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Bits & Pieces 8 Post • June 2014 www.postmagazine.com N EW YORK — Earlier this year, Quantel not only announced the latest software release for its Pablo Rio color and finishing system — intended to add more capabilities to the system's toolset — but the company also debuted its Genet- ic Engineering 2 (GE2), a new shared storage solution for flexibility, performance and pro- ductivity increases for Pablo Rio users. Light Iron (www.lightiron.com), with loca- tions on both the west and east coasts, has been one of the early adopters of Pablo Rio, and now with GE2, is getting a boost to its workflow for such services as digital inter- mediates, on-set dailies, and finishing for a range of independent and studio projects. "At the time, Quantel was the only com- pany that was demonstrating a 4K road map," says Michael Cioni, CEO of Light Iron, who talks about his long-time use of Quantel technology, going back to 2006. "In 2006, which at this point sounds pretty ancient, they were saying, 'Here's how we're going to go get 4K,'" he continues. "Nobody else in the landscape was saying those words. And I said, 'I want to go with the guy who has a plan.' They were planning for tomorrow and clearly in 2006, it was a 2K and HD world, but the one company saying it was going to be a 4K world was Quantel, so it was an easy choice for me." Eight years and at least 11 Quantel sys- tems later, Cioni still believes in the compa- ny's philosophy. "I think where Quantel sepa- rates themselves is where they are saying, 'If you want to have good 4K, you have to do 8K,' and it makes perfect sense," Cioni explains. "If you want a car to do 100 miles per hour, it can't be modified to only go 101; it needs to go 200 miles an hour and so then at 100 it won't fall apart." Cioni describes the Pablo Rio systems as, "the GPU accelerated versions of Pablo — the Rio is running on like a nuclear engine instead of a steam engine" and reports that his team clocked the Rios at "40 times faster than our Pablos." The next step for Quantel was to take multiple Pablo Rios and put them on the same network so users can share work. "With GE2, you take that 40 times faster speed and then you add multiple users, the increase is almost exponential," Cioni says. "It's not 80x faster, its like 120x faster ; it's so much more accelerated because we're com- pounding all this power and add- ing it together, stacking it, and that's producing an incredible advantage." The new software release extends Pablo Rio's support for various file formats that now include 4K XAVC export and DCP import, as well as the latest Red SDK; with GE2, Pablo Rio will allow high-resolution jobs to be instantly switched or shared. "Light Iron is the smallest company that does the most amount of feature films," says Cioni. I think we did 54 features last year — I think that's one a week — I know it's because of Quantel that that's possible." Cioni adds, "I really wish more people realized that it's their infrastructure that's holding them back in many cases. A bad work- flow affects everything. By Linda Romanello Bits & Pieces TVLogic USA | 910 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA 91506 | 1-855-TVLOGIC (1-855-885-6442) | sales@tvlogicusa.com | www.tvlogicusa.com The NEW TVLogic LEM-250A reproduces so much more than great blacks. It displays the most accurate high definition (1920x1080) image we have ever seen. For the most color-critical applications, the true 10-bit LEM-250A offers pre-set 3D LUTs for REC 709, DCI-P3, SMPTE-C, EBU and imports custom LUTs. Additional features include Adjustable Gamma, Full Range and Normal RGB modes, USB Firmware Updates, and on-set tools like Waveform and Vector Scope, Focus Assist, Markers & Mattes, and more. Let your eyes witness the Evolution of OLED and schedule a demo today! The Redefinition of High Definition LEM-250A - 24.5" Reference Master OLED Monitor from Available NOW at your Dealer C M Y CM MY CY CMY K POST Jan 2014.pdf 1 1/3/2014 5:03:04 PM Quantel helps boost Light Iron's workflow Light Iron CEO Michael Cioni at the company's NY location. Quantel's GE2 is a shared storage solution intended to increase flexibility, performance, and productivity for Pablo Rio.