The big BIG news at NAB 2012 Day 1

OK, this is being written at the very end of a very tiring first day. Lots of walking as usual, cold dry weather, jet lag, and low nutrition and hydration.

So I'm going to dole out points of interest as I saw them…

Blackmagic Cinema camera. Yes Blackmagic has thrown their hat in the camera ring. It's 2.5k. Shoots as CinemaDNG (an 'open' RAW format), or ProRes or DNxHD. Records on SSDs. Has a touch screen. And allows easy naming of clips with auto incrementing of takes/shots. Just like Deva does for sound. So you don't have to deal with names like 377_0982_03, or A112C001RTYJ3 etc.

Blackmagic announcement of a improved Resolve interface. Ultrastudio express, small Thunderbolt video I/O. Terranex converters at ridiculous prices but with same features and performance and more. Reduced mini-converter prices.

Aja has a 4k recorder (Ki Pro Quad), that receives 4k RAW from Canon's forthcoming 4k camera the C500. 4k will stream as RAW over HD-SDI. And debarring will also be done by the the KiPro Quad.

Aja also announced a tiny Thunderbolt output device, and a rack mount KiPro. KiPros will now record as DNxHD via a free software update.

More details here...

http://www.fcp.co/hardware-and-software/pro/799-the-ki-pro-quad-ki-pro-rack-and-the-thunderbolt-t-tap-from-aja-video-systems

Arri showed a software update for the Alexa which is FREE and which allows you to shoot full 2k on the Alexa as ProRes. This is a slight resolution boost from HD.

Canon showed the C500 camera and the 1D-C 4k cinema camera. Its much larger than the 5D MkII and costs many times more.

GoPro had a huge stall that threatened to edge out Panasonic. Sony moved to the back of the central hall from their position at the entrance. Blackmagic was the largest stall at the entrance of South Hall. Quantel, Filmlight, Autodesk stalls were considerably shrunk. Prime Focus are showing the same old CLEAR stuff which wins awards but appears to be a solution looking for a problem.

3D is not everywhere but still seems to be a fad that refuses to go away.

Disk storage systems big and small of all shapes and sizes were everywhere. Thunderbolt devices were in the scores if not hundreds too.

Dailies and on-set data management seems to be an upcoming flavor. Many systems, some costing many tens thousands of dollars were presented. Colorfront, Scratch Lab, many others. 

Links to other coverages on NAB 2012.

http://www.fcp.co/

http://news.creativecow.net

http://provideocoalition.com

Surprise announcements pre-NAB 2012

Smoke is changing

Take  look at this.

http://www.smokeischanging.com/

Expect something dramatic about Smoke from Autodesk. It's not clear if its Smoke on Mac or Linux, or maybe both. I won't make it for this as I'll be on the way to Vegas when it happens.

Avid Symphony affordable... or not?

Avid has just announced Symphony 6 for US$ 999 (meaning Rs 75,000 to 80,000 in India). This is for an upgrade from Media Composer. A crossgrade from FCP ridiculously costs US$ 5,999 (Rs 4.5-4.8 lakhs in India).

The press release says $ 999

http://www.avid.com/us/press-room/Avid-Offers-Unprecedented-Limited-Time-Symphony-6-Crossgrade-Promotion

but the store says $ 5,999

http://shop.avid.com/store/product.do?product=325362589174032

Symphony is like an Avid Media Composer with Smoke capabilities but a Media Composer timeline. You still need a powerful MacPro or HP Z800 Windows workstation. And video I/O like select Aja or Blackmagic cards, or a Nitris box.

Canon full-frame 4k DSLR

And Canon just introduced a DSLR capable of 4k digital movies.

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/about_canon?pageKeyCode=pressreldetail&docId=0901e02480533ee2

It's motion-JPEG 4:2:2 8-bit, but the video is ready to use, no need for conversions. The camera will also output video uncompressed as a video signal at 4k and HD. But 8-bit. Pricing is stated as US$ 15,000 and available 'within 2012'.

NAB 2012 preview

It's been a bit quiet on my blog lately. 

I've been busy with an initiative to help digital movie makers. 'Movie-makers' because film-makers use film to make movies, 'movie-makers' make movies, with or without film. Anyway, this initiative is still under development, with name, trademark, and other procedural issues being sorted out. Once it's all done, I'll report here.

