With recent online reports about the latest release of iLife not even mentioning iDVD, Apple’s continued interest in extending its download business to include both SD and HD movies, and the lack of native support for Blu-ray Discs on the Mac, I am getting a lot of email from producers who need to create high-def DVDs to sell their products.

Recently, Bruce Nazarian and I put together a Special Report — The State of Blu-ray for the Digital Production Buzz. This has generated such interest that I’m posting an excerpt of it here. In this segment, Bruce describes how to create, monitor, and test Blu-ray Discs on your Mac, along with current limitations.

If you think Blu-ray technology is in your future, you need to listen to this report.

Format: QuickTime movie
TRT: 12:10
Size: 5.7 MB

Click here to listen to the excerpt.

Click here to listen to the entire show.

I get several hundred emails a day — some I keep for each month’s newsletter, while others don’t need to be kept at all. However, many fall into a gray area of being kind of interesting, but … And I’ve often wondered what to do with them. These include announcements of film screenings, interesting FCP tid-bits, and lots of miscellaneous trivia. It suddenly struck me that this blog is a perfect place to share them. So, every so often, I’ll gather up a bunch of them and share them with you as “Passing Thoughts.”

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Final Cut Pro 6 limits the image size of a sequence to no more than 4,000 pixels wide or high.

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If you have problems with potentially corrupted P2 media, check out Raylight’s MXF importer: http://www.dvfilm.com/raylight/

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I’ve been covering Blu-ray Discs a lot. Darryl Yee sent me this link to an Arstechnica article on the integration of Blu-ray Discs with the Internet.

Note: Bruce Nazarian comments that “BD-Live is one of Blu-ray’s ‘promised lands’ although it requires a huge amount of backend server prep in order to function effectively.
This is NOT something that ordinary desktop authors can create… It requires high-end authoring, and complete sync with the backend server programmers, not to mention a boatload of programming!”

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Willard Jansen sent me a link that allows you to make your own TV Station on the web: http://www.startyourstation.com/

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I’ll post more of these as time, and email, permits. As always, I am interested in your comments.

Bruce Nazarian, president of the IDMA, and I just completed a one-hour special report on the state of Blu-ray technology.

We aired the show live yesterday on The BuZZ and posted it this evening.

You can find it here:
http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.com/Archives/ShowNotes.php?date=2009-01-21

The show has seven segments:

* Introduction
* The History of Blu-ray
* Blu-ray is More than just Video
* Creating Blu-ray Discs on PCs
* Creating Blu-ray Discs on Macs
* Issues with Blu-ray licensing
* Blu-ray vs Digital Downloads

Bruce was amazing — there were a number of issues we uncovered that I did not know about; especially when it comes to previewing and mastering your projects.

This is the first special report we’ve done on The BuZZ. If this works, we’ll do more. Let me know what you think — and let me know if there are other subjects you’d like us to examine like this in more detail.

I had a great time doing the show – hope you enjoy it.

This afternoon, Apple released the latest version of QuickTime — 7.6 — which includes updates for encoding quality, reliability, compatibility, and security enhancements.

Media improvements include better single-pass H.264 encoding quality, better playback of Motion JPEG content, improved AAC encoding fidelity, and improved audio export from MPEG video files.

Click here for details on video improvements: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3292

The release notes for the new update also include a variety of security fixes. Click here for information on security improvements:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Windows download: http://support.apple.com/downloads/QuickTime_7_6_for_Windows

OS X 10.4 download: http://support.apple.com/downloads/QuickTime_7_6_for_Tiger

OS X 10.5 download: http://support.apple.com/downloads/QuickTime_7_6_for_Leopard

Final Cut editors should wait at least a week before upgrading to make sure this version does not introduce new problems. Also, never upgrade QuickTime in the middle of completing a project.

Here’s an article I’ve written that explains my thoughts on when to upgrade.

