FS: SGO Mistika 4K-2K-HD

[John Jonathan]

I saw this on ebay looking for a used Nitris for a client. It is NOT my product, but I thought the forum would appreciate it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SGO-Mistika-4K-...tDomain_0?hash=item3a574914f3#ht_12906wt_1065

I saw a demo of a Mistika in SoHO, UK a few years back, it was pretty amazing. The company has been plagued by a small user base and its inability to break into the post market already dominated by Autodesk and others. It also used to be Jaleo!! Remember that comp system?

Anyway, I think systems like this can do everything that is needed. If you can learn the interface and learn how to use it, its features make it a pretty amazing hero box. Better compositing and painting then iQ Pablo, Color Correction as good as Lustre. can't edit that great, but everyone edits on FCP/AVID and exports an XML/EDL anyway.

 

[MichaelHalsell]

I came across that listing last night. As a curiosity factor, what is the retail price of this product? Anybody?

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

Depends on Storage. $150 to $225K USD is a quote we got about a year ago.
But no US presence and overseas support makes it a leap of faith for US buyers.

Jaleo - some interesting trivia - was owned by Jon Benet Ramsey's dad... and the company reportedly tanked and sold due to neg publicity...

The new company (SGO Mistika) was offering full expense paid trip to Mexico to demo the system, which we almost took them up on until the H1N1 scare.

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

Better compositing and painting then iQ Pablo, Color Correction as good as Lustre. can't edit that great, but everyone edits on FCP/AVID and exports an XML/EDL anyway.

Bold words... seriously doubt it beats Pablo's paintbox... but for compositing, I would agree.

Concrete post in UK uses both Pablo and Mistika the latter for compositing, the former for grading and DI work.

 

[John Jonathan]

Bold words... seriously doubt it beats Pablo's paintbox... but for compositing, I would agree.

Concrete post in UK uses both Pablo and Mistika the latter for compositing, the former for grading and DI work.

I have used both. Pablo Paintbox set the standard years ago, but the Paint Engine is almost 30 years old. Might be a personal preference, but I think painting in SGO and Autodesk is better. As I remember, in Quantel you can't even see the bush or animate strokes, you have these weird boxes and lines, but I guess if you are used to that.

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

John,

Indeed it sounds like personal preference, and I totally appreciate you having other preferences. many people do. but please try to refrain from disinformation.
the Pablo paintbox enjoys 3 decades of innovation...and has been refined every year. You make it sound like its outdated tech that hasnt been updated in 30 years...

really?

 

[John Jonathan]

John,

Indeed it sounds like personal preference, and I totally appreciate you having other preferences. many people do. but please try to refrain from disinformation.
the Pablo paintbox enjoys 3 decades of innovation...and has been refined every year. You make it sound like its outdated tech that hasnt been updated in 30 years...

really?

This is obviously not the best place to discuss this, and you are obviously a Quantel operator. Anyway, how long have you been a Quantel operator? 10, 20 years? You are the best guy to answer this, so forgive any ignorance,but what year was Quantel Henry? 1990? 1993? As I seem to recall the Paintbox in iQ is the same as in Henry, so that was over 17 years ago? it looks like they just lost a decade, closing in on Two.. Honestly, not the best place to discuss this. Maybe lets move this to a new forum. I bet you know about Richard G Shoup and SUPERPAINT, I think the last date on that stuff was like 1997? Anyway, Quantel was part of that stuff back in the day, but its moving fast, and Quantel isn't part of that innovation anymore. NVIDIA and CUDA, all that technology is pretty scary. Its not a secret society anymore.

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

Hi Johnathon. I hear ya

Wondering moreso what you can tell me about this Mistika?

Have written the seller, but no response. Has no feedback, and desperate for cash... kind of suspect... save their appears to be REAL photos of the gear.

Is this for real?

thanks!

 

[a kines]

There's a Mistika in Toronto at Optix. They had the Jaleo (2 seats I think) before they upgraded.
It was always difficult to find out anything about it. In 2005(?) I had to plan an all non-tape 23.976 (XDCAM HD multicam and 744t) conform that might have ended up in the Mistika and there was very little info on the web about what you could provide from offline. It is a very powerful system but with a small installed user base and very little online information.

 

[David_Cox]

Concrete post in UK uses both Pablo and Mistika the latter for compositing, the former for grading and DI work.

...actually, we did more grading on Mistika than Pablo / eQ. Mistika ultimately replaced the Pablo for 3D work.

Mistika is a great partner for RED because of it's real-time native support. For example, Mistika can autoconform from RED, then allow access to the RED meta data, plus a full colour grader, plus rescale – say to HD – all in real time at full quality without processing. This really helps clients who would use RED but have struggled with slow or underpowered post routes in the past.

