Although I'm dangerously close to establishing uber-geek markings, I couldn't help but share these fantastic comparison stills between the original Star Wars Episode V from 1980 and the digitally remastered version from 2004.
Super Star Wars fans have been barking about the original versions for years - last week they were awarded with the first DVD release of the original unaltered versions. Thusly, StarWars.com recently posted a DETAILED 151 still frame analysis of the alterations between the theatrically released 1980 version and it's digitally remastered 2004 counterpart.
Be advised - one need not be a Star Wars junkie to appreciate the nuances of change between the two Episode V versions. By looking at all the still frame comparisons, it is easy to become enamored by the advances in digital compositing technology as well as appreciating how slick George and company completed the VFX way back when.
A California company called Troll Touch sells touchscreen enabled Macs or allows you to send in your current setup to have a touchscreen added. The company sells and installs touchscreen applications on most Apple hardware from the eMacs all the way up through the laptops, cinema displays, and Intel iMacs.
A touchscreen add-on will set you back anywhere from $700 to $2,000 depending your computer model and the size of your screen. View a price list.
Star Trek, The First Generation has been digitally remastered for TV syndication. The nationwide remastering and re-release of the series represents the first time the original show has been in syndication since the late 80's.
Loads of digital work going back into this series. Newly remastered features include graphics, stars, ships, phasers, planet backdrops, and THEME!
Some markets/ stations will be carrying the show in high-def - makes you wonder if older shows from the 60's shot on film will end up looking better and having longer lifes in re-syndication than shows from the last two decades shot on tape. Hmmm....
Syndication starts this month. Check your market for local listings.
Studio Daily has a great interview with film editor Brian Berdan (The Cave, Mothman Prophecies, Grosse Pointe Blank, Nixon, Natural Born Killers) about cutting HDCAM footage for CRANK on Avid DS Nitris. Some of the most interesting pieces of the interview deal with the blurred lines of picture editors - sometimes sound and VFX artists in their own right.
Seeing as CRANK deals with the trials of a...wait for it....DUN DUN DUN!!!!! HITMAN!!! - I originally had NO plans of catching this movie, but after reading this interview I recently added the DVD to my Netflix que.
File this under the "why didn't I know of this sooner" category.
A company called Algolith has created what they've dubbed as a "Video Noise Reducer" which is designed to fit between any and all input devices and your super-fancy TV.
Algolith's FLEA is a miniature Compression Artifact Reducer which takes input signals of 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p and 1080i from component or S-Video in and outputs them via the same method. Inside, the tiny box uses proprietary image noise-reducing algorithms and filters to cleanup, sharpen, and de-artifact images before monitoring.
Another nifty thing - each of these image cleaning techniques can be user-controlled.
-- Here I found a write-up on the FLEA by sound editor David McCallum who tested the image-output cleaning gadget while monitoring post-production on Silent Hill.
The unit retails for $995.00. I'd love to get my hands on one of these little buggers to see how it could be put to use during video creation.
According to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records, Comcast is underdevelopment of a portable audio and video player they've dubbed Anyplay.
Comcast officially has not announced any specific Anyplay details, but the patent filing suggests this device would not only play videos but also support streaming of Comcast content.
In other words, Comcast is designing a video iPod with a cable TV tuner.
In case you're not aware of all the must-have gadgets available or in development for watching movies and TV shows on the go, here's a short list:
- RadioShack Analog TV Tuner
- Many New Cellphones
- Video iPod
- Sony PSP
- Microsoft Zune
- EchoStar PocketDish
- DirecTV DirecTV2Go
- Comcast Anyplay
- did I miss any? add 'em to the comments
--
Listen - I'm a heavy user of all things online, film, and TV related (except for watching traditional TV). I frequently take public transportation, I'm an early adopter of digital goodies, and I have disposable income - BUT - I HAVE LESS THAN ZERO DESIRE TO OWN A PORTABLE VIDEO PLAYER GADGET THINGAMABOB.
The iPod worked because listening to music by and large is a passive activity. Focusing your eyes AND your ears on stimulus is a completely different situation.
Am I alone in thinking that the Portable Video Buzz/ Market is Officially Out of Control?
CNet AU is reporting that Sony's new BWU-100a Blu-ray drives currently CANNOT PLAY commercial Blu-ray movies because EXTRA PLAYBACK software/ input devices/ connectors/ gizmos to decode the High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) are not yet available. Score negative 37 points for DRM!
According to Sony's product manager, this Blu-ray drive will only play user-recorded high-definition content, and is still capable of burning Blu-ray discs.
--- As cool as burning Blu-ray disks would be, this product, seemingly, is only directed at Bleeding-Edge-Bleeding-Edgers. No Blu-ray Commercial playback? Come on guys.
