Digital Vision has revealed the details of its updated Nucoda grading and Phoenix restoration products, both of which have aggressive new pricing and feature new releases chasing the mid-level boutique and in-house post market.
The Nucoda finishing and grading system has a new pricing structure and two new products joining the range. The flagship Nucoda Film Master (as used by The Farm on Wallander for the BBC – pictured) now has an entry price of $90k, while to address the mid-range DI grading and dailies market, Digital Vision will release the brand new Nucoda Fuse at a sub $40k pricepoint and also an ingest, conform and edit solution called Nucoda Compose.
The software-only Nucoda Fuse will feature a cut-down version of the full Film Master toolset, and similarly work on a cut-down control panel. Software, hardware, 15TB storage and a grading panel together should all come in at a price that Product Manager, Bruno Munger, estimates at around $55k.
“We’re aiming this at every facility that is in the RED and digital camera workflow,” he said. “They tend to be mid-sized with no theatre of their own or large infrastructure, but still have the desire to work on commercials and episodics. In blunt terms it’s competition for Assimilate’s Scratch.”
DV’s restoration product Phoenix, meanwhile, splits into three: Phoenix Finish is now the flagship end-to-end restoration, re-mastering and delivery system; the mid-range solution Phoenix Refine, will provide a complete toolset for advanced image restoration and enhancement; and the entry-level Phoenix Touch will provide automated and manual image clean up and retouch. Again, the pricepoints have been significantly altered, the once $100k product now retailing at $45k, $25k and $5k respectively.
It’s proving popular too, with DV selling two Phoenix Finishes in the US on the day of the announcement.
The company has also included applications to increase the performance of these new products as part of its wider 2010 software release. The first, Turbine, introduces integrated and distributed background rendering for Phoenix and Nucoda systems allowing rendering of multiple projects and compositions without tying up the client’s workstation. DVO Clarity, the next-generation of noise and grain reduction technology features automatic profiling of the source media for producing stunning images, virtually artefact free, that retain original sharpness, whilst the speed and ergonomically enhanced DVO Fix automatically repairs imperfections associated with degraded film and image media.
The 2010 software release also includes additional stereo 3D tools and viewing modes, a new colour isolation keyer (I-Keyer) and updated file format enhancements including Arri Alexa support, MFX OP1a publishing and ALE file export.
