Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Boulder on Fire

For those of you who might not know why Boulder smells of campfire - I thought I'd fill you in.


Boulder's on Fire.


This isn't the normal joke about our burning grill from the back of our loading dock scenario - but it's the result of an actual wildfire right here in Boulder, started by someone not paying enough attention to what they were doing.

Yup - some jerk decided to back into a propane tank on Monday. Perfect, just what we needed. So far, we're up to $7,500 acres of super hot burning forest.
How hot? Well, if the temperature drops below 81 degrees (Fahrenheit), the heat from the fire creates it's own little weather pattern up through the canyons - with turbulants so strong that experienced waterdrop/ airdrop 4 engine bomber pilots won't fly anywhere near said fire.

Great.

For those of you who aren't "locals"... it's a checklist joke that's not so funny.
Tourists? Check
Weekend and/ or Holiday? Check.
High temps? Check.
Extra Dry Conditions? Check.
Ridiculous amount of warnings in the media about fire danger? Check
RV? Check.

Guaranteed fire conditions.


Here's a pic from my front yard - I live about 6 miles east of the fire, and work about 1 mile east of the fire.





please excuse the crappy cell phone quality










With over 3500 residents evacuated, and the fire burning more and more out of control - let's all hope for the best and pray for no deaths/ injuries/ least amount of homes lost.


The view from my friend Joey's house....





Be careful out there folks!











Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Looking for a Few Good Testers!!

Looking for a few good testers!

In a rare opportunity, the Macrosystem Testing Team has a couple of spots open to add on new beta testers. These spots are for software testing of Macrosystem products. We are looking for folks that already have the hardware (Bogart SE editing systems), a good working knowledge of the Casablanca systems, and extra time to be very active in checking/testing new software products. If you have an interest we'd love to hear from you. For details please contact our support team at Bogartsupport@macrosystem.us and put "Tester App" in the subject heading. We will then get you into the process of filling out an application form and filling you in on details on working in the program. Good luck and thank you for your interest!

Monday, August 30, 2010

September Casablanca Conference - Texas!

I just found this gem of an email awaiting me... and thought I should share it with the world.

MacroSystem friends - CAM Audio and the Casablanca Expert - are putting on what looks to be one heck-of-a shindig. I'd suggesting registering right away since Seth at CAM tells me they are limiting the number of folks who can attend, and that limit seems to be close to full.



Here's the email in Full

-------------------------------------------

Greetings from CAM Audio, Inc.!

We are once again pleased to be hosting another Casablanca Workshop here in Dallas! This is going to be the largest Workshop that has been held in the south just for Casablanca users. Chet Davis (The Casablanca Expert) www.casablancaexpert.com is back again for a full five (5) days of training and instruction!! We are splitting up the 5 days into two segments.


“Hands On” Workshop
The first 2 days are dedicated to the "Hands On" approach. This means the users will bring their own Editor and monitor so they can follow right along with the presentations/instructions. Chet Davis and CAM Audio hosted the very first "Hands On" workshop right here in Dallas a couple of years ago and since then they have caught on like wild fire. This is a most excellent time to meet with other peers and colleagues and to get more familiar with your Casablanca Editor. The dates for the first 2 days are September 26th and 27th (Sun. and Mon.). The cost for this invaluable training is only $199.00! Lunch is also provided in the registration price.

Included with your registration for the "Hands On" workshop you will be provided with all of the video footage, audio samples and still images so that you are able to match exactly what the instructor is teaching. You will also receive a PDF handout with step-by-step instructions to take home as well.


3 Day Seminar
The second segment of the workshop (the last 3 days) will showcase several speakers and will cover a wide gambit of topics all related to your use of the Casablanca. The dates are September 28th, 29th and 30th (Tues. - Thurs.).

In this workshop we will cover things like:
Green Screen/Chroma Key - How to shoot it and how to edit the footage once shot
New camera technology – What’s new and how to interface the cameras with your Editor
Backing up and storing your footage
How to get your videos online
Creating Fabulous Photo Montages
What’s new in software and what’s coming next.
We are also hosting a small vendor Fair the morning of the last day (Thursday the 30th).

These are just a few of the many items covered. We are also VERY pleased to have in attendance Philip Bice the VP of Sales and Marketing for Macrosystem US!! He will be speaking and answering questions from the floor.

Bobbie Evoy of “Memories On Tape” will be demonstrating How to shoot Green Screen and also how to get the most out of the software BB BlueBox World.
Ken Smithers of "Picture This Video" will also be presenting. He will show us how to create Wonderful Photo Montages using Pro Show Gold/Producer. This a very exciting software application that can dramatically increase your speed when creating Montages and Slide-shows.

The cost for the last 3 days is only $129.00! This also includes a buffet lunch each day as well.


Discounts / Door Prizes
If you are able to stay with us for the full 5 days, there is a great discount of $50.00, making the total for all 5 days of training and instruction ONLY $278.00!! That's an incredible deal for so much information!

There will, as always, be some great door prizes and special discounts on Software, Hardware and Media. We look forward to seeing you there!


Registration
Below you will find the links to the online registration forms. PLEASE NOTE: If you are planning to attend all 5 days make sure and click the correct link with the discounted price of $149.00 for the "Hands On" segment. You will also find the contact information to the Hotel where the event is being held. PLEASE NOTE: When you call the hotel reference the CAM Audio Event for a discounted room rate of $79.00 a night. You are also welcome to register now but pay at the door ( Cash, Check or Credit Card).

Thanks for your valuable time
Best regards

Seth Hampton
CAM Audio, Inc.
1-800-527-3458
972-271-2800
seth@camaudio.com

Seats are limited so register today!
http://dallasadvanced.eventbrite.com/

http://dallasconference2010.eventbrite.com

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

MacroSystem US Releases NEW "Title Studio"


MacroSystem US
is PROUD to announce the launch of a completely new Titler Software Package. This software is not an upgrade of it's current Deluxe Titler 3D Software - but an entirely new development effort. This new offering will continue to be developed against, and enhanced over time. Based 100% on user feedback and a user "wishlist", this new software has been developed to address the needs of the most progressive editors - while still remaining easy enough to use for beginners and basic home users.

