‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE SUPERMEET

I’m writing this at 9:50 PM from my hotel room at the 2011 NAB Show (National Association of Broadcasters) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In less than 24 hours, we will know what the next version of Final Cut Pro will look like. If we are lucky, we may also learn the future of other software in the suite – Apple certainly has enough stage time to tell us.

What I am intrigued by is not what Final Cut Pro looks like – unlike most of the world, I’ve already seen it. What I am curious about is how much it has changed since Apple first revealed it.

When Apple presented the software to the group, they asked us to provide feedback. I provided a great deal, and I’m sure others did as well. I’m curious as to how Apple responded to what they heard.

I will be at the SuperMeet tomorrow, listening and taking notes. And, I’ll do a second NAB blog posting after the meeting about what I learned. But give me a few hours — initial reactions are not always accurate. I want to hear what Apple says, then allow myself some time to think about it.

Nonetheless, I’ve been reflecting about tomorrow night’s blog for almost two months. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts and – even more importantly – getting your reactions.

Tomorrow night is going to be … a jaw-dropper!

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NABSHOWBUZZ.COM — LIVE FROM NAB!

My podcast – DigitalProductionBuzz.com – is at NAB, recording interviews and creating shows. Our first dozen interviews are online – we are posting interviews as fast as we get them recorded and edited. Then, we gather the highlights from our interviews and post a new BuZZ every night.

If you want to hear the newsmakers themselves, explaining what they are doing – in-depth interviews you can listen to quickly — take a listen to our NAB website: www.nabshowbuzz.com.

We haven’t done anything like this before and we are very interested in your reaction!

We hope to create about 20 interviews a day for the next three days, then create NAB Show Specials for the next week.

You’ll find everything posted here: www.nabshowbuzz.com.

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LARRY IS A TWIT!

Well, ah, maybe that’s overstating things a bit. Let’s not get carried away.

Still, Leo Laporte invited me to be his lead guest at the start of his NAB coverage this morning on TWIT.TV. I was on for 15 minutes.

Plus, I’m invited back for an hour-long discussion on media this Wednesday morning on MacBreak Weekly. It will start sometime between 10:45 AM and 11:00 AM – Las Vegas time – this Wednesday.

See you then!

P.S. Thanks, John Stealey, for the screen-shot!

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ARCHIVING UPDATE

I spoke with the president of The Tolis Group yesterday during our setup at NAB and discovered that they have an LTO-tape-based archiving solution, called BRU, for less than $4,000.

I told him that I could not find it easily on their website, at which point he and his webmaster and I are going to meet later this week to discuss this further.

However, I promised in my recent blog that if I discovered anyone with a reasonably-priced, LTO-based archiving solution that works on the Mac, I would mention it here.

BRU is highly-regarded and I’ve received many positive reviews of their gear from readers. Feel free to check it out for yourself.

The Tolis Group: www.tolisgroup.com

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ADOBE’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Adobe announced new upgrades today – they are releasing CS 5.5. But what really caught my attention was their announcement that they were now allowing you to rent their software.

Suspecting this was yet another ploy to get our data in “the cloud,” I spoke with Scott Morris, senior marketing director for Adobe.

What he told me was that when you rent software, your data stays on your system. “This is not software as a service,” he said. Instead, you are buying the full-featured software and installing it as usual. However, when you activate the program, it contacts an Adobe server to find out if this is a purchase or a rental.

If it is a rental, then each time the application starts, it pings the Adobe server to see if the rental is still valid. If it is, the program launches. If it isn’t, the program doesn’t launch.

In all cases your data is safe. If you send your files to someone who has the full program, the files can be opened, modified, and saved. If you stop renting for a few months, then start renting again, your files open exactly as they were last saved.

To me, this is a very elegant solution for people that need the power that Adobe software provides, but can’t justify the upfront cost of the purchase price. What I REALLY like is that our data remains “our data;” it is not forced to be stored somewhere “on the cloud.”

Weblink: Adobe Systems – www.adobe.com

For more details, listen to the Scott Morris interview.

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AVID’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Avid didn’t announce any new products – except for a technology demo of much tighter 3D integration within Media Composer which makes the process of handling 3D materials much more seamless.

However, what did catch my attention was that Avid announced a cross-grade for all Final Cut users to the latest version of Media Composer for only $999.