These units are slated to ship this month and will retail for $750.
Information Management Systems Research group has just released a detailed report suggesting that Mobile TV (via cellphones) will experience 50% growth per year for the next 5 years, only then to be taken over by paid Mobile TV subscribers who will be using some other future handheld technology. The report states that the key to Cellphone TV adoption is better reception indoors, along with compelling content, and affordable, attractive phones.
Who are these companies starting "Cellphone TV" networks? That's a good question - because I wonder how much demand there really is for portable digital cable. I don't watch any TV as it is (unless Netflix counts), so perhaps I'm jaded, but half a billion people watching TV on their cellphones in the next five years seems a little far fetched to me. I guess we'll just have to look to Japan to see how much Cellphone TV adoption takes off.
In any case, this study bodes well for all digital content producers out there. Short format work, such as Pat Ortman'sDeliverance By the Slice "mobisodes" seems to be the Cellphone TV model, at least for now.
According to reports, Microsoft will be showing of its XBOX 360 with an external HD DVD player during the DVD Forum in LA next Monday (8/14/06). This initial version of the XBOX 360 will feature an external model of the HD DVD player, and Microsoft reports that external Blu-ray players will also be supported "should consumers favor that format".
Sony's PlayStation 3 is supposed to ship in November of this year featuring Blu-ray drives built in.
Ever wonder what a rack of 11 Xserve RAIDs and 5 Xserves looks like? This picture to the left certainly does not do justice to the IT networking marvel that is Xsan and Xserve at the JWT advertising agency HQ in New York.
Looking for a an in-house post solution, the agency dropped a huge amount of cash on a post inventory that now includes (get this list): 35 Power Mac G5s, 5 Xserves, 11 Xserve RAIDs, 7 QLogic fiber channel switches, 3 Asante CAT 5 switches, 1 Cisco CAT 6 switch, 16 AJA Kona LHe cards, 4 AJA Kona 2 Cards, 40 Apple Cinema Dislplays, 25 iMacs, and 15 Power Mac G4s.
Daaaaaaagggg, ya'll - and I thought working with two G5s and two XRAIDs at SportsHD was cool. How many other companies in the world do you think can compete with JWT's Apple-centric post infrastructure?
Yeah for nerds! New pictures of the Mac Pro Towers online (be sure not to drool on your keyboard). PowerMax got ahold of one of these new machines - and what better to do than immediately TAKE IT APART? The new Mac Pros feature four internal SATA hard drive bays, two optical drive sots, Firewire 800 on the front and back, up to 16GB of RAM, three PCI expansion slots, two ethernet ports, and a NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card (among other things). Wow! Holy Wow! This is the HD workhorse everyone is hounding for. If those PowerMax pictures aren't enough, be sure to check out sister blog Engadget's Hands-On photos as well.
Although I'm dangerously close to establishing uber-geek markings, I couldn't help but share these fantastic comparison stills between the original Star Wars Episode V from 1980 and the digitally remastered version from 2004.
A California company called 
Star Trek, The First Generation has been digitally remastered for TV syndication. The nationwide remastering and re-release of the series represents the first time the original show has been in syndication since the late 80's. 
Studio Daily has a great interview with film editor 
File this under the "why didn't I know of this sooner" category. 
According to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 
Holy-freaking-you've-got-to-be-pulling-my-leg! 
Information Management Systems Research group has just released a detailed report suggesting that Mobile TV (via cellphones) will experience 50% growth per year for the next 5 years, only then to be taken over by paid Mobile TV subscribers who will be using some other future handheld technology. The report states that the key to Cellphone TV adoption is better reception indoors, along with compelling content, and affordable, attractive phones. 
According to reports, Microsoft will be showing of its XBOX 360 with an external HD DVD player during the DVD Forum in LA next Monday (8/14/06). This initial version of the XBOX 360 will feature an external model of the HD DVD player, and Microsoft reports that external Blu-ray players will also be supported "should consumers favor that format".
Ever wonder what a rack of 11 Xserve RAIDs and 5 Xserves looks like? This picture to the left certainly does not do justice to the IT networking marvel that is Xsan and Xserve at the JWT advertising agency HQ in New York. 
Yeah for nerds! New pictures of the Mac Pro Towers online (be sure not to drool on your keyboard). PowerMax got ahold of one of these new machines - and what better to do than immediately TAKE IT APART? The new Mac Pros feature four internal SATA hard drive bays, two optical drive sots, Firewire 800 on the front and back, up to 16GB of RAM, three PCI expansion slots, two ethernet ports, and a NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card (among other things). Wow! Holy Wow! This is the HD workhorse everyone is hounding for. If those PowerMax pictures aren't enough, be sure to check out sister blog 
