CineForm and Wafian Announce Affordable Direct-To-Disk HD-SDI Recorder
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Wafian HR-1 Targets On-Set Production Acquisition - Records Up to 18 Hours of 10-bit CineForm Intermediate Files at 720p or 1080i/p
CARLSBAD, Calif., Nov. 15 / -- CineForm, Inc. and Wafian Corporation today are announcing the Wafian HR-1, the first product to result from technology and marketing collaboration between the companies. The Wafian HR-1 is a direct-to-disk high-definition video recorder, designed and manufactured by Wafian Corporation. The HR-1 records up to 18 hours of 10-bit high-definition video over HD-SDI into the Visually Perfect(TM) CineForm Intermediate(TM) format. Offering the form factor of a small rack-mountable VTR, the HR-1 is a perfect accessory for on-set and on-location acquisition for film and video productions.
Using CineForm Intermediate, the HR-1 offers higher image resolution and visual quality than many tape-based HD formats. After recording, the video files are ready for editing with CineForm's Prospect HD(TM) and Adobe(R) Premiere(R) Pro, eliminating the costly and time-consuming "ingest" process required with tape-based storage. Using industry-standard tools, files may also be converted into compatible formats for use with other non-linear editing products including Apple's Final Cut Pro and various Avid products.
"Our customers, who are independent filmmakers and video professionals, are pushing new camera technologies to record the highest quality images possible without breaking their budgets," said Jeff Youel, President of Wafian Corporation. "The CineForm Intermediate format allows the HR-1 to record an impressive 18 hours of full-raster 4:2:2 HD Video, and still be affordably priced at $15,000. It's amazing when you consider tape decks with comparable image quality are only available at several times that price. We expect to see a number of productions use the HR-1 to record the pre-compression signal from new interchangeable lens HDV cameras like the Canon XL H1 and the JVC GY-HD100U."
"As a post-production format, CineForm Intermediate has received enthusiastic endorsements from filmmakers because of its high visual quality," said David Taylor, CEO of CineForm, Inc. "With Wafian's new HR-1, CineForm Intermediate has now become a source acquisition format, vastly improving our customer's workflow which further reduces costs. It is now realistic to acquire material with visual quality indistinguishable from uncompressed, and within minutes begin the online, real-time post-production process using industry-standard tools."
Inspired Minority Pictures in conjunction with Atomic Visual Effects begin shooting their supernatural thriller "Spoon" in February 2006. They are one of numerous filmmakers with plans to use Wafian's HR-1 for on-location acquisition plus CineForm's Prospect HD for post-production. Simon Hansen, co-director of the film, "Our ambition is to make a low cost 'commercial independent' film that looks like a bigger budget feature. Hooking up with CineForm has elevated our ambitions to another level. They are a motivated, responsive company who understand where digital filmmaking is going. We are very, very excited to be working with them." Together the companies have launched a blog indiefilmlive.blogspot.com/ to allow interested
individuals to follow all developments on this project from pre-production planning all the way through post-production next year.
More Details About Wafian's HR-1
The Wafian HR-1 accepts 720p or 1080i/p HD-SDI source input and records up to 18 hours of 10-bit YUV 4:2:2 CineForm Intermediate files. CineForm Intermediate stores "full raster" 1280x720 or 1920x1080 resolution images with no spatial reduction. Two internal hard drives are organized in a mirrored RAID 1 configuration for data redundancy, virtually eliminating the possibility of data loss while recording. The HR-1 is controlled by a built-in touch-screen LCD panel for easy-to-use one-button recording, monitoring and immediate review of recorded footage. Recorded media can be played back out the HD-SDI or DVI ports and transferred electronically over Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 or 1394/Firewire ports. The HR-1 is approximately 17"W x 17"D x 6"H.
The HR-1 provides special support for JVC's new GY-HD100U camera, recording 1280x720 60p with 4:2:2 color from the ProHD's HD component outputs and optionally performing render-less under-cranking for slow-motion effects.
Pricing and Availability
The Wafian HR-1 will enter production in January 2006 with a suggested price of $14,999. It will be available for purchase from both CineForm and Wafian. Beginning in November, a limited number of beta units will be available for purchase at a discount of 30% off MSRP. Please see the CineForm (http://www.cineform.com/) or Wafian (http://www.wafian.com/) websites for more information.
About CineForm and CineForm Intermediate
CineForm, Inc., located in Carlsbad, California, develops software products for use by media professionals in high-resolution post-production applications. Powered by CineForm Intermediate, CineForm's acclaimed products provide unmatched video quality and real-time performance within an editing environment while enabling an online compressed digital intermediate workflow that runs on affordable Windows desktop PCs. For more information, contact CineForm at 760-804-5905 x306, or visit CineForm's website at http://www.cineform.com/.
About Wafian
Privately held Wafian Corporation of San Diego, California creates innovative products to empower independent filmmakers with higher quality, lower cost and more efficient workflow options. For more information about Wafian Corporation, visit their website at http://www.wafian.com/.
CineForm, CineForm Intermediate, and Prospect HD are trademarks of CineForm, Inc. Wafian is a trademark of Wafian Corporation. Adobe and Premiere are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
