by Jay Ankeney~ April 24, 2006
TV TECHNOLOGY
It has been a very good year for Quantel according to Ray Cross, the new CEO of Quantel Limited.
"Sales are up 80 percent and we have doubled our sales and customer support teams," he said at a Sunday press conference. "The main reason is that we have been developing our products a lot faster than we have in the past and that has made a massive difference in the way people perceive us in the marketplace."
As an example, although their new Pablo nonlinear 4K color correction system is just making its NAB show debut this year, it has already been used on 685 feature films. Launched six months ago, Pablo is a combination of image processing hardware and versatile color correction capabilities that can work in all resolutions from SD through 2K and up to 4K.
In fact, 4K capabilities are at the heart of Quantel's mission at the NAB2006 convention, and they are encouraging visitors to their booth to experience the advantages of a 4K DI workflow for mainstream post production for both commercials and longform work.
QUANTEL'S MISSION
This has been made possible through the introduction of Quantel's new TimeMagic technology for all post production systems. TimeMagic delivers real-time true 4K resolution playout with real-time pan and scan, pulling a continuous 1.15 gigabytes of data per second from the disks without the need to resort to the compromises of image patches or proxies
"With the power of multiresolution post systems such as eQ, iQ and Pablo on tap, it no longer makes sense to throw away quality by conventional telecine transfers of information-rich film rushes to SD," said Mark Horton, worldwide marketing manager, Post and DI at Quantel. "Compared to posting at say 2K, you're throwing away 90 percent of the information. Their clients can see and appreciate the difference, and the extra flexibility it gives them is also very appealing - and worth paying for!"
Quantel believes that a DI workflow should stay in the 4K domain, since using proxies prevents identifying potential problems in the source material and also requires the same footage to be rendered twice.
WORKFLOW DEMONSTRATIONS
Recognizing the fundamental importance of workflow and connectivity to broadcasters, Quantel is dedicating 25 percent of its NAB booth space to workflow demonstrations with a number of partners from across the broadcasting spectrum. On the input side, Panasonic's P2 HD and Sony's XDCAM HD is being demonstrated fully integrated with the Quantel's Q server. In addition, Pathfire's Digital Media Gateway can be seen in combination with the sQ server improving the flow of relevant material to the news/sports user.
A powerful new addition to the eQ range, eQ FX, has fewer features than their iQ system designed specifically for post and broadcast users who need a great value, high-specification system that will cover every demand in HD and multiresolution post production.
The resolution co-existent eQ FX post production powerhouse comes complete with 160 minutes of HD workspace, built-in TimeMagic hardware, the QColor in-context color grading package of software and dedicated controls including Scene Detect; the latest Eiger 3.5 software, and a choice of comprehensive plug-in packages - either the well-known GenArts Sapphire or brand new SpeedSix Monsters.
The Quantel Paintbox seen at their booth this year is half the size and twice the seed of its predecessor with its new version 3.5 release that also adds new graphics shapes, blending modes, motion blur and many DVE enhancements.
Quantel is also launching Newsbox HD at NAB2006, a turnkey news editing system that is available in both "HD now" or "HD upgradeable" configurations with the HD model starting at just $250,000.
© 2006 NAB
