Live data from Hacker News

Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

techcrunch.com

41–50 of 54 posts

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#41
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also part of crazy Hollywood acounting. The more you can charge against the film the better, that's why flops like Titanic and Empire strikes back still haven't made a profit You don't want the film company to actually own anything because then the people owed money might have something to go after

That only makes sense if you have a stake in Panavision. There are tons of film makers who don't have an interest in spending more money.

I might not have understood properly, but the idea is for these companies to basically always be "losing" money on paper. Many popular movies are "flops" on paper because of accounting reasons. If these companies have 100 RED cameras lying around, creditors will have something to come after.

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#42
post #6

I did a little searching and found that Panavision rents its Genesis line of digital cameras for $4,000 per day . Granted "no one pays book rate," and that price includes accessories, and the two cameras may not be equivalent. Nevertheless, why hasn't Panavision been disrupted a long time ago? Are their cameras really that good?

In some sense the Genesis and its ilk were already disrupted by the Red One, although I question how price-sensitive this market is. Does Peter Jackson care about the difference between $4K per day and $400 per day?

Well, Peter Jackson has something like 36 epics (18 3D setups) on The Hobbit so I think he'd care a little about that if they were renting (they aren't though, as far as I know).

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#43
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so we are shooting a $500M movie, $star$ is costing us $250M of that and the advertising budget is another $300M Can we see if we can get a deal on the camera rental?

We can look forward to better looking independent films and pornography, at least.

A lot of which are already shot on things like the Canon 5d - but yes it's good news

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#44
post #36
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

impossible proprietary workflow I know this wasn't your comment, but what exactly is impossible and proprietary about their workflow? AFAIK Redcode RAW is supported by Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Avid, etc..

The REDCODE format is proprietary - any of the above need to have the Red quicktime or AMA plugin to access the content. For amusement, see 'Baselight Kompressor' for what a linux-based grading system has to do to handle red content.

You don't need to use a Kompressor (Mac Pro) to decode RED on a Baselight. Baselight supports RED natively on Linux (including RED Rocket support).

Kompressor is only there for handling codecs for which there is no (official) Linux implementation (ie ProRes), or connecting to storage systems that don't have native Linux drivers (like Avid Unity).

Disclaimer: I'm one of the Baselight developers.

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#45

I did a little searching and found that Panavision rents its Genesis line of digital cameras for $4,000 per day . Granted "no one pays book rate," and that price includes accessories, and the two cameras may not be equivalent. Nevertheless, why hasn't Panavision been disrupted a long time ago? Are their cameras really that good?

I actually have a lot of experience with Panavision and I can tell you that price isn't even close to what someone will pay there. Genesis are almost 7 years old and that certainly isn;t their breadwinner anymore (imagine a camera THAT good 7 years ago). That being said, Panavision is still very expensive.

People don't pay just for the technology at Panavision though, they pay for service and lenses. True you can buy a 10k camera, but as soon as it breaks, production stops and you are losing money trying to find a new camera. Your PV camera goes down and I can guarantee they have a new camera on set or a technician fixing it very soon. You probably even have a backup on set for free. Generally though, PV cameras just work, and I didn't see a digital cinema camera that was as easy to use and similar to a film camera as the Genesis until Arri's Alexa came out last year.

PVs lenses are also spectacular and you generally can't rent them without renting a PV camera. Most cinematographers that wan't the PV look will use any camera, just as long as they are using the PV lenses.

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#46
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The REDCODE format is proprietary - any of the above need to have the Red quicktime or AMA plugin to access the content. For amusement, see 'Baselight Kompressor' for what a linux-based grading system has to do to handle red content.

You don't need to use a Kompressor (Mac Pro) to decode RED on a Baselight. Baselight supports RED natively on Linux (including RED Rocket support). Kompressor is only there for handling codecs for which there is no (official) Linux implementation (ie ProRes), or connecting to storage systems that don't have native Linux drivers (like Avid Unity). Disclaimer: I'm one of the Baselight developers.

Ah, apologies, I'll eat my hat (or buy you a beer sometime - you folks Covent Garden based?).

I had assumed Kompressor also handled REDCODE with its hardware requirements, as well the Avid Connection Manager and other Quicktime codecs.

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#47
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to use a Kompressor (Mac Pro) to decode RED on a Baselight. Baselight supports RED natively on Linux (including RED Rocket support). Kompressor is only there for handling codecs for which there is no (official) Linux implementation (ie ProRes), or connecting to storage systems that don't have native Linux drivers (like Avid Unity). Disclaimer: I'm one of the Baselight developers.

Ah, apologies, I'll eat my hat (or buy you a beer sometime - you folks Covent Garden based?). I had assumed Kompressor also handled REDCODE with its hardware requirements, as well the Avid Connection Manager and other Quicktime codecs.

Hey Jermy, no worries ;-) We're in Soho, so within spitting distance. Beer sounds good!

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#48
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also part of crazy Hollywood acounting. The more you can charge against the film the better, that's why flops like Titanic and Empire strikes back still haven't made a profit You don't want the film company to actually own anything because then the people owed money might have something to go after

That only makes sense if you have a stake in Panavision. There are tons of film makers who don't have an interest in spending more money.

The studio could be standing between the filmmakers and the camera providers, pointing the filmmaker to the public rate sheets while actually paying much less.

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can look forward to better looking independent films and pornography, at least.

A lot of which are already shot on things like the Canon 5d - but yes it's good news

Canon 5d doesn't autofocus during a video shoot, so you need to hire someone to pull focus. Not very practical for indie films. Ironically, it works better for big productions where they have a guy to do that already.

Re: Red Digital Cinema announces Scarlet X -- 4K resolution, $9750, Ships in 2 weeks

#50
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not much, but both cameras can use the cheaper Canon lenses, and these cameras aren't the ones you are putting $40k lenses on unless you are renting. If you are buying the $40k lense you are buying an Epic, Alexa, or high end Sony. $15k for a complete Red rig is pretty good and can be used to do some serious work.

Most canon lenses can only be used in manual focus mode, the motors make way too much noise. That's why good cinematic lenses are so expensive.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN