There’s really not much more to say than that. Jim’s post from yesterday was light on details — basically an announcement about an announcement. Which, perhaps, is exciting in its own right. Especially after September’s shake-up.
So the 13th is the day. Mark you calendars.
The initial benchmarks for the new MacBook Pro models are about what you’d expect — they’re good. I haven’t seen any testing done with the 2.8GHz chips, though I imagine those numbers will look even better.
But probably not out-of-the-park better.
Today I saw this post from Engadget, which provides a few answers about the new Nvidia chips, straight from the source. Apparently the new chipsets really are capable of on-the-fly switching, simultaneous processing, and provide support for up to 8GB of RAM.
8GB of RAM. In a notebook. That blows my mind.
It’s up to Apple to write support for these technologies, however, and it’s unclear whether that’s in the cards for the notebooks in the immediate future. It certainly seems possible that those kind of enhancements could be delivered through Software Update, although I can’t recall another time when such a massive performance upgrade was delivered in such a way.
It’s going to be exciting to see what happens here, and whether or not we’re going to see the kind of processing home run we know these machines are (at least on paper) capable of.
The world is falling apart and it’s all Apple’s fault.
That’s right, it’s USB and glare-induced pandemonium out there, people. But we can get through this. It’s not the first time we’ve lost a beloved technology (I’ll never forget you, Floppy), but we can get past this. We have to. We just need to calm down.
In my own attempt to restore peace and balance to the world, I drove to an Apple store to see the new machines for myself. I liked them. A lot. Here are something things I noticed:
I’m really not too terribly concerned about the glass screen. I have to believe that Apple wouldn’t leave all of those color-conscious designers and colorists out in the cold like that. Apple has billed their MacBook Pro line to be a mobile and professional solution for things like digital film production. Personally, I’m holding off judgment until I see some benchmarks and color accuracy tests. Which, I’m guessing, won’t take long.
The FireWire 400 problem is a little different, but solvable. Or work-around-able. Granted a work-around isn’t ideal, but if this is the end of FireWire 400 I’d rather it leave us when companies are still making FireWire 400 devices (like hard drives), than not. As it is now, in the event of a new MacBook Pro arrival, I’ll be able to connect my DVX100a via FW400 into one of my triple or quad interface hard drives (I call that future-planning). That’ll slow the FW800 data rate during import, but I can handle that.
Anther possibility (and I haven’t tried this myself, so maybe it doesn’t work) is to use a hard drive to connect the camera via FW400 and connect the notebook via USB 2. I think it’s possible — and even probable — that it’ll work. It’s something I plan to test soon. [UPDATE: As StevP points out in his comment this is not likely to work. However, I still have not tested this myself.]
You could always just check your camera’s manual to see if footage capture is possible over USB. If you’re working with mid to high level consumer gear this is probably an option you didn’t even know you had.
The biggest surprise, however, is also the least publicized: Native Soundtrack Pro support. I’m thrilled to see Apple starting to address the issues users are facing when working with their pro apps. I’m talking about the new thumbscoop on the unibody where you lift to open the display. It’s an extremely well designed and understated feature. And the best part is that the corners are razor sharp — perfect for those long hopeless nights troubleshooting Soundtrack Pro error messages. Simply use one of the new gestures (listed as a “wrist swipe”) to activate the wonderful red release.
Finally. A way out. Thank you, Apple.
But seriously, folks. I can subjectively say that these new MacBook Pro models are beautiful. They feel solid, they look great, and the alleged graphical processing improvements are very welcome. More than anything I just want to see how the new Nvidia chips improve Final Cut Studio’s performance, specifically Motion.
While the concerns over the glass and FireWire issues are mostly legitimate, I don’t see a huge scandal developing over either. Professionals will continue to use monitors for color grading, and cameras will continue to evolve their footage (and file) transfer methods. It’s a surprising change, yes. But it’s not a deal-breaker.
Slate [iTunes] popped into the App Store a few days ago. It’s a $1.99 iPhone/iPod touch app that acts in place of a physical slate for marking scenes and syncing picture to audio.
