The 3.0.4 update to Final Cut Pro 3 was released for download today. According to Apple's site:Final Cut Pro 3.0.4 addresses performance and reliability issues in Final Cut Pro 3. These fixes and enhancements include: effects are now represented correctly in exported EDLs, EDLs with clips containing speed changes are now imported correctly, clips from reels with timecode occurring during hour 23 now capture and import correctly, incorrect sync in Exported OMF files are eliminated, improved real-time performance on Power Macintosh G4/Dual 1.25 GHz computers and more.

You can learn more and download the update at:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/download/

Rick and Chris, thanks for thoughts. I will be more than content with current generation VX2000 I am sure.

Had my hands on this controller today for a brief test -- it works great. More to follow very soon.

Hello! I'd be interested in fing out what, if any DV cam trade shows might be on the horizon....
Thanks
Jean King

DVexpo West, LA convention center December 9-12 2002

http://www.dvexpo.com/west

DVexpo East, Jacob Javits Center NYC, July 7-11, 2003

http://www.dvexpo.com/east

use registration code CWP

Mark

Videmaker Expo West
Jan 23-25, 2003
Burbank, CA

http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/expo.cfm

The 1.5.2 update of Apple's DVD Studio Pro dvd authoring system is now available for download at:

http://www.apple.com/dvdstudiopro/update/

Imagine that. To hear the FCP trolls that visit the Avid forum now and then, you would think FCP never had any bugs to fix... Just goes to show, all the nle's have their "issues."

This was posted on one of the lists I suscribe to.

Jeff


Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns will receive the 2002 Career
Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association. Burns
was also nominated for an Academy AwardÆ in 1981 for Brooklyn Bridge, his
first non-fiction film project. He has subsequently produced and directed
such critically acclaimed documentaries as The Civil War, Jazz, Baseball,
Lewis & Clark, The Statue of Liberty, Thomas Jefferson and Frank Loyde
Wright.

"This internet chat is a unique opportunity for filmmakers, students and
fans from around the world to speak with and get their questions answered
by one of the most influential filmmakers and storytellers of our times,"
says IDA President Michael Donaldson. "We are grateful to Kodak, a
long-time supporter od the IDA, for sponsoring this chat."

Ken Burns "Chat" on Internet - December 13 at 10:30AM PST (1:30PM EST)

Link for additional information:

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/news/burnsChat.shtml

I've just gotten a 1394 card for my laptop and hooked up my XL to messenger. Now all I need is people someone on the other end.

But Jeff, the Star Trek Nemesis is going to be released that day! Couldn't they reschedule Ken for a few days later??

Happy Holidays,

Adrian, you can always add me,

My email on messenger is racerz@yap.com.au

kermie

ps. anyone can add me into that, i love to talk this stuff.

This is an interesting article from the Sonic Foundry web site.

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/news/ShowRelease.asp?ReleaseID=460

I should have posted this months ago, but regardless here ya go........

http://www.anchoragefilmfestival.com/main.html

December 13-22, 2002

The NY DV Show is just around the corner now...

http://www.nydvshow.com/

For those of you in the U.S. who get the IFC (Independent Film Channel), IFC will be showing:Ten New Titans: The Future of Film, a selection of films from directors who have emerged as the top new filmmakers of our time. IFC's Ten New Titans are reshaping the landscape of cinema with their creative visions and independent voices. The festival includes exclusive commentary by the featured directors on the future of filmmaking.
from December 18-20 at 8pm EST.

This should be interesting.

For more information: http://www.ifctv.com/ifc/what/0,5266,CAT0-45-CAT1-2767-MO-12-DA-11-YR-2002-CLR-blue-BCLR-0099CC-TZ-ET-TB-4-,00.html

Final Cut Pro is being used by 3 time Academy Award winning editor Walter Murch in his latest film. The complete Hollywood Reporter article is here http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hollywoodreporter/emmys/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1772771

Jeff

Great find Jeff. That is very exciting news. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood reacts to this. Could this be a sign of the times? One can only hope...