Meanwhile, I'm at NAB 2012. For those that don't know, NAB is the National Association of Broadcasters. Every year, they organize a large exhibition and conference at Las Vegas in the US. The exhibition begins Monday 16 Apr this year.

So, leading up to the exhibition there have been several announcements. Some of which will impact movie production and post-production. I'm concentrating on post-production as that's more of my livelihood for now.

Here are things to watch for, at NAB 2012...

Thunderbolt devices

A Thunderbolt equipped MacPro is still awaited, but the number of Thunderbolt equipped MacBook Pros, iMacs, and Mac minis are growing. Thunderbolt devices have been pretty thin so far. This NAB, expect a whole new set of Thunderbolt peripherals. 

Thunderbolt - PCIe, Thunderbolt - SATA, Thunderbolt - Fibre, Thunderbolt - GigE, Thunderbolt - SAS, and many others not yet unveiled, might mean that maybe we won't need that Thunderbolt MacPro so badly after all.

New software for editing

Avid Media Composer 6 has been out for a while, and Avid, most certainly, has more tricks to show.

Adobe has just unveiled Premiere Pro 6 which at least one site has proclaimed is the 'FCP 8' that never happened. 

And, there may be a new entrant in this edit software market. Maybe, but not certain.

FCP X, an editing software that has been slammed by some hailed by others, and possibly doesn't enjoy the numbers that FCP 7 did. This NAB, may be the turning point. We may see many stalls sporting FCP X. There are indications that FCP X is gaining traction, although from a whole new market. I for one am making it a priority to examine this piece of software more closely, and even use it more that I currently do.

An announcement from Apple is unlikely, but no one can really predict Apple.

Plug-ins

Filmlight showed the Baselight plug-in last year. It's shipping this year, for FCP 7, even if its been almost a year since FCP 7 has been discontinued. For a large installed base of FCP 7 users, particularly those who need to inter operate with the full Baselight, here is a innovative colour correction during editing workflow.

GenArts, Foundry, and a host of others make plug-ins for FCP (7 and X), Avid, Premiere Pro, and other NLEs. These seem to do pretty well and at NAB 2012 we will see more and better stuff from them. I have a ffeling though, that plug-ins need to improve dramatically, in capability and speed, and fall in price if anyone has to make windfall from making them. 

Blackmagic announcements

Blackmagic always has something new - cards, external devices, software, something. This year too, expect something. Maybe something Earth-shattering like the $ 1000 Resolve some time ago. Maybe a new control surface, or even a monitor.

Aja announcements

Aja too, probably, has something big planned for NAB. Their current Thunderbolt video I/O offerings are already more featured that anyone else's. But something more that video I/O may be shown.

Red announcements

Red, the digital camera company that created a huge impact to the digital movie-making market with the Red camera, has a stall at NAB this year. So expect either a new camera announcement, modifications or upgrades to existing ones, or something dramatic. This is also probably the first year this innovative company has some real competition.

Workflows

Many companies will show digital movie data recording, copying, transcoding, and management tools. In the form of software, hardware, devices, or all of the above.

To 3D or not to 3D

A couple of years ago, after Avatar, 3D was projected as the next big thing. It hasn't quite worked out that way, and 2D is still around in a big way. This year too, 3D will be about as luke warm as it was and may even go on the decline.

Film

The passing of film - 'tapeless' - has been spoken about in every NAB for the past decade or so. This is probably the first NAB where film's end is truly near. And if, between this NAB and the next, film manufacturing companies go under, then NAB 2012 might be the last year we see film scanners and recorders. 

The big boys

Autodesk, DFT (Thomson), Quantel, FilmLight, Arri, Digital Vision aka Nucoda, Cintel, Grass Valley, and others - these have been the big boys in post-production at NAB. Large stalls, hundreds of people manning them, announcements, parties, multi-million dollar gear on show and sale - have been their characteristics.

The decentralization of movie production, changing nature of broadcast, Internet based entertainment, approaching demise of film, and other factors have threatened their existence just like the mainframe computer manufacturers were edged out by the desktop PC revolution.

And so their stalls and presence shrinks with every passing year. But you can't write them off yet. This NAB, at least one of the big boys will have one more big moment. And maybe one or more of them won't be around after this year. Sad, but likely true.

DaVinci Resolve on Windows

Yes, you read that right. DaVinci Resolve on Windows.

Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, which has been available on Linux, then later Mac, then recently a free Resolve Lite version on Mac… is now available on Windows 7. On Windows too there is a free version - Resolve Lite - and a paid version ($ 1000 or about Rs 70,000). if you have a full Mac version, then that dongle works on Windows too.

So what's the big deal, and the downsides on DaVinci Resolve on Windows?

First, a well-endowed Windows workstation with nearly the same spec as a MacPro or new iMac can be assembled for somewhat less money. But, more importantly, faster GPUs are available for Windows than for Mac. Like the GeForce GTX 580, Quadro 5000 and Quadro 6000, none of which are available for the Mac, yet.

But before you go out and get the cheapest Acer or Dell or assembled PC to run Resolve on, take a look at Blackmagic's spec on the workstation where they have qualified mainly two systems. HP's Z800 and SuperMicro's SuperServer. 

The document is called

DaVinci Resolve 8.2 Configuration for Windows

and its here...

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/media/3198982/resolve_win_config_guide_2012-01-17.pdf

If you explore the costing on these machines, you will probably find they cost nearly as much or in fact even more than a MacPro. Check for your self.

But still, these workstations come with more PCIe slots, and more wide PCIe slots so its possible to have more than one GPU, a Blackmagic card, eSATA or SAS card and even one or two Red Rocket cards to make a Windows based Resolve a more powerful machine. Like you can do 3D grading in 4k! And, you can use USB 3.0 for faster storage. USB 3.0 also lets you use the Blackmagic Ultrastudio SDI in place of a Blackmagic HD Extreme card. This is external so one PCIe slot saved.

If you need a basic Resolve on Windows setup, Blackmagic has now qualified a beginner Asus motherboard with an i7 CPU so you get get started for considerably less than with a workstation.

The only downside of Resolve on Windows is that many Mac-specific codecs may not work on Windows. And Windows cannot write or render to ProRes. But if you're working with Red or DPX, then you're good to go on Resolve on Windows.

But what is Resolve?

For those that don't yet know, DaVinci Resolve is a software version of the DaVinci colour correction system that's in almost every telecine suite in Mumbai. Pixion, Prime Focus, Famous, Avitel, Shemaroo… you name one and most likely they use DaVinci for colour correction.

So, if you're an ad film maker who (still) shoots on film, waits till it gets processed, and then runs the negative through a telecine machine at nearly any post house in Mumbai… your film 'gets' its look on a DaVinci.

Some years ago this company was sold to Blackmagic who make video capture cards that work with FCP (and with Premiere Pro and now Avid Media Composer too). Blackmagic took the capabilities of the entire DaVinci colour correction system and put that into a software version - using the power of the computer's CPU and graphics card to do exactly what earlier took nearly a hundred kilos of electronics to achieve.

Unbelievable? Well then, just 15 years ago, 1 terabyte of hard disk space would have weighed about 500 kilos, but now comes in under half a kilo, and your mobile phone has more processing power than an entire desktop computer of 15 years ago - the progress of computers has made DaVinci shrink to a software. 

So, the software Resolve can do everything that a 20 year old Resolve hardware could. And yes, the DaVinci hardware in telecine suites in Mumbai is practically the same as what was sold two, yes two decades ago.

If you're in the market for a Windows based colour grading system, and probably have one of these workstations lying around, and would like to experiment, let me know. 

Alternately if you want a turnkey Windows Resolve grading system too, drop me a line.

Alexa post - Log-C, LUTs, best practices

I've got three calls since morning from editors in prominent post houses - one with offices in LA, Vancouver, New York... yeah, yeah we know... and another with offices in Bandra, Andheri, Chennai, London… 

Complaining that Alexa footage looks 'milky and low contrast'.

I had written earlier about struggles in digital movie-making

http://neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com/2011/05/struggling-with-digital-movie-making.html

And on Arri Alexa Avid workflow

http://neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com/2010/12/arri-alexa-avid-workflow.html

Some details on the Alexa camera itself here…

http://neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com/2010/05/arri-alexa-digital-movie-camera.html

Here are some simple facts…

The Arri Alexa camera can shoot 'linear' (technically called Rec.709) which looks 'normal'. Or as LogC which looks 'milky and low contrast'.

LogC gives you more latitude. Which, depending on the calibre of the cinematographer, means, he can mess up the exposure and you fix it in post, or he can shoot amazingly and you can change the 'look' and better it in post.

On the set you can shoot LogC (milky) and yet monitor Rec709 (normal). So, many people get fooled into believing what's on the monitor is being recorded.