This new Titler will run on the Bogart OS only (3.2c and above), and will continue to be developed on and expanded for many years to come. The new Titler also contains a new workflow - but one that is proven to be superior to the previous title studio software.

You can find a video overview of the new titler here

Find MacroSystem US's Product Page here - with lots of great info!


Here's the Highlights -
-About 100 pre-defined styles included, and nearly endless possibilities to create your own styles
-About 300 different materials and patterns for designing your own styles
-All tracks now in perfect full HD quality
-WYSIWYG editor
-Each letter can have its own font and style.
-Character Spacing, character width, and font size are adjustable for each letter
-The line spacing is set separately for each lin
-Justified text is supported
-Text alignment (left, center, right, block) is individually adjustable for each row
-Two different users layouts, depending on monitor mode


FAQ

Q - Is the Deluxe Titler 3D being replaced?
A - Nope, it will still exist and be sold - We may be releasing an update in the next month or two - depending on our testing

Q - Can I have both titling software packages running on Bogart?
A - YES! See the manual's section 2.1 for more details.

Q - Can I try before I buy?
A - YES! Title Studio can be used in "Demo" mode.

Q - What are the OS restrictions?
A - You must install on Bogart 3.2C or higher

Q - Isn't this just the same thing with a new name?
A - NO! it's been developed from the ground up, 100% brand new. It's a 100% different workflow as well!

Q - Is it worth upgrading?
A - We think so! This was MSUS's #1 Customer Request to us... but we still advocate a demo and a view of the movie (above) before a customer buys

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

MSUS Tech Tip - Emergency Screen Switch

EMERGENCY SCREEN SWITCH
If you connect your machine and boot up and see no image, but the LED light on the front displays "Macrosystem", you might just be in the wrong display mode. The correction to this is very simple. Let's say in this case you are connecting to a DVI monitor when the machine was already set in single analog mode (note: machines ship in analog mode first as a default and the machine does not auto detect your monitor connection). The screen on the DVI monitor would appear black. There is a trick to use your trackball's right click buttons to switch screen modes without seeing the display. When the machine is powered up (theoretically it's on the main Bogart menu, you just can't see it right now) hold the right trackball button down for 6-7 seconds. The front LED should suddenly change to say "Display". It would be followed by the current display mode it is in. If the system was in single analog mode, it might say "Display: Scart". Pause, then you can press the large left trackball button to toggle to the next display mode (or the number keys off of the keyboard can be used too as mentioned in the next paragraph). As the system was set to single analog, the next mode would be DVI. Just wait about 15 seconds between screen switches. This should now switch the system to single DVI output and you will see the menus on the DVI monitor. This method is simply an emergency back door trick to switch monitor modes.

Using Bogart 2.4c or Bogart 3.2c, the emergency screen switch function can also be used on the Media Manager portion of the system. This would be useful in cases where you switch from Bogart to Media Manager and your screen display suddenly goes black. In most cases this means the Media Manager is resting on the main menu and has been set to a different monitor mode than you are using on Bogart. If this happens, same thing as before. Switch over to the Media Manager like usual to see the black screen. Then hold down the right trackball button for about 6-7 seconds. You will see a message on the front of your LED screen on the machine to indicate it's now in the "Display" mode. Using your keyboard, use the number keys to switch the appropriate type of screen display. 1 = Scart or the analog output. 2= DVI output. And with Bogart 3, the 3= HDMI output using the HDMI port on the back of S2000 or S4100 models.

Monday, July 19, 2010

CB Paint for Bogart?

ok - here it is... I need your help.

CB paint was a hit with some, not with others. We are getting some requests for development, but not enough to move forward for us to drop the serious cash needed to make this work on Bogart.



All that being said - leave a comment or email me at suggestions@macrosystem.us and let me know what you think.

Is it worth $1500 to you? (this is less than we charged for our last version of CB paint)
Would you be willing to commit to a purchase of this if we announced we were developing it?



If you don't send me your thoughts or your opinion - don't complain that you didn't get what you wanted!
If you do send me your thoughts and opinions - they do get read and are valuable to development efforts!!!

MSUS Tech Tip - Adding a Copyright Symbol

COPYRIGHT SYMBOL
The copyright symbol is found on the "Special" character key on your on-screen keyboard. You'll find it on any menu that let's you type out a name. For instance, go to Titling> click on "Enter Edit Text"> Click on "Text" > Now you'll see the on screen keyboard. Down at the bottom of the keyboard is a "S" with a circle around it. This is the Special characters key. Click on it and it will open a drop down menu with special character attributes for the current font you have selected. Scroll down about half way down the list. There you will find the copyright symbol. Highlight it and then click "OK" to drop it down in the current line of text.

Friday, July 16, 2010

MSUS Tech Tip - COMPUTER TRANSFER- PC TO CASSIE VIA DV- AVI Files on WinXP to Casablanca:

COMPUTER TRANSFER- PC TO CASSIE VIA DV- AVI Files on WinXP to Casablanca:
First, verify that you have a firewire port on your PC. Most PC firewire ports are "6-pin" firewire... a larger connection than the firewire port on the Casablanca (4-pin). If your computer has a 6-pin firewire port, you will need a cable that goes from 6-pin to 4-pin. Then all you need to do is import your AVI file into an application that can play video out via firewire, and digitize that video in the regular record screen on the Casablanca. With WinXP, there should be a free application called "Windows Movie Maker" that can do this for you. So, as long as you have the firewire port and a cable, you should be able to follow these steps:

1. Connect your PC to your casablanca via a firewire cable, and make sure both devices are turned on. You should see the Windows machine recognize the Casablanca with "Found New Hardware" dialogue in the lower right of your PC monitor.

2, Open the Windows Movie Maker application on your PC. On my computer it is located in the Start Menu under Programs > Accessories.

