You kinda knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Canon 5D MKII came out a couple of years ago, set the budget DCinema market on it’s head and caught the traditional ENG/Video guys (Sony/Panasonic) totally off-guard. Well I think Panasonic — for now, until Sony comes out with their NEX-VG10 Camera — is sending a couple of grenades into Canon’s camp with the “final” release of their AG-AF100 Memory Card Camera Recorder (MCCR? WTF?). Anyways, this little beastie is neat and can be had for a mere $6000. Not bad for a Pro level camera that can do everything from ENG style shooting to Mid-range DCinema shoots to MFTV movies/series. I think Panasonic might have another hit — like HVX200 — on their hands. Just the sheer fact that using readily available micro 4/3 to m42 mount adapters would give a young cinematographer access to kick-ass glass for cheap (search ebay for m42 lenses and you’ll see) or the fact that they too could start using the newisch Voigtländer 25mm f/0.95 for MicroFourThirds and create their own Barry Lyndon type effects/shots is fantastic news.

Although it all seems rosy for now, there is always the Sony factor as well. They’ve got the bigger, 35mm crop sensor, in their NEX-VG10 (28x22mm for sony vs. 17.1x13mm for pani) which translates into more DOF, smoother bokeh and such….but then again I’d be a happy camper with a f0.95 lens too :-). The AF100 incorporates a 4/3-inch, 16:9 MOS imager. The camcorder records 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) in AVCHD’s highest-quality PH mode (maximum 24Mbps). The AF100 maximizes the potential of its high-resolution imager with built-in ND filtering and dramatically reduced video aliasing. Standard professional interfaces include HD-SDI out, HDMI, time code recording, built-in stereo microphone and USB 2.0. The AF100 features two XLR inputs with +48V Phantom Power capability, 48-kHz/16-bit two-channel digital audio recording and supports LPCM/Dolby-AC3. With two SDXC slots, the AF100 can record up to 12 hours on two 64GB SDXC cards in PH mode. Interesting times ahead…..

JVC today announced their upcoming DLA-SH7NL DCinema Projector. A 4K2K D-ILA projector incorporating three 1.27″ 4K2K D-ILA display devices and packing dual mercury lamps for 5000 Lumens of brightness. The new machine — like its predecessor DLA-SH4K — achieves a resolution of roughly 10MP (4096×2400 pixels), plus a stunning 10,000:1 native contrast ratio.

DLA-SH7NL Specifications

Well, it’s taken a bit of time, but I think with the announcement of DP1.2 specs last December, the specs (and hopefully soon the vendors) are ready for True Digital Cinema home implementation. The DisplayPort connector supports 1, 2, or 4 data pairs in a main link that also carries clock and optional audio signals, each with a symbol rate of 1.62, 2.7, or 5.4 Gbit/s. The video signal path supports 6 to 16 bits per color channel. This allows the updated DisplayPort 1.2 specification to drive 4K x 2K display (3840×2160) with 30 bits per pixel and 3D over a single 2m cable.

DP 1.2 supports a maximum of 5.4Gbps per lane, with 4 lanes providing a whopping 21.6Gbps throughput, more than enough for 10-bit 4xHD resolution (3840×2160). To achieve the 21.6 Gbps rate, the per-lane data rate is doubled from 2.7 Gbps to 5.4 Gbps max, over the four lanes that exist in the standard cable. For a single display, this enables up to 3840 x 2400 maximum resolution at 60Hz, or a 3D display (120Hz) at 2560 x 1600.

Display Port 1.2′s massive data rate will enable Multiple-Streaming, support for stereoscopic images beyond full HD, a high-speed data channel, and support for mini connectors.

Multi-Streaming — is the ability to transport multiple independent uncompressed display and audio streams over a single cable. This enables the use of multiple monitors connected by cable in a daisy chain or hub configuration. Whereas the current Display v1.1a standard can support one 2560 x 1600 monitor at 60Hz, DisplayPort v1.2 can support two such monitors with one port, or four 1920 x 1200 monitors.

