In the 1950s, as a direct reaction to the film industry’s perceived threat from television, Hollywood invented a number of large-format processes designed to make the big screen even bigger. VistaVision, which was developed by Paramount in 1954, involved a camera system that involved transported 35mm  motion-picture film horizontally through the camera, exposing 24 8-perf frames per second, rather than the standard vertical 4-perf configuration of traditional movie cameras. VistaVision was used on a few features, including John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), but by the 1970s, VistaVision had largely been relegated to background-plate work ad in recent decades, barely even for that.

Recently,  VistaVision has been used in different commercials and short films, mainly because the large frame offers advantages even for projects finished in high definition by delivering to the telecine bay a negative with greater resolution and more color information, than images shot with a standard 35mm camera.

Producers have combined VistaVision’s significantly larger negative area with Vivid’s properties to manipulate the colors individually or collectively without building in noise.

What shape is your business in? Has it traced the arc of the wider economy and spiraled down? Or have you taken these unsteady times as an opportunity to develop new relationships with clients who may not have  considered working with you in the past? If you are an audio post pro working out of a project studio, you may feel that you have little in common with major industry players. If so, you might be surprised to find that some of the most well-known mix topic engineers in the industry are taking advantage of relatively inexpensive tools, such as Steinberg Nuendo 4, operating out of their home studios just as you do.  So for smaller shops, this economic downturn might be the perfect time to start thinking bigger.

Nuendo is a fully mature product capable of handling any assignment you’re likely to throw at it. Installation on either Mac or Windows machine is straight-forward, and the authorization process -which, uses a dongle, just like Avid is painless. Nuendo 4 can handle QuickTime movies on both the Mac and PC, and DirectShow and DirectX Video on Windows machines only. A variety of codec’s, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and WMV, are supported. Nuendo 4 shines when it comes to synchronizing external playback devices.

Nuendo 4 handles surround-sound flexibly. Hit the Input tab and you’ll see the options laid out.  Multiples surround formats, with a maximum of 12 loudspeaker outputs, are supported.

In these times you have to be able to work fast if you want to make money. Nuendo 4 is extremely well laid out and its many features are easy to get at. The workflow is very good. “I don’t think that this platform has any real competition, particularly in its price range.”

The electronics powerhouse NEC Corp. has introduced NEC MultiSync E221W,  the first model in a new series of displays for small businesses, designed to perfectly meet the needs of the home office and SMB sectors.

The 22″ display equipped with a high quality TN panel that offers unusually high viewing angles also features an ergonomic design and multiple interfaces, such as DVI-D with HDCP. Equipped with an integrated Carbon Footprint meter that shows the quantity of CO2 emissions that can be saved over the running time of the device, the NEC MultiSync® E221W offers an extensive range of features at a good cost-performance ratio whether for traditional office applications or for internet use.

In order to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the monitor’s power consumption might be reduced by switching to EcoMode, where the brightness of the display is limited to no greater than 60 per cent of its maximum, and power consumption falls from a typical 40W to 28W.

With a modern and elegant design, the NEC MultiSync® E221W features clear lines and rounded edging. The narrow bezel, another features of the display, is advantageous for multi-monitor applications, as several displays can be perfectly aligned alongside each other without any distracting gaps appearing between the displays.

With its high viewing angles, an excellent view of the screen is guaranteed from almost any perspective, even for multi-monitor solutions, the ergonomic features, such as the flexible positioning of the display with height adjustment of up to 50 mm, ensure a productive working environment. 

Whether professional or just amateur, Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Edition software has everything  you need to produce high-quality movies, corporate videos, wedding DVDs, and more. Powerful tools for video compositing, color correction, and surround sound mixing help you get feature-film results in your home studio. Vegas Movie Studio Platinum software also features advanced editing tools such as:


• HD video editing: HDV and Sony AVCHD


• 5.1 surround sound mixing and encoding


• Direct export to Sony PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable)


• Advanced 3-wheel primary color correction tools

The software is very easy to use, simply drag and drop your clips on the timeline and get to work to create movies and slideshows with effects, transitions, titles, and credits. Make changes and see the results in real time, you can even work simultaneously with standard-definition and high-definition video in the same project. Also, powerful tools let you author DVDs or burn movies to Blu-ray Disc™.

Sony AVCHD Support for HD Video EditingEdit Sony AVCHD. There are very few software products that can offer AVCHD editing and Vegas Movie Studio Platinum software has it and edits in a matter of seconds.

Video Restoration Tools
Advanced color correction tools enhance washed-out footage, make specific colors stand out, and balance differences in video due to camera setup or lighting. Image restoration tools remove red-eye from photos.

What’s New in Version 9.0:

* Updated New Project and Make Movie Wizards.


* Improved native HDV.m2t playback performance and improved memory handling for HDV longform projects. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Sony HDV true progressive 24p support. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Import from Memory Recording Unit. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Import from AVCHD camcorder. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Support for editing files recorded with Sony AVCHD camcorders. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Support for Sony Cinescore™ Studio music-generation plug-in.


* Single-monitor full-screen video preview.


* Burn timeline to Blu-ray Disc™. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Upload to YouTube.


* Added support for reading 1920×1080 AVCHD video. (Vegas Movie Studio Platinum only)


* Smart rendering support for MPEG-2 video.


* Support for opening MJPEG-encoded AVI files (such as video recorded with a digital still camera).

* Support for opening and rendering FLAC files.

* Support for LPEC files imported from Digital Voice Editor software.

* High-quality H.264 AVC/AAC import and export (including HD support).

* Templates for Sony WALKMAN® and Apple iPod®.