Nov. 2, 2015



Welcome to November, when the clocks in the US all return to "normal."  Temperatures finally start to fall and California looks forward to rain... sometime in the next few months.

There's all kinds of interesting news this week: acquisitions, new products, improved products and all kinds of gossip.  Let's start with the gossip.

Last week, I mentioned a free new video encoder from Simian. Several readers pointed out two problems: The site was flagged as unsafe in FireFox by a website rating service and the encoder seemed to only be free to customers. Hmmm... Not what I expected to hear. So, I contacted Heather Prather at Simian who wrote: "Our encoder is free for everyone. We [also] offer an encoder to our clients (RTVE2) that [does] basically the same thing but they are also able to upload their files into their Simian account. So that may be what your reader was confused with." Here's the link to the totally free version. As for the FireFox warning, we've never seen that before. However we did find the link. We are pretty sure the review came from a spammer." Here's what we found.

Simian seems like a straight-forward company. It is a shame that one spammed review can cause so much trouble. If you ever have a problem with my advice, please let me know. I want my newsletters to be as accurate as possible. And thanks, Heather, for your fast answers.

The media technology world continues its headlong rush to consolidate with Western Digital gobbling up SanDisk. And Hitachi. And dancing with Toshiba.  Storage is our life - and our options are getting smaller. More on this below.

It is rare for a hardware company to revise a shipping product. But HighPoint Technologies did exactly that after I published my August review of their RAID. They are now shipping a revised version which I review in this issue. The new review is worth reading.

In fact, I've got four articles for you this week - enjoy!

 
ATTO Supports 8K Video

In a press release last week, ATTO Technology highlighted their newest connectivity products showcased at the annual SMPTE Conference.

ATTO's products are "designed to enable fast, efficient and reliable data transfers, including ingest, edit, finishing, distribution and archive for the simultaneous demands of 8K/4K editing, real-time processing, CGI, and visual effects. With a product portfolio encompassing 40Gb/10Gb Ethernet, 16Gb Fibre Channel and 12Gb/6Gb SAS, along with Thunderbolt solutions for desktop workstations and workbooks."

40Gb Ethernet.  Sheesh. I still clearly remember floppy disk.
Red Giant Released Trapcode 13

Red Giant announced the release of Trapcode Suite 13, an upgrade to their toolset for creating motion graphics and visual effects in Adobe After Effects.

In addition to major updates to Trapcode Particular, Shine and Mir, the release introduces Trapcode Tao, a brand new plugin for generating animated 3D ribbons, geometric shapes and photo-realistic motion graphics along a path.

The update also includes new features in Trapcode Form, Sound Keys and Starglow.

Learn more here.
Interesting FireWire Trivia

Rick Gennaro and I were talking about the Thunderbolt to FireWire converter, specifically about whether it supplied power to external FireWire devices.

Rick did some research and sent me this note from Mackie Tech Support:

"According to Apple, "the Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter provides [a maximum of] 7W of bus power. This will power the majority of FireWire devices, but there may be some devices or chains of devices that require more power,." Firewire 400/800 puts out a minimum of 7W. The Satellite requires 12VDC and considering the variable current output of a computer's port, the Thunderbolt adapter may not be able to deliver."
Check Out Tech Talk on The Buzz

Over the last two months, the Digital Production Buzz has partnered with KeyCode Media to provide more detailed product information as part of the show.

Tech Talk, hosted by Michael Kammes, takes a detailed look at new hardware and software and wraps his opinions into short bite-sized movies.

Michael has covered the Avid DNxIO, Nexidia's Dialogue Search, NetTek Talk Show, the ISIS 1000, with more coming every week.

If you haven't had a chance to see these, watch them here on The Buzz Tech Talk Channel.

It had a spooky start, but the show ended well as I spoke with Brad Malcolm, Andr� Gabriel, Jonathan Burcin, Cirina Catania and Maxim Jago.

� Get better images using one-touch correction
� CUNY Filmmakers at SMPTE
� The SMPTE Student Film Festival
� Creativity, Acting and James Bond
� Tech Talk: Remove a Color Cast
Watch or read the full episode here.

SPECIAL NOTE: Written transcripts are now available for each show.
Click here to view.

 
Audio Secrets for NLEs
Our recent "Audio Secrets" series is becoming very popular

Thank you!

This bundle of basic and advanced audio techniques has two versions: Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro CC.


Watch and discover how to make your audio sound great. Click each title to learn more about what it contains.

� Watch in our Video Training Library. 
This Week: Ask Larry Anything!
This is one of my favorite webinars: Ask Larry Anything.
Free-wheeling is an understatement - these sessions go everywhere!

if you've got questions about Apple or Adobe software, tune in and ask. I'll do my best to answer every question.

And, if you have something really tricky, send me an email so I have time to do some research.

Our Wednesday webinars are always free, but limited to the first 200 people that register.

Register here.
 
� Thoughts on the Western Digital and ATTO Announcements (Blog)
� This editorial first appeared on the Digital Production Buzz.

� Product Review: HighPoint RocketStor 6314A RAID (Article)
� After my first review, they really improved their RAID - read the results.

Ad Blockers are Just a Symptom of Bad Marketing (Blog)
� Written by Andy Marken, he asks if ad blockers mean the end of the web?

Trouble-shooting Compressor 4.2.x (Article)
� 11-steps you can take to trouble-shoot Compressor 4.2.x.
 
� Caution! SSD Drives and Yosemite [u]

� What I Learned Upgrading to El Capitan

Caution! El Capitan May Cause RAID Problems

EQ: Warm a Voice and Improve Diction


� View all articles here
Audio Secrets for Final Cut Pro X

Audio Secrets for Premiere Pro CC

178a: Audio Basics for Final Cut Pro X

180 Audio for Video Editors: Adobe Audition


� View all webinars here
Larry O'Connor: Problems between El Capitan and RAIDs
Brad Malcolm: Better Images with One-Touch Correction
Maxim Jago: Creativity, Acting, and James Bond
Andre Gabriel and Jonathan Burcin: CUNY Filmmakers at SMPTE Student Film Festival

� View all interviews here
 
 
� 2015 Larry Jordan & Associates, Inc.