American Cinematographer - January 2011 - 86

nates the need for larger, more expensive appliances in the field and quickly frees up P2 cards for additional shooting. The MSU10 boasts a small form factor with two slots, one for a P2 card and one for the AGMBX10 tray, which supports a 2.5" solidstate or hard drive for MSU10 backup. The MSU10 offers the flexibility of AC or battery operation, and includes USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces for easy connection to NLEs. The MBX10 removable drive tray also includes USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces. The bus-powered MSU10 can be easily transported from the field and connected to NLE systems, including PCs and Macs, to expedite the editing process. Content is transferred from a P2 card to the drive at four times real time. In addition to backup from the P2 card to the removable MBX10 tray drive, the MSU10 also offers Host and Device functions, allowing the unit to be a P2 card reader (when connected to a computer) or to host an external drive for copying. The MSU10 features a 3.2" LCD screen and simple one-touch operation. It provides P2 thumbnail display for confidence and metadata review and supports master-quality 10-bit AVC-Intra (100/50) and DVCPro HD, DVCPro50, DVCPro and DV recording formats. Clip-by-clip copying is also supported. Users can choose to purchase the storage unit without a drive (MSU10) or preconfigured with a 256GB 2.5" enterprise-class solid-state drive (MSU10-SSD) or a 500GB 2.5" enterprise-class hard-disk drive (MSU10-HDD). The AG-MBX10 removable disk tray can be purchased separately, and Panasonic also offers the MBX10-SSD and MBX10-HDD for further flexibility. For additional information, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast. Photon Beard Offers Wireless Control Photon Beard has introduced the low-cost, easy-to-install, wireless Wi-Light system for studio lighting control. Designed primarily as an add-on to the company’s
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DMX-controlled series of Highlight fluorescents, the Wi-Light system can also control a mixture of fluorescent and incandescent lighting systems. The Wi-Light system can reduce or even eliminate the need for traditional wired DMX-controlled systems. The WiLight system consists of one master transmitter/receiver module and individual receiver modules that are added to each light source or dimmer; the master unit can be configured as a receiver for point-topoint links or as a repeater to cover wider areas. The transmitter range can vary, but generally works up to 300' and can be extended using repeaters. The small receiver modules fit to the base panel of Photon Beard’s Highlight, on the outside of the casing, and can be easily installed using only a small screwdriver. All further setup instructions are either automatic or transmitted wirelessly from the master module. The master unit provides the entry port for the system and takes a conventional DMX512 data stream from a standard control desk. An assignable block of channels are selected from the input stream and wirelessly transmitted. The original address positions of each channel in the block are preserved, so the user can easily set the receiver address on each light source. Unlike the basic DMX512 standard, which sends data continuously even when nothing has changed, the Wi-Light system utilizes a special protocol to transmit only the data that has changed. All parts of the Wi-Light system are bi-directional, and each Wi-Light unit contains a unique identity that is added to all transmissions. To close the network and eliminate interference, each receiver can be remotely set to respond to only one transmitter. The robust Wi-Light system also includes built-in error checking. All Photon Beard products are handbuilt to the highest standards. For more information, visit www.photonbeard.com. Pond5 Stocks After Effects Templates Pond5, an online marketplace for stock media, has added Adobe After Effects project templates to its collection, which includes royalty-free stock video footage and a full range of sound effects and
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production music. After Effects users can now save precious production time by tapping into Pond5’s cache of high-quality motion graphics templates and easily customizing them for a unique, professional end product. The Pond5 After Effects collection currently includes more than 140 dynamic templates to choose from, with prices starting at $10. The project files cover a wide range of motion-graphics needs, including advertisements, bumpers, show intros, credit sequences, video overlays and more. The Pond5 collection allows users to search for, preview, purchase and download AE templates instantly and directly from the website.

“Our goal is to provide content creators with a palette of stock media that expands their creative options, increases their productivity and saves them time and money,” says Tom Bennett, Pond5 cofounder and CEO. “After Effects templates do exactly that, and are a great complement to our selection of stock video and audio.” Pond5 is also accepting submissions of professional-quality After Effects templates. As with video and audio on Pond5, the model is straightforward and artist-friendly: Contributing artists upload their content at no cost, set the prices themselves and earn 50 percent of the license fee each time their content is purchased. Pond5 reviews all submitted work to check quality and technical specifications. For additional information, visit www.pond5.com. ●

http://www.photonbeard.com http://www.panasonic.com/broadcast http://www.pond5.com

American Cinematographer - January 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2011