Remembering History: Randall Dark

 

As we continue highlighting some of the work that motivated us to host the Maxell Maven contest, we were inspired to share this case, which focuses on HD pioneer Randall Dark. Feel free to use this as further inspiration to submit an entry of your own!

 

 

Prior to the saturation of HD video, the cost and limitations attached to shooting documentaries, or any reality programming, was once nearly impossible. HD greatly relaxed these parameters, allowing filmmakers to get closer to truth than with film. Writer and Director Randall Dark’s Telly Award winning documentary, Artist in the Round: Shayne Dark, is the perfect illustration.

 

With the freedom allowed by his HD camera, Randall was able to capture the richly nuanced story of an artist who triumphs daily over Dyslexia. The documentary, which was shot partly and edited exclusively on Maxell HDCAM, serves as an example of how HD production and technology helped to overcome many of the obstacles inherent to documentary production. Because HD costs less to shoot on than film, and because the logistics of shooting HD are simpler, Dark had greater flexibility as a director. For example, he was able to roll the camera all day while conducting interviews, leading to many spontaneous and truthful moments. Using HD also saved time with camera set-ups, allowing for more flexibility when moving from location to location, and the durability and reliability of Maxell’s HDCAM product put at bay any concerns about tape performance.

 

 

A bit later, Randall’s skiing “sportsmentary,’ Iced, required his crew to hike for miles into the wilderness of Jackson Hole, Wyoming’s out-of-bounds skiing territory to capture the sharp, kinetic images of professional skiers pushing their skills to the limit. Again, due to the freedoms afforded by HD, Randall simply let his cameras roll, capturing the skiers in all their unrestrained glory over the course of twodays. Because of the economic benefits of tape over film, and because the logistics of shooting HD are simpler, his team was able to set up quickly and shoot a vast amount of footage, providing the freedom for those illusive ‘magic moments’ to happen. The result was what Randall called, “some of the best-looking HD slow-motion footage I’ve seen.”

 

 

With the durability and reliability of Maxell’s 40-minute HDCAM videocassettes, which Dark used to both capture and edit his images, worries about tape performance were removed from the equation. Its sturdy, ultra-high performance binder system and a recording density 1.4X that of Digital Betacam, Maxell’s HD media guaranteed that the beauty of Randall’s arresting images would be held for posterity.

 

Have a similar story? Enter the Maxell Maven contest. Simply go to our Facebook page (make sure to “Like” us, if you don’t already) and enter a brief paragraph about how Maxell Professional Media products helped you successfully complete a project. Whether you’re an ENG crew, broadcast station, duplication facility, post house, videographer or cinematographer, we want to hear from you.

 

The first 50 entries will receive an iconic “Maxell Blow Away Guy” poster. One grand prize winner will receive a supply of Maxell Mini DV (50 pieces) or a Maxell Professional Product of equal value. The winner will also be named the new “Maxell Maven,” and be featured in a press release, as well as on all Maxell Professional Media social media platforms.

 

The deadline for all entries is December 31, 2012. Click here for official rules.

Remembering History: Baseball Hall of Fame

 

Over the many years Maxell has served the professional broadcast and video markets, we have been privileged to witness more than a few instances in which broadcast and video professionals – and filmmakers, as well– accomplish remarkable work, due in part to their utilization of Maxell Professional Media products.

 

It was this vast portfolio of work that inspired the Maxell Maven contest, currently running on our Facebook page. To that end, with this blog post we begin a series in which we’ll highlight some of the cases that motivated us to host this contest. We hope you’ll use this as a guide, and perhaps as inspiration to submit an entry of your own!

 

This first case, which focuses on broadcasting and archiving American History, comes from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum:

 

Gathering worthy content to archive, preserve, and re-broadcast is never a problem for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. The homage to baseball continues to utilize the sport’s most significant moments – new and old – to create “living” exhibits that engage and educate visitors. Simultaneously, the Hall of Fame continues to transfer historic footage from delicate mediums onto secure, reproducible technologies, allowing fans to share in these historic moments that have helped baseball become America’s Pastime.

 

Any of these historic moments could be lost forever due to an archiving or broadcast error. To prevent such a tragedy from occurring, the Hall of Fame has entrusted Maxell Betacam SP video and DVD-R discs to preserve highlights. One example came during the 2010 season, which signified the 50th anniversary of Pittsburgh Pirate second baseman Bill Mazeroski’s famous walk-off World Series-ending home run against the New York Yankees. Administrators at the Hall of Fame and Museum correctly predicted that this moment in baseball history would be repeatedly shown on televisions across the globe. To preserve the original master recordings and make life easier for the museum engineers, the play was transferred from the master files to Maxell DVD-Rs. This reliable media was also used for all duplication. As the master recordings did not have to be handled as often, it helped to ensure that irreplaceable data was not lost from earlier, less reliable electronic formats.

