Peter Chamberlain, Sales Manager, Asia Pacific, da Vinci Systems

What were the top technological trends for 2007?

It has been said, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” and 2007 from a technological perspective saw incremental but not extraordinary changes some were anticipating. While a number of post facilities have explored the DI feature film business for the first time with purchases of low cost systems, they, like a number of startups have found that having the technology to render a dpx file is only a small part of the DI equation.

As suggested last year, there is more to being successful in DI than just buying the DI system. Just as the word processor did not bring a million new authors to the world, a PC, video card and some off-the-shelf software do not suddenly create a DI facility. 2007 has been the year many post houses have found a steep DI learning curve in trying to understand how to get the best out of technology and their creative staff. Be it compositors, 3D artists, audio specialists or colourists, the right talent with the best systems give rise to the greatest achievements.

2007 has seen a refinement of DI technology and also a finetune of the workflow to bring DI for TVCs to reality. From Australia to Singapore and India to Japan we saw adoption of da Vinci’s nonlinear grading suite for TVCs and feature films following from 2006’s growth in film DI.

With the right mix of talent and systems, companies like BEAN COLOUR in Sydney have shown that film is not dead and the telecine/scanner is still critical to capturing the nuances of the image. Given that the images graded by BEAN was scanned by another company, one can tell that facilities can be one stop shops or boutique specialists and both can thrive with the right technology/talent mix. I believe BEAN COLOUR has both in spades and is a model others will try to copy in 2008.

Your predictions for the same in 2008?

In restoration, the market has been in evolution rather than a revolution in the years gone by. Facilities like The China Film Archive in Beijing and Shemaroo in India are putting in place multiple film restoration systems to capture the cultural, historical, entertainment and most importantly, monetary value, stored on the 35 and 16mm prints in the vault or under the bed. It is practical to scan and restore those otherwise lost treasures and to re-master them for theatrical, TV, cable or DVD release. With the rise of HDDVD or Blu-Ray, we can see the demand for quality restoration expanding in 2008 over that of the last two years.

With all the talk on repurposing old films, it is hard to believe some still suggest film is dead. In fact, the opposite seems true with a greater number of films being produced in 2007 as compared to 2006 in almost every country in Asia, and the number of prints is still growing. And while 4K digital cinema has started rolling out, the 35mm/ digital cinema ratio is still heavily weighted toward film.

On the other hand, digital acquisition has made good gains in production but interestingly at the low budget end including HDV, RED and DALSA, rather than the direct 35mm replacements. And all the test results I’ve seen this year still place 35mm way ahead on the quality curve. And as the restoration market proves old 35mm film is still the best way to archive projects given that we do not see many D1/D2 restoration facilities.

2008 will also see some significant technology changes in color grading. Just as BEAN and Blackmagic Design have driven the nonlinear TVC grading business to new heights, providing new grading tools with enhanced price/performance ratios will enable post facilities with the right creative talent to upgrade to the latest da Vinci DI systems and take advantage of all we have learnt in the last few years. 2008 will be the year all post facilities will want to grade TVCs in 2K and will be able to do it.

Mark Horton, Strategic Marketing Manager, Post and Broadcast, Quantel

2007

Our industry usually moves forward incrementally, but from time to time there are major break points - and you will have to watch out for those too. Focusing on the incremental trends last year, you would have to say that a significant development was the blurring of the distinction between user-generated and broadcast content. An example in point lies in the increased tendency for news to include user-generated content. Also important was that web delivered content has continued apace.

With that in mind, I believe the big technology break point in 2007 was in stereoscopic 3D technology. Stereoscopic 3D has been around for years but has suddenly leapt to the forefront of discussion in both film and broadcast in 2007. It was the hot topic last year and understandably so, as industry audiences and the general public were wowed by demonstration films and live content.

In some respects, stereoscopic 3D seems to be an obvious and direct way forward. Firstly, we now have the means to shoot, post produce and distribute conventional programmes and films digitally. That is good because the digital workflow is a major enabler of stereoscopic 3D content production, post and distribution. Secondly, we have a post and broadcast industry that is rapidly changing and evolving, and what we need above all else are new business models suited to this new century. Third, and arguably the most important factor is the fact that the general public loves stereoscopic 3D content, as long as it is done well. In the end our collective job is to entertain and inform the public. They pay our wages. So, this is great news for us all.

