04/25/2007 - Grass Valley Procoder 3 is available for only $449 from Guy Graphics. The Thompson Grass Valley ProCoder Software Boosts "Anything In, Anything Out" Conversion Performance. ProCoder 3.0 Provides Powerful, Inexpensive Software-Based Video Format Conversion on Standard Computers. Giving you the same quality when under the Canopus name. ProCoder is a software package for PCs which provides file format conversion, either as a standalone application or as a plug-in to a desktop editor such as EDIUS. The software is highly flexible, featuring batch processing, priority queuing and simultaneous creation of multiple destination files. Extensive video filtering is
included to achieve the maximum quality in transfers, and additional functionality is included such as color correction, noise reduction and fade in and fade out.

Version 3.0 adds support for the H.264 codec to produce Apple iPod and mobile video files, and decoding of the AVCHD format from the latest generation of MPEG-4 camcorders. Added functionality includes grid encoding, splitting a process into multiple tasks to be shared across multiple CPUs or CPU cores in a single computer.

ProCoder 3.0 now includes an inverse telecine process: content that had previously been converted to interlaced format using the 3:2 pull-down can now be restored to progressive film frame rates. Improved audio handling includes Dolby Digital support — vital for DVD production — and audio mapping, allowing channels to be swapped during the conversion process. ProCoder 3.0 also ensures timecode integrity during conversion.

Click on our link for more info or to purchase the new Procoder 3

Or upgrade from a previous version of ProCoder for only $189]]>

03/15/2007 -

Matrox is proud to announce a new addition to the Matrox RT.X2 family of products - Matrox RT.X2 SD! If you're a professional video editor concerned about getting maximum productivity from Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Production Studio, have a look at the Matrox RT.X2 product line – the ideal solutions for corporate communicators, event videographers, project studios, educational facilities and digital filmmakers. Matrox RT.X2 SD replaces the highly successful RT.X100 platform and brings many exciting new features if you’re delivering your work in SD. Key features of Matrox RT.X2 SD • Realtime multi-layer editing of video, graphics, and effects • Realtime Matrox Flex CPU effects – color correction, speed changes, chroma/luma keying and many more • Realtime and accelerated Matrox Flex GPU effects – 2D/3D DVE, blur/glow/soft focus, shine and many more • Native DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, and MPEG-2 4:2:2 I-frame SD editing • Realtime HDV clip downscaling in an SD timeline • Realtime mixed-format multi-cam in an SD timeline • Accelerated export to DVD, multimedia formats including Flash Video, and Adobe Clip Notes • WYSIWYG for Adobe After Effects, Photoshop and Bridge, Autodesk Combustion and 3ds Max, eyeon Fusion, NewTek LightWave 3D, and Windows Media Player with dynamic Alt+Tab switching • Composite, Y/C, and analog component SD input and output • For use with your copy of Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe Production Studio Only $895 US in North America! Contact Guy Graphics TOLL FREE at 1-866-343-9515 for details. To promote this new product release, Matrox for a limited time has released promotional pricing for the RT.X2 line of bundles and products. You can get a Matrox RTX2 with Premiere Pro 2.0 for $1695, which is more than $300 off the normal price. All their other bundles are also on sale.

]]>

]]> 01/10/2007 - here.
]]> 01/09/2007 -
We recently built a prototype video capturing server for a rocket testing facility. They test each rocket engine type and need to have different video data recorded and then dumped to DVD. Of course, time is of the essence, and capturing their video from tape was taking too much time. Since we already had built them an editing/authoring station we thought it would be best to build some rack mount servers that can be set up for just capturing. DV Rack was the clear solution as it allows the monitoring they need and the ability to capture to an external disk, network drive or local storage.

An Avid customer had some special requirement for his Dual Xeon Quad Core workstation. We needed three separate 1394 controller cards all on their own PCI bus. And in addition to that we needed 15 USB ports without using a hub. The complication here is that we also were using a Quadro 4500 video card which takes up two card spaces. And did I mention the RAID 5 controller? We were able to get our hands on some very cool combo cards that gave us all the ports we needed.