3. Choose to Import Video, and import your avi file.

4. Drag that avi file down to the storyboard in Windows Movie Maker.

5. Go to File > Save Movie File...

6. Choose to save to "DV Camera", and click Next.

7. Go to Video Settings on the Casablanca and verify that you are set to the "DV" input.

8. Go to Record on the Casablanca.

9. On the PC, click Next again to begin the recording.

10. The PC will now start to render the video, and when it is done, you will start to see the video being out to your Casablanca. Be ready to click record on the Casablanca and start digitizing the video.
Because Windows Movie Maker is a very basic application, it assumes that it is controlling the recorder (the Casablanca) which it is not doing. This means that often, you will miss the beginning of the recording because there is no warning that it is going to start outputting. Also, this may cause the application to crash at the end of the output. You may want to add your program to the Move Maker storyboard twice, or add a clip that you don't need in front of the one that you do need so that you don't miss anything between when the output starts and when you click record.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

MSUS Tech Tip - TRANSFERRING VIDEO TO A PC (USING NEWER MODELS)

COMPUTER TRANSFER _ CASSIE TO PC
Nearly 99% of the work is all done on the PC/Mac side and there are so many different software programs out there and we could not possibly support them all. On the Casablanca, you need at least Smart Edit 4 or above to increase compatibility. If you are going from DV to the PC you basically need to go to the Finish menu and make sure the storyboard has been rendered in its entirety. Then the DV Recorder controls will be active so you can then click on it and output to VCR. This basically activates the DV output of the Casablanca making the DV out active. That's all to be done there. Over on the computer it depends what program you are using but with the firewire connected for the first time, you should get a message on the computer indicating a firewire device has been connected. Then going into the menus of the software program (i.e. Imovie, windows movie maker etc.) you look for the "Start capture" command to start recording footage and build a new folder. We often use "Windows Movie Maker" to capture footage off of the Casablanca via DV. The files saved from Movie Maker on your computer can then be used in various forms.

Tips:
- On the PC you should be running Windows XP or above.
-On the Casablanca you should have the 4.0 installed in order to help the communication on with firewire to computers.
- Much of the software on the computer that can be used to firewire out to a camera has the ability to disable the program from automatically controlling the camera transport controls. In some cases, you might need to go into the menus of your software program to de-activate these controls. The Casablanca equipment will not allow a PC to control it and you could get errors to occur since the Casablanca does not emulate a deck. It likes to be the control device. We usually don't have to set anything when we connect with Windows Movie Maker, that's why tend to recommend that one as a base.

Note: If you have a lower operating system version than SE 4 or the devices just simply won't communicate, you may have to firewire out to a DV deck or camera first and then firewire the camera or deck to the PC. It will still be in digital, so there wouldn't be much loss, but just the extra step.)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

MSUS Tech Tip - CONVERTING VIDEO FILES FOR A PC (USING OLDER SMART EDIT MODELS)

For those of you using older Cassie's - and trying to use them like a new Cassie...


GOING TO A PC (USING OLDER SE MODELS)


None of our current software allows for any file converting inside the system. Right now there are a couple of ways to get it out for computer use:

1. You can send the video and audio out through the DV firewire cable to the computer if you wish to keep it in a digital form. (see additional info below) This would be done by going to the "Finish Window" and clicking on "DV Output" to allow the transfer to begin from the firewire jack. We have had some issues reported with communication to the PC with the Casablanca's DV chip. The protocol is really going to depend on the type of PC, software, and video card you are using. We can only offer limited support when trying this type of connections due to all the different variables of various computer models. Or you can output the video (think of the system as nothing more than a VCR) from analog to a capture card on the PC.

2. The other is a program called "Disk Transfer" (You can find some info and web download of the manual here: http://www.macrosystem.de/e/expansions_disktransfer.html). Disk Transfer is an add on program that can be purchased to allow for exporting of clips from the scene bin to a DVD with the file type of DV-AVI. Some computer programs might recognize this for import. You would need an internal DVD writer in your Casablanca for this program, so older Avio machines won't be able to do this. Most Casablanca models starting with the Kron's would work.
Customer reports have noted that it basically it requires a PC software program that uses the standard windows AVI format and does NOT need to control the external device.
We've had reports in that software programs like Vegas and Adobe Pro work very well in both directions.

Monday, June 14, 2010




Register for MacroSystem US email updates








Monday, May 31, 2010

Loewe Financial Statement

Loewe off to a good start in 2010
EBIT of EUR 13.5 million in 2009
Sales of EUR 324 million in 2009
Dividend of EUR 0.25 per share proposed
Higher sales and EBIT in the first quarter of 2010 than in the previous year
Moderate sales growth expected for 2010 as a whole
Product offensive in the premium market
Kronach/Munich. – "Loewe bucked the industry trend in 2009 by generating profitable EBIT of EUR 13.5 million. We came through the turbulences of the global financial crisis in the premium market very well," was how Frieder C. Löhrer, Chief Executive Officer of Loewe AG, described business development during the financial statements press conference in Munich.

In 2009, Loewe systematically expanded its product portfolio in the high-end segment in particular to include the Loewe Reference home entertainment system. In addition, the Company invested primarily in the brand's adequate appearance in the international retail trade. "In doing this, we have systematically strengthened our position as the leading premium brand in the European consumer electronics market," said Löhrer.

"For Loewe, the margin is more important than sales growth. We keep prices at a stable level. In 2009, we experienced this in sales which declined from EUR 374 million in the previous year to EUR 324 million in 2009," continued Löhrer. The persisting difficult economic conditions in parts of Europe have also severely strained Loewe's sales. This applies in particular to the important markets in Spain and the Netherlands, which are important for Loewe. For that reason, export sales of EUR 131 million reflected a decline of roughly EUR 43 million. However, the high sales level for consumer electronics of the previous years was maintained in the most important market of Germany. Highly profitable large-screen TVs, accounted for 58 percent of the Company's total TV sales as they did in the previous year.

Despite the lower sales and production volume than in the previous year and the ongoing expenses for the premium positioning of the brand, Loewe succeeded in generating positive EBIT of approximately EUR 13.5 million in fiscal year 2009, compared to EUR 28.5 million in 2008. The positive contribution to earnings was caused primarily by the marketing of the innovative home entertainment systems at more consistently stable prices than the competition. The sustained high share of large-screen TV sets, more favorable procurement costs and the relatively strong sales in Germany also supported earnings. "Compared to the first six months of 2009, we increased our EBIT margin significantly from 1.0 percent to 6.7 percent in the second half. We thus again achieved our strategic margin level of 6 to 7 percent in the second half," explained Oliver Seidl, CFO of Loewe AG. Because of the positive business trend, the Executive Board will propose to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting on May 20 that a dividend of EUR 0.25 cents per share be paid.

