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Home » Hacking NYC TVs

Hacking NYC TVs

(Image: Kerry Bishé is one of the actors in Kevin Smith’s film “Red State”, which debuts via a one-night only screening later this month.)

The Past Week in Review: for September 6, 2011

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This week we watch NYC TV’s getting hacked, learn about cool new gear, and find out that Kevin Smith is really good about coming up with ideas that keep him in business.


The (Hacked) Future of TV in New York

A push for innovation in the online video and connected TV market in New York lies behind Hackday.tv, a two-day event to occur this coming weekend.

Created by start up Shelby.tv, Hackday.tv plans to bring together startups and developers to create “new applications for the digital living room”, according to Ryan Lawler on GigaOM. Developers, working in teams, will have 24 hours to create the apps. Crews have been hired to create video trailers for each hack, to document the process and also presumably to use in promoting the hack fests for planned roll-outs in other cities. Shelby.tv, a recently launched start-up, employs Twitter and Facebook to create a personalized streaming video site that leverages video choices by friends and others.


Share Your Sketches Instantly

While sketching out some ideas seems like a pretty solitary action, a recent project by researchers at the University of California San Diego allows you to upload drawings to Twitter, Facebook, or your email.

As reported in new scientist, Lisa Cowan and colleagues at the University have developed a paper-based system called UbiSketch that converts the output from an Anoto digital pen to images on a smart phone. While you do have to use paper printed with light dots that allow the digital pen to track its position as you draw, a standard Bluetooth connection is enough to send the data on its way to your phone.

You can read more at the New Scientist website, or go directly to the UbiSketch page on the UCSD website.


Blackmagic Does 3D

There’s more new technology from Blackmagic Design, which announced this past week that its portable capture and playback device
UltraStudio 3D is now shipping. Claimed as the world’s 1st video product integrated with Intel’s high-speed Thunderbolt connection technology, the tool link device connects via 3 Gbs SDI, HDMI 1.4a and analog video, AES/EBU digital audio capture, 10 bit video and dual stream 3D.

The dual stream, 3D SDI connection allows capture and play back of two streams directly from the camera, with one stream dedicated for the left eye and the other for the right eye. In all, the device features interleaved, side-by-side, frame packed and dual stream capture and playback. The SDI connection also enables 1080p/60 and 2K capture.

While dual stream 3D recording isn’t incompatible with much of the current NLE software, Blackmagic Design upgraded its Media Express 3 app to allow users to work with both interleaved and dual stream 3D for capture and playback. The app works with Blackmagic Design DeckLink, Multibridge, Intensity and UltraStudio Pro products. At less than $1000 list, Blackmagic Design again offers a useful tool at a strikingly low price.


Better Cameras, Better Recording

Mirror-less compact cameras have been gaining fans, since their low profile makes an even easier to work with than DSLRs like the Canon 5d. Video capabilities on the new cameras are also being improved, making them viable alternatives to their larger cousins.

Sony’s NEX 5N is a good example. It offers manual control when in video mode, which even includes 24p shooting. Since the body costs less than $600 and can handle PL-mount lenses such as the soon-to-be released Zeiss 24mm F1.8, more alternatives for fast, quick shooting keep coming.

The reviewer on EOSHD says the new camera “offers the biggest amount of bang per square inch and per dollar that I have ever seen.”

Recording HDMI output has become an accepted way to pull a good video signal from a camcorder before it degrades as it hits the built-in codec circuitry. (Watch for an upcoming review by Joe Herman on Blackmagic Design’s HyperDeck Shuttle to see what we mean.)

While we recently posted an Abelcine blog about taking HDMI output from Sony’s new NEX-FS100, that message actually drew additional comment from Juan Martinez, senior product manager at Sony.

Abelcine’s Jeff Lee posted excerpts from Martinez’s email, which offers a brief yet concise explanation of just how the HDMI output on the camcorder works. Useful info—including the cool amount of auto negotiation that goes on between the FS100 and an attached recording device—and key for anyone who’s considering using this stand out new camcorder.


More HP, TV Online, Unsinkable Kevin Smith

While we recently headlined an article with the dramatic query “Will HP Fail?”, A variation on this question has caused HP to make some fast moves in to take out some advertising to convince people that the computer division won’t just be dumped or sold ignominiously to some overseas company, but will thrive and stand on its own.

The San Jose Mercury News documents how HP is trying to assure customers of its PC division that they can ” count on HP” in a campaign that seems to be aimed at stopping some sort of panic that would radically drive the company’s share price down.

Over at GigaOM, reporter Stacey Higginbotham states that online video is “finally chipping away at broadcast TV.” According to recent survey data there’s been at the decrease in the the numbers watching broadcast TV, while Internet-enabled options are all on the rise. Read more here.

While he receives less support from the major studios for his films these days, that doesn’t stop director/actor Kevin Smith from cooking up new release strategies for his ventures. While a version of his latest, Red State, screened at Sundance, a re-jiggered cut will debut via a one-night-only nationwide simulcast on September 25. It spools out from the New Beverly Cinema in L.A., which is owned by none other than Quentin Tarantino.

Smith is partnering with Ira Deutchman‘s opera-oriented Emerging Pictures theater network. The setup will enable Smith to hold a Q&A session after the screening–something he seems to thrive on–with the whole event streaming live from the LA-based cinema to all of Emerging’s participating theaters.

Read more in Jason Guerrasio’s Filmmaker Magazine article by clicking here.

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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