(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.