LogC need to be converted before you can see them normally.

Avid has no method of doing this logC-linear ('milky' to 'normal') conversion.

In FCP you can get Nick Shaw's plug-in for $ 30 (Rs 1500) and apply it to all clips.

But it is 8-bit and not for production.

Alternately you can download a LUT for the Log-C to Rec709 conversion from Arri's web site. Google 'Arri LUT generator' and you'll find it. And also Arri's excellent white paper on how it all works.

You can also use Resolve, or the free Resolve Lite to do this conversion. Download it for free from Blackmagic's web site, struggle with it for a few hours, and then get an expert to do it for you.

Best of all, if you're shooting for TV, and you really don't want to mess with this Log-C business, just shoot linear or Rec709.

About the data coming out of the camera (can't call it 'footage' any more)

Alexa shoots HD 1920x1080 on memory cards - called SxS cards.

or it can shoot '3k' to a Codex digital recorder.

or it can record out to as video to an HDCamSR VTR on to HDCamSR tape.

On memory card it shoots Quicktime movies in the Apple ProRes4444 format.

On the Codex it shoots ArriRAW files that have to be converted before you can edit them.

Copying all this data to WD, or Seagate or LaCie disks is a risk. A drive fails, you need to reshoot. Period. 

There are two kinds of people - those who have had to reshoot because of a hard disk failure, and those who have yet to reshoot because of a hard disk failure. Carry a piece of wood to knock on from time to time if you are the latter.

Or, hire someone to do data management for you. Whatever you decide, don't let the post house manage your data. And never leave your data on someone else's hard disk. It is vastly easier to browse, copy and use anyone's data in a post house's shared hard disk - than it used to be in the 'film and video tape' days.

For data storage on movies I'm currently working on - Canon7D, Red, or Alexa, TV or cinema or commercials - I'm currently using RAIDs from Sonnet, G-Tech, and Maxx. All are good. And safe. I also advice backing up to LTO tape for long term storage.

On backup for all this media, I've written about this a while ago, but the basics remain the same…

http://neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com/2009/12/backup-for-tapeless-media.html

In terms of disk space…

Shooting HD as ProRes4444 uses up about 140 GB per hour of shoot, 

ArriRAW does it at 10 GB per minute, or 600 GB per hour.

ArriRAW has more resolution and latitude than ProRes4444, but at a cost.

There's only one Codex recorder that can shoot ArriRAW, in India, so far.

If all this sounds complicated, it really is just a bit. If you'd like peace of mind, do all that I've recommended and you're safe. 

Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve - the real deal

Blackmagic announced yesterday the immediate availability of Resolve Lite 8.1.1, the free version of DaVinci Resolve colour correction software for the Mac. The free Resolve Lite has been around for many months now, with limitations. One being that you could use only 2 nodes, meaning effects or layers, and that you could work on at the most, an HD timeline.

The new Resolve Lite 8.1.1 breaks the node limitation, but the HD limitation remains. Still, you get a full-blown colour correction tool that used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just a few years ago, for free. Just download and use. To give your movie a professional 'look', to be a colour correction extension to FCP and Avid systems. Seriously professional tools, now easily accessible by anyone.

In forums and web sites, dismay is being expressed by 'pros' who lament the fall in value of the work of colour correction, and Blackmagic's 'ruining the market' for this hallowed area of post-production. Whichever way this thing goes from here forwards, here is my take on the real deal in this move by Blackmagic.

Film and video post houses of 5 years and older, have their fill of Autodesk Lustre, Quantel iQ, Baselight, Nucoda, and other systems. For film based colour correction, they employ DaVinci and Pogle systems tied to telecine machines. The total number of such entities in India would not be over 100. And the world over, maybe 500 or so.

Resolve may or may not sell to these few.

Smaller post houses have lower end systems from Filmlight, Quantel, Autodesk, and Scratch. These would be in the thousands the world over, and maybe a few hundreds on India. And then there are the Avid-FCP-Smoke shops.

Resolve may or may not sell to these too.

So, combined, the 'high to mid end' market numbers in the thousands maybe 2-3 thousand, maybe more, definitely not more than 10,000. The world over. Okay, 20,000 tops.

Now, coming to the hordes of documentary, small TV commercial, TV serial, and budget film-makers, these number in the millions. FCP itself has sold over 2 million seats worldwide and in India maybe over a hundred thousand. Avid, Premier Pro, Vegas and other NLEs are a smaller number but I could guess them to be a million together.