For more details, listen to the Maurice Patel interview.

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HD IS THE NEW SD

It seems the video world is moving to higher resolutions.

Both Blackmagic Design and AJA announced support for 4K resolution playout. RED showed their Epic camera shooting 5K images. And Sony announced a new F65 camera that shoots 8K.

Clearly, the lesson is buy stock in companies that make or sell storage. These file sizes are going to be massive… And when you add stereo 3D, all your file sizes double!

Just as a rough guide, a 4K file is 4 TIMES bigger than a 1080p file. An 8K file is four TIMES bigger than a 4K file.

For more details, listen to the Nick Rashby interview.

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THUNDERBOLT IS STARTING TO APPEAR

We are seeing previews of Thunderbolt support from a variety of vendors — AJA and Blackmagic Design for image capture and playback; and Promise, G-Technology, and LaCie for hard drives — there are probably others that I didn’t make note of.

Thunderbolt is in the very early stages of adoption – the real roll-out will occur this summer. But it promises to be everything we could want for speeding up data transfers and handling the massive file sizes we are about to experience.

Sigh… Just watch. Someday, not that far in the future, we’re gonna say: “Boy! I wish there was something seriously faster than Thunderbolt.” We are never satisfied…

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More later, I’ll write again after Supermeet.

Larry

[ The following article was taken from my FREE Final Cut Studio newsletter for February.
Subscribe here. ]

The release of any new hardware is exciting; as we saw last week with the release of the new MacBook Pros.

However, the stunning news is the new Thunderbolt (née Light Peak) I/O technology. The ONLY reason this exists is because of the Pro market. The greatest novelist, or spreadsheet junky, in the world has absolutely no reason to get excited about this. FireWire meets their needs perfectly.

But for people pushing pixels (or waveforms) this is a birthday present come early.

WHAT IS THUNDERBOLT?

Thunderbolt is a very, VERY fast I/O (input/output) communications protocol (10 Gbps or 1.25 GB/second) that supports both hard drives and monitors. This is faster than anything else on the market.

Apple’s Thunderbolt white paper states:

For time sensitive data, such as video and audio during creation and playback, data transfer can be critical to the success of the work. Thunderbolt technology was specifically designed with video and audio applications in mind with inherently low latency and highly accurate time synchronization capabilities.

Currently, Thunderbolt is supported only on MacBook Pros. However, I have every expectation that this connection protocol will be added to all future Mac systems. (I don’t see it being added to IOS devices simply because they don’t hold enough data to require these kinds of transfer speeds. Well, at least not yet.)

Today, Thunderbolt connects two devices using copper wires, but the protocol has already been developed to support optical fiber as well, which provides longer cable runs and faster speeds; though without the on-board 10 watts of power.

The great news is that, unlike FireWire and USB, the protocol does not slow down when you have multiple devices attached to it.

Additional features include:

• Dual-channel, each 10 Gbps
• Bi-directional, equally fast in both directions
• Dual protocol, PCI Express for hard disks and DisplayPort for monitors
• Daisy-chain-able, supports up to six devices per channel
• Woks with both copper and fiber cabling, fiber allows longer cable runs
• Low latency, very, VERY short delays in transferring signals
• Delivers up to 10 watts of power over copper wiring, but not fiber, to support bus-powered devices. (Though this is not enough for most hard disks)

In short, this is some amazing technology!

For those that want an overview, here’s the relevant page from Apple on the technology: http://www.apple.com/thunderbolt/

For those that want more technical details, here’s Intel’s website on the new protocol: http://www.intel.com/technology/io/thunderbolt/index.htm

Here’s an additional analysis from Storage Newsletter: http://www.storagenewsletter.com/news/connection/analysis-intel-10gbs-thunderbolt

HOW FAST IS IT?

Remember the first time you saw Han Solo go into warp drive in Star Wars? It’s THAT fast!

It is:

• 10 gigaBITS per second (10 Gbps)
• 1.25 gigaBYTES per second (1.25 GB/s)
• More than twelve times faster than FireWire 800
• More than twenty times faster than USB 2
• Faster than USB 3, mini-SAS, FibreChannel, and all flavors of SCSI.

It is dazzlingly fast.

