Digital Video - October 2007 - (Page 8)

LETTERS AWARDS ISSUES DV says its Black Diamond awards honor innovation [“And the Winners Are ,” Aug. ‘07]. One winner you picked, as the world’s smallest three-chip camcorder with “professional features,” is the Panasonic AG-HSC1U. I have to ask, what are the professional features this camcorder has, compared to the consumer HDC-SD1 which costs a fraction of the “professional” model? I’ve tested the HSC1U and the image doesn’t hold up to HDV—too much general noise in A/B comparison. Plus, it’s incredibly laborious to use a single joystick to access anything that’s manually controllable. It’s not professional by a long shot and certainly not worthy of a Black Diamond. Anthony Burokas, Digital video specialist, IEBA Communications Editor’s note: The Black Diamond Awards are not based on field testing or side-byside comparisons. They are given to promising new products that are presented at NAB and stand out in that venue. We hope to fully test each and every one of the products we honored in future issues, and feature unbiased reviews in print and online. KUDOS FOR CHANGE I’ve been a DV business subscriber for many years, so you know that this isn’t a suck up to get a free issue—I already get that. I just had to send you a note after just looking through the September issue. Normally, I cut up my magazines and just keep the articles I want to read. When I’d get my copy of DV over the past few years, I’d cut out one or two articles that were worth my time. I wish I would have kept the September issue all together— I’ve cut more out of it than I left behind. Great reviews for things I need or will need for the future. Great behind-the-scenes info from people “doing” things. More depth in method than in the technology that changes so fast. If I didn’t already get DV for free, I would want to buy it. I hope that this is the new trend. So, I just wanted to say, good job. Jeff Petersen, Media and programming director, Granger Community Church CORRECTION Our coverage of Avid Xpress Studio Complete in last month’s NLE suite buyer’s guide (“Cutter’s Way,” Sept. ‘07) omitted two significant pieces of the package—the Digi 002 control surface and the Avid Mojo SDI I/O unit. Each is a key hardware component of the Studio Complete configuration, differentiating Avid’s approach to a suite-style offering from that of Adobe and Apple’s software-only packages. In particular, the Digi 002 provides a tactile surface fully integrated with the Pro Tools LE and Xpress Pro software. The Avid Mojo SDI I/O hardware provides content creators with realtime downconversion of HD projects for SD monitoring as well as highestquality SD output via SD-SDI—all in a portable form factor. Editors considering suite-style offerings should factor these additional pieces of hardware into their assessment of Avid Xpress Studio Complete and its cost/value in meeting their needs. One final note to potential buyers considering Avid Xpress Studio Complete: Avid has recently ended production of this offering due to lack of Digi 002 inventory. A limited supply of Avid Xpress Studio Complete systems is still available through Avid’s reseller channel ($5,995 MSRP). Once this supply is exhausted, editors can buy the components individually as: Avid Xpress Pro (which includes a dual-platform Universal Binary and Windows XP editing application and a third-party bundle of SmartSound SonicFire Pro, Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 Compression Suite, and Sonic DVDit) for $1,695; Avid Studio Toolkit (Avid DVD, Avid FX and Avid 3D) for $1,295; Avid Mojo SDI for $2,495; and Pro Tools LE and Digi 003 (the replacement for the Digi 002 control surface) starting at $1,295. FOLLOW THE MONEY Greetings, Stefan: I just finished reading your latest “Production Diary” piece on getting paid [“Dispatches from the Front,” Sept. ‘07]. As a young player in the production game, I’ve already suffered from “The Chase,” and from names you’d think would pay promptly. Nice to see it’s not just me. Lewis Gordon, Art director Stefan Sargent Responds: Lewis, getting paid is tough, but the flip side is when you get paid too much! A major client of mine, British Gas, was so late paying that after a lot of screaming they cut me a “manual,” handwritten check. A week later, the computer check turned up. I phoned, but my contact lady said, “Hang on to it until the accounts department finds out.” I phoned again and again. Each time I was told that they wanted to see if their new system worked. My last call was direct to the accounts people, who assured me that I had only been paid once. The irony is that the fee was for a training film about how their new accounting system works! DV welcomes your letters at letters@dv.com. Letters are considered for publication unless sender notes otherwise. They may be edited for clarity, content and space. 8 dv october 2007 www.dv.com http://www.dv.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Digital Video - October 2007

Cover Contents Letters DV Update R&D Fest Circuit Light Brigade Follow Focus Shootout Image Conscious Instant Expert Close-Ups Eastern Europe Exploit Call of the Wild Four Principles of Storage Storage Media Production Diary

Digital Video - October 2007

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