Very, very interesting Jeff. Particularly after reading "In The Blink of An Eye" (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5501).

Thanks Jeff.

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Very, very interesting Jeff. Particularly after reading "In The Blink of An Eye" (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5501).

Thanks Jeff. -->>>

I was thinking the same thing as I read the article. As I stated before, it is exciting to think what might be in store for us thanks to heavyweights like Murch getting behind FCP.

Well, anyone who's kept up with the news knows, by now, that Steinberg has been sold to Pinnacle Systems and that Sonic Foundry has a part of their business on the chopping block. Is it Vegas Video? Rumors appear to abound that it is. This is a shame. After years of struggling with Premiere's nebulous UI and Pinnacle's faulty software coding, I shudder to think what I may have to use for my NLE app.

All good things come to an end.

Call for Entries

$50,000 Target Filmmaker Award, which will be awarded to the winning director of the Best Dramatic Feature...and they "will consider works-in-progress, films with temporary soundtracks, digital outputs and work that did not originate on film"

Films submitted for consideration to the 2003 IFP Los Angeles Film Festival must meet the following criteria:

- Must have been completed after January 1, 2002;
- Must not have had any commercial, theatrical or television play in the United States;
- Feature films must be at least 60 minutes in length and must not have been screened at other festivals or publicly in the Los Angeles area;
- All films in a language other than English must be subtitled in English for festival presentation;
- The festival will consider works-in-progress, films with temporary soundtracks, digital outputs and work that did not originate on film.

Submissions for the 2003 IFP Los Angeles Film Festival must be received no later than Friday, February 21, 2003 for short films and music videos; and Friday, February 28, 2003 for full-length narrative and documentary features.

Entries should be sent to the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival, 8750 Wilshire Blvd, 2nd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. For a complete description of the submission requirements and an entry form, please visit the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival web site at www.lafilmfest.com or call (323) 951-7090.

www.lafilmfest.com

This is the first I heard of this one. But buying Steinberg does make sense for Pinnacle - they are German, and they do audio (which Pinnacle, bless their cotton bed socks, never really "got").

My concern is, will the new Cubase now get launched before it's ready like everything else Pinnacle markets?

I wonder what they'll call it? Audition?

Julian

Could you post some actual news links? This is the first I'd heard of any SoFo sale. I don't follow "industry news" sites much but do get around on the forums and hadn't seen any buzz until now.

Here is the URL for the Sonic Foundry Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-end Results for Fiscal 2002

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/news/ShowRelease.asp?ReleaseID=498&CatID=

You can listen to the conference call via vcall.com - see bottom of above page.

Bias, the folks that brought us Peak, have recently introduced a new noise reduction tool called SoundSoap. Bias claims that SoundSoap:

"Easily & instantly reduces noise from your digital video or digital audio files..."
"...scrubs audio squeaky clean — dramatically reducing tape hiss, buzzing and hum, rumble, and most other types of background noise."

SoundSoap is available for Windows XP and Mac OS X and has in introductory price of US$99.

For more information see Bias' site at: http://www.bias-inc.com/

http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-6342639-8-20761493-1.html?tag=st.cn.1.ld.6342639-8-20761493-1

I didn't know that the GL2 had interchangeable lenses.

It dosn't. That's just a mistake. I dont think the DVX100 has them either, although I could be missing somthing.

Nor the Panasonic AG-DVX100. <g> Also "Info unavailable" under the GL2's "Focus Adjustment" column? Uh, "Auto, manual" would be fine. And does anyone really think of their video camera's ccd resolution in terms of fractional megapixels?

This is a great comparative chart in design. But, as with so many other compilations on the now struggling-to-survive CNet, this is misleading or just plain incorrect in implementation.

Nevertheless, thank you for pointing it out "mikeysbistro".

Others who are in the know about Sonic Foundry are not worried about Vegas Video. There are lots of assets available at SoFo that can be sold without getting rid of Vegas, SoundForge or Acid.

