R|com Creative Blog

We are continuing to evolve our hosting and support services. For those of you that have been keeping tabs on our progress, we’re now moving into a new phase. Our monitoring solution is working really nicely and over the coming week or two, we’ll switch it on for all of our servers, applications, and related clients. I must say that being able to check on nearly any capability of any server from my iPhone is really fantastic.

Now, we’re in the process of replacing literally all of the hard drives in our servers that are more than 18 months old. Even though our monitoring capabilities will advise us of drives that may fail in the future, we’ve opted to move to a new, standardized hard drive system. By installing the same make of drive in every server, we can more easily manage performance and reliability. Drive technology has evolved quite a bit, and for many of our drives, replacing them will add benefits such as increased speed, larger cache capabilities, and longer drive warranties.

Once all of the drives have been replaced, we’re going to add several new services which will be available to our clients beginning with our next renewal period. If you’re interested in a preview, send us a note and we’ll arrange a discussion or meeting to review the various options available.

So, check out the photo. See where it says “microRemote” on the display? You’re looking at an iPhone. Or, alternatively, it could be an iPod Touch. Regardless, this is one of the most important new product releases since the DSLR rage hit. It doesn’t matter if you shoot with a Nikon or a Canon or whatever – if you shoot HD video, this is a really important piece of kit.

Essentially, this is a wireless, handheld, follow focus automation device. One of the big problems with DSLR rigs is they’re still small, even when you add a mattebox, viewfinder, etc. So, when the shot really counts and you’re shooting with sticks, this is a terrific way to better manage the shot.

It’s totally cool that RedRock Micro has delivered an Apple-certified iPhone/iPod touch application specifically for focus automation. And, if you add all of the proper goodies, it’s so James Bond or Jason Bourne, or (pick fave actor or serial adventure star here). It’s also cool that you can use your iPhone without lamenting about how lame AT&T is.

I could go on and on about this neat new tool. I won’t. Instead, check out the totally sales-oriented, but still nicely produced sales pitch video [ watch video clip ]

One of the things that we are often asked to do is to help organizations improve their use of social media tools. These entities have either created a blog, a twitter account, a Facebook page, or something similar. The problem is, they aren’t getting the results they expected. “I thought we’d get millions of new users because of our Facebook page,” one client lamented in a recent discussion.

There are some important things you might consider regardless of the tool or tools you’re using. The first is exactly that: You’ve got to use the tools if you expect them to do anything. In a recent meeting withe a client, when the topic of their Facebook page came up, one staffer asked, “who maintains our Facebook page?” The CEO replied without batting an eyelash, “nobody.”

If you don’t use it, it won’t work. And, it takes more than just using it. You need to know what you’re doing and why. We are often able to help our clients increase their return on investment (ROI) via a series of simple steps. One of them is to go back to earlier posts, videos, etc., and to establish how those elements faired against competitive examples. As one example, imagine you have added a video to YouTube about surfing in Hawaii. It’s a popular theme. Six months later, your video has received 3,500 views. You expected 100,000. So, what to do?

Example of Rcom's improvement to social media status of a client

We’ll evaluate other videos in the same space. That means evaluating the categories, the search results, and most important, the popularity. Then, by “editing” the video post, we can evaluate if making these changes will create an uptick in popularity. Recently, we reviewed a series of videos for a client, and discovered that they were posting all of them in the “film” category of YouTube. We changed some keywords, and most importantly, changed the category to “entertainment.” Within ten days, the number of views had increased tenfold. That’s 10-X. That’s awesome!

The most important trick is to stay on it. If you can’t do it yourself, get someone who can. We’re more than happy to discuss ways to help you increase your social media success metrics.

Today, Ford Motor Company unveiled the new 2011 Ford Explorer. While the traditional method of new product introductions has been at one of the various auto shows that occur annually, Ford decided to do this one on their schedule, and is using Facebook to let the world know about the new Ford truck.

In short, this is a brilliant move.

Facebook is not an automatic avenue to success. But it does have millions upon millions of users, and anyone can access a facebook page now, so the timing is right. And, Ford’s use of Facebook is what makes this product introduction so special. Starting late last night, Ford began launching short videos every few hours on both Facebook and YouTube. Not only is this cool because each video focuses on a specific aspect of the vehicle, but it will help Ford determine what kind of interest, and from what aspect of Facebook, people are coming. If you watch one video, you’re not likely an early adopter. If you watch every one, Ford will expect to see you in a dealer’s showroom with a credit app or checkbook.

