You have to read the article, click on the link he provided. They are using something called field sequential color technology.

The article makes for a good read. This is display is on 1/4 inch diagonal, given the size, it's high resolution. It is meant to replace digital and analog VF. A link to the manufacture's site is in the article.

Guys, I don't remember the source. I also have another version of this that a friend sent me:

SAN FRANCISCO--The judge in a closely watched lawsuit challenging the legality of DVD-copying software said she was "substantially persuaded" by past court rulings that favored copyright holders, but closed a hearing Thursday without issuing a ruling in the case.

Seven movie studios are seeking to prevent 321 Studios from selling its DVD X Copy and DVD Copy Plus programs, alleging that the products violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibition on software that can be used to circumvent copyright protections.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, considering a summary judgment motion, said she had carefully read decisions in two similar cases; judges for Motion Picture Association of America v. 2600 and U.S. v. ElcomSoft said that intellectual property holders can pursue software developers who offer products that crack copyright protections.



"I am substantially persuaded by them," she told both sides.

In the 2600 case, an appellate court ordered the hacker magazine to stop posting or linking to DVD-cracking code. In ElcomSoft, a jury acquitted a Russian software company of criminal charges over a tool that cracked the security on eBooks. But before the trial, a judge refused to toss the case out amid assertions that the DMCA should not apply.

At Thursday's hearing, the studios argued that 321's software violates the DMCA by stripping antipiracy protections out of DVDs to copy them. Essentially, the studios argue that it shouldn't matter what the consumers intend to do with the DVD after they've copied it--that the mere action of breaking the code runs afoul of the law.

"They just can't traffic in anticircumvention devices," Russell Frackman, a partner with Los Angeles-based Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp who's representing the studios, told the judge.

The DMCA has spawned a number of clashes between the entertainment industry, which fears the massive unauthorized distribution of its digital works, and technologists, who fear that a crackdown on software developers will thwart innovation.

During the hearing, the judge peppered attorney Darlyn Durie, a partner at San Francisco-based Keker and Van Nest who's representing 321, with questions about the DMCA's scope.

For example, when Durie opened her statements by saying the studios are mistakenly trying to argue that 321 is offering a tool for burglars, the judge fired back, "Under the statute, all it has to be is a circumvention device."

When Durie said there's no evidence consumers are using 321's products illegally and that it's not marketed toward pirates, the judge replied, "But it's marketed to allow circumvention."

After the hearing, 321 Studios CEO Rob Semaan said he wasn't worried by the judge's questions, because he thinks Durie raised some more issues for the judge to consider. "At least, out of the gate, she was starting at their end of the spectrum," he said. "But being persuaded and bound are two different things."

During the hearing, 321's attorney argued that declaring the company's products illicit would amount to "a ban on the digital printing press," because it would ban acts of copying and excerpting film that traditionally have been legal in the non-digital world.

"A copyright holder has no right to prevent someone from engaging in fair use," Durie said, noting that the studios' position would prevent students from excerpting film clips for school projects or parents making backups of their work. "That, I would suggest, can't be right. That can't be what the drafters of the DMCA intended."

Throughout the case, the judge and lawyers from both sides talked repeatedly about the example of a movie reviewer who wanted to excerpt clips of films.

Restricting free speech?
Durie said that under the studio's interpretation of the DMCA, a movie reviewer could be banned from excerpting a digital work, a prohibition that would violate free-speech laws.

When the movie studios' attorney said that such fair use would not be banned, the judge asked, "Isn't it made more difficult? What about Siskel and Ebert?"

Frackman sidestepped the question, saying that at least one of the famous movie reviewers seems to be doing quite well. "Ebert and whoever can still talk about what they want to talk about (and) can still play clips of what they want to talk about," he said.

But he added that Ebert has no more of a right to make full copies of a movie than anyone else.

At one point, the judge called on Department of Justice attorney John Zacharia to answer some questions about the DMCA. The attorney has weighed in on the side of the studios in an attempt to defend the constitutionality of the DMCA.

Illston asked Zacharia to explain the conundrum of locking up copyrighted works behind encryption and then making the breaking of that encryption illegal, even after the copyrights on those works expire. The judge wondered if it would effectively extend copyrights to keep such works out of the public domain.