 

Have a similar story? Enter the Maxell Maven contest. Simply go to our Facebook page (make sure to “Like” us, if you don’t already) and enter a brief paragraph about how Maxell Professional Media products helped you to successfully complete a project. Whether you’re an ENG crew, broadcast station, duplication facility, post house, videographer or cinematographer, we want to hear from you.

 

The first 50 people to enter will receive an iconic “Maxell Blow Away Guy” poster. One grand prize winner will receive a supply of Maxell Mini DV (50 pieces) or a Maxell Professional Product of equal value. The winner will also be named the new “Maxell Maven,” and be featured in a press release, as well as on all Maxell Professional Media social media platforms.

 

The deadline for all entries is December 31, 2012. Click here for official rules.

MAXELL MAVEN CONTEST: CALLING ALL BROADCAST PROFESSIONALS

 

Today marks the first day of the Maxell Maven contest, where broadcast professionals are invited to share how they’ve used, or are currently using Maxell Professional Media products to create or accomplish something great. We’ve seen what kind of work our customers are capable of putting forth and we’re already impressed, so go ahead and brag a little.

Entering is quick and easy. Simply go to our Facebook page (make sure to “Like” us, if you don’t already) and enter a brief paragraph about how any of the Maxell Professional Media products have helped you to complete a task. It could be something unique, creative, or perhaps something you simply don’t think you would have been able to do without the product.

The first 50 people to enter will receive an exclusive “Maxell Blow Away Guy” poster. One grand prize winner with the best entry will receive a supply of Mini DV (50 pieces) or a Maxell Professional Product of equal value. The winner will also be named the new “Maxell Maven,” which includes being featured in a press release, as well as on all Maxell Professional Media social media platforms. 

The deadline for all entries is December 31, 2012. Click here for official rules.

 

The 411 on InfoComm 2012

 

According to the InfoComm website, “InfoComm 2012 had 34,268 AV professionals attending from more than 90 countries. This represents a four percent increase in attendance over InfoComm 2011.” This is good news for the industry, as are some other impressive numbers - 933 exhibitors occupying more than 487,000 net square feet of exhibit and special events space.

 

The team here at Maxell is a seasoned bunch, as far as this show is concerned. While not much about the highly-anticipated show has changed over the years, the fascinating and ever-changing part of InfoComm is the progression of topics at each annual show. This year, for example, the key products were projectors and displays…it was all about providing interactive solutions, and the latest and greatest in video conferencing systems. Other popular topics covered were Digital Signage, Audio Equipment and Mobile HD Webcasting.

 

The well-attended “Infocomm University,” which provided seminars and workshops in key A/V topics with information on the newest and greatest equipment, gave an indication of the market’s thirst for staying on top of the latest technologies and trends. According to an official show press release, “Popular courses were Future Trends and CTS Prep; Service Level Agreements, Space, Time and Technology: The Future of AV, and AV Signals Gone Wireless. With two-thirds of all of the education sessions being new, participants flocked to classes on smart buildings, net-centric AV and conferencing.”

 

Maxell had some new technology that helped quench inquisitive minds, as well. In addition to displaying an array of tape and optical products, InfoComm 2012 marked the debut of our second-generation AirStash® A02 to the A/V industry. Those who visited the booth were among the first in the industry to see the pocket-sized wireless USB flash drive, which can be used by audiovisual and information communications professionals, as well as system integrators serving the professional AV market, to conveniently and securely store and transmit large audio, video, and data files. The overall response was extremely enthusiastic, with spectators sharing positive feedback on both the usage and pricing of the product.

 

In addition to the AirStash, other popular products at the Maxell booth included CDs and DVDs, with much discussion about the move toward SD and Compact Flash cards.

 

Have something to say about this post? We’d love to hear it. Leave a comment here or find us on Twitter or Facebook.

InfoComm Info: Growing Storage Needs for Digital Signage

 

Welcome to the second installment of our two-part, pre-InfoComm series on “hot” tech topics to keep in mind as AV professionals prepare to jettison to Las Vegas for the show.

 

With so much visual stimulation surrounding us today, the ability to grab and hold a person’s attention becomes more challenging by the minute. Because of this, the use of digital signage and interactive displays has not only increased, but has become more intricate. This requires AV pros to step up to the plate, creatively speaking. With these more involved displays and digital signs comes the need for greater storage capacity and, just as important, greater reliability, no easy task due to larger file sizes, interactivity, and vivid graphics.

 

When working on a project, especially one at a third-party site, there will always be variables beyond your control, particularly when it comes to Internet connectivity. With media products like the DVD-R Plus series and Blu-ray discs, the potential for problems caused by for slow or failed connectivity is diminished, helping displays and digital signs to operate seamlessly.