Another new feature is the ability to support high-speed, bi-directional data transfer, allowing USB 2.0 or Ethernet data to be carried within a standard DisplayPort cable. For DisplayPort v1.2, the maximum data rate of this “AUX” channel has been increased from 1 Mbps (Mega-bit-per-second) to 720 Mbps, providing suitable bandwidth for USB 2.0. The DisplayPort cable can therefore support USB data to/from the display to support Display USB functions, in addition to sending the video and audio information. Standard Ethernet can also be transported in the DisplayPort cable.

On the audio front DisplayPort v1.2 adds the following new enhancements:

• Audio Copy Protection and category codes
• High definition audio formats such as Dolby MAT, DTS HD, all Blu-Ray formats, and the DRA standard from China
• Synchronization assist between audio and video, multiple audio channels, and multiple audio sink devices using Global Time Code (GTC)

DisplayPort v1.2 also includes improved support for Full HD 3D Stereoscopic displays:

• Life-like motion using up to 240 frames-per-second in full HD, providing 120 frames-per-second for each eye
• 3D Stereo transmission format support 
• Field sequential
• Side by side
• Pixel interleaved
• Dual interface
• Stacked
• 3D Stereo display capability declaration
• Mono
• Stereo
• 3D Glasses

The only thing on my wish-list that they (VESA) omitted is support for true 4K DCinema (4096×2048) resolution. But I guess you can’t have everything……and there is always DP1.3 :-).

Well It was only a matter of time as they say…..first Sony, then JVC and now Epson.

Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”, TSE:6724) today announced that it has developed the world’s first* 4K-compatible high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) TFT liquid crystal panel for 3LCD projectors. Measuring 1.64 inches diagonally, the new panel supports displays with resolutions up to 4096 × 2160 pixels.

With a resolution of nearly 8.85 megapixels, 4K panels offer four times the resolution of full HD (1920 × 1080), making them ideal for the high resolutions required by special applications such as industrial design, architectural design and simulations, as well as for presentations and projecting four full HD images at the same time.

Panel features:

• High-resolution 4K-compatible
• 1.64″: 4K (4096 x 2160 pixels) – the world’s first 4K HTPS panel*
• Includes Epson’s original LCD driver optimized for 4K resolution
• Benefits of using C2 Fine:

1. High contrast
2. Smooth images
3. Jet-black color reproduction

* C2Fine: An original Epson technology for achieving high-quality, vivid images with high contrast by combining an inorganic liquid crystal alignment layer with vertical alignment technology

Panel specification:

• LCD type:  C2 Fine (VA inorganic alignment layer)
• Process technology:  D7
• Effective pixels:  4096 x 2160
• Panel size (diagonal):  1.64 inch (4.2 cm)
• Pixel pitch:  9 µm

Yep, those crazy open source hackers over at dvinfo.net have done it again. You thought the RED camera brought about a revolution in dcinema, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Apertus is using the Elphel 353, free software and open hardware camera. The Elphel Camera which this entire project is based on is basically an excellent security camera that can do some real magic. The camera uses an Aptina CMOS bayer-pattern sensor with an optical format of 1/2.5″ (5.70mm x 4.28mm) and a native resolution of 2592×1944 (5 Megapixels). It features a 12 bit ADC and supports: region of interest, on-chip binning and decimation. Aptina claims that the chip has 70db of dynamic range at full resolution and 76db when using 2×2 binning. The camera has a standard C-mount but ships with an adapter ring that allows to mount CS-lenses as well.

The recording resolution can be freely adjusted to anything starting from 16×16 to 2592×1944 in 16 pixel steps. This includes Apertus AMAX (2224×1251), Apertus CIMAX (2592×1120), 2K (2048 × 1536), Full HD (1920×1080), HD (1280×720) and of course all lower resolution SD formats like DV PAL, DV NTSC, etc.