So there is this 3 million strong 'indie post' market for Resolve Lite. Many of these Resolve Lite users will go in for some Blackmagic hardware as a video out for their Resolve. Either a HD Extreme 3D, or an Intensity card, or a Thunderbolt equipped Ultrastudio. So Blackmagic opens up another avenue for hardware sales. Even if only one-fifth of this market dabbles in Resolve, its a great number. And it can only increase, unlike the multi-crore 'pro' post houses.

Unlike software which can be easily 'shared', hardware is strictly one per system. And it helps that Blackmagic hardware is now compatible with Avid as well as Premiere Pro. And, of course it supports FCP 7 which may have been discontinued by Apple, but it still works for most movie-making situations.

The move to make the Resolve software free, and now, add almost all features in the free version, is therefore, basically a business move by Blackmagic. It may dismay the few thousands (even tens of thousands) of 'pro' users, but it could mean a windfall in business for Blackmagic. By making the software that runs on their hardware, rather than depending on other companies' software (like FCP, Avid and Premiere Pro) alone, Blackmagic have done nearly what Apple have been doing for nearly a decade now.

But what happens to the actual job of colour correction, imparting a 'look' to a movie. And what about the human who does this all. Will the software being free or economical (the full featured unto 4k version also costs only about $1000 or Rs 60,000) devalue this once prized occupation?

I think quite the contrary. Look at other trades. 

Editing, which could only be done on large Steenbeck systems and even Avid systems costing almost half a crore rupees (over $ 50,000), can now be done on laptops costing under a lakh rupees. FCP changed that. But editors still make as much (or as less) as they did in the mid nineties when costly Avids ruled.

Sound designing which can be done on even less endowed PCs and Macs have not led to sound engineers being paid less. or their craft in any way devalued. In fact, my sound friends who travelled in buses and trains own some fancy cars now.

So, if anything, this so called 'commoditzation' of technology, does create the impression that anyone can own the means of making movies. Only in the short term. Initially everyone and his dog go out and buy or download these 'cheap' software, and try their hands at using it. Once they see how hard it is to be creative and operate something, they develop a greater value for the man behind the machine. 

I am firmly convinced about this and I've seen it happen over and over again.

So, in the coming months brace yourself for some abysmally colour corrected movies by amateurs who've just downloaded Resolve and are trying to make their shots look good. But after that, there will be colorists who will own their own Resolves and movie-makers will queue up to work with a specific colorist. Then they will not bother with what software he or she uses, they will go by what they see on a screen.

For colorists this is a boon. For once, they can own their own grading system for a sum that's less then many of their daily or weekly earnings. And now, they can finally be paid for their skill and not for the cost of the equipment. The 'take home' package for independent colourists just got bigger. Wait and see.

More on the Canon EOS C300 - the FAQ

The Canon EOS C300 announcement left many a question unanswered. Until now. Canon has put up a FAQ on their Cinema EOS camera systems. 


Canon Cinema EOS FAQ
http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/misc/cinemaEOS_faq.shtml


There's some very interesting explanations on latitude, dynamic range, ISO, 8-bit vs 10-bit, and other such geek stuff. Interesting read.

The new Red camera - Scarlet X

Scarlet X with LCD touchscreen viewfinder

Scarlet X as the new Red camera announced yesterday, will ship on Nov 17, 2011. Yes, for a camera company that's known for intricate shipping schedules, systems in Beta, slipping delivery times, this shipping on Nov 17 is also a big story.

And the price too. At $ 9,750 for the Canon mount version, and $ 11,250 for the PL mount version, it severely undercuts the F3 and the yet to be released Canon EOS C300. Alexa, Sony F65 will also feel the heat, but only somewhat.

As far as features go, the Scarlet X…

Has a HDRx mode to offer up to 18 stops of latitude.

Shoots at 5k resolution at 12 fps

4k at 1-24 fps

2k at 60 fps

1k at 120 fps

Widest variety of frame rates - 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 47.96, 48, 50, 59.97

The 47.96 is an interesting addition for 'dual rate NTSC 24fps'

It uses a Redcode RAW at 440 Mbps or about 50 MB/sec which is comparable to HDCamSR or SR lite in data rate. About 3:1

It shoots to SSD and has a Canon or PL mount. And supports Red's own LCD touchscreen of the Bomb EVF as viewfinders.