 

Maxell’s Blu-ray discs are ideal for storing large amounts of footage or data. The BD-R (25 GB capacity) and BD-RE (up to 50 GB capacity) offer the speed and capacity necessary to store HD digital content. Maxell’s DVD-R Plus Series is ideal for capacity intensive multimedia projects, data transfer and archival storage. Offering secure unalterable data, these discs provide high-capacity storage, a high rate of compatibility and a long-term archival life.

 

Bottom Line: The growth of technology isn’t going to slow down anytime soon, so stay on top of the latest advancements, but don’t forget the effectiveness of the tools that have worked for you in the past.

 

We’d like to hear what you think about this. Comment on this post or find us on Twitter or Facebook.

 

If you’re attending, please feel free to stop by our booth (C4736) and tell us your thoughts on the show.

InfoComm Info: Don’t Be in the Dark About “The Cloud”

 

No matter where you go lately, whether it’s InfoComm 2012, Best Buy or the local supermarket, you’re not likely to get far without hearing about The Cloud. Whether you call it a trend, a buzz word or the latest shiny toy, there is no denying it is a hot topic that applies as much to the Pro-AV industry as it does any other. There is no doubt that Cloud storage has been a great innovation in the field of computing, however, as with anything, there are certainly some things to keep in mind.

 

While the blanket concern regarding Cloud technology has revolved primarily around security and privacy issues, let’s not overlook the elements that can keep you from getting a job done, especially AV pros. There is one main point of contention: dependency. When relying on Cloud storage, you are committing to a loss of control. While your files may be secure, you are not able to decide how or where (server locations) they are stored.

 

Furthermore, when using Cloud technology, you obviously need an Internet connection to access your files. So, the question then becomes, what do you do when you need to access your files and the Internet connection is down? Even if it’s just a slow connection, it’s no secret that time is money and it’s rare that any professional would have either to spare.

 

Tape is a tried and true method of content storage that addresses all of the concerns listed above. With a compressed transfer rate of up to 280MB/sec and maximum storage capacity of up to 3TB, Maxell’s LTO Ultrium 5 data cartridge provides nearly double the capacity to hold today’s large, graphic-intensive files. Access to files is quick and easy, as a Linear Tape File System has dual partitions, one of which holds the index for quick file location while the second holds the content, and with a drag-and-drop feature, users can manage files directly on tape.

 

Bottom Line: When you have a job to do, the most important thing is to get it done. It doesn’t matter how, but the more control you have, the easier and more successful it will be.

 

We’d like to hear what you think about this. Comment on this post or find us on Twitter or Facebook.

 

If you haven’t attended Infocomm before, or if you just need a refresher on what it offers, here’s a bit of information from the official Infocomm 2012 Tradeshow website.

 

Enjoy, and if you’re attending, please feel free to stop by our booth (C4736) and tell us your thoughts on the show.

Gearing Up for InfoComm 2012

 

Maxell is pleased to return as an exhibitor at InfoComm 2012, the leading pro-AV show worldwide. This is the show AV specialists attend to keep tabs on not only the latest, but greatest professional media products.

According to show management, about 34,000 professionals will congregate at the Las Vegas Convention Center from June 13-15 and stroll the aisles, visiting their choice of the 925 or so exhibitors. We expect many to stop by the Maxell booth (C4736), as we will be showcasing an array of both tape and optical products. We will also be introducing a new storage device, and only attendees who visit will have an exclusive first-look at it! Here is a list of products in our booth:

Tape Products

Betacam SP Video Cassette	DVCPRO Digital Video Cassette
D-5 Digital Video Cassette	HDCAM Video Cassette
Digital Betacam Video Cassette	LTO Cartridges
DVCPRO HD Digital Video Cassette	Mini DV

Optical Products

BD-R	CD-RW
BD-RE	DVD-R Plus Series
CD-R	Professional Disc for XDCAM

Like most shows, InfoComm is a learning environment. There are about 300 educational sessions and training programs scheduled. In our opinion, InfoComm University provides some of the best AV training anywhere. You can learn about AV applications and solutions for business and IT, government, education, healthcare, hospitality and worship.

If you haven’t attended the show before, or if you just need a refresher on what it offers, here’s a bit of information from the official Infocomm 2012 Tradeshow website.

Enjoy, and if you’re attending, please feel free to stop by our booth (C4736) and tell us your thoughts on the show.

Maxell Professional Media Donates Product to Meet Baseball Hall of Fame Media Needs

 

With the start of the baseball season underway, many of us are reminded of the sport’s vast history that has earned it the America’s Pastime moniker. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY, is entrusted with preserving much of the documents, videos, radio calls, and player sound bites that are as precious as the records Hall-of-Fame players have set.