We want our clients to likewise use social media appropriately. This is just one example of a terrific use of the Internet, not to mention a powerful way to introduce a significant new product without having to sort through 45 product intros on the same day. I would consider this a warning shot across the bow of every trade show. As Apple learned to use its showrooms to reduce costs and improve revenue, Ford can do the same. If you have questions or an interest in applying this type of solution to your product, give me a shout via email at davidb @ rcomcreative dot com.

As part of our ongoing investment in our hosting and support network, we’ve just completed the installation and testing of a completely new monitoring solution for all of our clients. There are a number of ways to monitor the health of your website. We wanted to ensure that our customers were getting the best possible feedback, and in the event of a problem, would be able to learn as much as possible, so that future issues could be mitigated, wherever possible.

There are essentially two components to the monitoring solution: internal network testing and monitors, and external up-time monitoring. We use a powerful set of tools to accomplish this important and time sensitive task.

Externally, we monitor every site, every server box, and the network itself via two independent sources. This is important, because it is possible for connectivity to be interrupted by issues external to our data center. By using two independently and geographically separated sources, we reduce the chances of an external interruption creating confusion for either our engineers or our clients.

The real power comes via our new hardware/software solution internally. Allow me to put on a techie cap for a few moments…

R/com uses a hierarchical data tree of ‘entities’ to store monitoring data. At the top of the tree is our Customer – and a software container for all monitoring data related to a single organization or installation. Beneath the Customer are the various individual Sites, which contain Devices (read that as hardware). Each Device is a single logical or physical node on your network that Lithium is monitoring (for example a Server, Switch, Router, or Storage Array). Within each Device is a hierarchy of Containers, Objects, Metrics and Triggers. Containers hold groups of Objects of the same type such as Network Interfaces or CPUs and each Object is a unique item of that type. A Metric is a polled or calculated value that relates to the operation of that Object (e.g. Percent Used, Input Packets Per Second, Temperature, etc). Triggers define conditions under which an Incident or fault condition should be raised for that Metric.

I know it’s a bit over the top in terms of techno-speak, but essentially, what we’re doing is monitoring every element within each server and within each website to determine if anything either will go wrong (a warning), or has gone wrong (a notification). An example might be a hard drive. Our new system will let us know if a drive is getting too full – but is not yet at capacity. We can then, in turn, share this information with our customer, hopefully resulting in their approval to make adjustments and to prevent a failure or problem.

Each monitored server and related component has an Operational Status of Normal (Green), Warning (Yellow), Impaired (Orange) or Critical (Red). The operational state of an Entity is controlled by the Triggers that are applied to the Metrics being collected or calculated for the device. Okay – say that quickly ten times. If there’s a problem, we’ll find out! We can also adjust the metrics so that each server and in turn, customer, can determine the “line in the sand” that we need to be aware of.

As this solution learns more about how the devices in our network are operating over time, we can extract trend analysis that predicts when a given Metric will reach the defined Trigger values. For example, we can perform a predictive trend analysis on a particular Storage Resource and provide a prediction on when that Resource will hit the Warning, Impaired or Critical trigger conditions set for it. We’ll consider this aspect of our solution active 90 days after our launch date (which is today).

Recorded Metric values are written to disk using the open-source RRDtool file format. Unlike other monitoring systems where the resolution of historical data is lost or truncated over time, our solution keeps track of every recorded sample from the moment it is activated. Data is stored in a rolling file-per-year and file-per-month data storage format in a very neatly arranged directory structure that follows the Customer, Site, Device, Container, Object and Metric hierarchy of monitored entities.

All in all, we’re very excited about this solution. We strongly believe it will provide added value and functionality to our hosting and support services, and will benefit all of our clients. Note that these capabilities are being provided at no additional charge to any of our annually hosted customers.

R/com Creative has been awarded two 2010 Telly Awards for the recent production of two public service television commercials featuring Lakers Power Forward Star, Pau Gasol. The commercials, focusing on public safety for the Los Angeles Fire Department, feature Pau Gasol in his capacity as spokesperson for the LAFD and MySafe:LA.