Mistika is creating a real storm in the UK now, since SGO (Mistika manufacturer) launched SGO UK a few months ago. It has an amazing 3D tool set and I recently completed post on a stereoscopic green screen job, shot with a pair of red cameras. Framestore and Sky have both recently invested in Mistika.

There is a strong rumour that SGO will show Mistika at NAB. If so, it's certainly worth a look.

David

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

Thanks David, good to know! Its just hard to buy something you cant test drive... but the price on that system is pretty sweet.

Pablo Stereo3D toolsets are Realtime and we love them, especially ability to animate and control convergence in RT... dont know any other system doing that. Does Mistika?

 

[David_Cox]

Pablo Stereo3D toolsets are Realtime and we love them, especially ability to animate and control convergence in RT... dont know any other system doing that. Does Mistika?

Yes, Mistika does that in real time also. It also has "point and click" line up between left and right using optical recognition, which is a real time-saver when the cameras are slightly misaligned.

Mistika's stereo "party trick" is to be able to retrospectively adjust the inter-ocular distance of the cameras.

Here's an indication of speed on a full spec'ed system:-

Working directly with left and right R3D files, adjusting the white balance on one using the RED meta data, colour grading one to finalise the left/right match, adjusting the geometry to correctly align cameras, animating the convergence, adding an overall colour grade for a "look", and rescaling the output for full quality left and right 1080p. All of that in one pass in real time (no importing or processing).

Even I didn't think it would do that!

Pablo has a lovely control surface though - and I hear what you are saying about test driving locally and of course having support on your time zone. Let's see what happens post NAB.

...this is a little off a RED topic though (before someone else says it). :smile5:

DC

 

[John Jonathan]

Yes, Mistika does that in real time also. It also has "point and click" line up between left and right using optical recognition, which is a real time-saver when the cameras are slightly misaligned.

Mistika's stereo "party trick" is to be able to retrospectively adjust the inter-ocular distance of the cameras.

Here's an indication of speed on a full spec'ed system:-

Working directly with left and right R3D files, adjusting the white balance on one using the RED meta data, colour grading one to finalise the left/right match, adjusting the geometry to correctly align cameras, animating the convergence, adding an overall colour grade for a "look", and rescaling the output for full quality left and right 1080p. All of that in one pass in real time (no importing or processing).

Even I didn't think it would do that!

Pablo has a lovely control surface though - and I hear what you are saying about test driving locally and of course having support on your time zone. Let's see what happens post NAB.

...this is a little off a RED topic though (before someone else says it). :smile5:

DC

I am pretty sure Baselight does realtime convergence as well, very similar control panel to NEO, and realtime with 100+ levels. I think NAB they'll have it running and blow doors down.

 

[David_Cox]

I am pretty sure Baselight does realtime convergence as well, very similar control panel to NEO, and realtime with 100+ levels. I think NAB they'll have it running and blow doors down.

That's good to know.

It's specifically the ability to deal with mis-matches in the left and right channels that is key to good stereo post. There are always some colour / lens / geometry issues to fix, and that is where I think Mistika is leading right now.

I'll certainly checkout Baselight though, to see where they are at.

DC

 

[John Jonathan]

That's good to know.

It's specifically the ability to deal with mis-matches in the left and right channels that is key to good stereo post. There are always some colour / lens / geometry issues to fix, and that is where I think Mistika is leading right now.

I'll certainly checkout Baselight though, to see where they are at.

DC

I think Mistika's problem is not its toolset, but its market visibility and user base. They have no office in LA or the westcoast, and there are probably 10 people on the planet who are Mistika masters/teachers. Not great if you want to use the product. Also sometimes its just a matter of buying a tool that a client thinks is awesome! Used to be Davinci, now in LA its Clipster, Baselite and few others. Doing research I was really surprised how much market share LUSTRE has failed to get and hold on too. Very surprising..

 

[David_Cox]

I think Mistika's problem is not its toolset, but its market visibility and user base. They have no office in LA or the westcoast, and there are probably 10 people on the planet who are Mistika masters/teachers. Not great if you want to use the product. Also sometimes its just a matter of buying a tool that a client thinks is awesome! Used to be Davinci, now in LA its Clipster, Baselite and few others. Doing research I was really surprised how much market share LUSTRE has failed to get and hold on too. Very surprising..

Yes - all good points. Mistika has had a good market share in Spain (it's home) for a while, but has gained a lot of traction here in London over the last few months; 7 or 8 new systems sold in the last few weeks, I believe. I will be interested to see what they do at NAB and what, if any plans there are for a proper presence in the US. It would be the next logical step for them.

DC

 

[Steve Shaw]

Have to say I was very, very impressed by Mistika at NAB...

I was so impressed at IBC that I partnered with them for support, etc, and with the new GUI and tools launched at NAB I'm real happy I have done so.

This is a very impressive system, with no proprietary hardware at all - just software.
And the optical flow technology is just amazing - changing Stereo camera interocular in post - in selective zones - is rather impressive!