 

To that end, in an ongoing effort to support this iconic pastime, Maxell Corporation of America is once again providing media support to the Hall of Fame. This year, Maxell Professional Media has donated more than 1,900 pieces of assorted media and other products to the Hall of Fame. Included in this donation are: DVD-Rs, CD-Rs, Flash Media, Hard Drives, and other computer accessories.

 

Over the years, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has benefited from the contribution of various products from Maxell Professional Media, including Betacam SP and DVPRO-HDV tape, CD-Rs, DV-Rs, batteries, and more. According to the organization’s multi media operations department, over the past year they have found particularly great success with the Maxell iVDR, which has worked well with their current HDTV camcorder.

 

Among the exhibits that Maxell media has been used in are Viva Baseball, a celebration of Latin America baseball heritage, and on Hank Aaron, the second greatest home run hitter in major league history. All public service announcements (PSAs), as well as club-specific content, that are delivered to major and minor league ballparks across the country are stored on Maxell media, too. For the all-important archiving of historical footage, recordings, images and more, the Hall of Fame and Museum relies on Maxell to preserve priceless moments of baseball history, as well.

 

So, the next time you visit a ballpark or make the trip to Cooperstown, remember that Maxell is part of a team that is preserving the memories that have helped make baseball such a big part of American culture.

 

For more information, please visit www.baseballhall.org.

The Life and Time of Video Production

 

 

In its April 2012 issue, Videomaker magazine published a timeline of video production milestones. There are a few others we can think of, and we have a feeling that some broadcast professionals out there might feel the same way. What would YOU add to the timeline?

 

*Click on the image to enlarge.

 

 

We’d like to hear what you think about this. Comment on this post or find us on Twitter or Facebook.

A Look Into the Future of Media and Storage: The Ends Define the Means

 

 

As part of our ongoing 2012 broadcast and video forecast, this week filmmaker Mark Philip Lichtenstein, Director/Editor at Man Powered Films, proposes several emerging trends that could prove to be popular this year. Mark has written, directed and edited for film and television, covering everything from documentary and hard news to narratives and video art.

 

According to Mark, “The end use is the thing that will determine the next trend. I think a big thing in video will (or perhaps should) be the ability to shoot with a camera that perhaps wirelessly transmits a copy of the video to a laptop computer. This could mean an AE could sit on set organizing the video as it comes in during a shoot and perhaps even cut rough cuts of scenes. Certainly, it would reduce the time spent putting things into the computer in post. If I recall, there is a device similar to this for still cameras. The big problem with cloud computing in the field is that wireless data isn't cheap and anything that wants to be widespread needs to be not too expensive.”

 

Mark went on to say, “I can see flash memory RAID arrays becoming a thing, but the downside to flash memory is that with a limited number of read/write cycles, you can have it working just fine on Monday, and Tuesday it decides never to work again, so you'll always need a backup.”

 

As Mark’s final point, he added, “I also think it'd be interesting to see something like the Drobo Pro only with removable flash memory chips, so when one burns out, it can be replaced and doesn't lose any data. I don't think an iCloud-like system is the answer. " We thank Mark for his insight. There is no doubt that the tools we use — and the way we use them — continue to evolve, and we believe that staying on top of those changes is crucial.

 

Stay tuned for more predictions, coming soon!

 

Have something to say about this post? We’d love to hear it. Leave a comment here or find us on Twitter or Facebook.

Tape: Part of the Future of Storage

 

 

In a recent Broadcast Engineering article by Tom Coughlin (the president of data storage consulting company Coughlin Associates, not the coach of the new Super Bowl champs), we are given a look at what the future of content production and delivery may hold. We have long been saying that tape is alive and well, so it comes as no surprise to us that tape, as well as HDDs, are expected to be a part of that future. In fact, combined, the two storage methods account for 47 percent of recording media used by this article’s survey recipients in professional video cameras, as the chart below shows.

 

 

This is not surprising, as we continue to see our tape media – especially LTO-5 – used as a popular, cost-effective storage alternative. Our other tape and optical discs are also experiencing interest among broadcast and video professionals.

 

Coughlin, in his article, cites the usual suspects for an increase in requirements for digital playout and storage. They are HD content, as well as new distribution channels, such as the Internet and mobile. He is also predicting that digital storage capacity will increase about 4X from 2010-2016, which is slower than 5X growth for content used over the Internet and mobile networks.

 

All of these factors mean that broadcast and video professionals will need reliable, cost-effective media for storage and archiving. That sounds a lot like tape to us. It is also going to put additional emphasis on external sources of storage – such as hard disk drives (HDDs) – to help in the workflow.

 

We’d like to hear what you think about this. Comment on this post or find us on Twitter or Facebook.

 

To learn more about how Maxell Professional media products fit into the future of storage, go to www.maxell-usa.com.