It’s a great idea, and probably the best dressed production-related iPhone app I’ve seen yet. You’re given a black on white (or white on black, your choice) interface with fields for production title, scene and take numbers, and director’s name. When you touch the clap sticks at the top, a visual cue appears for a moment and an audible beep or clap is played through the speaker. Scene and take counters are incremented when you tap the current scene or take number. The screen is dominated, however, by a running timecode which acts more like a glorified clock than a helpful way to keep things in sync.
I think I’d prefer to have the option to choose my own starting timecode — and have it freeze when clapping — instead of flashing “clap” (or “beep”, depending).
I’m also not hugely impressed with Marker Felt as the font choice here. It’s got the same tacky feeling that Comic Sans has. I get that maybe it’s supposed to feel like the words were handwritten on there, but it doesn’t. To me, it looks like somebody just took the easy way out. There are better fonts out there.
I’m also a little frustrated that you can’t fit much in the production field without running into an ellipsis. I can’t stand that. It’s like when Twitter gets confused and accidentally lets you type more than 140 characters, but then just throws up an ellipsis condemning the rest of your thought to oblivion.
I think part of the problem is how much space the “Prod.” abbreviation takes up, especially considering the app’s vertical orientation. If only I could rotate my phone and put this whole thing into landscape mode. That would solve my ellipsis gripe, and make a lot more sense visually.
But really, Slate isn’t too bad at all. Especially for just $1.99. It’s very usable and seems like it’ll be a handy tool to have while shooting. For that, I’m happy. I’m also happy to see somebody finally trying to fill the void of production-related apps in the App Store. I expect that these Swedes probably have some more things planned for the iPhone and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for whatever is next.
In the meantime I guess if I don’t like it I could always just try and build my own.
I just read through Adam Wilt’s mammoth review of the HPX170. It’s definitely worth a read, if you’re into that sort of thing. Just prepare yourself to be there for a little while. Maybe make yourself a cup of tea and grab a sandwich first.
The last time I wrote about the HPX170 I mentioned a lot of the features I was excited about. Now I’m more excited.
Several design decisions — like moving the Manual/Servo zoom switch from the front to the left side — are particularly attractive. That stupid little switch (on the rare occasion that I wasn’t going full-manual) would always cause me to bump the focus when I tried to reach it. Also of note is a 1/4in mount on the handle, protected volume controls, and the now highly publicized switchable iris/focus ring.
Another handy feature is the ability to offload footage without removing the P2 cards or connecting directly to a computer. Apparently you can actually connect a USB or FireWire hard drive and the camera will create partitions on that drive to store the clips in. Pretty neat. The drive must be powered externally, however.
If you’re working with another HPX170 you’ll have the ability to store your camera settings and scene files on SD or SDHC cards to match settings across all units. That’s definitely handy, but doesn’t allow you to swap settings with other cameras — like the HVX200 or 200a. Still, I imagine if the HXP170 becomes anywhere as popular as the DVX100 (and subsequent revisions), it won’t be a challenge to find another HPX170 operator.
Unfortunately it looks like some of the coolest features only work in very specific modes. For instance, the ability to pre-record footage (that is, the camera will actually capture footage BEFORE you hit record) only works at 60i, 60p, and 30p. That’s probably not a huge deal for a lot of shooters, but it’ll give the 24p-ers (you like that? I just made that up) something to gripe about — myself included.
The waveform monitor and vectorscope options are huge. I’m currently doing work using a green screen, and both tools are essential when you’re trying to evenly light a crude green screen setup.
The timing of Adam’s review coincided with another major industry announcement — that of the Scarlet undergoing massive design and spec changes. There’s really not much to report on that yet. However, this new Scarlet mystery — in tandem with the HPX’s positive review — makes Panasonic’s offering that much more attractive.
Scarlet might still have the HPX170 beat on resolution when it does come out, but we all know by now that resolution is only part of the story.