In February of 2018, we saw a seismic shift in the leadership at Avid. Chief executive officer Louis Hernandez Jr. was removed and subsequently replaced by Jeff Rosica. Once Rosica was installed, people who worried Avid was about to be liquidated to the highest bidder breathed a sigh of temporary relief. We wanted to see where the new action plan from Avid, specifically on where Media Composer and Symphony were going.
NewTek has released two new models in their Spark line of products which takes an HDMI input and converts it into NDI to be distributed on a network.
Just prior to NAB, Avid held its Connect conference where they introduced newly designed Avid Media Composer and its Nexis|Cloudspaces SaaS cloud storage solution. Check out the video from post perspective below.
In honor to Avengers: Endgame, Avid is sharing with us the Infinity War’s timeline. The film was edited on Avid Media Composer. Check out this 40 layers timeline analysis.
As production teams create more immersive, rich video content, they are paving the way for deeper engagement with audiences. But that higher-quality media comes with larger, more complex projects. Teams need the ability to back up or park storage workspaces quickly and easily to protect project files and keep content production moving forward. And, unless there’s a secret stash of money lying around, budget constraints make large, up-front purchases of more storage difficult if not impossible.
It wasn’t really a razzle-dazzle show at NAB this year. Production trends that seemed like they could be the future of media in years past — stereo 3D post-production, 360 video acquisition and VR-headset experiences — have faded into the background, becoming just another bullet point on a marketing sell sheet. Formerly eye-catching gadgets like handheld camera stabilizers have become a more familiar sight, and drones were nowhere near as prevalent on the show floor as in previous years. (Drone giant DJI didn’t even exhibit on the show floor this year.) And futuristic technology like light-field cinematography, which blew so many minds in 2017, was largely absent from the discussion this year. What took its place? Practical, short-term concerns. Customers were interested in sending video over IP networks, taking advantage of powerful GPU acceleration, and getting media into the cloud to leverage AI-based tools, such as Amazon Rekognition, that can help better identify, tag and monetize content.
Check out this look at the Teradek VidiU Go Portable Bonded Cellular Streaming Appliance. The VidiU Go also hooks into local WiFi and wired Ethernet enabling you to handle most any streaming situation. It automatically load balances when you leverage Teradek Sharelink or Core, and, with Teradek Core, you can use HEVC for significant bandwidth savings over H.264.
This year the NAB Show seemed to emphasize its roots – the “B” in National Association of Broadcasters. Gone or barely visible were the fads of past years, such as stereoscopic 3D, 360-degree video, virtual/augmented reality, drones, etc. Not that these are gone – merely that they have refocused on the smaller segment of marketshare that reflects reality. There’s not much point in promoting stereo 3D at NAB if most of the industry goes ‘meh’.
The Avid Customer Association’s annual Connect gathering kicked off with an exciting reveal of Media Composer 2019. More than just an upgrade, this is Media Composer reimagined to inspire creative storytellers at every level, from beginning students to top-echelon experienced editors.
A while back I reviewed the G-Drive Mobile SSD, which I praised for it’s “straight-up sexy” design and very good performance. Compared to the field, it’s still one of the best options for both high-end looks and top-tier performance. With a 519 MB/s read speed and 339.9 MB/s write speed, it’s up there at the top of the USB-C solid state drives available today.