If the CEO of SoFo is stupid enough to sell VV, he will be vilified beyond recognition. The same word of mouth that 'made' VV can also be used to crush Sonic Foundry. And we are not afraid to do that.

I'ts all just rumors at this point. As long as Corel doesn't get their hands on it, I'm not worried.

This kind of says it all:

“I used to work on high end Avid systems — you know the ridiculous $100,000 systems,” says Gasparino. “We used to rent out Avid suites in Manhattan for $1,500 a week, before Final Cut Pro came out." Gasparino studied film at C.W. Post, as part of Long Island University, graduating in 1998.

“One reason that Final Cut Pro is such a revolution is because all the extra money that used to be used for post production can now be used for better images and higher end production. If you own a good camera you have everything you need,” he adds.

This link tells a little about some of the films shown at the DV Expo Film Festival.

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2002/12/dvfilmfest/

The article contains links to some great sites about the films at the festival. Some great reading.

Jeff

"If the CEO of SoFo is stupid enough to sell..."

Never underestimate the stupidity, arrogance or ignorance of a CEO or a CFO...

Bill from Houston, Home of ENRON.

Don't forget greed.

Greed? No way. These folks are hanging on by their finanicial fingernails. No one is being greedy. Struggling to survive is more like it.

The company continues to bleed cash. Sales for the year are flat for the third year running and for every dollar of revenue they are spending a $1.25, an improvement over last year when a $1 of revenue cost $1.67, but still not good.

The company has got to sell assets because it is running out of cash. Without going into the numbers too deeply it looks like the margins on software are much better than the services margins, which would suggest that they should focus on software and sell services. The only problem with that approach is that if the service side of their business is a dog, it might not raise the necessary cash. That might force software asset sales.

The stockholder's letter talks about their MediaSite business as an area for growth and suggests that " the current market capitalization of Sonic Foundry does not properly reflect the true combined value of various intangible assets and intellectual property that the company owns." That sounds like they are ready to sell anything that can be easily carted away, which to me anyway, sure sounds like software sales.



Rick

I'm glad that Rick shone some practical light on this comapny's dilemma. I don't know much about this company and do not use any of its products. But 10 minutes of research on Sonic Foundry's financial situation and background revealed that "greed" is not the issue here. As Rick suggested, the situation is "fear". This is a very tiny ("micro-cap") company that has little prospect of surviving, let alone thriving, if it doesn't take actions now. With only $14 mil in market capitalization and its shares trading at $0.51 nobody's going to get rich from this venture.

Vilifying business people has become a favorite spectator sport, packaged and sold by the media in much the same way that they sell people music, cars, professional sports and clothing. But it's just plain damn wrong to indict someone categorically with little or no knowledge of the matters at hand. Perhaps SOFO had a poor business plan, perhaps their management is inept, perhaps many other possibilities led them to this juncture. But to declare this tiny company's management to be the same ilk as some of the scoundrels that the media has paraded past us lately is just thoughtless band-wagonning.

Thanx for the voice of reason, Ken.
I appreciate it. The sad part is that Sonic Foundry has been a company that literally bent over backwards to listen to its customers and try to give them what they wanted. Unlike some of these other companies, like Adobe or Creative, who give a tinker's damn for what their paying public wants and needs.

The deal is for $8.2 million in cash and $15.8 million in Pinnacle Systems common stock. Even with the cash I doubt they can make a go of it. I would expect Pinnacle systems to buy the remnants in a year or two.

Jeff

With the stock trading so low the complete buy-out may actually happen much sooner if NASDAQ de-lists them, an inevitabllity if it continues to fall and liquidity in SOFO shares evaporates.

I came across this interesting news release, dated December 2, 2002. Digital linear projection appears to be on its way towards ubiquity.

http://www.panasonic.com/PBDS/subcat/newsinfo/press_01/01_158.html

THat'd work pretty nice in my rec room. Is there a price for it? I didn't see one.

US$23,000 for the PT-D7600U and US$30,000 for the PT-D7500U. Not quite priced for most homes but certainly a modest price for a public theater.