(This chart was published on Apple’s website.) PLUS, the spec calls for speeds ten times faster – up to 100 Gbps – in the near future. (No, not next week.)

Keep in mind that the only way you can take advantage of this new system is using a RAID. A single hard drive, no matter how large, does not begin to provide the speed offered by this new protocol. To take advantage of all the speed, you’ll need to invest in a RAID system.

UPDATE – Mar. 3, 2011

Adam Lloyd Connell sent me the following link to an EndGadget demo using Final Cut Pro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCz_c_rDAXw

WHAT SUPPORTS THUNDERBOLT NOW?

Apple’s three latest MacBook Pros.

That’s it. No other hardware is currently shipping that supports the protocol.

On the other hand, until Apple ships a device containing this protocol, there is no incentive for any hardware manufacturer to create devices to support a protocol that doesn’t exist. First, Apple needs to ship something, then, the rest of the technology world can start to support it.

As always, this will take some time before we see actual products ship.

WHAT WILL SUPPORT THUNDERBOLT IN THE FUTURE?

Both Promise and LaCie have announced new hard drive systems that will support this protocol and both will be shipping in a few months.

I also sent emails to friends in the hard drive industry and every single one of them is frantically studying the new protocol so they can add it to their product line.

My expectation is that we will see Thunderbolt support on hard drives – more specifically RAIDs – sooner than on monitors. With nothing from any vendor before NAB in April. I expect most shipments to start in the early summer.

As one hardware vendor wrote:

Thunderbolt is THE hot topic of discussion everywhere. What happened is that when it was being developed, Apple went to Blackmagic Design, AJA, Promise, Western Digital, LaCie & even CalDigit to see if they’d be interested in being 1st onboard the tech, so it’ll be interesting to see what AJA, BMD & the rest will come out with. We already know Promise has a 4 bay and a 6 bay TB product line called "Pegasus" which doesn’t ship till April and LaCie has a new TB 2 bay, that I know of.

I don’t think it’ll kill FireWire anytime soon & our mini-SAS 8 bay product is still selling very solidly and will continue to do so at nearly 1000 MB/s with the ATTO R680 card.

CAN THUNDERBOLT BE RETROFIT ON EXISTING COMPUTERS OR STORAGE?

No.

Based on what I’ve learned so far, support for Thunderbolt can not be retrofit into current RAID technology. It requires a new chipset from Intel on both the computer and RAID to support the protocol. Also, the chipset does not look like it can be added via a PCIe card into a MacPro.

WHAT DOES THUNDERBOLT MEAN FOR THE FUTURE?

Thunderbolt is absolutely, and only, designed to meet the needs of the Pro market. No consumer needs speeds this fast – they can use it, they can appreciate it, but they don’t NEED it. Pros do.

To me, this is a strong indication that Apple has not forgotten the needs of Pro users. Which is a very good thing — for all of us.

Larry

A year or so ago, I wrote about a problem of digital media slowly "evaporating" when a hard drive is powered down and stored on a shelf.

You can read the first article here.

The solution is to refresh the hard drive. You can read that solution here.

Bill Lauer now asks:

A couple of years ago you wrote an article on how to refresh a hard drive using the "sudo cat /dev/rdisk0> /dev/null" or "sudo badblocks -b 4096 -p 1 -c 32768 /dev/rdisk0". I was wondering if there is a better way yet?

I never was able to get the bad block method to work. I tried 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6. Does TECH TOOL PRO’s "scan drive" command do the same thing? I really want a safe way to do this. Fast would be good also.

Larry replies: At the time the article came out a number of developers contacted me saying they were going to work on an easier solution. As of today, I don’t know of any.

However, if any reader does, please let me know and I’ll share the information.

UPDATE – JAN. 2, 2011

Bob Gobeille, who originally provided the terminal script to fix this problem, wrote again in answer to Bill Lauer’s wish.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve used Tech Tool Pro, but anything that reads the entire disk (like drive scanning) should work fine.

I use Terminal windows all the time and forget that the commands I sent you can be intimidating to those that don’t.

Since Bill wanted an easier way, I’ve attached an AppleScript that will refresh a disk with two clicks (one to select the disk, the other to run the scan). Here is a sample screen shot from the script.