2008

My personal prediction for 2008 is that a great deal of “mind space” is going to be occupied by stereoscopic 3D. We’ll be relearning how to write for it, shoot it, how best to post produce and most importantly how to show it, in cinemas, at special events or at home. We’ll also remember that there is much expertise from the past that is still around.

In addition, we can expect more of the Digital Stereo Cinema that was launched in 2007 to roll out during 2008. We should see more pilot test stereoscopic broadcasts and also stereoscopic content being used for events and product launches.

Of course, there are major challenges ahead, but so were there when sound and colour were being introduced. As an industry we need to get past those challenges and collectively deliver what is potentially the biggest change in a generation.

Shunichi Fujioka, Division Manager, Content Creation Products Marketing Division, Broadcast and Professional Pacific Asia Company (A division of Sony Corporation of Hong Kong Ltd)

2007

2007 was another year of high definition. The world unlocked the way to more new exciting entertainment experiences that transcended traditional perceptions of television and cinema. At the same time, the implementation of digital broadcasting around the region, together with the international sports extravaganza in the 2008 Olympics Games, opened up new business vistas for the broadcast and production industry.

Transition to digital broadcasting and entertainment accelerated the enhancement of HD products and its solutions. From the director’s chair to the consumer’s armchair, Sony has been actively involved in every stage of the production and distribution process. In line with our global theme “HD for All” in 2007, we continued to offer a broad and growing line of HD systems and products to suit every professional application, from acquisition and asset management to advanced network production and final output.

Headlining the launch was the much anticipated XDCAM EX tapeless camcorder. Combining sophisticated HD technologies with the convenience of card media, it was the first professional HD camcorder to record onto the solid-state Expresscard that was engineered to deliver workflow innovations. The significant new line up provided non-traditional users with exceptional HD quality workflow at an affordable price. The expansion of the XDCAM family also represented Sony’s continued devotion to tapeless programming and strengthened our focus on format and choice. The new XDCAM EX offered greater flexibility to users by allowing them to accommodate diverse formats and provided more technological choices to cater to their unique demands.

Beyond HD, Sony showcased the latest in digital cinema acquisition and projection in 2007. The year marked the official debut of the F23 digital cinema camera along with networked HD technology and professional service capabilities for large venues, including theatres and stadiums. The 4K presentation system in digital cinema represented significantly higher resolution than the current generation of HDTV systems available on the market, immersing the moviegoers in a stunning cinematic experience like no other.

2008

HD will continue to take centrestage in 2008, and the industry needs to continue to push the technical and creative boundaries of HD technology to the next level.

We foresee that applications of HD broadcast and production technologies will continue to increase in the broadcast arena as well as in new and non-traditional usage. HD production will not be limited to broadcast and news production, but also across various market segments. In fact it is applicable to almost any professional communications application where HD content needs to be created, edited, shared, stored and displayed.

To help users tackle the system issues, Sony is expanding its role from a manufacturer to a solutions provider. Our goals are to work closely with system integrators and other resellers to put in place the systems, service and support infrastructures that customers need to transit their operations to HD and to offer a seamless workflow to customers with different needs.

As technology advances, so does stability and flexibility of new media platforms. There will be dramatic changes in the market and these changes will bring opportunities and challenges to content owners and broadcasters. The upsurge in content, combined with much-improved delivery infrastructures, will increasingly allow consumers to choose when, where and how they consume their entertainment. Furthermore, multiple formats will co-exist, as different delivery methods and platforms will suit different consumers in different situations.

In brief, the industry must work hard to secure its position on the HD map, and at the same time look at the broader picture and continue to invest in the future beyond HD. At Sony, we are committed to developing a broad diversity of digital production and delivery platforms. Our HD products and technologies will continue to evolve to meet the needs of the industry and we will continue to offer flexible, more capable and more affordable production systems to customers.

Chander-Kishore Madan, Vice President, Commercial Systems Unit, Personal Systems Group, Asia Pacific and Japan, Hewlett Packard

2007

2007 saw the high definition ecosystem bloom into maturity as HD TVs, industrial HD broadcast and content creation systems, as well as HD content itself, grow at the fastest rates in history. In addition, there is a burgeoning digital animation market in Asia Pacific, with several governments like Singapore actively promoting the growth of their interactive digital media industries. In Singapore alone, the government has committed half a billion Singapore dollars (US$330 million) to fund R&D in interactive digital media (IDM) over the next five years.