The lower the resolution the higher the maximal possible framerate. At the full sensor size (5 million pixels or 5 Megapixels) the maximal frame rate is 10 fps in normal color mode and 15 fps in JP4 RAW mode. JP4 achieves higher framerates in general as some camera internal calculations are skipped and need to be applied later in postproduction (like debayering/demosaicing).

The RAW recording mode in Apertus is called JP4 RAW. Because certain in-camera compression steps can be skipped JP4 RAW allows higher recording speed resulting in more fps. JP4 RAW requires postprocessing (DNG Converter) but in return offers the highest possible image quality.

The following connectors are available on the camera body:

• SATA: Can be used to connect any external SATA device that is supported under Linux (external harddrives, raids, etc.)
• Ethernet: 100MBit Network with POE (48V)
• USB: USB 1.1 with 5V power supply
• IDE: Used to connect internal HDD
• RS232: Access to Console and debug output

The camera also supports the following recording media:

• Optional internal IDE 1.8″ HDD
• 2 internal CF Card Slots
• external SATA connector to connect any SATA device (Linux support required)

And if that’s not enough for you there is a extra bonus that comes from the ability of the camera to shoot Full HD in portrait (upright) mode. Upright screens are basically 1080p screens mounted sideways (portrait mode). This type of mounting is becoming increasingly more popular for events, exhibitions and advertising. If you want to spare yourself the hassle of building a right to mount the camera 90 degrees rotated you can whip out your Apertus rig and just start recording. This will give you a 1088×1020 image that’s ready for portrait playback.

Recently the Far North Living Lab started by the Nothern Research Institute in Norway did a successful transmission test of 2K Digital Cinema material to a Theater using BitTorrent technology. They used the (EU Funded) Tribler BitTorrent client to stream a full blown film at full 2K resolution.

The lab’s launch was held at a local movie theater where the film “Carved” by Jonas Rejman was projected, with consent from the copyright holder of course. This is a digital streaming world premiere for BitTorrent, and one that shows how the technology can actually help digital cinema and independent filmmakers.

At the moment most digital movies are distributed on hard disks costing up to $2000 for each copy. BitTorrent has the power to change this outdated distribution method and get smaller budget films onto the big screen.

The Far North Living Lab’s experiment shows that it’s even possible to stream movies if the connection is good enough, but Dr. Njål Borch, a senior researcher involved in the project added that downloading the film beforehand is probably a better option.

The lab’s next stunt will be to stream a live concert to the city of Beijing as well as a few selected rural areas.

We want to participate in the world even though we are physically placed way beyond what most people find inhabitable, Dr. Borch said. We’re not afraid of the future, the Internet will not kill creativity. Quite on the contrary – we are very excited!

RED has just announced a realtime 4k/5k debayer PCI-E card for your Mac or PC (OSX/Linux/Windows). You get 30fps at 4k and 25fps at 5k.

• RED Rocket board with Quad DVI and Dual Link HD-SDI- $4750
• Decode and debayer 4K R3D files realtime. Hyper-accelerated transcode to any system codec. Specs to be posted upon completion of testing.
• Plays full quality realtime 4K to 4K monitor or projector from DVI output. Plays full quality 2K/1080P scaled from 4K footage out the Dual Link HD-SDI from RED Rocket card.
• Plays full quality 2K scaled from 4K footage realtime through system graphics card and monitor.
• Optional Breakout box with Quad HDMI and Quad Dual Link HD-SDI- $1200
• Plays full quality realtime 4K to 4K monitor or projector from QUAD HDMI/HD-SDI RED Rocket breakout box output.
• Delivery schedule in now 1st week of July 2009.