Watch the 60 second commercial: click here

Watch the 30 second commercial: click here

If you listen to the “experts” in technology media, we’re all headed to the cloud. Don’t believe it. Software as a service, or SaaS (also called the cloud) is growing. We use it all the time. But it isn’t the only emerging factor for applications use in the 21st century.

Cloud-based computing offers tremendous upside opportunities for developers. By offering a subscription rather than a disc or download local solution, a relationship with the client is created. Renewal marketing is reduced. Packaging and shipping are eliminated. Service options are increased.

But all of this predicts the user will always have access to the Internet. And, that such access will be of a high quality. Before that happens, the quality of Internet connectivity must not only improve, but stabilize. Mobile companies in particular must put on big-boy pants and recognize their clients for what they are: users of technology, not dependents without choice or options.

There is a group of people who believe we’ll all be living in the clouds fairly soon. A recent survey by Elon University of more than 900 Internet and technology experts found that 71% predicted the majority of people will use web-based and mobile apps by 2020. Working in conjunction with Pew Research Center, the experts predicted that entities like Google will own the airwaves not only as a conduit, but as a destination for personal and business users.

Make no mistake, we’re very strong supporters of Software as a Service. At the same time, the ability to utilize applications on a local level remains equally important. It isn’t a game of lessor or greater – it’s an apple to an orange.

One of the areas where we spend the most effort is website security. It is an expense that goes beyond staffing and equipment. It is never ending. It is to some extent, not winnable. It is likely in fact, that if you have a website, you will suffer through an outage. It will crash.

Overall, our record for keeping websites up and running is excellent. We average 99.958% up-time during the past eight years. That’s high. But it isn’t perfect, so why does this happen?

Website security is so challenging because there are a tremendous number of variables that can affect a site’s performance. The Internet itself, access to the Internet, the health of the hardware in use, the switch, the routers, the cables, the power supply (direct and indirect), the performance of the applications, the impact of users visiting the site, hackers trying to kill the site, etc. We work diligently to ensure we keep all of the above in balance, and it is that balance that provides the greatest degree of comfort and security.

Most clients want their websites to work, and they don’t care how that happens. If something does happen to their site, it is never their fault. We try to encourage that level of responsibility, but internally, we are always studying ways to improve. We’re in the midst of an upgrade, in fact. A new switch system, upgraded cables (we replace them over time, not when they fail), updated OS installations, and continued testing of the network are just a few of the activities under way at the moment. And all of it designed to ensure that the most important thing happen to your website when hosted with us. Nothing.

There is a long-held rumor that Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard the Pirate, told his crew that the only way to die was to stand still when in battle. Keep moving, and you live. Regardless of whether the craggy old pirate really uttered those words, the truth of the matter is – stand still and others will pass you by.

Our team understands this issue, and we’re working diligently to move a number of our products and services forward. To that end, this summer will see some significant evolution in how we support our clients.

Actually, before noting what we’re going to be doing this coming quarter, let me quickly review what we’ve already done this year… We’ve completely converted our media production to a tapeless workflow. All of our media capture is now sans tape.

We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the quality of work we produce, and the recent spat of awards and trophies for our work product is both gratifying and supports the effort. Our team is very much on the quality bandwagon. We want that to translate to better products and services for you, our clients.

We’ve also just completed a completely new hosting and server environment. We’ve created a completely new set of cabinets, server architecture, wiring, firewall, switch, etc. The immediate result will be improved performance for all of our clients. The more long-term result will be announced over the course of the coming few months.

So, on to the new stuff that is coming…

The first step will be a completely new web environment for R/com. We will launch the new site in June. It will be very simple, but will clearly communicate what we do with our client and prospect base. And, we are adding some important support services, for both web and media clients.

The second step will be the addition of a new Internet environment for our content management software. It will focus on the capabilities of the software, as well as offer training and support for our existing and new clients.

The third step will be a new revision of our content software overall. We’ll be implementing some new ideas, combining various capabilities into object-oriented presentation of “ideas” via the web. Imagine being able to automatically create families of information (PDF, video, data, etc) around an object (product) and then to present that to the viewer.

There’s more to follow, but in the short run, that’s what we’re up to. And, we invite you along for the ride.

