Thomas Fletcher has made the Fletcher Camera & Lenses 2012 Comparison chart available to PVC readers as a downloadable link. The Fletcher Camera 2012 Comparison Chart looks at 14 different cameras available on the market for various stated aspects and average daily rental rates.  Canon, Phantom, Weisscam, Red, Alexa, and Sony all are included with various ranges and models.  Download your quick reference today!

After two years of planning HTV will launch on February 2 offering viewers a range of channel options, including education and training videos, product information, global news and events plus peer videos submitted by Hasselblad photographers worldwide.

Createasphere’s Spring Entertainment Technology Expo - the top gathering of entertainment and media professionals, technical innovators, and content experts on the West Coast showcasing emerging media trends in production, post, animation, VFX, advertising, and streaming content - announced renowned cinematographer and Oscar nominee Jeff Cronenweth, ASC as the keynote, Visions of Oscar: Jeff Cronenweth, ASC,  How Collaboration and Talent Gets The Story Told.  The keynote will take place on March 1st at LA Center Studios.

Blackmagic Design today released Desktop Video 9.2 beta 1, a software update for its capture and playback products that adds broadcast monitoring support with the new Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3 update.

We will be taking our sites down tomorrow morning, February 1st 2012, at 10:00 - 11:00 AM EST (7:00 - 8:00 AM PST) to upgrade our server to accommodate for more memory. Engineers will oversee the work and anticipate it taking as little as 15 minutes if there are no issues.  The maximum outage will be 60 minutes. 

Livestream today announced a new plugin for NewTek TriCaster™ that provides a streamlined workflow for live content producers. The plugin was developed using the NewTek TriCaster SDK, and provides H.264/AAC encoding, one click HD 720p multibitrate encoding, along with playback compatibility for iPhone® and iPad® – all without the need for an external encoder. The Livestream plugin is pre-installed when the TriCaster is upgraded to rev.4. Registered TriCaster owners may upgrade by visiting register.newtek.com. To learn more about the plugin or watch a demo video of how it works, visit: Livestream.com/tricasterplugin.

Westcott is excited to announce it has received two Professional Photographer Hot One Awards for 2012. Westcott has been producing umbrellas since 1899 in both the golf and photo industries. It’s no wonder that their most recent umbrella addition was named as one of the winners of the Professional Photographer Hot One Awards for 2012. This 7’ Parabolic Umbrella launched in March 2011 featuring three different styles - Diffusion (#4632), White/Black (#4634) as well as Silver/Black (#4633). In the months to follow, Westcott added Parabolic Umbrella Kits that included a stand, mounting bracket and Parabolic Umbrella of the buyers’ choice. Each Parabolic Umbrella has a street price of $119.90. Each Parabolic Umbrella Kit has a street price of $149.90.

Harrison Ford, the venerable actor who immortalized Han Solo and Indiana Jones, will receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) 2012 Board of Governors Award. Ford will be honored during the 26th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards gala here on February 12 at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom.

JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., today announced the DT-X71 Series of portable ProHD LCD monitors. Ideal for field and studio applications, the new seven-inch AC/DC monitors offer 1024x600 resolution with a 160-degree viewing angle – and can display 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p video signals at a variety of frame rates.

Audio-Technica, a leading innovator in transducer technology, is this year marking “50 Years of Passionate Listening” with its yearlong 50th Anniversary Celebration. The anniversary year officially kicked off in the U.S. with a special gala event during the 2012 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, California. The party took place at Disney California Adventure Park on the evening of Thursday, January 19, 2012. A-T’s 700-plus special guests included musicians (including several Audio-Technica endorsers), recording arts professionals, dealers, distributors, customers and members of the press. Key personnel from Audio-Technica Japan (the parent company of A-T U.S. and the other A-T companies worldwide) were also in attendance, including Audio-Technica Corporation President Kazuo Matsushita.

Renowned entertainer Donny Osmond will deliver a keynote address at the NAB Show Radio Luncheon, sponsored by ASCAP, on Tuesday, April 17 in Las Vegas. Osmond, who has entertained audiences for decades as a singer, musician, actor, dancer and former teen idol, is also a syndicated radio host for McVay Syndication in a partnership with TeshMedia Group. Osmond will discuss how radio has impacted his career over the years.

Eye Scream Factory, a provider of time-saving design templates, presets, and royalty-free content for digital media artists, today announced the availability of 74 DVE transition presets created by Kevin P. McAuliffe, Senior Editor at MIJO in Toronto, Canada, and an Avid Media Composer editor for 15 years. The presets include a wide variety of organic and fluid DVE transitions.

CoreCG, a New Zealand-based research and development (R&D) company that specializes in creative solutions for CG animation and visual effects, today announced the release of MentalCore - a cross-platform, standalone plugin designed to help artists achieve maximum creativity and efficiency while using NVIDIA® mental ray® with Autodesk® Maya®. The release follows two years of extensive use at Oktobor Animation, a year of beta testing by high profile film, television, and game companies, and a soft launch in December 2011.

Createasphere’s Spring Entertainment Technology Expo - the top gathering of entertainment and media professionals, technical innovators, and content experts on the West Coast showcasing emerging media trends in production, post, animation, VFX, advertising, and streaming content - will take place on Thursday, March 1st, 2012, at LA Center Studios in Los Angeles.  The industry summit will feature trend-setting keynotes, immersive demonstrations in the Vortex Dome, a full exhibition area, networking opportunities and education.

Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros. Television Group and newly sworn in chairman/CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and Ben Silverman, founder and chairman of multimedia studio Electus, will speak at the upcoming 2012 NAB Show, the annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage and distribute entertainment across all platforms. The 2012 NAB Show takes place April 14-19, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eyeheight announces the world’s first multi-rate stereoscopic 3D colour corrector. Designed for use in broadcast production, post-production and playout centres, the Eyeheight CC-3D allows both channels of a stereoscopic 3D pair to be corrected under common single control.

NewTek today introduced a certified operator program for live video producers who use TriCaster™. Live video production experts can qualify for the program by completing and passing the certified operator exam. The 75-question multiple choice and multiple response exam covers nine skill and knowledge areas. Certified operators will be listed on the NewTek website as live production and streaming professionals who meet the NewTek standards of excellence.

JVC Professional Products Company, a division of JVC Americas Corp., today announced its ProHD Compact Studio solution, which configures the GY-HM150 ProHD handheld camcorder for a studio environment using two new accessories, the HZ-HM150VZR ProHD remote lens control and the DT-X71 ProHD monitor. The company also announced a limited-time rebate program that provides up to $600 in savings for customers who purchase the camcorder and ProHD Compact Studio components.

Blackmagic Design today released a new version of its popular HyperDeck Shuttle Solid State Disk recorder. HyperDeck Shuttle 2 replaces the existing model and adds broadcast quality 10-bit recording and playback to the Avid DNxHD format for the same low price of $345.

Cinedeck LLC, pioneering developer of mobile capture systems for motion picture and broadcast production, has shipped Cinedeck RX, the latest addition to the Cinedeck product family. Cinedeck RX is a new, rack-mountable, solid-state recording, monitoring and playback system, that delivers tapeless workflow to studios, post-production facilities and broadcasters covering the wide range of cinema production, sporting, music, theatrical and entertainment events in both 2D and 3D stereoscopic formats.