Zacharia said it would not, because the copyright had expired.

"But it's encrypted. If it doesn't stop being encrypted, it's still encrypted," Illston said, adding that such protected works still couldn't be legally copied.

The numbers after the words are number of samplings and
actually have nothing to do with bits..... MJPEG 4:2:2 sampling
is 16 bits for example. They use 8 bits for Y and 4 bits for U
and V totalling 16 bits per sample. RGB 4:4:4 is normally 8 bit
per channel or 24 bits combined. I think this article is talking
about bits PER CHANNEL. Not total number of bits. DV is probably
around 12-16 bits or something.

<<<-- Originally posted by Jeff Donald : Joseph, what is the source of this article? Can you provide a link, please? -->>>

I read it on Yahoo news 2 or 3 days ago. I think they carry mostly AP stuff. If they have a recent archive, it should be there.

Bye-bye picture noise
 

At least, so they promise:

http://www.planetanalog.com/story/OEG20030527S0023

They focus on still cameras, as the market is mostly there. But they have some design wins in videocams as well:

http://www.nucoretech.com/nu2/30_pr/pressProduct.html

Can anybody comment on noise of JVC DV-300 and DV-5000? Do they really stand-out in their class?

Interesting developments... But I still prefer to begin with as
clean a picture as possible. You can never increase quality
after it has already been made. You can minize the effect or
the visibility of it, ofcourse. Anyway, still interesting!

Cinegear Expo?
 

Anyone going? I'm there this Friday. I'll probably be wearing my ZGC/Canon DV bucket cap. Stop me if you see me, I have long hair.

Exciting... we'll be bringing back a Pro35 on this trip. Right on!

Hi Justin,

I wish I was going but I am currently in orlando working the InfoComm Show. I think Mizell Wilson will be at the ZGC booth, definitely stop by and say hello to him. I am sure he would be interetsed to see some of your Mini35 footage.

Have fun at the show!

- don

Justin,

Personally I prefer the ZGC baseball cap. Like Don, I'm currently stuck in Orlando for InfoComm and June 6th is a travel day for me to go back to Texas. Sure wish I was going... it would be great to finally get to meet you! I'm expecting to go to the Showbiz Expo / L.A. DV Show thing near the end of June, but it's not confirmed yet.

Funny, Chris.

I like the bucket cap purely for practical reasons. It shadows my face and head with full 360 degree coverage, plus it's floppy and I can flip up the brim when I need to operate cameras. But my perfect lid is a straight brimmed cowboy hat. Great for the outdoors, but bad for the viewfinder...

I digress.

I might go down to the showbiz expo. We could meet there and continue the hat topic.

Okay...now we're tech talkin. I too am a new devotee to the ZGC/Canon hat that make me look like Fonda in "On Golden Pond". On a recent TV shoot for a new sports stadium I spent the day waiting between shots under overcast skies, with my baseball cap in the VF backwards position. I'm bald. I ended up with a long oval scorch mark on my forehead. I immediately washed and shrank the extra large ZGC hat to fit my sensitive head for future outdoor work. It looks goofy, but it is truly functional for sunny outdoor shooting.

Anyone going to be at the NYC DV Expo in July? I believe I'll be part of a Canon/ZGC/P&S digital film makers roundtable...or are all you guys strictly left coastal?

Jim, I'll be at DV Expo East, and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person there!

I look goofy in any hat, but especially the bucket hat. I can appreciate its practicality, though.

Ebay Justice
 

Finally, some justice is served. Hope this guy makes alot of new friends.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...rime_ebay_dc_2

I think that's the first time I've seen news like that.

If only all states had high tech crime bureaus like California.

If only they caught all the guys who ripped us off.

You do realize you wrote 'composite' video, right? Composite video is just one RCA cable. I figure you meant component, and component is the highest quality you can get until DVD players start using DVI, which will probably never happen. And 192 khz, 24 bt it the quality of DVD audio discs, but I doubt that a $78.64 player would support DVD-A.

I guess I wasn't that much help on this, but thats my 2 cents worth.