The primary service offered by R/com is communications. We help people and companies communicate. That might be via an image, a video, a website, or a printed book or magazine. Our objective is always to help the reader identify with the story or message being shared.

HBO is currently about three quarters of the way through presenting The Pacific, the story of young marines fighting in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Like Band of Brothers, this is a Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman production. And like Band of Brothers, just minutes into the program, you feel as if you’re right there with the First Marines.

A number of my relatives served in World War II. As a boy, I was able to thumb through their photo albums, and I was able, from a distance to look at what a boy sees: the glory of battle and the pride of service to country. Most of what I saw was from Europe, were my uncles served in the Army Air Force. But another, my uncle Frank, served in the Pacific… in 1944 and 1945. Unless someone told you he was there, you’d never know. He never talked about it.

My uncle Frank was single, lived with his parents, and from my youthful point of view, only cared about two things: golf and gin. Every evening, he’d walk up to the full bar my grandparents had in their house and tell nobody in particular, “it’s time for a drinkee-poo.” And he’s pour himself a full glass of gin. At the time, I hated it. I couldn’t understand why that old fashioned alcohol drink was such a part of him. He always seemed aloof, distant, and silly. He was my least-favorite uncle because I could never get to know him.

After watching the remarkable and horrifying episode on Guadalcanal, I thought of my uncle Frank, who passed away a number of years ago at a nice old age. I hadn’t thought of him in several years. And then, more recently, the even more graphic episode on Peleliu made me wonder where exactly my uncle had been in the Pacific. He was with the First Marines. No doubt, he witnessed in person what I watched safely from my couch, with my two dogs and wife for company, safe and secure. We cried in the safety of our home.

If I knew then what I know now, I’d have poured my uncle a glass of gin every day. He deserved it.

————-

The Pacific is based loosely on the books “Helmet for My Pillow,” by Robert Leckie, and “With the Old Breed,” by Eugene B. Sledge. Additional material was used from “Red Blood, Black Sand,” by Chuck Tatum, and “China Marine,” By Eugene Sledge.

Using the iPad to show HD video on a large TV at LAFD headquarters.

Per my previous post on the iPad, everyone here that uses one has been enjoying the experience. However, there’s no doubt that our use is not “average.” Separate from development, we use the iPad to review video with clients, to deliver presentations, to connect to our servers and server farm, as a slate during video production, as a teleprompter, and so on.

On Tuesday of this past week, it all changed for me. My Macbook Pro (nearly 3.1 years old), suffered a miotechnical infarction. It had a CPU attack – and died. As a side note, I find it bizarre that it would die within a few days of its AppleCare protection expiring, not to mention on the same day as the new MacBook Pros being introduced by Apple.

Getting a new computer would be easy, but in the midst of the huge number of projects, the last thing on my mind was getting a new laptop. Worse, the prospect of migrating several hundred megabytes of data and applications was not inspiring.

It got worse. No matter what we did (the dealer and I), we could not get the content of my old Mac to transfer to the new one. Meanwhile, I had work to do. So, I decided to see what I could accomplish using the iPad. I left the migration project with my dealer, who diligently attacked the problem.

I have an iPhone and it’s great for email. I rarely use it for longer email notes. So, with the iPad in hand, I decided this would be a good test. Apple Mail is not my favorite app (on the Mac), but on the iPad, it was refreshing and even, careful now – fun. Apple gives tremendous thought to the process of their products, and it makes all the difference in the world. I love the way the in-box displays, the images pop up, etc. It’s very slick. The big trick was using the built-in keyboard.

For the first few email notes, I was not impressed. It seemed that I was missing keys and looking for other keys that weren’t there. Well, they were, but you had to swap overlays to see and use them. After three email notes, I answered the phone and walked away from the iPad.

When I came back, it was as if I had suddenly mastered typing on the keyboard. It was a cross between iPhone email and the Mac – the auto-spell-check worked nicely, and the graphical display and orientation of mail was easy to follow. In fact, it made sorting and responding to email far easier than on my desktop app (Entourage). So, using the iPad for email proved to be a snap.

