Red Ray

[Bob Torrance]

Something to do with "Red express"? What's that?

bob

[Chris Kenny]

So... the thing has a FW800 port, and can decode REDCODE RAW to RGB at 4K in real-time. Seems like with the right software on the desktop and firmware on the device, you could stream REDCODE RAW to the device out of an editing app over FW400, and cut 4K in real-time with 4K monitoring, basically the same way you can stream DV out over FW400 through a deck to a monitor today.

Has Red given any thought to this? Even if it would be too hard to get this working with, say, Final Cut Pro, it would certainly solve the current issues with RedCine's lack of external monitoring options!

Incidentally, two hours of 4K in 9 GB doesn't seem that crazy for a distribution format. It's about 10 megabits/sec. H.264 can do perfectly watchable 2K at that data rate, and the H.264 spec was finished five years ago.

With the research that has probable happened over the last five years, and with the more complex algorithms that today's faster hardware (and particularly the sort of high-end DSP that could be in something like the Red Ray), 4K at that data rate seems fairly plausible. Especially since larger images are easier to compress in general, i.e. one doesn't expect a 4096x2304 image to take up four times as much space as a 2048x1152 image with anything but the most naive compression algorithm.

[Stuart English]

So you can have 4K cinema projection of most movies from a single dual-layer DVD?

Yes sir.

[Chris Kenny]

Now that I think of it, there's another interesting implication to the fact that the hardware to decode a REDCODE RAW signal at 4K costs less than $1000. Red could presumably take that decoder chip and stick it in a device that interfaced with the Red One (presumably through the side interface where the CF module gets installed) and spat out 1080p or even full 4K for on-set monitoring. And you'd actually be monitoring off the exact compressed signal the camera was recording, so you'd see exactly what you were getting, down to the compression artifacts... kind of like audio recorders that let you monitor from tape.

I wonder if this has been considered.

[Shawn Bannon]

is redray intended for theatrical presentation?

[Stuart English]

is redray intended for theatrical presentation?

Its intended for 4K presentation to a 4K or 2K display - the environment where you place it is your choice.

(And if it only sees an HDTV panel it can downconvert the 4k material to 1080p or 720p)

[IAN SUN]

Its intended for 4K presentation to a 4K or 2K display - the environment where you place it is your choice.

(And if it only sees an HDTV panel it can downconvert the 4k material to 1080p or 720p)

Stuart is this your baby?

This is like the arrival of spring in mid January. Completly unexpected.
You guys are amazing.

[FractureD]

Like I thought, Studios that make movies become the theaters that show them too.

Is this revolution attacking the ENTIRE movie industry chain?!
Very interesting prospects. :)

[Jeremy Neish]

I've been doing digital video compression since pretty much it first existed and I'm really struggling with the idea that what they are claiming is at all possible.

I grilled a Red employee for about 10 minute about how 2+ hours of 4K simply can't fit onto a DVD 9 at any decent quality using any existing or upcoming compression technology. He swore it worked and handed me his card and said I would owe him a beer next year after he proved me wrong. Time will tell.

It now needs an interactive/menu layer. May I suggest HDi spec from HD-DVD, it's way easier to use than BDJ and basically equal in capabilities.

[Craig Harding]

Okay, as more info comes out I have to say this is a big deal. Bravo Red!