"In the early weeks of the current year, Loewe's performance has been within the scope of our budget. The Olympic Winter Games and the associated launch of high-definition television in Germany have produced positive stimuli for the market and for Loewe as well. Nonetheless, we continue to experience the impacts of the global financial crisis," was how Frieder C. Löhrer described the start of the current fiscal year.

Based on sales, Loewe is as a whole moderately ahead of the comparable figures for 2009. "This trend should continue to stabilize in the months to come, especially due to the fact that a world-class media event in the form of the FIFA World Cup is still in store for us this summer. We will launch the new Individual SL line of TVs just in time for it in May," commented Löhrer.

Based on the moderate increase in sales and the high quality of earnings, Loewe's EBIT in the first quarter of 2010 will exceed the comparable figures for 2009. "In this area also, we are within the scope of our budget despite the sharp downward trend of market prices, and we will have to make every effort to maintain Loewe's pricing stability, not only for the sake of profitability but also the brand's reputation.”

Loewe presumes that the LCD TV market will continue to grow in the next few years, due in particular to the high replacement demand and increasing ownership of more than one set. In addition to the FIFA World Cup, technological innovations such as TVs with LED backlighting, the combining of television and the Internet and even more impressive surround sound systems will provide an enormous boost for the market beyond the current year.

In 2010, Loewe will launch three new LCD TV set lines and invest in the qualitative and quantitative expansion of distribution in selected key markets – primarily in France and Italy.

Loewe expects sales to grow moderately in the current 2010 fiscal year. As a premium brand, Loewe will continue to focus systematically on results with cost discipline and value-based marketing. EBIT in the current year is expected to be at the 2009 level. "Assuming that the value of the European market for LCD TVs will grow by about 10 percent and Loewe maintains its high margin level, growth in earnings can be expected for 2011. Moreover, Loewe’s sound capital structure and wide-ranging financing agreements put the company in an optimum position for the future," said CEO Frieder C. Löhrer

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Loewe Annual Shareholder Meeting Highlights

Loewe off to a good start in 2010
Sales and earnings in Q1 2010 slightly above Q1 2009
Dividend proposal of EUR 0.25 per share
Three new product lines in 2010
Majority interest in multimedia company
Moderate sales growth expected for year as a whole

Kronach/Munich, May 20, 2010 – "Loewe is off to a good start in 2010. Our first quarter sales and earnings are somewhat ahead of the comparable figures for 2009. In addition, our Company has recently noticed that the World Cup is starting to have an impact. The FIFA World Cup again appears to be performing its traditional role as an economic driving force this year," pointed out Frieder C. Löhrer, Loewe CEO, during the Company's annual shareholders' meeting in Munich.

Last year Loewe bucked the industry trend, generating EBIT of EUR 13.5 million (previous year: EUR 28.5 million). "We came through the turbulence of the global financial crisis in the premium market very well," said Löhrer. In accomplishing this, margin had a clear priority over sales. In a market dominated by sharp price declines, Loewe was able to keep its prices almost steady. This had an adverse effect on sales which declined from EUR 374 million in the previous year to EUR 324 million in 2009. In addition to marketing at stable prices, the continued high percentage of large-screen TVs, more favorable procurement costs and a relatively robust business in Germany had a positive impact on earnings.

As a result of the positive earnings trend, a proposal will be made to the annual shareholders' meeting to pay a dividend of EUR 0.25 per share for 2009, down from EUR 0.50 per share for 2008.

The systematic expansion of the premium strategy also contributed to the good outcome in 2009. "Loewe is more than ever the European premium brand for entertainment electronics. We have achieved this by focusing the entire Company on our primary brand values of meaningful innovation, minimalist design and exclusive individuality." Loewe impressively underscored its presence as a premium brand by successfully launching the new high-end line Loewe Reference last year. In the meantime, Loewe Reference has gained multiple awards and has been the winner in numerous tests.

"We also plan to launch a dazzling array of new products in the current year," continued Löhrer. In the run-up to the football World Cup, the new Loewe Individual line is currently being launched on the market – extremely individualized home entertainment systems that offer more than a million different options for technology and design. Two additional new television lines will be launched in the autumn.

Loewe's acquisition of a majority interest in the multimedia company MacroSystem will be completed in the next few weeks. "It will enable us to strengthen our expertise in product related multimedia software and we will also take over production for MacroSystem," commented Löhrer. In recent years, MacroSystem has systematically built up its home entertainment business line to include innovative product solutions, in particular Blu-ray hard disk recorders for digital television. Loewe will use this expertise in particular for very powerful and customizable electronic program guides and also for the simple editing and archiving of video, audio and image files. In addition, the platform provides the optimal basis for making further progress in the convergence of Internet and television applications. The payments for the majority interest in the company operating to date under a self-administered insolvency plan will be in the low single-digit million range.

Loewe expects sales to grow moderately in the current fiscal year. Loewe's innovative home entertainment solutions put it in a very good position for repeating its high level of sales in Germany in 2010. Profitable double-digit growth in sales will be realized in the other key European markets. As a premium brand, Loewe will continue to focus systematically on results with cost discipline and value-based marketing. EBIT in 2010 is expected to be at the 2009 level. Moreover, Loewe’s sound capital structure and wide-ranging financing agreements put the Company in an optimal position for future growth.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Loewe Q1 Results

Loewe off to a good start in fiscal year 2010 – sales and earnings slightly higher than in 2009
Moderate increase in sales from EUR 72.8 million to EUR 73.4 million
At EUR 0.8 million, EBIT slightly higher than in the previous year
Sales in Germany 3% lower than in 2009
Export sales up by 7%
Targeted price adjustments result in lower gross margin
New Individual product family the most important market launch in 2010
Continued systematic focus on results with cost discipline

Kronach, May 5, 2010 – "Our Company has made a good start in fiscal year 2010 – Loewe is within the scope of its expectations and has slightly exceeded the corresponding 2009 figures, with regard to both sales and earnings," was how Frieder C. Löhrer, CEO of Loewe AG, summed up the first quarter of 2010. In line with expectations, sales of the Loewe Group in the first three months of 2010 at EUR 73.4 million were slightly higher than the 2009 figure of EUR 72.8 million. A moderate increase in sales and production volume enabled the Loewe Group to achieve EBIT of EUR 0.8 million compared to EUR 0.7 million in the first quarter of 2009.