The full spec on the Scarlet is at Red's Scarlet page

http://www.red.com/products/scarlet

The Canon C300 won't ship till 2012. And the just announced 4k HD-DSLR even later. Canon has some breathing space to probably massage their pricing, and even add features. Maybe a 100 Mbps codec, more features through software etc.

It's going to be an interesting 2012 for cameras, and editing stuff from those cameras. At about this time next year, who knows what we would be making movies on.

The new Avid Media Composer 6

Just after the Canon EOS C300 announcement came the announcement by Avid on their new Media Composer 6 editing software.

Broadly, here's what's new...


New interface but not radically new
Fully 64bit so better use of RAM and faster performance especially for large projects.
Works with other hardware like Aja Kona, Blackmagic Decklink, and, of course Matrox
Better Stereoscopic 3D workflows
5.1 and 7.1 outputs and mix within MC
ProRes encode and decode on Mac
New DNxHD 444 codec for high quality RGB444 workflows
AVCHD and Red Epic native support
Colour grading with Artist color panel
Purchase stock footage online from within MC 6
AvidFX and Boris in all versions


And,
Nitris DX will be available at a lower price of $ 5500
Symphony 6 will be a software product for $ 6000 and will work with the same third party hardware from Aja and Blackmagic.
This might mean some competition for Smoke on Mac.

The full specs on Avid's home page here...

http://www.avid.com/US/products/media-composer

Pricing at $ 2500 (about Rs 1.4 lakhs) 
Crossgrade from FCS any version to be unending at $ 1500 (about Rs 85,000)
Upgrade from older versions to be $ 300 (about Rs 17,000)


So, this is a whole new and improved MC 6 with definite performance improvement over past versions. But the changes are not as radical as the FCP-FCPX change which may have put off some editors.


There are huge new features which it is hoped editors will embrace and use more effectively. Actually some of the features even in earlier versions of MC made it foray into finishing systems territory, and this new version continues this trend.


This version of Avid works with the Aja Kona and Blackmagic, so for users with a Mojo SDI that could not work with HD without the pricey MojoDX, can now run Avid with the Aja Kona at $ 2000 or a Blackmagic HD Extreme at $ 1000. 
For more details on third party hardware support for the Avid MC here are links...

Aja's web site on the use of MC 6 with Aja cards...

http://www.aja.com/news/index_article.php?id=162

Blackmagic's page describes the use of MC 6 with Blackmagic cards...

http://www.blackmagic-design.com/avid

Canon's new EOS C300 video camera for film-makers

A couple of days ago, Canon made big news about new products that will affect the way movies get made and edited.
Canon announced a new video camera the EOS C300.
A blow by blow account is here...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/03/the-canon-hollywood-event-liveblog/?sort=oldest&refresh=0

This is a video camera that Canon has built after studying the response to the 5D MkII, 7D and their range of HD-DSLRs. These were actually cameras that were intended to be still cameras that could shoot movies too. But ended up being used as video cameras for docus, ads, even feature length movies.
The EOS C300 is made as a movie camera first. It will be available in early 2012 for about US$ 16,000.
More information will be available as we go along, but from the announcement, highlights of this new camera are...
Super35 equivalent sensor
8.3 Megapixels resolution
No auto settings, everything manual all the time
LCD screen, XLR inputs included
Rolling shutter effects reduced
MPEG-2 50 Mbps Full HD (MPEG2 422@HL) codec not H.264
So FCP/Avid should be able to do playback without conversion
Canon log gamma to stretch dynamic range
Up to 60 fps for slow motion
'True' 24fps, not 23.98fps
PL mount and EF mount versions
New '4k' lenses to match the camera
Built-in cooling system


As usual, Vincent LaForet has made a movie with this camera and its available for viewing here...
http://vimeo.com/laforet/mobius720
and a behind the scenes video of Mobius
http://vimeo.com/31526888


More on the C300 as information is out, but the $16-20k (Rs 8-10 lakhs) price tag will not affect the 5D MkII and 7D crowd, but it could end up challenging the Sony F3 and maybe the Alexa. Let's wait and see till after Jan 2012.

Canon also announced the future development of a full frame still camera capable of recording 4k movies at 24P with M-JPEG compression. 

The still-under-development 4k capable Canon still camera

There's also the announcement by Red on a new camera, but more at it happens.