I especially like building machines that have crazy storage requirements. With hard drive capacities so high now, the DV or even HDV editor seldom needs more than a 4-drive RAID to accomodate all his footage. The Uncompressed editor, especially one dealing with Uncompressed HD, will need a lot more storage than that. We recently built an Axio machine for a film house that needed as much storage as we could get them internally. We were able to cram 12TB of RAID0 storage into the machine using 16 750GB drives. We used two 750GB power supplies ganged together and managed to fit it all in our standard CM-Stacker.

Some of the funnest machines we build are the Canoptrox multi-NLE setups. We used to build them more often and it was trickier to get both the Matrox and Canopus hardware to work within a single version of Premiere. Nowadays, they coexist together easier each with their own software NLE applications. Now it is more of a trick just getting the right combination of slots on the motherboard to work all the cards. Why would you want more than one NLE? Because there still doesn't exist one that does it all.

People have different needs in their NLE and that's why we have so many option in our workstation configurators. If you have some special considerations that can't be met with our drop downs, just contact us and we'll set you up custom style.]]> 01/08/2007 - And the part that interested me as a videographer is that they both let you host your own videos for free. They convert your video into streaming video, and then give you the html code to stream it from other websites. That, for me, is a great way to get my work out there on the Internet and into the hands of the public. Because, lets face it, the Internet is being used more and more by the average person. And as far as advertising goes, it has ways of being far cheaper than television, radio or magazine. And if someone like the Star Wars Kid or the Numa Numa guy can become worldwide Internet celebrities overnight, so can the talented individuals like you and me who work hard to deliver products that achieve a higher quality of entertainment.
I am glad that the Internet allows those who really deserve fame to get it, like one of my favorite bands “Ok Go”. I remember them from back in the day before they danced in their backyard or played in a room full of treadmills. But now, with their witty videos and catchy tunes, they have achieved a new group of fans they would not have been able to get without their Internet popularity. And when your grandmother, who thinks rock music is the devil, sends you a link to their new Internet rock video because it made her smile… then you know they’ve achieved what all of us want. We all want our product to be recognized and enjoyed by the masses worldwide. So get on the ball. Broadcast yourself. Show everyone who you are and what you do. The world is tuning in to watch. Give ‘em something worth checking out.

Find out how to stream your video, here.]]> 01/04/2007 -
The training videos show the highlights of Edius v4, the basics, capturing, video editing, titles, effects and more. Please encourage your sales reps as well as your customers to take advantage of these great tools offered by Grass Valley.

Here is the link:
http://ediustraining.grassvalley.com/
]]> 01/02/2007 -
In 2006 we added nearly 20,000 products to our catalog. Our focus in 2007 will be to get accurate and useful information about all these products up on our sites. We'll also be working with many manufacturers to create new special deals and promotional bundling. Our goal is to be one of the most helpful sites on the net for anyone working in the audio and video production field. To that end, we will be releasing weekly articles and how-to guides related to our product categories.

Here's hoping that we can keep our resolutions and that you can too.]]> 12/25/2006 -

Well, it is Christmas Day and all the presents have been opened and all of the wrapping paper has been moved out to the trash.

We just finished Christmas dinner with family and we are all sitting on the couch watching a movie.

We just moved into our new home Thursday so we didn’t have a lot of time for shopping but when I got out there it was killer time. All of the sales were pretty much done and I was paying the price for all of the things I was purchasing.

I had to do it all in a day and it was running around like crazy having heart attacks every time the cashier told me how much my purchases came to.

I know how the Holidays can get really crazy and I know how out of control they can become.

Last year I did all my shopping on the Internet and I really liked it. I wish I would have remembered this year early enough.

What I love about internet shopping is the fact I can find what I want in many different places and compare the prices. I can look a several reliable shops and get what I need and feel confident that I am getting the best price.