Speaking of keyboards, I have been working on several reports, and thankfully, copies were stored in my mobile me account. So, I connected and transferred the files to my iPad. That was easy. But, then, after two pages of typing on the graphic keyboard, I started to get frustrated. I can type quickly. I cannot type quickly when using the iPad. Roadblock.

Then, I remembered I could use a bluetooth Mac keyboard. So, I drove to our office and snagged one from a workstation (sorry!), and brought it home. I plugged the iPad into the neat little stand you can get, and connected the keyboard. Now, I was typing quickly again. And Apple Pages for the iPad is totally cool – and it’ll cost you ten dead Presidents, so it’s cheap, too.

The next morning, in my email, I received a film budget in Excel format. Jeez, now what? Oh, I remembered that Apple Numbers was available – I already had Keynote and Pages. So, I tapped on the Apple iTunes Store (remember, we no longer click – we tap), and within a few seconds (literally), I had purchased Numbers (also ten dollars), downloaded it, and was reviewing the spreadsheet. I made some changes, and then sent it back to my finance guy. So, although I wasn’t editing video, I was doing many of the things I do with my laptop. And this is in between all of the things I’ve discussed in my previous post – keynote, video, audio, networking, etc. I was doing all of that, too.

After two days, my new laptop was ready to be picked up, but I was pretty surprised and pleased with the iPad as an everyday communications device. I would note that using it that way is not its strength. It’s really ideal for the other types of uses previously described, but when called upon, it stepped up and for the most part, was a workable solution.

Would I stop using a laptop? Nope. But, the iPad has changed the way I look at computing. The devices have started to fall into different use categories. My MacBook Pro is essentially my primary computing device. I can take it from home to the office. If working on a film production, I can take it on location. However, when running around town, meeting with clients, etc., I don’t take the laptop. The iPad is far more convenient, and workable. There is no doubt it will help us build our business. But, that’s a different story for another time.

I can connect to my Mac and control it from the iPad. Cool!

The Apple iPad has been on the market for a week. In that time, it has been both praised and condemned. Those who have grabbed one have been called lemmings, sheep, and just plain stupid. After spending extended time with the iPad, I believe it to be a game changer. No, it doesn’t replace a netbook. It isn’t a laptop killer. It does, however, establish something that Apple has proven to be expert at: evolution that benefits the user.

I’ve been asked on multiple occasions, “why do you like the iPad?” At first, I really couldn’t say, specifically, what it was that made me so giddy to pick it up and turn it on. Now that some time has gone by, I have a good idea about how important this new device might be…

The iPad redefines how we as individuals and groups use the Internet and share content. In that regard, it’s nearly perfect. It also can redefine how many types of individuals and industries use lightweight hand-held computing devices. If you focus your attention in that area alone, the iPad is not ideal – at least not yet.

Too many devices today try to do things that relate to “functions” or “applications.” In fact, in many cases, the things that people complain about in terms of features are things they already have, or, better put, that aren’t really important (yet) to the iPad. A camera is a perfect example. Could you use a camera in an iPad for a variety of things? Sure, but to do so, the applications and how users interact with the device would take on an entirely new level of complexity and support.

The iPad is so remarkable because it does specific things so well. It’s bright. It’s fast (relatively). And, it draws the user in. No mice. Just tap. Tap and watch. Tap and read. It’s bright, clear, focused, and uniquely pleasant.

It doesn’t feel like a computer. And in that regard, it will be attractive to ordinary people – kids, parents, teachers, trainers, business people, designers, sales people, and so on. Grandparents will delight in its simplicity and ease of enjoyment. Photo galleries are stunning in quality. Videos are crisp and HD movies look terrific.

I would also like to end some confusion for those PC fanboys out there that don’t understand products designed for people and harp on misinformation so they feel better about themselves:

1. I can print from the iPad (network printing).

2. I can share files with my Mac or PC via the iPad.

3. I can create and manage a file structure for the iPad.

4. The iPad (and iPhone) are multi-tasking capable. The limitations are intentional, temporary, and oriented around quality product development and usability. See iPhone OS V4 for an update on that.

5. It isn’t a slate PC. Bill Gates proved that nobody wants one. Apple sold more iPads in the first week than slate PCs have been sold in a decade. Ouch.

