Larry Jordan compares Apple Compressor 4.1 to Adobe Media Encorder CC

Larry Jordan did an extensive comparison of the latest Apple Compressor to Adobe Media Encoder.

He ran the tests twice, as at first he used default settings and didn’t check image quality, but his seconds test are more equivalent, and the results surprised me as I gave up on Compressor a long time ago.

Basically it looks like for Single Pass encoding Compressor is faster, but for Multi-Pass (though it defaults to single pass) or resized compressing Media Encoder is faster, and it looks better at lower file sizes, though Compressor has more ability to customize settings.

The article is certainly worth a read, especially for all those who do a lot of compression.

David Shapton at RedShark on the Paradox of 4K

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David Shapton at RedShark has a great article commenting on the Paradox of 4k right now.

It kind of feels like the initial switch to HD, but more so to me. And I think his conclusions are right. For stuff that will have a shelf life, moving to 4K makes sense as it is much more future proof (2.4 Megapixels to 8 Megapixels) but for current one time view events like news or sports it really isn’t too important. Especially since not only are most people OK with HD, but there really isn’t any 4K content as of yet, and won’t be until bandwidth issues are fixed (1 GB fiber to whole cities would solve that).

And you have to wonder how HD material looks on a 4K set. If it doesn’t look as good as an inexpensive HD set, then why move to 4K except for bragging rights?

Black Magic Designs Ursa Upgradeable 4K Camera

BlackMagic Designs has announced a new like of 4K upgradeable cameras called URSA. It starts at $5995 for an EF mount or $6495 for a PL Mount version. There will also be a broadcast version and one without a sensor and just an HDMI in for recording.

This is an impressive looking camera, especially with the 10″ fold out viewfinder and dual touch screens for control. With this Black Magic is going all out with it’s cameras and making a really impressive high end camera to take on RED, and yet be cheaper.

David Fincher has moved to Premiere Pro CC for his film GONE GIRL

Studio Daily is reporting that David Fincher’s new film GONE GIRL is being edited on Premiere Pro CC. And we already know Saturday Night live is using it for it’s pre-done segments.

Lets hope this is moment like when Walter Murch used Final Cut Pro 3 to cut Cold Mountain. That really pushed Final Cut Pro more mainstream. And since I have seen so many big companies moving back to AVID of late, it is great to see something high profile like this, to push Premiere Pro, which I really prefer to AVID, especially for Graphics heavy projects, like Direct Response which I mostly cut of late.

Not that Premiere doesn’t have it’s issues, but overall it is a very impressive program, and it’s integration with After Effects really makes it even better.

Adobe has announced an upgrade to the Creative Cloud Video Suite for NAB

Rich Young a the ProVideo Coalition has the news on this exciting next release of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Video Suite.

Looks like Adobe is taking aim at the finishing power of AVID with the ability to add effects to Master Clips in Premiere, as well as edit Text from After Effects Projects within Premiere.

Scott Simmons has a more extensive look at Premiere.

And as for After Effects, the effects on a per mask basis is pretty exciting, as it will change the use of layers and adjustment layers within After Effects.

Chris and Trish Meyer look deeper at After Effects.

Looking forward to it. The fast update cycle is pretty awesome. I would like to see AVID come close.

Sonnet has announced a rack mountain solution for the new MacPro, the xMac Pro Server

Sonnet has announced it’s xMac Pro Server, to add the new MacPro to a Rack. Of course that is not all as it also adds PCI expansion through Thunderbolt 2, room for optical drives and ports. It is $1499, but adds 3 PCIe Ports to the MacPro including a Red Rocket (through Thunderbolt 2, so no graphics cards) with a 300W power supply, places (with additional kits) to install optical drives and additional hard drives.

A very cool idea, if a bit expensive.