Now that Christmas is here you will see many great deals on stock that needs to be moved. As a matter of fact I just watched two adds and another is playing about how all the major stores are 50% to 75% tomorrow and I bet if you keep your eyes open here you might find some cool stuff at a great price also.

I hope that 2007 is going to be a great one for you!! May all of you be more successful this year than ever before and may all of you wishes and desires come true!!

I would also like to thank everyone that has been helpful to others this year. Sharing one’s talents so that others can become better is a wonderful thing in deed!!


Mike


]]> 12/08/2006 -
The only thing worse than change? change in the work place. When it effects your ability to make a living change is not only a hard pill to swallow but can also cause an amount of stress that

I travel to all of these TV Stations and I am the first guy that most of the station’s employees are seeing. I stand in the front of a room telling them that their world is about to change drastically. Some of them are excited but many of them are very scared because for many it is either learn this or find another job. I can’t tell you how much I love having that responsibility!!

Now, with all of that said there is another side of the coin. Even though we are resistant to change and will sometimes fight it, we might be fighting something that is going to make our lives much easier.

For instance… My Father didn’t feel like he needed, nor did he want a cell phone. He just couldn’t see the benefit from it and it didn’t matter any way because he was NOT going to change. When it was pointed out to him that when Mom was alone on the road it would give him piece of mind because she could call him in a time of trouble he decided to try it.

Now that he can call Mom from the store to ask questions, now that he can call anyone he needs to talk to WHEN he needs them and not after he gets home he is hooked and can’t live without it.

Another example, When Edius first came out I fought it. I had the first Alpha copy in the US and when I first started to try it I said forget it! I was a StormEdit user and I was quite happy. All I wanted was two more video and 2 more audio tracks and I would have been fine.

I got Edius, installed it and hated it. I could use it as easily and it looked completely different. I was fumbling around and eventually got it to look like StormEdit and I tried to use it as StormEdit. The first letter I wrote back to my friend Alex in Japan was “This is all wrong… you guys can’t do this!!”

I think it was about the third or fourth report that I said “Never mind”.

My Daughter needed to finish a wedding she had shot and she brought over a hard drive so we could hook it up. I have one old computer with a Storm and StormEdit on it. As I was helping her I found myself becoming very frustrated because I could easily do the things I was used to doing!!!! I realized right there that if I was being told that I had to switch to this program that I used to love so much that I would have HATED it!!

By the time I leave these TV Stations most of the employees are excited about the change because they have gotten a taste of what the other side is like.

I guess where I am going with this is that you should not be afraid of change. I hear folks all of the time saying “I have this computer from 10 years ago and it does all that I need”. Well, this is the same statement that the Station employees make about the editing with the equipment they have.

My question is “How do you know it is doing all that you need?”

When these folks play with and use the technology that is coming at them fear melts away and excitement takes over in most cases, just as it did with me when I first changed over to Edius years ago.

Get the demo, watch the tutorials on the Canopus Site and then give a real try. You might find that it will work for you better than you ever imagined!



]]> 12/05/2006 -
I was sitting in a meeting with the editors and Photogs... er uh... Photo Journalist (Sorry about that) and they were asking me a lot of questions and there were some that I didn't have the answers for right away, why? because there are no answers as of yet because nobody has ever tried doing what they are doing!! I had to develop some answers to thier questions while I was there.

These guys have eight editing stations that they capture, edit and output thier work all on servers. Eight computers can capture HD to a server at the same time, all of them can edit from the server at the same time and all can ouput to the server at the same time. It is incredible to watch!

Now... do they have problems? Sure they do... why do you think I was there, but they are getting the kinks ironed out and they are really rocking!

BitCentral, the company that installed all of this, is doing some wonderful things in the broadcast industry. John King, the head engineer, is a pure wizard and is creating magic wherever he goes. I have trainined dozens of stations for them and I am always in amazment at what all of this stuff does!

