• About
  • Archives
  • Advertising

NYCPPNEWS

NYC Production & Post News

  • Home
  • Directory Listings
    • The Standby Program
    • Brooklyn College
    • Brooklyn Workforce Innovations
    • Columbia University Film Program
    • Downtown Community Television Center
    • Electronic Arts Intermix
    • Film Biz Recycling
    • Freelancers Union
    • Independent Filmmaker Project
    • Manhattan Edit Workshop
    • Mediakite Training Center
    • New York Film Academy
    • New York Film/Video Council
    • New York Institute of Technology
    • New York Production Alliance
    • New York Video School
    • New York Women in Film & Television
    • NYU Film & Television
    • Post New York Alliance
    • The Independent Film School
    • International Film Institute of New York
    • The New School – Documentary Studies
    • The New School — MA in Media Studies
    • Union Docs
    • Upstate Independents
    • Syracuse Film Office
Home » No Surprise: HP is Number One in Workstations. Where’s the Mac Pro?

No Surprise: HP is Number One in Workstations. Where’s the Mac Pro?

Everybody likes to be right now and again. Sometimes it’s easy to do too.

It really came as no surprise when I heard that industry research firm IDC reported that, for the first time, HP both leads U.S. market share in the desktop workstation category and was the global share leader during the second quarter of 2012.

You see, I’ve been keeping my eye on HP’s workstation line for some time. No surprise there either, as I’ve used PCs in my work for years. Over that time I’ve witnessed how HP’s engineering department consistently turns up with designs that I feel create the most powerful, user-friendly machines in the pro production and post market.

I’ve written about how much I like the Z820. That’s not too hard, since it offers a mix of potent dual eight core liquid-cooled Xeon processors, PCI 3.0, and a thoughtfully designed architecture that won’t, for example, destroy your knuckles when you need to change a graphics card or two.

The HP Performance Advisor application is another good move, as having an easy, graphical way to configure your workstation BIOS is a plus. The program also interfaces with an HP database to check driver certification and BIOS settings for your desired applications so you’re always up-to-date. Finally, on site warranty repairs–unlike what Apple offers–also make HP workstations key to a work-a-day pro.

If you require a workstation to handle high-end production and post–whether it’s animation, editing, compositing or color correction—I really can’t think of a machine I’d rather use.

There are some larger factors at work here too beyond cool hardware. For one thing, if you’re running a Mac Pro tower, you might be growing increasingly envious of your PC brethren who easily benefit from the latest processors and graphics cards. Mac Pro towers have only been incrementally upgraded over the past few years, which causes some people to wonder if Apple is in the midst of abandoning their efforts in the pro space altogether.

Meanwhile, HP’s alliances with Adobe, RED and NVIDIA to produce the screamingly powerful Z820 RED Edition (we wrote about it here towards the middle of the page) shows how useful a committed hardware manufacturer can be. The resulting effort gives you everything you need for a complete RED workflow as well as a powerful editing solution in Premiere Pro CS6.

This is just the sort of effort that’s needed if hard-working professionals are to benefit from today’s tech cornucopia. And it’s what HP alone is doing to cement its central role in the pro app workstation market.

That effort at turning out top-of-the-line gear turns up too in once unassuming all-in-one PCs. HP’s innovative all in one Z1 workstation wowed this tech hound when it took this humble form factor to new heights.

Now, space-conscious facility owners can have real workstation power in a small, convenient footprint. Even HP’s line of mobile workstations, which includes the Elitebook 8760w, stand out for the thorough thinking that blends the best of mobile technology with rugged design that won’t disappoint with cheap, penny-counting choices.

According to the IDC report, HP’s share showed significant growth during past quarters, culminating with a 47.6 percent share in desktop workstations in the U.S. HP continues to lead the mobile workstation category worldwide with 41.8 percent share. Heck, the Palo Alto-based company leads the combined workstation category with 46.2 percent share, according to the Q2’12 IDC Worldwide Workstation Tracker, Aug. 8, 2012.

I’ve pointed out before that no other workstation I could find matches the power, performance and the thoughtfully designed architecture of HP’s Z series. I’m happy to report that a lot of other people seem to agree.

About Joe Herman

Joe Herman is a filmmaker, artist and post production specialist and writes often about the industry. You can reach him at joe[at]legendmultimedia[dot]com. Or reach and follow him on Twitter @JoeHermanTweets.

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.

  • About
  • Archives
  • Advertising
Copyright © 2021 NYCPPNEWS | Site Built with Studio Press Genesis