Apple lays off 40 from FCP team, before NAB?

Apple laying off 40 people from the Final Cut Pro software team has been noted on Twitter, but not corroborated anywhere else as I can find.

But if the layoffs are actually true, it begs us to wonder what Apple’s long term dedication is to high-end computers, and professional apps— especially considering that the vast majority of profits come from: iPods, iPhones, iApps, iMacs, iBookstore, iTunes music & TV shows, laptops and soon- iPad.

Flash Media and the Demise of the Deck

Even though professional and prosumer camcorder prices haven’t substantially changed over the years, the quality of the footage, and the features you have at your fingertips, have increased dramatically since the era of plumbicon tubes and 3/4″ tape. One the most revolutionary changes is the most recent one: the arrival of compact flash storage in mainstream HD video acquisition.

PC Makers bring the Shizzle. Apple yawns.

While the netbook category continues to broaden and now develop new spin-offs, Apple continues to twiddle its thumbs. In an age where Apple is all about consumer electronics more so than professional production solutions (i.e. just one) this type of decision just doesn’t make sense.

However they confirmed their stance during their July 21st 3rd quarter fiscal conference call pretty much laid rumors to rest with some pretty strong language.

Apple’s new Final Cut Studio – DVD Studio Pro gone?

One copious absence from Apple’s latest Final Cut Studio upgrade (touting over 100 new features) is any mention of DVD Studio Pro… or ANY disk authoring program at all.

Apple, Video Pros & the future.

It’s pretty clear that Apple dropping “computer” from their name was not just to use less ink. They’ve been behind the curve with the hardware for many years. Case in point: after PCs have had a SD card slot for many years, Apple finally decides to integrate this functionality into their laptops (but not desktops.)

But, in so doing, they ditch the ExpressCard slot from the 15″ MacBook “Pro” and specifically make the SD card slot not compatible with I/O devices so it can’t be used to expand the computer. wtf?

So now, the 17″ MacBook Pro is the only expandable laptop from Apple- for a starting price of $2500.
If I’m going to spend that much, I’ll buy a Lenovo 17″ (starting at $1,900) that offers me the capability of a quad-core chip, dual internal LCD displays, integrated Wacom tablet, Pantone color calibration of the displays, fingerprint reader for mobile security, internal Blu-ray, integrated cellular broadband, and more.

There were times, back when Apple didn’t have today’s market share, that they produced computers that were affordable, and wildly expandable. They strong to be what the other guys weren’t. They thought differently. That gave us the G3, the G4 towers. It gave us the G3 series PowerBooks with dual media bays, in addition to the PC card slot. That emphasis on providing users with innovative solutions ahead of the pack is gone.

SmartSound for FCP

SmartSound has released their plug-in for Final Cut Pro that allows Smartsound to see open FCP projects, including all the different sequences, and import markers from that timeline into SmartSound to make the process of adding music to your project a breeze.

The demo from Larry Jordan is up on the SmartSound web site and we’ve got it for you here as well.

AJA io -or- PMW-EX30 dilemma.

Do I buy:

  A 17″ laptop ($3,000), eSATA ExpressCard adaptor ($100),
external hard drives ($400), and an AJA ioHD ($2,800) to record
a live switch 1920x1080i60 SDI feed to ProRes 422…

or

A Sony PMW-EX30 XDCAM EX deck ($4,000) to record
a 30 Mbps 1920x1080i60 VBR stream to flash media?

NAB Marketing 102. Spaghetti

The urban myth is – you find out if spaghetti is done by taking  a piece and throwing it at the wall to see if it sticks.

However, one of the tips we shot for Healthy Flavors‘ “Mythbusters” show, explains this to be false, but it hasn’t stopped companies from trying the same tactic: when you don’t know what to make, make all kinds of things, throw it at the market, and see what sticks.

Is this a good idea?

Smaller, More Powerful Computers.

As computing becomes ever more powerful, and “Netbooks” offer mobile computing power on the road with low-power chips, diminutive boxes with powerhouse capabilities are not only inevitable- they’re already here. While home theatre machines may be a “hobby” to some electronics companies, others are taking it seriously and offering some horsepower under the hood…

ProRes – defined.

Gary Adcock has an excellent overview of Apple’s ProRes codec over at the Pro Video Coalition site.

Not only does he discuss concatenation tests where he runs the same clip through compression and re-compression some 10 or 100 times, he also uncovers a bit of interesting results about how the higher-compression ProRes is actually easier to work with than ProRes(HQ).