Admittedly I may have used the component - composite thing wrong, but the specs, Y-Pb-Pr was one of the outputs and the box also touted 192 khz 24bit audio (DVD players double as CD players so it would obviously have CD quality audio), And the price was everything but taxes. Lightening strikes my parents DVD player a few days ago so for Fathers Day I go back and buy an RCA DVD player that plays CD DVD VCD etc. and also stated that if you have picture cd's all you have to do is throw it in and it would play them to?

<<<-- Originally posted by Don Parrish : Admittedly I may have used the component - composite thing wrong, but the specs, Y-Pb-Pr was one of the outputs and the box also touted 192 khz 24bit audio (DVD players double as CD players so it would obviously have CD quality audio), And the price was everything but taxes. Lightening strikes my parents DVD player a few days ago so for Fathers Day I go back and buy an RCA DVD player that plays CD DVD VCD etc. and also stated that if you have picture cd's all you have to do is throw it in and it would play them to? -->>>

Thats what I figured, I only pointed it out because I know a lot of people that use the terms totaly wrong, thats why they never undestand them. But more on the audio, CD's would max out at 16 bit, 96khz. I don't know the standard on DVD-V discs, it's probably no better than any other player, but I like Pioneer it's a good brand. Most palyers will play VCD's, but not as many will play the picture CD's. Again, the future is DVD-A. I won't even buy CD's anymore. 192khz is higher than the human ear can distinguish (sp?) but 24 bit sampling means that it will be a truer sound, more like the quality of vinyl! Ive got the Black Album, STP "Core" and Carly Simons "No Secrets" and they all sound amazing in 6.1, unfortunally there aren't too many titles I like yet. A lot of classical and stuff like that.

I have seen a use of Y-Pb-Pr outputs as here in the UK some of the newer projectors that are around have these inputs. So a DVD player can be connected up to these connections.

>until DVD players start using DVI, which will probably never happen.

Bravo makes a DVD player called the 'D1' with DVI output, but a review in Sound & Vision, the D1 analog output is slammed.
I'm not sure that the anlog performance is relevant when the
key feature is a digital output.

Wide dynamic range sensor
 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...2793352c2ad678

Basically these guys tell they can reproduce huge dynamic range in the image from 1 to 65000 lux. Now how do we squeeze this into 8bit DV resolution. Looks like a large gamma factor is necessary.

I'm sincerely hoping that 8-bit DV cameras will be a thing of the past in the not-so-distant future...

- don

When can I buy one? :D

If this was implanted in digital camcorders and stuff, it would not only make a lot of peoples video look better, but would change a lot of opinions also.

The idea of using imaging structures with pixel based AGC circuits in order to compress the dynamic range of a real world scene into the display's optical dynamic ranges is not new. When I was at Stanford about 30 years ago involved in CCD, it was already there...on paper.

Recommended HDR link
 

Robert,
As far as I can see HDR is for stills only, right?

There are two ways to get motion HDR: time-elapse (this works well for getting light probes of skies--with the sun arcing across, and the clouds flitting by), or with a real-time HDR lightprobe, as ICT presented in a sketch in SIGGRAPH 2001. The device consists of a video camera--in the sketch it was a VX1000--nailed to a 2 x 4, pointed at a small chrome ball (light probe) planted at the other end of the 2 x 4 (so that the camera never moves in relation to the light probe). A five-facet beam splitter (with each facet coated with a ND filter, each ND filter the same number of stops apart) is attached to the camera lens. The five images are recombined and chromashift corrected using specially-written software into a high dynamic range image.

Of course, this video HDR image is necessarily one fifth the resolution of the full resolution of the video camera being used.

It's the third sketch in this series.

When I was at ICT there was talk of a patent being put in for this application. I'm not sure what the status of its filing is now.

VOD is coming!
 

http://www.instat.com/press.asp?ID=562&sku=IN030587MB

This might seem a little off-topic from the first sight, but Video-On-Demand is coming really soon. It might become a major distribution channel for indie movies. Actually, at zero cost it puts indie productions at the same level of access convenience as Hollywood biggies.
What is your opinion?

