Larry Jordan's Newsletter - March 27, 2023

March 27, 2023

Just how fast are your effects? When I asked readers to send the questions they most wanted answered about the new M2 Mac mini, the most frequent question was how fast it handled effects.

So, my lead story this week looks in detail at effects processing speeds for both Final Cut and Premiere. This involved 77 tests over two days and lots of results to process. I found the answers highly intriguing.

Link: Effects Processing Speeds in Final Cut & Premiere with the M2 Pro Mac mini

Also, over the last several months I've written about the challenges in accurately measuring how fast our storage actually is. I had a conversation with AJA that provided new guidance on how to get more accurate results. While we still don't have a final answer, these tips make speed measurements a lot more consistent and, hopefully, accurate. Best of all, the software you need is free.

Link: UPDATE: How to Accurately Measure the Speed of Mac Storage

In the Tutorials & Reviews section, I have a review of Topaz Labs Photo AI image enhancement software, along with an explanation of when, where and why you need to run Rosetta on M-series Macs.

Important Note on AI:

I just read the article, "AI and the Law: What You Need to Know." It is short, easy to understand and critically important. The key takeaway: Generative AI is about to cause creative content to explode. However, any creative work created by AI can not be copyrighted or protected. If AI creates it, you don't own it. Worse, you may need to pay IP royalties retroactively.

Link: AI and the Law: What You Need to Know - from Medium.com

In the news:

Avid announced updates to its Pro Tools software that offers significant performance and processing improvements through fully qualified native Apple Silicon support, new options for manipulating audio pitch and time, and new creative tools for music makers.

Link: https://www.avid.com/pro-tools

Frame.io is hosting an in-depth look at Camera to Cloud, featuring a discussion with host Shawn McDaniel, Manager of Innovation Technology, Rob Loughlin, and in-house video editor, Sarah Katz, on March 30th at 10 AM PT / 6 PM GMT.

Link: https://cloudfirst.frameio.adobeevents.com/

Miller Tripods will showcase its new SkyX 8 fluid head at the 2023 NAB Show (Booth C4221). Designed for outdoor broadcast and studio productions, the SkyX 8 is versatile enough to use over a wide array of camera configurations.

Link: https://www.millertripods.com/en/

Zaxcom introduced the Nova FP7 control surface for Nova and Nova 2 mixer/recorders. The small, lightweight FP7 control surface can be mounted above or below the front panel of Nova or Nova 2 to provide an extra 7 control pots.

Link: https://zaxcom.com/product/nova-fp7/

Alteon.io, the collaborative cloud-based platform designed for content creators, launched its new iPhone app, creating a direct link between Apple’s powerful camera technology and Alteon’s comprehensive content-management system.

Link: https://www.alteon.io

Cinedeck launched Connector, a visual workflow creator, that requires no programming skillset to deploy. Connector can act as an ingest gateway from camera to MAM, joining up post-ingest workflows and streamlining the file check-in process.

Link: https://cinedeck.com/connector/

As I was creating my report on effects processing, I kept discovering new things to learn in Topaz Labs' Photo AI software. The more I learned the more impressed I got. This is an amazing program. Here's my review.

Review: Review: Topaz Labs Topaz Photo AI – Excellent Image Enhancement

There was only one application that ran slower on the M2 Mac mini than on a 2017 iMac - Topaz Labs Video AI (not to be confused with their still image app). Which got me thinking about whether it was optimized for Apple silicon or whether it needed Rosetta. So, after doing some research, I learned more about when Rosetta is necessary - and when it isn't.

Link: How to Tell If a Mac App Needs to Run Rosetta

Webinars will return in a couple of weeks. I want to finish exploring this new Mac mini, which takes a lot more time than I expected.

I have one more set of reviews to write about the new Mac mini and the Apple Studio Monitor - both of which I hope to finish for next week's issue. Working with this new system was fun and helped me see how much our industry has changed when viewed from the perspective of several years, rather than several months.

Still, it isn't the gear but what we do with it that makes the difference. While story-telling doesn't change, the technology we apply to it evolves at a breath-taking rate. The emerging power of AI is already disrupting a number of creative activities and it will only accelerate in coming months. From what I read and the people I talk with, AI has the power to totally upend media creation. Whether it does or not depends upon how it evolves, how our clients use it and how we react to it. Still, and especially if we do nothing, our world is about to rapidly change. That thought keeps me awake at night.

Until next Monday, stay healthy, stay focused and edit well.