- Front-end machine is a Dell 2950 with 2 x 1 GigE Broadcom ports onboard and one myricom 10GigE card.
- Broadcom port #2 is disabled in BIOS
- Broadcom port #1 is enabled and configured for external network (Internet)
- Myricom 10 GigE card is hooked into a Foundry 8x10GigE switch that uplinks into our private Class B network. We own a portion of this network aa.bb.cc.130-190. Netmask is 255.255.255.192. The Foundry also downlinks to a Force10 48port Gig switch (with optional 10GigE port). This is where the cluster compute nodes are connected at 1 GigE (soon to be bonded 4GigE).
- Rocks install on front-end machine likes to bringup broadcom #1 port (External) as eth0 and myri is not installed by default. So when prompted during install I configure it as per normal (eth0 for inside and eth1 for external) as far as IP addresses are concerned. This will keep the config files sane!!!
- Then I have to install the myri10g device driver from their site
- Now eth0 and 1 are backwards. Rocks wants eth0 to be private and eth1 to be public. To swap them we have to tell the kernel to swap the devices via udev rules. Edit /etc/udev/rules.d/11-local.rules and insert the following line inside:
KERNEL=="eth*",SYSFS{address}=="00:60:dd:47:75:a6",NAME="eth0"
This will force nic with mac address 00:60:dd:47:75:a6 to come up as eth0. Now we also have to change ifcfg-eth0 and ifcfg-eth1 files in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts to make sure the right IP goes with the right interface/MAC address.
- Lastly we have to add “modprobe myri10ge” and “route add -net aa.bb.cc.0/26 gw aa.bb.cc.129 dev eth0″ to /etc/rc.d/rc.local to shoehorn the driver and the route.

This should bring up a sane frontend machine.

- Before doing insert-ethers on the frontend, we have to edit /opt/rocks/lib/python2.4/site-packages/rocks/commands/sync/dns/plugin_dns.py since we have a portion of a larger subnet as our private address space. The Python file assumes a private class C address/mask which is not the case for me. We have to make the small change to make the file look like this (Thanks to Scott Hamilton for his post):

def reverseIP(self, addr, mask):
  "Reverses the elements of a dot-decimal address."

  if type(addr) != types.ListType:
   addr = string.split(addr,".")

  addr.reverse()

  clip = mask/8
  if (mask % 8):
   clip += 1
  # I added this section to fix a bug that breaks the dns configuration when 
  # isntalling on subnets smaller than 255.255.255.0
  if (clip == 4):
   clip = 3
  # Only show the host portion of the address.
  addr = addr[:-clip]

  reversed = addr[0]
  for i in addr[1:]:
   reversed = "%s.%s" % (reversed, i)

  return reversed

- This gets insert-ethers going but there is still the problem of being able to tell the program that you don’t want to start at 190 (which is the end of my address space) and count down whenever there is a new compute node online. I want to start at 180 and count down (180-190 space I want to reserve for admin stuff for the Xserve raids). So the command to issue is:
insert-ethers --baseip=aa.bb.cc.180
- Now I can power the computer nodes which have four interfaces (2 broadcom onboard plus 2 extra intel gige cards) each, making sure that broadcom 1 port is hooked up to the switch on all the machines. This is default PXE port for the Dell 1950 III’s. If everything is groovy insert-ethers will detect the machine and hand it aa.bb.cc.179 as IP address.
- At this point once the install is done on compute-0-0 (first machine you turn on) you can check /etc/dhcpd.conf on the frontend and notice that all the interface instances have the same IP. This is something we have to change once we bond the interfaces (maybe not….not sure yet).
- If during insert-ethers on frontend something screws up you can get a listing using “rocks list host” or “rocks list host interface”. Once you find the offending node you can “rocks remove compute-0-0″ for example, followed by “rocks sync config” and “rocks sync dns”.
- I initially ran into a problem where Ganglia would not update the nodes info. This I think was caused because ganglia uses multicast to pass info between clients (compute nodes) and server (frontend machine). I changed the /etc/gmond.conf file on the compute nodes to be as follows (only portion shown here):

/* UDP Channels for Send and Recv */

udp_recv_channel {
        port = 8649
}

udp_send_channel {
        host = aa.bb.cc.130
        port = 8649
}

This way the listening portion of ganglia can communicate with itself on port 8649 on each of the compute nodes and the collected stats can then be sent to aa.bb.cc.130 which is my frontend machine. Similarly on the frontend machine I modified /etc/gmond.conf to look like:

/* UDP Channels for Send and Recv */

udp_recv_channel {
/*      mcast_join = 236.149.78.5 */
        port = 8649
}

udp_send_channel {
/*      mcast_join = 236.149.78.5 */
        host = aa.bb.cc.130
        port = 8649
}

Note the commented multicast address which is not in use anymore. This way all the clients (compute nodes) send their info to the server (frontend), who’s listening on port 8649. The Server itself also sends it’s own information to it’s own IP address (snakke eating it’s own tail kinda thing). Once this is done I do a “/etc/init.d/gmond restart” on all the machines (compute nodes and frontend). Now the website for ganglia should be happy and full of info about the nodes.

More later…..

So I’ve been hearing a lot of whining about the new Canon 5D MKII’s being used as 35 mm cinema cameras. Everything from “Where is the fast auto focus?” — and here I thought 35 mm film gear was all about manual focus and adjustments — to “So how do I add filters/mattebox and such?”. Well fear not, Redrock Micro is here to save the day . Their new product “cinematization kit” — specifically designed to 5D MKII — is destined to ship November 1, ahead of the Canon camera.

Redrock accessories for Canon 5D MKII transforms the DSLR into production-ready cinema solutions by providing:

• Rock-solid 15mm support system
• Follow focus for accurate and repeatable focusing
• Swing-away mattebox for light management and easy access to changing lenses
• Shoulder mount and handgrips for steady handheld use
• Support cage for enhanced stability and low angle shot

When Canon announced their new 5D MKII DSLR Camera everyone was wowed by the 21MP sensor and all the other new goodies. What everyone has missed/neglected is the fact that this little beauty has the potential to become the new RED Camera. You see, with it’s 2K video output (1080P) in quicktime RAW format at 30 fps and superb low-light performance, Canon has created a dynamite hybrid camera for the photo jounalists (or anyone who doesn’t want to spend 20-30K on a RED camera). Vincent Laforet has done a very in depth review of this camera’s video capabilities on his blog (video is upcoming). To quote Vincent:

It produces the best video in low light that I’ve ever seen – at 1080p. A top commercial film editor who who regularly edits RED camera footage – and has seen the raw footage from the 5D MKII – says the 5D MKII is “far superior to the RED camera” in terms of low light performance…

We’re talking about a $2700 camera that can take the entire range of 35mm lenses offered by Canon (and now Zeiss as well), will shoot 2K RAW video in CF card (which is quicktime and hence drop-ready for Final Cut Pro). I think it’s time to get excited….start saving now :-)

I’m gonna date myself here and ask….Does anyone remember the Agnus Chip? How about the Fatter Agnus or the Alice? For those of you who don’t know these were the original and upgraded OCS/ECS chips that did most of the amazing (for the time) graphics for the Amiga computer back in the late-80′s/early-90′s. Fast forward to today and the announcement of the “Fatter Quadra Plex” at Siggraph 2008. The new desktop graphics monsters come in two flavours. From the announcement:

The NVIDIA Quadro Plex 2200 D2 VCS, with two Quadro GPUs, 4 dual-link DVI channels, and 8 GB of frame buffer memory, is designed for advanced visualization of extremely large models and datasets, as well as high-performance computing processes. Its partner, the Quadro Plex 2100 D4 VCS with four GPUs, 8 dual-link DVI channels and a 4 GB frame buffer, is optimized for multi-display applications.

The new Quadro Plex 2200 D2 VCS houses two Quadro FX 5800 GPUs, providing 480 NVIDIA CUDA Parallel Computing Processor cores and 8GB of graphics memory. The thermal and power management capabilities of the chassis offer up to 20% performance improvement over standard add-in graphics, making it the most powerful visual computing system available. The Quadro Plex 2200 D2 VCS houses up to four Quadro FX 4700 GPUs, powering up to four displays via its dual-link DVI outputs, and up to eight displays with its high-resolution projection capabilities.