As expected, Loewe Group sales rose moderately by 1% from EUR 72.8 million to EUR 73.4 million in the period under review. Business development in the different markets showed divergent trends. While sales in Germany at EUR 42.2 million in the first three months of 2010 were 3% lower than in 2009, export sales grew by 7% to EUR 31.2 million. Its systematic positioning in the premium segment and its attractive and individual product portfolio have enabled Loewe to keep selling prices at an almost stable level over an extended period of time, although the average market prices in Europe have trended sharply downwards. "In order for the Company to secure strategically reasonable price premiums and create additional incentives to buy high-quality Loewe products, we took this market trend into account in the first quarter, in particular in the entry level TV segment. This was also included in our planning for fiscal year 2010," continued Löhrer.

The percentage of large-screen LCD TVs 37 inches and larger in Loewe's total LCD sales continues to be pleasing. Their share increased to 63% in the first three months of 2010 from 58% a year earlier. The Audio/DVD product group displayed exceptionally positive growth in the period under review. The very successful market launch of the new Mediacenter audio/video system enabled Loewe to increase its revenues to EUR 9.7 million, nearly double those of the first three months of 2009. "The launch of the Mediacenter has brought us an important step closer to our goal of making Loewe the most significant international premium brand for home entertainment systems," said Löhrer.

A moderate increase in sales and production volume enabled Loewe to achieve EBIT of EUR 0.8 million compared to EUR 0.7 million in the first quarter of 2009. Despite the planned price adjustments in the entry level TV segment and the somewhat lower sales volume in Germany, Loewe achieved a gross margin of 24.8% in the first three months of 2010. It is thus only 1.6 percentage points lower than the high level in the same period of the previous year of 26.4%. "Our value-based marketing and continued good product mix have been instrumental in safeguarding our earnings situation," explained Oliver Seidl, CFO of Loewe AG. The higher percentage of large-screen LCD TVs 37 inches and above in total TV sales also supported earnings.

The Company is currently making intensive preparations for the most important market launch of the year. "Our new Individual product line with the most advanced LED backlighting will be launched on the market just in time for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa . Loewe Individual offers individuality in a unique form," commented Löhrer. Loewe Individual offers the customer more than one million options with regard to colors, materials, placement solutions and technical features for configuring one's own personal TV system. No other home entertainment system offers so much freedom of choice and can be so consistently adapted to the living situation, tastes and expectations of every individual. Moreover, the current year will see a systematic continuation of the product offensive with the launch of additional large-screen, high-definition LCD TVs with LED backlighting.

Loewe expects sales to grow moderately in the current fiscal year 2010. Loewe's innovative home entertainment solutions put it in a very good position for repeating its high level of sales in Germany in 2010. Profitable double-digit growth in sales will be realized in the other key European markets. As a premium brand, Loewe will continue to focus systematically on results with cost discipline and value-based marketing. EBIT in the current year is expected to be at the 2009 level. Moreover, Loewe’s sound capital structure and wide-ranging financing agreements put the company in an optimal position for future growth.

Monday, May 17, 2010

WEVA Video Contest!

Enter Your Weddings, Events & Corporate Video - Deadline May 27 - Open to All Professionals


The 2010 "Call For Entries" in the WEVA 20th Annual Creative Excellence Awards Competition was announced at the WEVA-NAB 2010 Open House with all entries due by the 2010 deadline 5:00pm Thursday, May 27, 2010. The competition is open to all professionals worldwide (WEVA members receive lower entry fee - to see all advantages of WEVA membership go to WEVA.com).

Download the Official Entry Form at www.weva.com/ceawards/CEA2010.pdf

Enter your best productions now (on standard DVD format).

All 2010 winning entries will be officially announced and screened this summer at the WEVA Creative Excellence Film Fest during the “Opening Night Gala” of the WEVA 20th Annual Wedding & Event Video Expo 2010 at The Dolphin Resort in Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL on August 23, 2010


16 Video Award Categories


The 2010 WEVA Creative Excellence Awards Competition embraces 16 Video Award categories. Like last year, the Official Rules allow you to enter as many of the award categories as you wish, and you may submit up to two video entries per category.

The newest category, introduced last year, is Wedding Movie Trailer. One of the most popular and effective ways today’s wedding videographers and event filmmakers are marketing their work is through the use of short, film-like trailers. In this award category, entries must not exceed 2.5 minutes (see the 2010 Official Rules for complete descriptions of all 16 video award categories).

The WEVA 20th Annual Creative Excellence Awards Competition categories welcome productions that cover a variety of social events and corporate work, including weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, class reunions, recitals, theatrical/stage productions, promotional videos, graduations, band performances, cheerleading competitions, memorial services, corporate training, anniversaries, christenings, charity events, and others. Each year, awards are presented to wedding and event video professionals nationally and internationally. Many are first-time recipients. Enter your finest work now on DVD.

"Each year, WEVA invites all wedding and event video professionals to enter their finest work in our industry’s most prestigious awards competition," said WEVA Chairman Roy Chapman. "The Creative Excellence Awards Competition, now in its 20th year, an industry milestone, is again open to all professionals worldwide. It is a WEVA peer-reviewed competition. There is always a new panel of judges every year, and each year brings a fresh opportunity for new productions to be honored. A WEVA Creative Excellence Award represents the highest honor in production achievement in professional wedding and event video. All professionals are encouraged to enter their best work!"