Once you select the disk you want to scan, click OK. The only feedback you will get is that your disk drive activity light should go on and stay on until the refresh is done. When it is finished — and it will take a LONG time — another dialog box will come up and let you know. Here’s a sample screenshot:

This is a sample screen shot of the message you get when scanning is complete.

If you aren’t familiar with installing AppleScript, copy this script to your Library > Scripts directory. Then when you click on the script icon in the OSX menu bar, you should see it. Like this:

If the script icon is not in your menu bar, add it by running: Applications > Utilities > AppleScript Editor.app

Then open the AppleScript preferences and click Show Script menu in menu bar.

BOB’S NOTES
I’ve never tried this on RAIDed drives (I don’t have any). This reads at almost 60 MB/s on my internal MacPro drives, which works out to about 200 GB / hour. This means a scan of a 500GB disk will take roughly 2.5 hours. Different computers will scan at different speeds.

My script will only scan one drive at a time at this point.

I was tempted to have this script also check for other types of disk errors (and attempt to fix them), but you can use Disk Utility to do the same thing, using the Verify Disk and Repair Disk buttons.

As with all software, test this on a drive you have backed up first. We believe this to be reliable, but do not guarantee it.

Larry replies: Bob, this is GREAT! Thanks for taking the time to create, explain, and share it with us.

Here’s the link to the AppleScript file. This is stored as a Zip file, double-click it to decompress it, then install it as Bob outlined above.

Larry

I’m reminded of the story of three blind men describing an elephant. None of them can see the truth, so each has to describe this huge beast from their own, very limited, perspective.

What brought this to mind was a recent blog post from Dustyn Gobler commenting on what the cancellation of the XServe means to the ProApps. (Read it here.)

As I told Dustyn in my reply to his post:

I think there is a very large middle-ground that you are over-looking which exists between Avatar (and The Real World) and soccer moms. In this area, Final Cut Studio provides a high-quality and significant solution.

Still, until we see what Apple has planned for the future, all this is just guess-work. It was fun to read your thoughts even though I do not wholly agree with them.

Dustyn kindly responded saying that the lens through which he viewed the Apple announcements was that of someone involved in reality TV and info-tainment.

Then, he shared with me an email he received from Steve Jobs, which, if true, adds yet more fuel to the fires of all this discussion.

Take a look at this second post from Dustyn and let me know what you think.

As Dan Cook, or Earl Weaver, or Bill Carpenter, once said: It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

Cool – I can wait.

Larry

This morning, Apple quietly announced that it was discontinuing the XServe – which is the high-end server for XSAN and other networks – on January 31, 2011.

For folks that need servers, Apple recommends that you use either a new version of the MacPro or the MacMini. (Personally, I am a huge fan of the MacMini for servers, I have three of them running here in the office and they work great for us.)

There are lots of ways to interpret this move, but the most obvious one seems to me to be the best. Apple has never been a “Big Iron” company. Years ago, Apple needed hardware that met the needs of the large enterprise because no one else was offering products that supported Macs. Which is why we first saw the XRAID and then the XServe.

Today, that need is no longer there. There are a large number of companies that provide state-of-the-art hardware that support Macs, PCs, and Linux systems. With the continual shift toward supporting “open standards,” as opposed to proprietary software, Macs are included in more systems than ever before, by companies that specialize in creating server-based hardware. Apple has never been successful in this market, and, today, they don’t need to be.

Creating gear targeted to this market leads to an Apple weakness, not a strength. Which is why, over the last year, we have seen Apple discontinue first the XRAID, and now the XServe.

There is a lot of conversation going on now about whether this means that Apple is no longer interested in the high-end. I received several emails this morning essentially saying that the days of Final Cut Studio – as another high-end application – are numbered.

That may be true, but I don’t believe it.

At its heart, Apple is a software company. They create great hardware so they have someplace for their software to run. For me, the signs still point to significant upgrades to the entire professional suite. Probably not as fast as we all would like, but I suspect the wait will be worth while.

Let me know what you think.

Larry

Tonight, on our podcast the Digital Production Buzz, we announced The BuZZ Shout-Out!

No one needs to tell you that finding work these days is hard. That’s where The BuZZ can help. We want to help jobs find you.

Here’s the deal: You create a 30-second audio ad that promotes your services, send it to us, and we’ll share it with our world-wide audience. Show off your creative chops – and look for work at the same time!