The Quadro Plex D2 will be featured in technology demonstrations of real-time NVIDIA GPU-based raytracing, large scale CAD modeling and 4K HD power walls at SIGGRAPH 2008 in Los Angeles, August 12-14, 2008 (NVIDIA Booth 554). The Quadro Plex D Series VCS will be available in September 2008 with prices beginning at $10,750.

Great article by Barbara Robertson over at studiodaily.com, outlining the process of creating the VFX shots for the new Batman movie (The Dark Night). I have to admit I did not love the movie like many others, but the VFX were first rate and after reading this article I have a better appreciation of what went into it. WOWWEE 8-).

Yep, in the classic “mine is bigger than yours” fashion, JVC has once again upped the ante by introducing the worlds first single display device capable of 8K Super Hi-Vision. That’s 8192x432o pixels of joy AKA 35 bloody megapixels. We recently covered the introduction of JVC’s 4K D-ILA projector and well now the new game is called 8K.

Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) announces a new addition to its lineup of proprietary D-ILA (Direct-Drive Image Light Amplifier) high-definition reflective liquid crystal devices for projectors. The newly developed 1.75-inch 8K4K D-ILA device has the world’s largest number of pixels and is able to display images of approximately 35 megapixels (8192 x 4320 pixels), the equivalent of more than 17 times the level of Full High-Definition. This means that a single display device can now produce Super Hi-Vision images and can display images with the highest number of pixels currently defined under international standards.

After JVC developed the initial 7.86-megapixel (3840 x 2048 pixels) 4K2K D-ILA device in the summer of 2003, it subsequently further evolved the technology for highly realistic, high-definition images through a range of test viewings and verification testing, resulting in the development of JVC’s first commercial 4K2K D-ILA device (1.7-inch device size, 5,000:1 device contrast ratio) and the 4K2K D-ILA projector incorporating that device in September 2004.

In June 2007 JVC developed a 1.27-inch 4K2K D-ILA device that was the world’s smallest device of its kind, having a 6.8µm pixel pitch and 4096 x 2400 pixels, and in February 2008 it began marketing a newly commercialized professional D-ILA projector, DLA-SH4K, incorporating that device.

Through the development of a new production process and new pixel structure for even finer pixels, JVC has now succeeded in developing the 1.75-inch 8K4K D-ILA device, the world’s first device to achieve real Super Hi-Vision definition level. The new device has approximately 50% higher density in its ratio of area per pixel as compared to the 1.27-inch 4K2K D-ILA device, which was originally the world’s smallest 4K device. Furthermore, the new device has achieved a video display of approximately 35 megapixels, the world’s highest pixel counts, while continuing to provide the D-ILA series’ characteristics such as “high-quality images without a distracting pixel structure”, “high light availability”, and “high contrast ratio”.

Yeah baby, If you’re gonna telecine your Super 8 summer trip reels, why not do it using the RED Digital Cinema Camera at glorious (or is it gruesome) 4K. All those scratches and nicks blown up to 4K….Yummm. Well I guess film restorers will be back in business. The rig is a prototype made by Movie Stuff Workprinter XP specifically for the RED camera. The Workprinter’s “trigger out” interfaces directly to the Red’s GPI input to trigger capture in stop motion mode up to 30 frames per second in the Red’s 4K mode). I wonder if they’re gonna do a 16mm version of this rig as well. Now that would be a cheap 16mm telecine :-).

iCinema has teamed up with Projectiondesign to create the first AVIE (Advanced Visualization and Interaction Environment). AVIE is the first horizontal panoramic streoscopic projection environment. The system uses a cylindrical screen measuring 35 feet in diameter and 13 feet in height. Seven PC’s and twleve F1+ projectors complete the system. Infrared camera’s allow the audience to interact with the projection environment. More info here.

