Avid Technology has announced the next-generation of its high-performance storage disk arrays: Avid VideoRAID ST and Avid VideoRAID SR. According to Avid the new disk arrays combine real-time performance cost-effective SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) drive technology and the security of fail-safe data protection in the event of a disk drive failure. Unlike other RAID solutions that may be unusable during a drive rebuild the company says Avid VideoRAID solutions help customers keep up with the fast pace of digital content creation by maintaining full performance and data protection while rebuilding the drives in the background. Customers will also be able to take advantage of real-time playback of up to two streams of uncompressed HD on as few as eight Avid VideoRAID drives. Additionally Avid is offering all new VideoRAID ST and SR customers a three-year warranty on drive mechanisms and enclosures and will provide advanced exchange of replacement parts to customers at no additional cost. This is just another example of how Avid continues to drive high-quality products to market that offer great performance and value to our customers says Kirk Arnold executive vice president and general manager of Avid Video. By offering real-time parity with these new solutions Avid is able to help eliminate the headaches and loss of valuable hours and money associated with downtime.” The new disk arrays are expected to begin shipping in the second quarter. Avid www.avid.com ,120
Russia has Breakthrough with Scar 3D on 33 Digital Cinema Screens,2008-05-14,Russian digital cinema has experienced a significant breakthrough with the presentation of the movie Scar 3D on 33 screens throughout the country. Shown for the first time during the Cannes Film Festival 2007 Scar is a first-of-its kind 3D movie. Moviegoers should brace themselves for an entirely new dimension in larger-than-life horror shot entirely with one vision: to create an amazing full 3D digital cinema experience. “We began working with Cinemavault and Norman Twain Productions on the mastering of Scar during the last Cannes Film Festival ” says Fabrice Testa vice president sales and business development of XDC. XDC is the official digital cinema sponsore of the festival. “We mastered different versions and produced different copies for European theatrical distribution ” Testa says. “But now with 33 digital cinema screens showing Scar in 3D stereoscopic format it is really a breakthrough which is happening in Russia from the cinemas located closest to Europe in Moscow to some located at the far east of Russia in Asia.” Kate Luchko deputy director for Foreign Affairs of Luxor Group says “This release of Scar 3D is for Luxor an important milestone in the digital cinema activities that we are developing in Russia. We are very happy to work with the team of the XDC Digital Content Lab. They are providing very professional level of service.” Cinemavault Releasing International represents the film in the international market and has also sold the film for 3D release to RCV for Benelux Lusomondo for Portugal Nu Metro for South Africa Film Trade for Greece and Scholar Multimedia for Taiwan. Negotiations are under way for Japan France and the UK among others. “We’re very excited that Luxor is the first territory to release the film ” says Ruby Rondina festivals and publicity manager at Cinemavault Releasing. “We believe they can pave the way for successful distribution of this revolutionary film.” XDC www.xdccinema.com ,121
Display Week Special Session May 21st to Focus on 3D Cinema,2008-05-14,The Society for Information Display has announced a 3D technology-focused addition to its program lineup for Display Week 2008 May 18-23 at the Convention Center in Los Angeles California. The Special Session on 3D in Cinema slated for May 21st will feature invited talks from leading experts in the field on topics spanning the full 3D movie process – from content creation (animation and live action) and editing to post-production and theatrical display. RealD will provide stereoscopic projection equipment and viewing glasses for audience members enabling speakers to screen illustrative clips. DreamWorks Animation Dolby Laboratories Quantel Real D Sony Pictures Imageworks and 3ality Digital Systems will present at the session. The session topic is timely given viewer attendance at 3D versions of recent films such as Beowulf and Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds. Both generated record-breaking per-screen averages from 3D locations delivering eight times the box office revenues of theaters showing the films in standard format. Moreover conversion to digital cinema technology continues to escalate rapidly according to U.K.-based Dodona Research. The cinema-focused consulting and research firm estimates that by 2013 half of all cinema screens worldwide will have converted to digital technology from traditional 35mm projectors whereas about 5 percent of the global total had made the conversion as of late 2007. And Dodona emphasizes 3D will serve as the driver for this explosive growth. According to the 3D in Cinema session co-chairs Brian Berkeley and Brian Schowengerdt “Today’s 3D experience isn’t as they say your grandparents’ 3D movie. Some people still associate 3D with the gimmick-filled horror films that first emerged in the 1950s but the technology today is both more impressive and subtle. To truly appreciate it you have to not only see it but understand how it works as well.” To help Display Week attendees gain this in-depth understanding SID created the 3D in Cinema session inviting speakers who are working at the cutting edge of contemporary 3D moviemaking to explain how the characteristics of 3D display technologies shape every aspect of the movie creation process. Topics and speakers for the session will include: It’s Not Real Life: Stereoscopic Content Creation – Phil McNally DreamWorks Animation Adapting 3D CG Films for 3D Presentation: The Technique and Technology – Rob Engle Sony Pictures Imageworks Stereoscopic Live Action: Content Capture and Post-Production – Steve Schklair 3ality Digital Systems Post-Production