Last week, on the Digital Production BuZZ, we spoke with visual effects wizard Chris Zapara about how he creates his incredible effects – including winning two Emmy’s along the way.

First, if you haven’t seen his work, check out these links. They are AMAZING!

Kate Voegelle: Only Fooling Myself

Low vs Diamond: Heart Attack

Vanessa Carlton: Nolita Fairytale

Serj Tankian: Empty Walls

Seether: Breakdown

BattleStar Gallactica season 2 highlights

Second, during our conversation, we asked him what software he uses on a regular basis. While most of his answer was clear, his phone broke-up as he was telling us what tracking software he uses for materials created in 3D space.

So, I asked him again.

“The tracking software I use for 3d is Synth Eyes. It has a great bang for the buck.” Chris replied.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Just thought you’d like to know.

As you know, I hope, I host a weekly podcast called “Digital Production BuZZ” that focuses on digital video production, post-production, and distribution worldwide. The BuZZ is currently listened to by tens of thousands of people each month!

Each week, we interview industry experts and cover the latest trends of interest to independent film makers, producers, and everyone interested in our industry. (If you haven’t tuned in, we go live every Thursday, from 6 – 7 PM PST. After that, we are posted to iTunes.)

What you may NOT know, however, is that each month we take The Best of the BuZZ and create an all-new show on wsRADIO. wsRADIO is Internet-talk radio. They have a huge variety of shows, and we are delighted to be one of them.

If you haven’t checked out wsRADIO, click here to learn more.

If you want to hear some of our latest shows, click here.

The Internet is becoming the future of broadcasting. Now, with wsRADIO and the BuZZ, you have one more way to stay current.

Philip Hodgetts sent me a fascinating blog post from Justin Evans, who is both a filmmaker and camera rental house owner.

In it, Justin suggests that the total number of RED cameras currently in the market exceeds the number of films being shot.

Whether you agree or disagree, he makes some very thought-provoking points. If you are planning a project, in the market for a camera, or just trying to keep up with our industry, this is something I suggest you read.

Here’s the link:
http://newbreed.workbookproject.com/2008/12/red-one-rentals-impending-crash/

According to Variety magazine, the National Assn. of Broadcasters has teamed with the filmmaking org 48 Hour Film Project to host a movie-making competition at the upcoming NAB confab in Las Vegas.

The Washington, D.C.-based 48 Hour Film Project hosts contests in various cities that challenge contestants to shoot, edit and score a short about a pre-assigned subject in two days. The NAB confab in Las Vegas, which runs April 18-23, will serve as the setting for a 48 Hour Film Project competish to be held April 17-19. Entries will be judged by a panel of helmers, producers and critics and screened at a local Sin City theater.

Click here for more about 48 Hours.

The Association of Video Professionals has invited me to speak at their annual conference February 5, 6, and 7 in Kissimmee, Florida.

This event offers high-quality training for video professionals taught by some truly outstanding people in our industry:

* Dane MacKendrick
* Klark Perez
* Mary Plummer
* Ron Sukenick

Click here to learn more about the Association.

Click here to learn more about the Conference.

I look forward to meeting you there.

The folks at Peake Professional Systems sent me a notice about their new utility called: Final Cut Pro Assistant.

One of the challenges of working with Final Cut is keeping track of all the different files it creates. Most of the time, Final Cut does a great job of managing everything. However, every so often, things go ker-flooey. That’s where this software can help.

Some of the tasks it performs include:

• Resetting Final Cut Pro (i.e. Trashing Preferences)
• Emptying cache files
• Removing unneeded Easy Setups
• Backing up all User Settings files
• Restoring User Settings files from backups
• Restoring additional Easy Setups
• Deactivating Final Cut Studio
• Configuring OS X for Final Cut Pro

Note: I just found out that this is Leopard-only (OS X 10.5). It won’t run on 10.4.

The program is shareware. You can learn more about it, and download your own copy, here.