If you’ve been tuned into Digital Cinema Projection for the past couple of years, you’d know that when it comes to 4K projection (4Kx2K image), sony’s SXRD series was pretty much the only game in town. DLP is limited to 2K and most of the projectors out there (Christie, Barco, NEC) are all 2K projectors. A downside of Sony’s projector is that although it is as hefty as a small car it only has a 2000:1 contrast ratio (measured less than that calibrated). Its rated aggresively for 40ft screens which is not nearly big enough for true cinema applications.

That was true until JVC announced their 1.27-inch 4Kx2K D-ILA (Direct-drive Image Light Amplifier) chip at InfoComm 2007. The chip can produce a 4096×2400 pixel image with a 20,000:1 contrast ratio. That’s nearly 10x the contrast ratio of the Sony behemoth.

Major Specifications:

The DLA-SH4K, which packs the 4k D-ILA chip, touts a 4,096 x 2,400 resolution, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 3,500 lumens, a dual-link DVI input, multiscreen mode, an Ethernet port for remote operation and RS-232 / USB connectors. It measures 660 x 827 x 340 mm and is slated for launch in the first half of 2008.

From CineGrid GLIF…

Well many of you have probably been wondering why N.E.R.D. has been a bit slow for the past couple of months. Well, August was a bit of a nightmare month (although an enjoyable nightmare for the most part). I got a chance to go to Siggraph’07 in San Diego, followed by a European trip to end the other project I’ve been working on (Comedia II) at Ryerson. That trip passed through Amsterdam (WOOHOO) and ended in Stuttgart with a succesful demonstation of our high-resolution low bandwidth screen sharing app which was a part of Comedia II deliverables.

The screen sharing basically uses a Blackmagic Design Intensity card to share/deliver/encode the DVI output of a CAD/CAM workstation to a remote site and with the addition of our home-brew pointer control system, to allow multiple remote audiences to have collaborative engineering design review sessions.

September was pretty much spent planning and implementing our demo for the GLIF conference in Prague. This was a demonstration put together by some of the CineGrid consortium members. The demo involved connecting three sites (Ryerson University‘s Dcinema Lab, Calit2 at UCSD and Barrandov studios in prague) via 10GigE optical connections in a layer-2 network. Below you’ll find the overall net diagram prepared by Alan Verlo.

From CineGrid GLIF…

The idea behind the demo was as follows (point form to make it a bit easier to visualize):

1) DCinema footage was shot in Prague last weekend (Sept. 15-16) using a DALSA Origin 4K DCinema Camera.
2) The 4K raw imagery from the camera was “shipped” to Calit2 overnight via the network where it was “developed” into a series of RGB files on their Compute Cluster and shipped back to Prague via network.
3) The finished frames where loaded into a Baselight 4 system. This system was literally chopped in half with the backend/storage in Prague and the front-end control panel at Ryerson University in Toronto.
4) The front-end and the back-end were linked via 1x1GigE links at both sites (Toronto and Prague) over a vlan440 (see diagram above).
5) The output of the back-end system in prague was split. One link for Prague team (ie: Director of Photography) connected to their Sony SRX-R110 and One link for Toronto (ie: Colourist).
5) Since the Toronto team needed to see the output of the material they were manipulating, we used the iHDTV system developed at University of Washington/Research Channel at both ends to transport the HD-SDI 2K 4:2:2 imagery back to Toronto over 2x1GigE links. This signal was fed into the Sony SRX-R110 projector residing in the DCinema Lab at Ryerson.
6) The iHDTV systems at both ends (sender in Prague and receiver in Toronto) were isolated on vlan442 (see diagram above) since interpacket timing was found to be crucial for proper operation of our QVidium conferencing system and an isolated vlan for iHDTV turned out to be the solution.
7) In Addition to the above the Colourist and DP needed to have low latency video conference link in order to achieve an acceptable level of realtime collaboration. To that end, we also deployed two QvidiumHD 1394 IP Gateways with two Panasonic HVX-200 HD Camcorders to encode video/audio at both ends. Additionally two PC’s with QVidium decoding software w/ DVCProHD codecs were installed at each end to setup a complete two-way low latency HD conference. The HD conference system ran at ~2x120Mbps on vlan440.
8) The main connections between all three sites was running at 10GigE over a layer-2 network and was split into individual 1GigE connections for the various parts of the project.

