Hasta La Gadget!

Well, that’s a mouthful of a headline. Going a bit more in-depth, a new professional solution from Sony allows broadcasters to capture side-by-side 4K video at, say, a sporting event, then use a standard camera zoom device to select small portions of each feed for 720p or 1080i output. On the receiving end, you’ll see a live image that looks indistinguishable from something you’d capture with a moving camera, with a few extra benefits to boot. Sony demonstrated the system using feeds from an F65 4K camera earlier this year at NAB, but was only able to present a simulation at that point, with pre-recorded output cropped from larger-format footage.

Now, as we saw today at IBC in Amsterdam, the technique works in realtime, so an adjustable smaller portion of the video is pumped out seamlessly and instantaneously. The 4K video can also be recorded at full resolution simultaneously, letting you change the framing long after an event takes place. Sony only had the demo configured to pull live video from the left portion of the feed, but eventually the entire capture will be enabled, giving producers access to an entire football field, as you’ll see in the hands-on video after the break. We wouldn’t expect this solution to replace human camera operators anytime soon, but it’s certainly a viable method for adding angles and placing a bit more control in the hands of production teams, even after the fact.

Continue reading Sony Stitch merges footage from two 4K F65 cameras to create zoomable panoramic with HD output (video)

Filed under: Cameras, Displays, HD

Sony Stitch merges footage from two 4K F65 cameras to create zoomable panoramic with HD output (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Just before Halloween in 2009, Canon announced its most powerful DSLR to date. The $5,000 full-frame EOS-1D Mark IV was the company’s answer to Nikon’s market-leading D3S, which rang in just shy of $5,200. On the basis of price alone, Canon won that round. Then, after two years of silence, the company launched its new flagship, the 1D X. The date was October 18th, 2011 — roughly 10 (or “X”) years after the very first model in the series was announced, way back in 2001. A decade ago, Canon priced that introductory 1D at $5,500 — a princely sum considering the 4.15-megapixel CCD on board. Now, the 1D X, which is arguably the most powerful sub-five-figure camera available, commands 6,799 of your hard-earned dollars, or $800 more than the D4, Nikon’s $6,000 equivalent. All this talk of price may seem to skirt the camera’s long list of lust-worthy features, but when the cost of any piece of hardware approaches a year’s tuition at a public university, a purchase decision deserves thorough consideration.

A camera in this league is absolutely to be used as a professional tool. And while deep-pocketed amateurs may pick one up — in the way folks with cash to burn may build a collection of overpowered two-seaters — the vast majority will live in $30,000-plus kits, where they’ll reach six-figure shutter counts, and will likely change hands several times before their eventual retirement. Right now, you’re probably researching the 1D X as exhaustively as you would a new car — in fact, you may have even lined up a test drive, through the company’s Canon Professional Services group. Many months after it was first announced, we’ve had an opportunity to take the new eXtreme model for a spin ourselves, and it’s every bit as impressive as its price tag suggests. Canon’s top model isn’t any smaller or lighter than its predecessors, the 1D Mark IV or 1Ds Mark III — but is all that bulk justified, despite strong contenders like the workhorse 5D? Buckle up and join us in the field (ahem, after the break) to find out.

Continue reading Canon EOS-1D X field review

Filed under: Cameras

Canon EOS-1D X field review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Just as you’ve cozied up with “Tahiti” and “Cape Verde,” AMD has returned to grow its “Southern Islands” family of graphics cards with four fresh FirePros, offering up to four teraflops of graphics computing power. That spec can be found in the company’s new W9000, which is capable of four TFLOPs single precision and one TFLOP double precision with a price tag just shy of $4,000. That behemoth of a card offers 6GB of GDDR5 RAM and requires 274 watts of power. More humble members of the fam include the W8000, which has the same form-factor as the higher-end W9000, but eases back on the specs, consuming 189 watts of power and carrying a $1,599 price tag.

We had a chance to take a closer look at both cards at SIGGRAPH, and while they packed a significant amount of heft, you’ll likely never take a second look once they’re buried away in your tower rig. Fans of smaller housings (and price tags) may take notice of the W7000 and W5000, which are both considerably more compact and require less power to boot, with pricing set at $899 and $599, respectively. Those cards were also on hand for our demo, and can be seen along with the top two configs in our gallery below. You can also sneak a closer peek in the hands-on video after the break, and glance at the full specs over at our news post from earlier today.

Continue reading AMD launches its next-gen FirePro graphics card lineup, we go hands-on at SIGGRAPH (video)

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals

AMD launches its next-gen FirePro graphics card lineup, we go hands-on at SIGGRAPH (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AMD  | Email this | Comments

Who knew giant multi-touch tables would trigger the next big speed race? Ideum clearly thinks that the PixelSense-based Samsung SUR40 is lagging with that AMD Athlon II X2, because it just rolled out a pair of speed demon 55-inch, 40-point touch surfaces (but not Surfaces) in the Platform and Pro. The Platform has a respectable dual 2.2GHz Core i7 and 8GB of RAM, but it also carries a pair of 256GB solid-state drives in case that museum exhibit app won’t load quickly enough. Hopping to the Pro switches to two not quite as speedy 500GB hard drives in standard trim. It more than makes up for this with a quad 3.4GHz Core i7 and NVIDIA’s Quadro 600 for the truly stressful projects — the combination can juggle multiple users and tasks even more smoothly than its MT55 Pro ancestor. Outside of raw speed, picking a table depends mostly on svelteness versus expansion: the Pro has a full-fledged HP tower inside that can drop in SSDs and other upgrades you might fancy, while the Platform is half as thick as a SUR40 (at two inches) and sleeker overall than its big brother. We’re working to get price quotes, but the early five-digit figures we’ve seen in the past likely rule out upgrading the family coffee table. You can convince yourself with a video after the break.

Continue reading Ideum unveils speedy Platform and Pro multi-touch tables, says PixelSense ain’t got nothin’ (video)

Ideum unveils speedy Platform and Pro multi-touch tables, says PixelSense ain’t got nothin’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Platform, Pro  | Email this | Comments

I love thermal imaging more than a Predator and almost as much as I love the new MacBook Pro Retina. So I made this little GIF animation with thermal images from Japanese blog IT Media, showing how hot Apple’s coolest computer gets under maximum stress. More »