HD Magazine has an overview of the Smoke 2013 Preview

HD Magazine calls it a review, but really it is more of a quick overview of where the product is at this point in the preview release.

I have played with the preview a bit (at least the first one), though had issues with importing an old FCP 7 sequence (everything was strangely scaled and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it) so gave up, though was hoping to have time to come back.

Nice to know it is still not the fastest editor, and I didn’t realize it doesn’t have a trim mode. Still it is pretty exciting with it’s node based effects editor, so if they make the editor more fully featured I think it could have a place (especially with FCP 7 Being EOL).

FX Factory Updated to 4.0 now with Premiere CS6 Support

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Noise Industries has upgraded the FxFactory to 4.0 and added Premiere Pro CS 6 Support. I have a ton of their compatible and free plug ins, but don’t actually own this suite (always thought it was a tad expensive), but this gives me one more reason, as I have moved from any version of Final Cut and now prefer Premiere Pro (though I of course still have Media Composer which works with very few plug ins).

Arstechnica on newly upgraded Modbooks

Arstechnica has info on new Modbooks, converted 13″ Macbookpro’s that have a touchscreen display, a wacom pen and no keyboard, and those who ordered are getting a bigger SSD more memory and a twice as sensitive pen, than originally was offered.

I so would love one of these. Don’t get me wrong, I love my ipad, but I would love to be able to do real work on it. Just think how awesome this would be for Photoshop!

You can check out ModBook’s at their web site. Started at $3495, this is really an amazing product, and a great alternative to a WACOM Cintiq (though not admittedly more expensive).

AVID update Available

Go to AVID’s download’s page for 6.5.0.1 of Media Composer, Symphony and 10.5.0.1 of Newscutter.

New features include:

  • XDCAM and XCAM EX Support
  • FrameChase Editing with Sony XDCam Station (XDS Series)
  • No longer have to uninstall the P2 or XDCAM before performing a legacy P2 or XDCAM import

HD Magazine on the MacPro

HD Magazine has an excellent article on the lack of a new MacPro.

It basically is how I feel. Many in the industry love Macs, but the MacPro is just not as fast as PC’s right now and there are great options from HP and Dell that just have the Speed advantage. Companies are waiting to see what Tim Cook was talking about, but we are not holding our breath, and if Apple does not release a new MacPro that really can compete with high end PC’s, people will start moving to PC’s for their computers, possibly with a Mac laptop for personal stuff.

It really is so sad, but the MacPro’s just don’t make enough as compared to Apple’s consumer products (even though they do make money), so Apple is abandoning the people who kept the company afloat all those years when Apple was doing so badly with everyone else.

The consumerizing of Final Cut Pro is further proof of their changing focus, and I don’t think that they realize the damage they will be doing to themselves in the long run as all professionals move away from Macs.

And that doesn’t even delve into the fact that Windows 8 is such a dud, after Windows 7 being such a good OS.

RED has significant Price Cuts

Photo Rumors has this news (as well as others). After the Sony announcement of the new Sony F5 and F55 4K CineAlta cameras, RED is not sitting on it’s heals and has announced steep Price drops across their line.

  • RED EPIC-M: $24,000 (old price: $39,500)
  • RED EPIC-X: $19,000 (old price: $34,500)
  • RED SCARLET-X: $7,950 (old price: $9,700)
  • RED ONE MX: $4,000 (old price: $25,000)

Jim Jannard has a lot to say about it over at RedUser.net.

Pretty awesome news which forces it’s competitors to stay competitive on pricing! Nice! Wish I could afford a RED, but alas no. Still very exciting news!

Sony announced 4K CineAlta cameras, F5 and F55 with Super 35mm Sensor

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This is all over the web, at Cinescopophilia, Vincent Laforet’s blog and Cinema 5D among others. And Cinescopophilia has more on the F55 and F5. They have identical bodies and 4K senrors, but the F5 is going up against the Canon C500 with 1080p/2k recording up to 120FPS (as a free upgrade, it ships at 60FPS) or 120FPS to an outboard recorder for the F5 and internally for the F55, and even do 1080p or 2K at 240 FPS internally. Wow!

These use XAVC, which is 4:2:2 10 Bit at 100Mbps to 300Mbps for 4K. Exciting, though they haven’t priced the cameras as of yet.