From CineGrid GLIF…

On Tuesday morning we started the two way HD conference, connected the front-end of the Baselight system to the back and after some adjustments had the system up and running with 2K proxy output in Toronto and Prague. The Demo was a “First in the World” and will be (atleast I think so) the first of many more to come out of our lab and it’s collaboration with CineGrid partners around the world….So stay tuned. I’ve included a bunch of pictures I took during the build and the actuall demo, official CineGrid press release is coming soon and I will try to post the video that we shot at our end of the first session soon (it’s in DVCProHD and I need to book one of our suites to edit it together).

So we’ve been waiting for this for a while now. In Digital Cinema applications display technology throughput has always been a problem. Pumping ~10Gb/s of data to a screen is an issue, be it a projector and/or monitor. There have been a number of “hacks” to get these types of setups working (Dual or Quad DVI/HDMI ports). The problem usually is the seam. It is very hard to sync four DVI output chips properly and even harder to display the pixel information back on the screen (inside the projector/monitor).

DisplayPort technology is one attempt to solve this problem:

The DisplayPort connector supports 1 to 4 data pairs in a Main Link that also carries audio and clock signals, each with a transfer rate of 1.62 or 2.7 gigabits per second (Gbit/s). The Video signal path supports 6 to 16 bit per color channel. A bi-directional auxiliary channel runs at a constant 1 megabit per second, and serves as Main Link management and device control using VESA EDID and VESA MCCS standards.”

As you can see from the Wikipedia Quote above, DisplayPort (in it’s quad configuration) can support upto 10.8 Gb/s of information….perfect for DCinema Applications. Samsung has just released a Press Release outlining their 30′ LCD monitor that uses DisplayPort technology:

“Seoul, Korea – July 25, 2007: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world’s largest provider of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, announced today that it has developed the world’s first LCD panel using the next-generation video interface – “DisplayPort.” Sanctioned by VESA (the Video Electronics Standards Association), DisplayPort will serve as a replacement for DVI, LVDS and eventually VGA.

For Samsung’s new 30-inch LCD, the DisplayPort interface transmits graphics data at a total data rate of 10.8Gbps. This speed enables 2560×1600 resolution without any color smear. By using a transmission speed more than double that of today’s interfaces, Samsung’s new LCD only requires a single DisplayPort interface, instead of the two DVI (Digital Visual Interface) ports now used.

In a joint undertaking with Genesis Microchip Inc. (Santa Clara, California), Samsung developed its 30” panel using a new four-lane, 2.7Gbps/lane interface chip. The interface technology processes 2560×1600 pixels of graphics data at up to 10 bits of color depth or 1.07 billion colors, a feat that would normally require at least three DVI or four LVDS interface chips.

“We are pleased to be the first LCD manufacturer in the world to create a panel with a DisplayPort interface,” said Brian Berkeley, vice president, Samsung LCD Business, who is leading the company’s DisplayPort development efforts. “We have received many inquiries from computer integrators interested in DisplayPort-based LCD panels, which prompted an acceleration of our R&D for this first DisplayPort LCD panel.” Samsung was the only LCD panel maker participating in the original DisplayPort working (standards) group formed in 2004.

Samsung’s new 30” LCD also offers the company’s proprietary Super Patterned Vertical Alignment (S-PVA) liquid crystal technology for 180° viewing angle, and 300nits brightness.

Mass production of the 30-inch panel is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2008.

Specifications:
Display size 30”
Resolution WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600 pixels)
Response time 6ms
Viewing angle 180°/180°
Contrast ratio 1000:1
Mode S-PVA
Brightness 300 nits
Colors 16,777,000
Color saturation 100%
Interface DisplayPort

It’s just too bad that we can’t buy this NOW :-)