Pixspan, Inc., a storage and bandwidth workflow technology company for full-resolution images, announced the general availability of its PixMover software, now supporting 4K workflow speeds. The new GPU-enabled PixMover, when used with a dual-processor server and NVIDIA M6000 GPU card, operates two-to-four times faster than with a CPU-only server. The company will be demonstrating this latest version of PixMover at the Innovation Zone during the HPA Tech Retreat UK, which runs July 13-14 in Oxfordshire, England.
The addition of the GPU capability to PixMover brings additional speed to storage and transfer workflows. Requiring 50-80% less space, 4K digital intermediate files and uncompressed camera raw can be stored on NAS or SAN, and restored in full resolution at 4K workflow speeds. When it comes to transfer, full-quality files can be transferred in half the time or less while consuming a smaller amount of bandwidth, with the first full resolution frame being available on the distant end within a second.
PixMover also comes with an intuitive graphic user interface. Its UI makes it easy to free up space on storage volumes that are full, avoiding the need to expand file systems, add storage or offload to tape. With a simple “drag and drop” of the mouse, users can choose between compressing files in place or moving them to different storage volumes for restoring back to full resolution later. In either case, space is freed up to accommodate new work projects.
A unique workflow feature of PixMover is its automatic creation of proxies within each frame file container. Proxies can be viewed instantly, without the need for further processing or special software. Users can be sure of a file’s content without using a special application to open it in full resolution. This makes full resolution workflows more efficient by reducing the creation and tracking of proxies.
PixMover is available through authorized Pixspan resellers — ALT Systems in Los Angeles; Alliance IT in Los Angeles; XTFX in London; Post Logic in Paris; and VGI in Tokyo. Pixspan software is sold on a subscription basis for as short as one month. There is no major software investment, and it can be rented for as long as it is needed. PixMover is offered as a pay-as-you-go software on off-the-shelf hardware.
From Restoring To Hopefully Preserving Multi-Camera Categories At The Emmys
When Gary Baum, ASC won his fourth career Emmy Award earlier this month, it was especially gratifying in that the honor came in a category--Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Half-Hour Series--that had been restored thanks in part to a grass-roots initiative among cinematographers to drum up entries. Last year the category fell by the wayside when not enough multi-camera entries materialized.
In his acceptance speech, Baum appealed to the Television Academy to keep multi-camera categories alive. He later noted to SHOOT that editors also got their multi-camera recognition back in the Emmy competition this year. Baum hopes that after resurrecting multi-camera categories in 2024, such recognition will be preserved for 2025 and beyond.
A major factor in the decline of multi-camera submissions in 2023 was the move of certain children’s and family programming from the primetime Emmy competition to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ (NATAS) Emmy ceremony. For DPs this meant that multi-camera programs last year were reduced to vying for just one primetime nomination slot in the more general Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour) category. It turned out that this single slot was filled in ‘23 by a Baum-lensed episode of How I Met Your Father (Hulu).
Fast forward to this year’s competition and Baum won for another installment of How I Met Your Father--”Okay Fine, It’s A Hurricane,” which turned out to be the series finale. Two of Baum’s Emmy wins over the years have been for How I Met Your Father, and there’s a certain symmetry to them. His initial win for How I Met Your Father was for the pilot in 2022. So he won Emmys for the very first and last... Read More