Nickelodeon Begins Moving To Tapeless Production With The Help Of Cinedeck RX

From Broadcast Newsroom:

Cinedeck RX Empowers Tapeless Workflows

Major broadcasters, production companies and cultural institutions go tapeless with Cinedeck RX

DMN Newswire--2012-9-6-- Cinedeck LLC (www.cinedeck.com), pioneering developer of mobile capture systems for motion picture and broadcast production, today released details of how major broadcasters, production companies and cultural institutions have implemented its Cinedeck RX rack-mount, solid-state recorder, in tapeless workflows across a diverse range of broadcast, mobile OB, VFX and aerial applications.

Cinedeck RX was launched in January 2012, and one of the first customers was All Mobile Video (AMV), NY, integrating multiple Cinedeck RX systems into its fleet of OB vehicles. MTV successfully combined nine Cinedeck RX decks, rented through AMV, to shoot the "2012 mtvU Woodie Awards". This led MTV to also use the technology on the game show Hip Hop Squares for its MTV2 channel.

Additionally, Stargate Studios, Pasadena, CA, has deployed Cinedeck RX systems for VFX production on TV and feature films, and PDG Helicopters, Scotland, UK, uses Cinedeck RX to deliver the ultimate quality in digital aerial filming to clients in TV broadcast, commercials and corporate production. Broadcast hire company Procam Television, London, UK, has equipped a new, multi-purpose, mobile OB production vehicle with four Cinedeck RX systems.

Also, US children's channel Nickelodeon (owned by Viacom), The Paley Center for Media in New York, London's Royal Opera House, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts , US, and high-definition TV facility Enfys, based in Cardiff, Wales, UK, have also moved into tapeless production with Cinedeck RX.

Nickelodeon has integrated multiple Cinedeck RXs into the workflow of five of its most recent children's shows. Cinedeck RXs capture the HD output from Sony HDC 1500 ISO-cameras, plus the line cut, and record the material in realtime to DNxHD36 for offline editorial. This material is then rapidly downloaded to hard drives via Cinedeck RX's eSATA connection and shipped to the editorial team.

"Cinedeck RX has cut down the ingest time for offline footage by at least two-thirds, which allows our editors to start cutting much more quickly than they have ever done before," said John Powell, senior vice-president of technical services at Nickelodeon in Los Angeles. "We're actively working towards a totally tapeless workflow across production into our machine rooms, and the positive experience we have had with Cinedeck is helping us get to that stage fast."

The Paley Center for Media is an American cultural institution dedicated to the discussion of the creative and social significance of TV, radio and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public. It has networked Cinedeck RX via GB Ethernet to its NAS central storage system. The RX captures from Grass Valley LDK 300 cameras, plus a line-cut, and encodes to ProRes 422 for editorial. At The Paley Center and TED Talks will be among the first productions to harness Cinedeck RX in its tapeless workflow.

"Our clients need materials in their preferred editorial format as quickly as possible," said Doug Warner, director of engineering at The Paley Center for Media. "Cinedeck RX is the only recording device I found with the ability to write camera data simultaneously to our NAS central storage, and its own internal hard drives. The eSATA connection is really useful, as clients can leave with footage on a hard drive in the editorial format of their choice.

Cinedeck RX has taken tape out of the loop completely and, as there's no waiting around for transfers or transcoding anymore, an editor can have immediate access to the footage."

The Royal Opera House, in London's Covent Garden, is home to The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet. Both companies are known throughout the world for their performances of the great classics, as well as cutting-edge contemporary commissions. Cinedeck RX has been used to capture recent productions of Berlioz's Les Troyens and Placido Domingo's Operalia gala concert, and also to deliver edit-ready materials for live-to-cinema and web-based promotions on other productions. Depending on the specific production, Cinedeck RX records native footage from a combination of Sony HDC 950 or Sony HDC 1500 cameras, and simultaneously transcodes the material to Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD proxies for immediate editorial availability.

"Cinedeck RX is a great tool, especially for our live-to-cinema promotions and internet trailers, and all media releases, as we can record a rehearsal and get the materials to the editor really fast," commented Steven Zissler, sound and broadcast manager at The Royal Opera House. "The beauty of the Cinedeck RX is that it's a plug-and-go tapeless machine. It can output to a range of editorial formats, saves time and labor by doing away with ingesting and digitizing mountains of tapes, and provides a solid back-up of the original native footage for safety's sake."

High-definition TV facility Enfys, in Cardiff, Wales, UK recently had its first experience of tapeless workflow, using Cinedeck RX for the greenscreen VFX shoot on a BBC children's show. Cinedeck RX was used to simultaneously capture the HD feed from two Sony HDC 1500 cameras, and simultaneously transcode the footage to Avid DNxHD185.

"Television productions are increasingly adopting tapeless workflows, and using the Cinedeck RX was a new departure for us," said Alwyn Roberts, managing director of Enfys. "However, Cinedeck did exactly what we needed it to do. We were shooting simultaneous tight and wide shots on an actor against greenscreen, and needed a recorder that could output both channels to Avid DNxHD185 for editorial. Cinedeck RX is very easy to use, and requires little training, so we were up and running quickly. Thanks to the Cinedeck RX, the VFX and editorial teams got the material quickly and efficiently, and our tapeless experience has been most pleasing."

Cinedeck RX is available in two configurations, Cinedeck RX Cine/444 and Cinedeck RX/Broadcast, to meet the needs of different production environments.

About Cinedeck LLC:

Founded by cinematographers, and headquartered in the heart of New York City, USA, Cinedeck manufactures innovative, touchscreen recording systems for use with all popular digital cinematography cameras. Along with on-set monitoring, playback and quality control capabilities, these recorders also unify camera-to-post workflows by offering the industry's most comprehensive range of edit-ready output formats. Cinedeck EX, the industry's first camera-mountable device, has proven essential to the workflow on hundreds of TV and cinema productions, and has won TV Technology's "2010 STAR Award", the '2010 Vidy Award,' and DV Magazine's "Award of Excellence". Continuing this pioneering spirit, Cinedeck LLC has addressed the challenges of the mobile OB broadcaster with its Cinedeck RX rack-mounted, multi-format recorder, monitor and playback system. Cinedeck RX was awarded the prestigious "2011 Pick Hit Award at IBC 2011" from Broadcast Engineering Magazine. The new Cinedeck MX builds on the company's proven technology platform to offer fully-tapeless workflow for broadcast and cinema entertainment production and post. For more information, visit www.cinedeck.com.