We already have video on demand, it's called TiVo. Centralizing the video sources might only serve to consolidate power for the content owners while disenfranchising consumers.

My understanding is that TiVo is just a convenient recorder of TV programs, although I'm not sure as there is no TiVo over here, in Israel.
On the other hand VOD basically grants everybody access to a giant movie repository. All that indie production should do is to ask a cable operator put its movie to that repository. This makes it accessible to all viewers. This benefits both sides: cable operator having big repository wins more customers, while indie production becomes easily accessible. And this does not cost much to both sides. It's kind of win-win situation.
Well, I'm just speculating, but it looks to me it might be a major breakthrough for indie producers.
And there is no immediate threat to big filmmakers, as at the beginning indie would be just a small fraction of them. Then in future the balance might change ... or not change.
I'm speculating here, but it looks like a very possible scenario to me.

Vladimir, you could be right, that VOD may allow better access to lesser known works. My problem with the model is that I suspect content distributors will only make available in their libraries the high-traffic content. Media conglomerates don't use cinemaplexes to give voices to little-known filmmakers, what evidence is there that should give us hope broadband pipes will be any different? Not only will we be peddled the same old innumerable Charlie's Angels sequels, but streaming VOD will surely introduce stringent DRM, built-in commercials that won't be skippable, and various other measures aimed at maximizing content owner profits and minimizing consumer choice and consumer rights.

Today there are several schemes for HDR imagers, especially in the CMOS field. Sarnof (USA), Fraunhofer (Germany), Fillfactory (Belgium) and many othe, all have "solutions" for HDR

Amazing. It will be funny if they start to use this in filmmaking because film has certian range and this will make everything look so life-like that it can change the way you make films. Some people might just keep on using film because of the look. Soon you will be able to get robotic eyes with this chip and it will come with magnifine glass within it so you can see miles down the road.

Rob:D

<<<-- Originally posted by Robert Knecht Schmidt : Media conglomerates don't use cinemaplexes to give voices to little-known filmmakers, what evidence is there that should give us hope broadband pipes will be any different? -->>>

Robert, I *think* the difference is the cost. In VOD business all that the cable company should do is to put content on their hard disk and make it accessible from a long list of titles. It does not occupy broadcasting time, like in TiVo or regular boradcasting. Only if somebody buys it's transmitted just to his own TV. For cable company each movie is one-time investment and it's not that big, say $50 for 5GB full-length movie space. It can be that indie producer pays this. In worst case the movie will get lost in the endless list of indie films and nobody ever order it. In best case word of mouth or review in some magazine attract customers.
For the theater, one has to pay a lot of advertisement fo bring the public. It's much more money. For DVD renting companies, one has to print DVDs. Then these DVDs occupy precious shelf space in the shop. If it's rented rarely, it does not makes sense for shop to keep these DVDs.
All in all, VOD looks to me as a much easier path to public. That is least expensive path.
I understand there are obstacles, like most cable companies belong to big Hollywood studios. I don't know how independent the cable divisions. In cany case, the threat to Hollywood is minor at the beginning.
All this is just my own speculation, but it looks very logical to me.

It will be good once the only problem is marketing. :)

DV Camps July Workshop
 

A heads up regarding a two-day hands-on filmmaking workshop slated for July 12-13 2003 at Samy’s Camera, 41 East Walnut St Pasadena, CA 91103.

The first day is devoted to a complete overview of the DV production process. Attendees get hands-on camerawork using Canon XL-1S, GL2, plus lighting and sound recording techniques. Learn From The Pros currently working in the industry like Director of Photography Marco Fargnoli, lighting specialist John Gresch, Arriflex Corporation, sound recordist Tom Staninis and writer-director Robert Grasmere.

Sunday is all about post-production. Certified Apple FCP trainer Andrew Balis teaches the all-new Final Cut Pro 4. Attendees lean all the latest edit tips and tricks plus how to prepare content for multi-media release using the innovative Sorenson Squeeze compression software.

The Camp has a casual atmosphere and opportunities abound to speak one-on-one with the highly regarded teaching staff.

Anyone interested can get more info by calling 1 (800) 525-5854 or Visit www.DVCamps.com

Thanks,
Geoff Zimmerman