for Stereoscopic Movies – Norman Rouse Quantel Making 3D An Integral Part of Today's Cinema Experience: A Pragmatic Approach – Jeff McNall Dolby Laboratories 3D Exhibition in the Digital Age: Bringing a New Dimension to Entertainment – Rod Archer RealD Throughout the presentations session attendees will be treated to clips of such 3D features as Beowulf Chicken Little Meet the Robinsons Monster House The Polar Express and U2 3D. These and other 3D pictures have each played a part in helping digital cinema continue to move to the next level. The 3D in Cinema special session will kick off with a luncheon keynote address by Andy Hendrickson vice president of technology for Walt Disney Animation Studios who will delve into the evolution of display technology and the various display-related challenges and opportunities specific to the entertainment industry. Jeremy Devine vice president of marketing for Dallas-based Rave Motion Pictures the United States’ largest digital-only movie exhibition company noted that revenues for 3D features can be up to three times those generated by a 2D film. “If you didn’t have the killer app of 3D cinema digital would be limited to running other alternative content like operas rock concerts some sporting events and some animated and anime products coming down the pike. The reality is that the return on those has simply not been as dramatic as 3D so it probably would have slowed our adoption process ” says Devine. The Society for Information Display www.sid.org ,122
Newseum Features ‘Electronic Window on the World’,2008-05-14,When the Newseum – an interactive museum of news – celebrated the grand opening of its new location last month visitors were greeted by a 40-by-22-foot LED wall displaying crystal-clear video of breaking news historic news presentations and documentaries. Dubbed the ‘Electronic Window on the World ’ the giant display made by Barco is the central feature of the New York Times – Ochs-Sulzberger Family Great Hall of News and by far the largest electronic display in a museum filled with high-tech gear. “The Newseum is a unique and creative venture ” says Tim Allen Barco’s East Coast marketing manager. “We are very pleased to have been selected to play a part in fostering and supporting its important mission.” That mission is to promote a better understanding of the important role that news and a free press have played in American life. Its attractions range from an extensive collection of historic newspapers and magazines to a watchtower from the Berlin Wall and a 3 200-year-old Cuneiform brick from Sumeria the oldest artifact in the museum. For the Great Hall of News the Newseum’s designers wanted to present a continuous flow of up-to-the-minute and historical news using up-to-the-second technology. Bud O’Connor director of engineering for the Newseum wanted an LED wall capable of delivering clear vivid color images at the highest possible resolution. “I was looking for a very large LED screen that would accept and reproduce a native serial digital HD signal ” he says. Newseum’s ILite 6 XP display consists of 405 individual tiles with a total pixel resolution of 1944 x 1080 – over two million individual pixels delivering high-fidelity images to the Newseum’s anticipated two million annual visitors. Visitors on each of the Newseum’s indoor levels can view the news from various angles – above below and to either side of the screen – without image distortion. “Barco’s LED display is a pure digital device where some others weren’t. That gives me reliable and reproducible control over it ” O’Connor says. “The path is pure data from my control rooms or DDRs all the way out to the screen. Having multiple levels of software control we can make subtle and reproducible adjustments when they are needed. We chose Barco displays because of their high quality and support. They do a great job of reproducing video for us.” Barco www.barco.com Freedom Forum www.freedomforum.org Newseum www.newseum.org ,123
LG Electronics Joins ETC at USC ,2008-05-14,The Entertainment Technology Center at USC has announced that LG Electronics has joined ETC as an Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab sponsor. The AACL will showcase a wide spectrum of products services and technologies in action. The lab will use these tools to examine the technological and sociological implications of providing content to consumers who desire it at anytime on any device and anywhere they happen to be. As a member of the Technical Advisory Board LG Electronics will help ETC identify emerging trends and structure technology projects related to emerging paradigms in content production distribution and consumption. ETC’s Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab focuses on understanding what consumers want and bringing companies together to develop solutions that ensure that consumers get what they want. LG Electronics as a global leader in the development of innovative consumer electronics and digital lifestyle products will help ETC in this process to the benefit of both the consumer and the other sponsors involved. Topics discussed in the lab include understanding leading-edge consumer behavior with entertainment content and services and exploring how to: improve the quality of content improve the ability to find and use content improve the value of content and increase the efficiency of production and distribution. This information is valuable to LG Electronics in the company’s effort to invent entirely new concepts that enhance tomorrow’s digital lifestyle. “We are excited to be active participants in the Anytime Anywhere Content Lab which allows us to better understand and deliver more consumer-friendly and higher value products and services for our customers says Nandhu Nandhakumar senior vice president advanced technology for LG Electronics. “Sharing information is invaluable ” says ETC executive director David Wertheimer. “LG brings with it great products and innovative experience. Together we are helping build the anytime/anywhere technologies of the future.” ETC www.etcenter.org LG Electronics www.lgusa.com
Avid Introduces Next-Generation RAID Solutions
