I am happy to announce that today I am launching www.cinetechgeek.com, a VIDEO blog on the tech side of the cinema industry. As a DCI cinema tech and developer, there is a large problem developing in that projectionists are not well informed of the changing technology in their field. I have produced these videos in a hope to help them transition to the new future of digital cinema. But at the same time I like covering the older tech to show where we have come from and why we must move forward.
This has been a lot of work and is the main reason my personal blog has gotten less attention over the past few months.
Please do give it a look. I still need to get it into iTunes. Tho it is all ready and primed. Just a few loose ends.
Also, can anyone tell me if its worth using feed burner?
There is a lot of support from different sources (Apple Insider) that Adobe and Apple are going to support Flash. Boy am I excited.
I love the aesthetics of the iPhone. It is a very well made device. However, as a developer that makes web applications, Flex/Flash is my tool of choice. I mean REAL Internet apps with visualizations and non-transaction type AJAX “want to be” RIA. (See this video for an example of my work.)
Considering Apples past comments on Flash performance, and that if any flash, a FULL flash plug-in is the only way forward, we are most likely looking at flash support for the iPhone co-inciting with the release of Flash10 for portable devices. This will be a full ActionScript3 implementation with Flex support designed specifically for portable devices.
In any case, this means all the work I put into my RIA’s will soon be available on iPhones.
The lack of Flash support is quite ridiculous. It forces developers to RE-MAKE their applications in a proprietary iPhone SDK.
Once Flash is on the iPhone, I will be able to utilise all my RIA’s by simply pointing the browser at a website. No development needed.
Adobe is releasing the specification to the (RTMP) protocols that flash player uses. In a nut shell.
“… developers will be free to use their own technological measures to secure content. The RTMP specification does not provide any requirement or restrictions on a developer’s own measures to secure content.”
This is unexpected news as it means open source implementations of DRM type service will now be possible. This greatly reduces the value of the the Flash Media Server and Adobe DRM-server, tho open source servers such as RED5, have already been ready to fill this space.
Unfortunately, in my mind, there may still be a big hole in all this development. Being able to make the RTMP packets for the secure interface build into Flash is one thing. A more interesting development would be the capability to sit in between the encrypted file and the video decoder. This would allow progressive streaming, as done with most video providers such as YouTube, but with custom encrypted data. This would allow distributors to easily write a custom decoder in the Flash player. However, it is not clear if this announcement makes this possible.
Example.
Server has AES128bit encrypted video data with some tweaking to make it unique to that distributor.
End user accesses the file using typical progressive download with offset capabilities. (Like YouTube)
End user uses custom Flash video player that can decode the custom encrypted content.
Flash player then has direct access to the H.264 codec in the Flash player.
The end user has typical video experience we all use and understand today, however, the content cannot be viewed outside of the control of the distributor.
This system can also be used with Adobe-AIR and media files based on local hard drive.
This is not a bullet proof DRM, but it will stop most people and at the same time, be cheap to implement and as cheap as it comes for distribution. Anyone capable of bypassing this type of DRM is likely capable of bypassing even the most expensive DRM. As every distributor can easily write their own custom DRM, it also means if a distributor person has their system bypassed, it does not effect you with your custom version.
It is important to look at this with an eye to the future. DRM content is definitely NOT the future for most content, however, custom content with neche appeal is likely to maximise the ROI utilising some of there techniques. DRM is not completely dead, its just growing up and should only be applied when it actually does work for a specific business model.
It is simply more apparent now, those business models and not common.
My day job (www.d-cine.net) involves implementation of the study of DCI or D-Cinema systems. I have access to software for the creation of DCP (Digital Cinema Package, the files used for DCI cinemas) and theatres with DCI systems installed in them.
I am also a big fan of technology and tools for making it cheaper and better films. Especially for the Independent Film maker.
I would like to offer my time and access to these facilities for doing some real life tests of using new DSLR cameras such as the Nikon D90 or Canon 5DmkII (Ok, if some one has a RED1.. we will look at that too). This will involve doing some Test Shots, going through a post production process, resulting in a DCDM (Digital Cinema Distribution Master). From this Creating a DCP, and finally going to a DCI-Cinema to experience the result on screen.
I do not have access to these cameras, but expect those interest would. I do have access to a Grade 1 HD monitor on a Final cut pro suite for ingest and doing some post.
NOTE: This is Melbourne Based.
If you are interested, please contact me and we can get a group togther to give this all a go. It will be a great learnng experiance for all of us. And a sign of the work flows of the future.
Extending the “Cinema GEEK” YouTube channel, I added a video on the Regent Cinema Werribee. This is an independent multiplex with 10 screens. In this video I discus the difference between larger cinemas like this and smaller art-house cinemas that have usually grown into what they are today. The Regent was built from the ground up and as such, does some things differently.
I hope you enjoy these videos. Please join my YouTube channel so you know when more videos are posted, and please do comment.