6. Apple is expert at marketing 101, 201, 301, and beyond. So, expect the iPad, as with every Apple product, to evolve.

There are plenty of reasons to not purchase an iPad. I guess the key reason I’ve written this blog entry is because it is so remarkably cool for content creators – and that’s what we do. Create content.

It is important that anyone who uses an iPad “get it” as well. So, here’s a test: Go to an Apple Store or visit with a friend that has an iPad. Visit the BBC news website. It looks like a fairly standard newspaper website. Now, launch the BBC iPad app. What happens? It loads faster. It is far easier to navigate. The video clips are built into the stories – it’s totally Minority Report – but it’s happening now. If the iPad version of the BBC isn’t more appealing, don’t buy an iPad.

So, what does this have to do with a creative media publisher?

It opens a new door for us. We can share our work with clients more easily. We can improve our work in the field. We’re already using our iPads as slates for each take in video production. We have a teleprompter app that runs beautifully on the iPad. Our presentations, all created in Keynote on a Mac look great – and I can show the presentation to a group of three or four, or, using the RGB connector, can show it to a room of 200 people.

Most importantly, we don’t feel like we’re using a computer when we pick up the iPad. It’s more akin to using a television, or – and this sounds silly – like diving into a good book – and no, I’m now saying it’s like “reading a book” because it’s more than that. What the iPad does better than anything I’ve seen in my 30 years of creating software, video, websites and so on -  is share content. And for content creators, ranging from our boutique firm to a major newspaper or magazine, that’s good news.

My Academy Award-winning father (twice!) keeps telling me that we have to promote ourselves at every turn. For some, it’s easy. For me, not so easy. But, in this case, easier – as the film in question, Continuum: Against All Odds, is the work of my remarkable wife, Cameron.

The Going Green Film Festival saw fit to have its judges award our documentary on the University of Michigan’s solar racing team, best film in its category: transportation. Frankly, I thought we had a shot, while Cameron, nervous and talking a mile a minute thought no chance at all! It is sweet to hear the name of your film called out in a large auditorium as the winner of an award.

The students at Michigan deserve all the credit: their story made the film interesting. For us, this is now past history. We’re very honored, and at the same time, we’re busy moving forward with new projects. If you saw the film and liked it, please let us know. If you would like a copy, send us a note. If you want your own award-winning production, we’re open to proposals!

Canon EOS 7D on location shooting full HD 30p

One of the things our team spent considerable time evaluating was video formats. What I am referring to is the format used for compression when shooting full HD video. While our team has years of experience with HD production, eliminating tape has been the important migration for us. Tape is not dead, but for the types of product we create, we can be far more competitive if we produce our shows without tape.

So, learning about the various options has been extremely important to us. And, as many other producers and creatives read this blog, it makes sense to share our experience. And, the most important initial obstacle has been the variety of claims made by manufacturers regarding the compression formats chosen, and how those formats interact with the other capabilities of the various HD cameras under consideration.

Brand loyalty stepped up right from the start. We’ve had some wonderful experiences with Panasonic cameras in the past – in our standard definition days. That “panny mojo” image is hard to beat in terms of warmth and contrast. But, in spite of that, we’ve been very loyal to Sony. We’ve had Sony cameras and other gear in use in the harshest of conditions, and in every case, the gear has worked, and we’ve been comfortable not only with the results, but the production process (usability) as well.

I was fairly interested in the Sony EX (XD-CAM) format, but had some reservations. CMOS sensors in the EX1 and EX3 meant possible problems when shooting in certain conditions or with strobe lights – and as we work with the Los Angeles Fire Department, that worried us. A test shoot revealed all kinds of shutter issues, even when the shutter was shut off. Oops. I was also concerned about MPEG-2 Long GOP (group of pictures) as a recording format generally, even though the images were lovely when viewed on a large HD monitor. Finally, the SxS memory cards are not cheap – the 32GB cards we’d use were on average $800 (street price). So, for six cards, that would require an outlay of $4,800. That was almost the cost of the EX1 itself (street price). And, for the first time in a long time, the ergonomics of the EX1 did not sit well with our camera operators.

Still… We are Sony fankids.

Directing Lakers star Pau Gasol while shooting with the EX3.

To further test the format, we produced a public safety announcement with the Laker’s Pau Gasol using the Sony EX-3 camera. Nice. But a bit of a pain to ingest the media, and in my mind, some limitations on use. The real difficulty is that we love Sony products. They are so well thought-out, produced and supported. That almost made us opt for the XD-CAM environment, even with the limitations we were aware of.

