updated our Fire Sale page with all of our latest offers.

Silverado's Fire Sale page

We have gear from the following:

Apple
Qlogic
G-Tech
Miranda
Panasonic

Additionally, all items are an additional 10% off when picking up locally here at the office.

You can contact me at tloomis@silverado.cc or Tyler Berry at tyler@silverado.cc if you have any questions about any of the gear.

tl

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Leopard OS X 10.5 Compatible AJA Drivers Now Available

Received from AJA earlier today:

"We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Leopard-compatible AJA drivers for all current KONA products, and for the Io HD. "

"The KONA 5.0 drivers (KONA 3, KONA 3X, KONA LH/LHe, KONA LS/LSE and KONA 2) and the Io HD driver version 1.1 are now available for download from the AJA website at the following URLs:"

http://www.aja.com/html/support_kona3_swd.html

http://www.aja.com/html/support_konaLHe_swd.html

http://www.aja.com/html/support_konaLSe_swd.html

http://www.aja.com/html/support_kona2_swd.html

http://www.aja.com/html/support_Io_swd.html

"The latest AJA drivers, in addition to Leopard OS X 10.5 compatibility, also offer Easy Setups for the 720/50p format now supported in Final Cut Pro 6.0.2, as well as various other improvements."

tl

Friday, December 7, 2007

Cooke Optics Announces Lenses for RED ONE Camera

From Studio Daily:

"Starting in January, Cooke Optics will offer four standard Cooke S4/i lenses for the Red One camera that provide focal lengths from 15mm through 100mm and are engraved with red lettering. Called the Cooke RED Set, the new digital-cinematography lenses incorporate metadata capture technology that can be read directly by the contacts of the RED camera lens mount. The Cooke RED Set includes: the S4/ 15-40mm, T2.0 CXX Zoom Lens; S4/ 50mm, T2.0 Prime Lens; S4/ 75mm, T2.0 Prime Lens; and S4/ 100mm, T2.0 Prime Lens."

More info here

tl

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

REDCINE and Final Cut Studio REDCODE Plugin

Resent from RED...

Two great new downloads are on RED.com/support today: Final Cut Studio 2 REDCODE Plugin and beta REDCINE!

Final Cut Studio 2 REDCODE Plugin: The new REDCODE RAW codec supports RT playback in Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 and editing of the QuickTime Reference movies generated in camera. Also, this codec allows you to play REDCODE RAW movies directly from QuickTime Player or other QuickTime-enabled application.

If you have the previous RED QuickTime Plugin (1.2.1), please make sure you upgrade to the FCS 2 REDCODE plugin (1.5.0) as it gives you the functionality of 1.2.1 along with the new FCS 2 support.

Beta REDCINE: Open RED REDCODE™ RAW (.R3D) video. Do 1st light color correction. Export to any number of output options. More information (including REDCINE tutorials) can be found on REDUSER.NET: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5898

Here are the direct links to the tutorials:

http://red.cachefly.net/redcine/interface_overview.mov
http://red.cachefly.net/redcine/project_settings.mov
http://red.cachefly.net/redcine/shot_settings.mov
http://red.cachefly.net/redcine/color_settings.mov
http://red.cachefly.net/redcine/output_settings.mov
http://red.cachefly.net/redcine/library.mov

tl