In this free webinar I examine Apple’s ProRes codec inside and out. Content includes:

Apple’s ProRes family is becoming one of the most common formats in production and postproduction, but how much do you really know about this code? Which version is best for your needs?

• Introducing the ProRes family
• RCBA vs YUV – what does it mean?
• Lossless vs Visually Lossless
• Using ProRes: a codec by codec guide.

Check out the trailer and register free.

Avid folk – hi Frank – have been promoting this survey result that purportedly shows that Media Composer  is used more than all other NLEs. In fact the article starts off with:

Avid Media Composer remains the most popular editing system in production by a considerable margin. It’s the primary editing system of 70% of our respondents, proving that it still rules the roost despite the challenge from Apple and Adobe

Which is hardly accurate if you really examine the subject. In fact is bordering on deliberately misleading.

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In recent announcements, Amazon Studios debuts five pilots in their third wave of original programming. Meanwhile Netflix is going for humor in a series of comedy specials.

The more funding opportunities, the more production is done and that’s good for all of us.

After a long period going back over accounts without reporting, we are finally going to be able to get an insight into how Avid’s financial position is looking. With the revised plan to publish restated accounts for 2011, accounts for 2012, and 2013. Within 40 days of that, the figures to June 2014 will be published.

I look forward to having a detailed look at the company’s financial position.

An article in Forbes this week asserts that Netflix’s eventual world-wide reach will prevent funding via pre-sales through traditional territory-by-territory strategy. While a shift is this necessarily a bad thing?

Indeed, Netflix will likely expand from creating original series to creating its own large budget films, with the initial premiere on-line.  Netflix may be a vibrant, important source of new financing that disrupts the studio system and bypasses standard distribution channels.

Over the weekend, Chris Fenwick interviewed me for his FCPX Grill podcast about the importance of logging, metadata and Lumberjack System. The podcast is available now and it is a good conversation.

What makes it meta though is that Alex Gollner logged the conversation and put it up on his website: metadata (logging) about a conversation on metadata. It doesn’t get much more meta than that!

I’m very happy to announce that Lumberjack System now has an iOS Logger – an app for logging without an Internet connection. To celebrate we’re offering the next 50 (well, less now) people who sign up for a year of Lumberjack System a free copy of Intelligent Assistance’s Producer’s Best Friend.

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Yesterday I had to pleasure of being invited to USC for Avid’s Avid Everywhere presentation. Shortly thereafter I attempted to share what I learnt with Larry Jordan and Michael Horton on the Digital Production BuZZ. Avid friends, I hope I got it close to right!

Here’s the link to my segment on the BuZZ. http://www.digitalproductionbuzz.com/BuZZ_Audio/Buzz_140731_Hodgetts.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I have to say that there is a lot of difference in the experience delivered by Amazon Instant Video and Apple’s iTunes.

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