Winning Entries to be Screened at Disney World


The 2010 winning entries will be screened in their entirety this summer at the WEVA 20th Annual Wedding & Event Video Expo August 23-26, 2010 at Walt Disney World. "WEVA EXPO 2010 is also where wedding and event video professionals will discover cutting-edge wedding video creativity, new digital cinema techniques, Video/DSLR-HD 'fusion' technologies, new social media marketing and sales strategies, and new techniques for taking your work to the highest levels of production artistry," said John Zale WEVA’s Director of Educational Development. WEVA EXPO 2010, our industry's biggest convention and trade show, is open to all industry professionals, affiliates, and students (WEVA members receive discount registration).

The WDW Dolphin Resort, host hotel for WEVA EXPO 2010, is already accepting WEVA EXPO 2010 room reservations. The special discount for all EXPO attendees is only $99/night (single or double). Parking is free for EXPO attendees who are registered guests and in-room Internet access is also free. To make guest room reservations Click Here! Registration for WEVA EXPO 2010 will open online soon. Check WEVA.com regularly for all Wedding & Event Video Expo 2010 updates!

MacroSystem announces Store-N-Share Launch Date


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MacroSystem US ANNOUNCES STORE-N-SHARE RELEASE DATE - June 1ST, 2010



MacroSystem US Announces Store-N-Share Release Date:
Boulder, CO

MacroSystem US (www.macrosystem.us) announces the much anticipated release of the Store-N-Share application - for the Casablanca product line.
Store'n'Share allows you to use an externally connected (USB) hard drive with Bogart SE v2 or v3 as an alternative to the internal hard drive. MSUS is also introducing a line of drive bay’s and drives for the new Store-N-Share software. While not required, this will be a time saver for the heavy Store-N-Share user.
“K-12’s and Independent videographers have gotten very excited about MacroSystem adding the ability to save projects to specific hard drives, in a hot-swap capacity. The feedback we are getting from this community around Data-integrity, Project Management, and ROI from a Time Management standpoint is hugely positive.” VP of Sales and Marketing Philip Bice

• Store'n'Share software lets you save projects directly to the external hard drive.
• Project data can be shared between multiple Bogart machines. If you record project data to an external hard drive you can also connect it to another Bogart machine (provided Casablanca Bogart Store'n'Share is activated) and edit the project as if it were on the original machine.
• Once a drive has been initialized for Store'n' Share, it can be used for all other Backup functions of the Bogart software including HD Backup Bogart software and with the Backup Storyboard feature.

• $99 for Store-N-Share at launch date
• $119 for an External Drive Bay (optional)
• $139 for 1TB Hard Drive for External Drive Bay
• $299 for 2TB Hard Drive for External Drive Bay
• Packaged Deals Available
• $299 1TB Drive/ External Drive Bay/ Store-N-Share Software
• $449 2TB Drive/ External Drive Bay/ Store-N-Share Software



MacroSystem US Store-N-Share Release Date - June 1st 2010

Contact Information:
Media Relations
Marketing@macrosystem.us
www.macrosystem.us
MacroSystem US
5485 Conestoga Ct
Boulder, CO 80301

Friday, May 14, 2010

MacroSystem US Announces Bogart 3


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MacroSystem US ANNOUNCES BOGART 3 OS RELEASE DATE - June 1st , 2010

MacroSystem US Announces Bogart 3 OS Release Date:
Boulder, CO


MacroSystem US (www.macrosystem.us) announces the much-anticipated release of the Bogart 3 Operating System - for the Casablanca product line on June 1st 2010. This release not only increases performance and stability of the Casablanca line, but includes many new highly anticipated features.

“This release reflects the Bogart Linux Operating System’s ability to directly address customer requests and needs more quickly than with the Smart Edit OS. Our US based Test Team’s feedback around the recent Linux OS version has been very positive” - VP of Sales and Marketing Philip Bice

-Compatibility with MOV files allows importing and incorporation of additional digital backgrounds, jump-backs (Digital Juice, etc)
-Additional contemporary file formats compatible for direct import into Record Menu -- allows files from DSLR, professional and prosumer video camcorders.
-In addition to 1440x1080, HD resolutions 1920x1080 and 1280x720 are supported
-It is possible to record HDV and AVCHD in SD projects and to record DV in HD projects. If necessary, everything will be converted while recording
-Drag and drop audio mixing coupled with robust audio editing tools directly accessible from the mix menu
-Photo and time-lapse recordings for HD projects
-Ability to copy an entire project (including raw footage/audio files) into another project which allows for easy creation of different versions of a project
-Pre pre-mixing is now possible!  You can edit on top of an unlocked track of audio without having to delete the sample
-Many new changes and enhancements to audio editing especially when using the Timeline display.

$249 - Full Version
$179 - Upgrade Version

Contact Information:
Media Relations
Marketing@macrosystem.us
www.macrosystem.us
MacroSystem US
5485 Conestoga Ct
Boulder, CO 80301

Thursday, May 13, 2010

MSUS Announces Smart Edit 9 Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MacroSystem US ANNOUNCES Smart Edit 9 Operating System RELEASE DATE - June 1ST, 2010



MacroSystem US Announces Smart Edit OS Release Date:
Boulder, CO


MacroSystem US (www.macrosystem.us) announces the much anticipated release of the Smart Edit 9 Operating System for Legacy Casablanca Video Editors. This release not only increases performance and stability of the Casablanca line, but includes many new highly anticipated features.

“The Smart Edit 9 OS release is certainly a great one on many fronts. This may be one of the last releases of the Smart Edit OS as we are starting to run into development limitations within this older proprietary architecture. We are proud of the OS’s longevity, stability, and it’s incredible reputation.” - VP of Sales and Marketing Philip Bice

-Many new changes and enhancements to audio editing especially when using the Timeline display.
-Audio rendering is only needed for effects.  Other audio mixing will not need any rendering!
-Pre pre-mixing is now possible!  You can edit on top of an unlocked track of audio without having to delete the sample.
-A new display mode has been added during playback of the storyboard which allows you to see relevant scene names, effect names, and images.
-A project can now be copied to a different and empty project!
$249 - Full Version
$179 - Upgrade Version


MacroSystem US Smart Edit 9 Release Date - June 1st 2010

Contact Information:
Media Relations
Marketing@macrosystem.us
www.macrosystem.us
MacroSystem US
5485 Conestoga Ct
Boulder, CO 80301

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Dallas Casablanca Conference!

