Video News

Charles Fulton
June 2003

Apple Announces FCP4 and DVD Studio Pro 2
Apple Computer announced new versions of Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro. Final Cut Pro 4 adds over 300 new tools, including Apple's new RT Extreme engine, which allows Macs with multiple or faster processors to handle more simultaneous real-time video streams. Forced rendering is now reserved for timelines with many effects and less-powerful computers. LiveType, Apple's new animated font program, creates animated titles easily. Multi-track audio mixing is also integrated into the program, along with Soundtrack, a musical score generator. Keyboard layouts now can be customized, allowing users of other editing programs to quickly get up to speed. FCP4 is slated to be available this month for $1,000, with upgrades available for $400.

DVD Studio Pro 2 has been completely rewritten for Mac OS X, and features a new user interface. Professionally-designed, customizable templates are part of the mix, along with timeline-based editing and Compressor, a new software MPEG-2 encoder that provides more control over encoding. Transcoding can now take place in the background, yielding results faster. DVD Studio Pro 2 will be available in August, and as a result of new, lower Dolby Digital royalties, at a new lower price of $499.

JVC Pro's Low Dollar High-Def Camcorder
JVC Pro demonstrated their new JY-HD10U high-definition single-chip Mini DV camcorder. Like its consumer cousin (the GR-HD1) the HD10U can record in both standard DV as well as high-definition using MPEG-2 compression, supporting SD at 480/60 in both progressive and interlaced modes, as well as HD at 720/30p. The unit has both component video and FireWire outputs. According to a CineForm representative, an Adobe Premiere upgrade scheduled for later this year will enable it to edit HD video in real time. The HD10U is scheduled to ship in July and will be available for $4,000.

Panasonic AG-DVC80 and Tapeless Technology
Panasonic released the AG-DVC80, a Mini DV camcorder featuring three 1/3", 410,000-pixel CCDs behind a Leica Dicomar lens. The unit features optical image stabilization and includes an XLR audio input. The unit will list for $3,295.

A prelude to a tapeless world of video acquisition was another highlight of Panasonic's NAB offerings. The company showed a prototype SD card camcorder, which can record eighteen minutes of video on an array of four 1GB SD cards housed in a standard PCMCIA card, which can be inserted straight into a PCMCIA slot, most commonly found on laptop computers. Storage will increase as larger format SD cards become available and one camera will have multiple hot-swappable slots.

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