What is at the heart of all this? Edius. Canopus Edius is the editing software ( and Canopus Hardware) these stations are using. Why Edius and not other editing software? There a few reasons.

1. Ease of use - In the training I have done I have had 0 people tell me it is more difficult to use then the other NLE's on this level they have used.

2. Versitality - The amount of formats it can place on the timeline without conversion and edit in realtime.

3. Realtime - There is nothing on the market that can touch it!! The things that can be done with the software alone on a laptop blows the mind!! :)

Grass Valley comes along and spends MILLIONS just to buy the company and make the software their own.

If you have not looked at Edius you might want to. There are many reasons why it is the choice of so many!


Mike

]]> 11/23/2006 -
In this wonderful world of video there are many things I am thankful for... The friends I have created over the years is top on the list but there is alot more to be thankful for.

I am very thankful to be living during a time where so many amazing things are happening. I remember playing indoor soccer when I was younger and I bought a video from a guy that recorded one of the games. I took it home and watched and I was hooked! The fact that I could watch this game over and over anytime I wanted was wonderful!!

I was hooked! It would take years for me to get into the Video Biz but I was hooked.

We have come along way from the Video Cameras that had to have a record unit hooked to it that we wore on our shoulder, the tools we have at our finger tips are absolutely amazing when compared with just a few short years ago!

One of those tools is back grounds that have already been created for us. There are several companies out there that can help make our productions look more professional without us having to create our own graphics.

I have NO artistic ability whatsoever. If I had to create any graphics on my own it would look horrible! Luckily I have friends like Tim Johnson that is an award winning graphic artist that would create things for me when I really needed them.

Now I have a huge amount of choices just by shopping for what I want. When I need something I just shop and buy!

Check out some of the products here and see if somebody can save you!!


Happy Thanksgiving Everyone… I hope yours is a wonderful day!


MIke

]]> 11/08/2006 -
You can view our revised workstation configurators here: http://www.guygraphics.com/showmequad%20core.html

To make it easier to judge the relative performance of the CPUs we have started to include a "Total GHz" notation next to each CPU offering. To calculate this we take the CPU clock speed and multiply it by the total number of cores. For example, the new 5355 Quad-Core Xeons get a total of 21.28GHz (2.66x8), while the 5160 Dual-Core Xeons get a total of 12GHz (3GHx x 4). Note that some applications and tasks will take better advantage of having 8-cores in the machine, while other applications and tasks might benefit more from a faster clock speed and fewer cores. As more software developing companies rewrite their software for multiple cores we will continue to see better performance. ]]> 11/03/2006 -
In addition to our on-site search enhancements, we have partnered with Google to provide browser-based searching of the Guy Graphics catalog using the new Google Toolbar Button feature. By adding the Guy Graphics Button to the Google Toolbar you will be able to search through our product line as well as recieve updates from our feed about new articles, reviews and more. Click here to add the Guy Graphics search button to your Google Toolbar]]> 11/01/2006 -
Whether you’re just getting started or a seasoned professional, working in HD offers new opportunities and challenges. However, one thing remains certain: success is all about preparation. Join Patrick McLean, Avid Senior Product Manager, and Michael Phillips, Avid Chief Product Designer, for a live Webcast that will help you make the right decisions before you start shooting. Register Now

Wednesday
November 15, 2006
1:00 ET PM

Topics include:
Choosing the right HD format for your project
How editing HD media is different than editing SD media
Using HD to edit film-based projects
When to output to SD tape, DVD, broadcast master, or Blu-ray Disc™
Saving time with high-quality Avid DNxHD® encoding
Patrick and Michael will use real-world examples to show how Avid® Media Composer® and Avid Xpress® Pro editing systems can streamline HD production.

Who should attend?
Anyone interested in HD and SD post production including: Directors, Editors, Faculty, Indie Filmmakers, Post Supervisors, Producers, and Students.

Register today
Registration is fast and easy. Everyone who registers and attends this Webcast will receive a free Avid Frame Rate reference poster. Register Now]]>