The best news is that this is FREE to both companies or individuals that want to participate. To us, it doesn’t make sense to charge you to look for work. We just want to help you become successful. (However, if you want to tell your friends about The BuZZ, we won’t object.)

There are, of course, a few rules – you can read them all here.

We’ve been working on this for the last month, but it would not be possible without the support of some far-sighted companies that agree with us that we need to do more to showcase the incredible creative talent in our industry.

Data Robotics, Inc., makers of the Drobo line of storage products.

Maxon Computers Inc., makers of the Cinema 4D line of professional 3D design software.

Smartsound, Inc., makers of SonicFire Pro and it’s library of high-quality, royalty-free music.

I’ve spent a lot of my time looking for work – I know how hard it can be. We want to help. Check out the website, fire up those creative juices, and let’s see what happens.

Larry

P.S. We have room for one more sponsor – if your company is interested, drop me a note. Thanks!

Yesterday, MacRumors posted that “Final Cut Studio Update Scaled Back and Delayed.”

Naturally, this sent seismic tremors throughout the Final Cut community. (Personally, I’ve lost count of how many times one rumor site or another has cried that Final Cut is dying. This is, apparently, good for ratings.)

First, the blog post takes Apple to task for missing a rumored release date. This is like being blamed for not accomplishing something you never said you would do in the first place.

Second, it rehashes old rumors about layoffs on the development team. As we have discussed here in the past, the staff layoffs did occur, but they were not in development.

Third, it rehashes old rumors that Apple is turning FCP into a “prosumer” application. These were rebutted by Apple, no less, within days.

So, while it is exciting, I’m sure, to imagine that the sky is falling, more informed speculation leads us to entirely different conclusions.

Apple does not preannounce products. Apple does not, in almost all cases, comment on rumors. Apple has on several occasions reiterated its support for Final Cut Studio. Apple recently updated four of the applications in the suite — which, to me, indicates on-going development. You don’t update programs you are looking to kill.

Philip Hodgetts has written a detailed, and I think, essentially accurate account of what’s going on behind the scenes with Final Cut Studio.

Neither he, nor I, are privy to any Apple secrets. Philip is just very, very good at reading tea leaves.

You can read it here.

Larry

Our podcast, DigitalProductionBuzz.com, is the Official Podcast of Digital Video Expo for the third year in a row! Digital Video Expo 2010 is in Pasadena, CA, from Sept. 28 – 30.

We are creating three special programs – LIVE – from the trade show floor starting Wednesday, Sept. 29. (More on that in a minute.)

To celebrate, we are offering FREE PASSES to the trade show and discounts on the conference sessions. Here’s how it works.

Register for the exhibit floor and use the code – BUZZ – and you get in free.

Register for the DVE conference workshops using the code – BUZZ – and save $50. (This offer does not include the Weynand Training.)

The Buzz is already covering DV Expo with a variety of pre-show interviews with industry leaders. Plus, we’ll be at the show with updates on the latest technology every evening for three days starting Wednesday, Sept. 29.

Visit – DVExpoBuzz.com – for the latest in show news and a complete schedule of our special shows when they are produced. If you listen to the show on iTunes, we’ll post them there as well.

Larry

P.S. When you come to the show, please stop by our booth – #129 – and say hello. I’d love to say hi!

Apple today announced a series of minor updates to fix a variety of bugs in Final Cut Studio (3).

These improvements do NOT include full support for Snow Leopard, but do fix a variety of problems in Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5, and Apple QMaster.

My philosophy on bug fix updates is to wait a few days to make sure these didn’t break anything, then update.

You can view Apple’s announcement here: support.apple.com/kb/DL949

AppleInsider published a full list of the bug fixes here: www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/09/15/apple_updates_quicktime_for_windows_pro_applications.html

There are a variety of FCP fixes that I’m pleased to see, including the improved support for AVCHD, fixing the XML carriage return bug, and fixes to QMaster — a program that needs a LOT of improvements.

The easiest way to update – after waiting a bit, just to be “sure” – is using Software Update.

Larry

Putch, over at Putch Films, sent me this link on Apple’s website on how the film: Eat Pray Love was edited on Final Cut Pro.

www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/in-action/eatpraylove/?sr=hotnews.rss

I liked their description of their use of ProRes Proxy and the workflow they followed.

Larry