The market helped us. In addition to video, our still photography needs were increasing. The arrival of the Canon 7D DSLR really impacted us. Still and HD video capture in a single device. That, and the ability to use motion picture-style lenses, camera rigs, etc. was extremely attractive. The Canon 7D uses AVCHD as a compression format. Would it hold up?

Philip Bloom, a British DP, helped us in that regard. His videos using the Canon 7D are the best sales pitch anyone could imagine. It sold us. And in so doing, opened a new door – the option of AVCHD (MPEG4/H.264). Oh, and the 7D, with its 18-megapixel imager and other capabilities helped us execute quality still shoots, too. Thanks, Phil!

I began to evaluate all of the pro cameras that used AVCHD. Many were consumer, but a few were emerging that caught my eye, including from Panasonic. In internal discussions, however, our lament continued: “Why no Sony pro camera with AVCHD. That’s not good!” Our impression was that if Sony didn’t do it, there was an important reason.

Our need for gear had us tilting towards several camera options, none of which we were thrilled with, except for our Canon 7D. And regardless of the picture quality, the shape and format of the gear made it a tough choice when shooting news or POV documentary material.

Cameron uses the NX-5u on location

And then, without warning, Sony reappeared. It locked in everything we were considering. The Sony NX5U camera was introduced and everything just fit into place. The new NXCAM solution from Sony utilized AVCHD. We spent some time with the prosumer version of the camera at CES. That really settled it. Now, we have three cameras, all using AVCHD (variations) and all ideal for import into Final Cut Pro, Premiere, or Avid workstations.

The Canon 7D is our portrait interview camera. It’s a film producer’s wet dream: the images are so lovely and really convey a film-look. But, not so easy to hang from a helicopter with one, even with the cool Zacuto, RedRock, and other camera rig options out there.

The Sony NX5u becomes the primary workhorse. Remarkable lens, combined with typical Sony quality means we’re able to shoot in nearly any environment easily and with top quality results. The NX5u continues to impress me every time I pick it up or review material captured with it. Just having separate rings for iris, zoom, and focus make this a wonder to use.

And finally, the Panasonic HMC-40 is our ideal B-camera. It’s small, so we can shoot in any number of places where we don’t want to be obvious about our use of a pro camera. It isn’t CMOS, but rather 3MOS CCDs, so we can shoot strobe lights all night long. It has long-lasting batteries, and delivers really fantastic images. They have that “panny magic” warmth to them. I hate the viewfinder and find it a huge pain in the ass to use, but for specific types of shoots, it is a great asset. And, frankly, at $2,000, if we get melted in a structure fire, nearly  drowned in a swift water rescue, or dusted up while shooting a documentary in Australia (as we do every few years), it’s not too tough to replace.

But wait, there’s more! All three cameras have HDMI out. So, connecting our Marshall field monitor to any of the three is a plug and play exercise. The Sony and Panasonic use the same HDSC memory cards, and at roughly $80 for a 16GB card and $200 for a 32GB card, the data is affordable. Use a proper card storage device and you’ll not have to worry about damaged cards, either.

Finally, they all easily transcode to ProRes or ProRes 422 for post production work. The net result is a full production suite of camera kit that is ideal for nearly any situation. If there’s an irony, it’s that AVCHD is owned (trademarks, etc.) by BOTH Sony and Panasonic. And, as customers, we’re using both together.

Tcho Chocolates

For this year’s sweetheart holiday, you might want to consider TCHO chocolates. Well, you don’t actually have to go there (Pier 17 in San Francisco), but if you do, there is a “chocolate tasting room” and soon, multimedia factory tours. There is also an awesome online store.

We love that Louis Rossetto, founder of Wired Magazine is now the co-founder and Chief Creative Officer for the two-year old start-up, joining former NASA Shuttle technologist Timothy Childs in this new venture. Seeing two technology experts developing a food venture using the latest technology in food development, high-quality training, and most interesting of all – using their own beans. How cool is that?

So, where to get TCHO? Starbucks has started selling the tasty chocs . Don’t let your sweetheart down on the 14th of Feb this year!