Straight from the Casablanca Expert - here's a quick excerpt...

Dallas Casablanca Conference - coming September 2010!
Posted: 05 May 2010 12:02 AM PDT
I am delighted to have been working with the folks at CAM Audio, Inc. in Dallas, Texas for the past few years in offering both 2-day conferences and hands-on workshops. I find Seth Hampton and the rest of the CAM Audio crew really know how to host a great event!


We've heard from many of the folks who have attended these previous CAM Audio Casablanca sessions in Dallas, Texas, as well as inquiries from folks in a couple different locations around the country. There is great interest in another grand event for the Casablanca community - we're happy to announce the Casablanca Conference Dallas 2010!

You are hereby invited to join us in Dallas, Texas for 3 days of all-things Casablanca! This will take place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday September 28-30, 2010.
There will be tons of learning going on and a lot of fun as well. I Will be teaching many sessions and am delighted that Bobbie Evoy of Memories On Tape (from Michigan) will be presenting as well. Bobbie is SO creative and always teaches me some cool tips and tricks as well. Bobbie will be sharing tips for getting great effects with BlueBox World. You may know she has put together a number of music videos and does a great job!

I am also looking forward to the DVD Menu 'Bake-Off' (where folks submit their best/favorite DVD menu so we can all gawk at the creativity amongst our peers); the video editing contest (where small teams will edit from the same footage.. then share their final product and lessons from the experience); we'll have a Vendors Fair where some equipment manufacturers will be on-hand to share their latest wares and answer questions you may have.

And CAM Audio will have a super-store at the event... with competitive prices on everything from cameras to tripods, microphones to DVD duplicators and of course lots of media (tape, DVD, CD, etc).


Register today to ensure your seat at this valuable learning & networking opportunity. Lunch is included for all 3 days - evenings are open so you can relax your brain or hang-out with your Casablanca colleagues.



Registration in only $129.00 for the full 3-day Conference!
Online registration is open now: http://dallasconference2010.eventbrite.com

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Gwinnett County Public Schools Video Production

What to say? Great people, incredible knowledge, student and education focused objectives, top down support, incredible infrastructure...
Easily the nicest and best video production of any K-12 facility I've ever seen.


Here's some pic's from just one of their support facilities (many more facilities across campuses!!)





2010 Georgia State Media Festival




What an event!! I couldn't believe how many students had entries and how many great entries there were!

Media Specialists, Editors, Videographers from all over the state gathered to judge Student's entries - all selected by their respective districts as being an "excellent" or better representation of telling a story through the video medium.

Best estimates are in the mid 200's for the number of Casablanca Entries!!

All I can say is - I'm proud to support the schools and students at these events, and am looking forward to sponsoring many more in the future!!

Monday, April 26, 2010

New Titler From MacroSystem!

Macrosystem Previews new Title Studio software at NAB Show
At the NAB Show 2010 (National Association of Broadcasters) held in Las Vegas, Nevada this week, Macrosystem AG CEO Jorg Sprave is joined by MSUS President Eric Kloor and MSUS VP Sales & Marketing Phillip Bice. They are greeting resellers and customers in their hospitality suite at the Hilton Gardens Hotel (near the LV Convention Center) and showing the newest Casablanca Operating Systems: Smart Edit 9 and Bogart SE 3.

They are also sharing a new software program called Title Studio - this is a forthcoming product that will be available for the Generation 3 Casablanca editors (S2000, S4000/PRO, and S4100) running Bogart V3 and higher. I had the opportunity to play with a beta version of the software recently and really enjoyed the new creative capabilities. Here is a translation of the PDF announcement from the MS AG website (translated from German -- the syntax is rough in some passages due to grammar translation)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TITLE STUDIO ANNOUNCEMENT


Title studio is a new formation program that replaces the standard titler program. Title studio is obviously HD capable and offers many creative possibilities to form text up to the single letter and calculate together with a title effect.


Title studio will be published briefly and is available at the the price of 149. EURO.

We offer in April 2010 all customers, who have licenses one of the following packages for its system: Title effect package 1, 2, or 3, Deluxe Titler 3D the new title studio with a discount of 20% on. (NOTE: this offer is made in the German language website to PAL Customers - NTSC customers may have a different offer when the product is closer to NTSC release)


With title studio, you have next to the previous possibilities in addition many further helpful and functions that are based to a large degree on. They individually can format any letters of a line. A large selection at predefined styles already is included. Moreover you can form self also the letters far the accustomed possibilities out. So your text can get a surface structure and tilted edges. The selection of structures to the formation of the text as well as that stands you an extensive library to that. That individually formed can be stored and are styles by an example picture in the style archive to find easily again. The title studio indicates you in its exactly that, what you see later also after the calculation, (that names one WYSIWYG, exception upon inputting of a course writing). At the same time also all current text formats are available.

General
To generate generally over 100 predefined writing styles and almost endlessly many possibilities own styles over 300 included, different materials and pattern of writing style own to the design all titles now also in perfect abundance HD quality project independent: An once generated title can be used in all any video formats.

WYSIWYG editor
Every letter can its own writing style have is every letter the sign distance, the sign width and the writing size individually adjustable the line distance is each separated line adjustable, block sentence becomes the text alignment (to the left, centers, to the right, looked) is each line individually adjustable it can as desired many lines per text chalkboard written become. Any area in your title, marked with Shift, Ctrl, mouse and double click and Dreifachklick two different users layouts solutions small and large.

Sides (3D Textures)
it can be generated as desired many sides, can become can become can archive become that sides after retroactively in your sequence sorted sides copied sides in order to use it
in any other projects again

Text chalkboards
It can be generated as desired many chalkboards per side, can receive are can there each chalkboard an any background the edges freely adjustable the text above, met with and aligned become below at the chalkboard, the position and size of the chalkboards are can freely adjustably chalkboards retroactively forwards and/or behind pushed become. A chalkboard can be archived in order to use it in any other projects again. The shadow the text can narrow places become per chalkboard as desired

Writing style
Every writing style is individually change-able through: Type / size, surface (color, pattern, etc.), imprint (punch), frame, facet, 3D and outline

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Casablanca ROI vs FCP

Hello all! I'd like to ask you for a little help... I'm working on some ROI papers (requested by dealers and customers). Since you are our users... perhaps you could email me at suggestions@macrosystem.us with some thoughts on what I've left out, forgotten, made up, or am just plain wrong about.