To address the ever increasing content processing requirements of the industry, workstation PC systems need to keep pace, and to that end, HP has been partnering with industry leaders like Intel and AMD to support the industry with the latest technology. HP is proud to have been the computing power behind animated movies like Shrek, Madagascar and Over the Hedge, as well as the digital effects from Academy Awardwinning special effects company Weta Digital.

In 2007, HP and Intel set the industry standard for multi-core computing with the launch of the first workstations bearing Intel’s first quad-core processors where four processing microchip cores reside in a single processor. Such multi-core technology enables complex processing elements within the same processor socket and allows users to perform more tasks of complexity at the same time. The increase in the number of processing cores within the workstation represents a significant advancement in computing technology and allows customers to experience performance increases of up to 400 percent, with double-digit gains in productivity and faster return on investment.

In the past year, HP workstations based on Intel Xeon processors have continued to ramp up in sales. According to industry analyst firm IDC, HP’s global year-over-year workstation growth for the second calendar quarter was 41 percent. HP’s workstation growth has been driven by fast-developing economies, high growth vertical industries like broadcast and content generation, as well as workflow and productivity transformations that quadcore technology brings to customer environments. This advancement can be viewed as a disruptive technology that will drive significant efficiency improvements.

To support the growing content creators and processors market in Asia Pacific, HP has continued to help companies with stricter budgets obtain high performance workstations with models bearing AMD Opteron dual-core processors like the HP xw4550 available from only US$1800.

Dual core and quad-core processor technology will enable more tasks and analysis to be performed simultaneously; not only speeding content creation or edits, but also allow artists and designers to work on more complex and photo-realistic designs.

2008

In 2008, Asia Pacific’s HD and animation industry will continue to grow at a phenomenal rate. This growth will bring about the ubiquitous distribution of high quality digital content, increased consumption in digital cinema, HD cable/satellite, HD-DVD and Blu-ray formatted content.

Content from the movies will continue to be re-purposed as digital assets into games, merchandise, and web materials to satisfy film, game, and publishing requirements. All these have an aggregate effect of driving up the demand for HD content and powerful workstation systems that can create and process HD content even further. Regional markets like China have also gone HD, and should fuel a strong and sustained push for HD content in the region.

In support of this growth, HP will continue to focus on satisfying the region’s most demanding users of workstations by being the first to market with leadingedge workstation technology at a great value, while improving customer experience. In early 2008, HP released its refreshed lineup of quad-core workstations that we are confident will be favored by the content production and processing industry.

Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President, Broadcast & Professional Solutions, Thomson

2007

The first would have been in the area of video compression where we’ve seen MPEG-4 video compressed with twice the efficiency of MPEG-2. That will lead to more channels that service providers can deliver to their customers and will enable facilities to store more media on their servers. For that, the Thomson Mustang MPEG-4 encoder chip can compress HD video down to 4 Mbps.

Another area was in imager development with the CMOS imager fast becoming the de-facto standard in low-cost and mid-range camcorders. Our offering in this area is the Thomson Grass Valley Infinity DMC 1000 camcorder which features Thomson Grass Valley’s in-house designed Xensium CMOS imager.

Also, we’ve seen an increase in worldwide HD production. Facilities have been equipping themselves with HD equipment and an HD-capable infrastructure, while maintaining compatibility with their existing standard definition workflow. This includes the move to a more file-based workflow for increased efficiency.

2008

We will see more compression efficiencies as MPEG-4 and JPEG 2000 compression entering the broadcast space for production and storage. The technologies offer the ability to keep just one master file from which all lower resolution files for use on the web and mobile TV can be derived.

We should also see more cameras, perhaps cameras at the higher-end, moving from 2/3-inch CCDs to 2/3-inch CMOS imagers.

We can also expect to see highend motion picture production continuing to move towards digital intermediate post with more films in the 4k space.

Finally, I believe we should witness an increase in HD production at the local level tied to facilities using file-based workflows. For Thomson, that means a link between the Thomson Grass Valley Infinity camcorder, K2 media servers, and EDIUS and Aurora editing systems.

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