Purpose of the software -
Apple regularly advertises that they have oscars and other awards from movies that were editing on their software. Apple is clearly making a HOLLYWOOD solution. What other hollywood products do you use at a Wedding or K-12 School? None. Why use a Hollywood editor in a non-hollywood setting? Typical budget for a FCP editor on a SMALL movie (<1million budget) is 50k-100k and 3-6 months.

Cassie is Made Specifically for WEV market and WEV needs - and K-12 School Environments. Churn and Burn environments where high quality matters


Post Production Time/ Costs -
Typical Wedding Videographer has fixed costs-
spends 4-5 hours at a wedding
has 3-4 people at the wedding
gets paid 500-1200 per wedding

Only variable costs are post production -
Typical Apple plus software = 3,500-5,500 (not including Monitors, etc)
Typical Apple lasts 3 years
Typical Cassie is used for 6-8 years
On Final Cut Pro - WEV spends about 5x the video hours recorded to Edit
On Cassie - WEV spends 3x the video hours recorded to Edit


ROI -
For 20 hours of video per event

FCP edit time = 100 hours
at $500 per event = earning $5 per hour (just for editing/ not including event coverage)
at $1000 per event = earning $10 per hour (just for editing/ not including event coverage)

Cassie Edit Time = 60 hours
at $500 per event = earning $8.30 per hour (just for editing/ not including event coverage)
at $1,000 per event = earning $16.60 per hour(just for editing/ not including event coverage)


Income Differences
WEV can do 1.6x as much work with Cassie as FCP in the same time.
If WEV can make $75k/ yr using FCP - they can make $120k with Cassie (because they can book more events!)

Friday, April 23, 2010

Club Casablanca

Over the years Casablanca owners have proven to be extremely passionate about video, excited about new techniques and incredibly loyal to the Casablanca line of editors. At MacroSystem US, we credit our success and longevity to all of the support, feedback, and collaboration with our end users. That has allowed us to grow and change to suit their editing needs and the needs of others in the industry.

The Casablanca Community is a strong and vibrant collection of people who share ideas, stories, and solutions via the Casablanca Forum, the Cassie Tips List, and various User Groups.

We have created Club Casablanca to provide exclusive products and services to its members as a way of thanking them for their continued support.

Club fees are $49 a year billed at time of enrollment, and in January of each following year.


CLUB CASABLANCA BENEFITS:

-10% discount for all software.*

-10% discount for all internal and external hard drives.

-Enrollment in the Operating System Pre-Order program to receive 20% off all future OS releases**

-Club-Only Specials announced throughout the year.

-An exclusive Club only Casablanca software title.

-Tips & Tricks DVDs and Video Manuals DVDs are available to Club Members at a 50% discount

*10% club member discount may not be combined with any other offer including: 40% second machine software discount and "Buy-Two-Get-One-Free" holiday offer.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

New Software Updates!

Software Updates

The following software updates are now available:

Caladan v1.8a. Now the popular printing program, Caladan, is also available for Bogart SE. Print DVD covers and media from your projects. Note: The Caladan will actual have two versions on the Add On Software CD. The Caladan v1.6 will be what you use for SE (Smart Edit) machines, the Caladan v1.8a is what you use for Bogart machines. Be aware that some older HP printers that don't support CD/DVD prints won't work if you try to print with that particular label setting in the program.

Pro Club 2009 v1.0. The Pro Club 2009 software is a free program exclusively for Casablanca Club members. It includes a new Countdown engine that allows you to add sound bumps, mix different types of backgrounds, and have more options to making creative countdowns . It also includes a few free filter mixtures in the archives of the "Effect Stack" found in Image Processing. The Pro Club software requires SE 8 or above to run on SE machines. It requires version Bogart 2 or above on the Bogart systems.

An updated disc can be downloaded here: http://macrosystem.us/index.php?pr=Add-Ons

Monday, April 19, 2010

NAB Roundup

Wow, What a great show!

it was one for the busiest shows for MSUS ever! We had Jorg and Eric manning the suite full time, giving demo's and showing off some software we'll be releasing in the near future. There were several dealers bringing customers and potential customers into the suite all day, every day! MSUS Reps also made it in from all over the country to get a demo for the upcoming releases and to meet customers!

If you made it to the show, you noticed a resounding theme with EVERYONE who was displaying - 3D

If you are a post production specialist you were probably overwhelmed with all the display and capture technology (cameras and TV's). But you were also probably severally disappointed in the 3D editing options available. Yes, I saw the demo's from Apple and Avid and Adobe too - they were COMPLICATED!
I'm proud to say that the MacroSystem 3D editing solution will be the easiest AND the fastest on the market! We will retain our current workflow, and will only require a couple of extra steps at the beginning of the edit process to initiate the 3D editing capability. It's an extra 30-60 seconds worth of work!



We'll be posting more details about future offerings soon - stay tuned!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

New Software Teaser! Store-N-Share

Here's a quick teaser of our upcoming Store-N-Share Software


-Use Store and Share to allow your external harddrives to handle project data as if you were using the internal drive.
-Store and Share allows you to switch between using your internal drive or external drive in the Project Settings menu.
-Hard drives formatted for Store and Share use can be used between different Bogart systems.
-Set up different project environments on Store and Share so your external drive could have more than 30 projects in use.
-Store and Share has it's own initialization function to format your harddrives. The Linux based format used can allow the external drive to function with all of the Bogart backup functions (HD Bogart Backup, Storyboard Backups, etc.)

*Store and Share must have Bogart 3.1 or higher to run.




This is a big time saver, and allows for some pretty ingenious resource management.

Want to see Store-N-Share in action? Come visit us at NAB, we'll be showing this and more!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Dealer Profile - Hughes Pictures

Check out Hughes Pictures - Not only are they a dealer, but they create, produce and sell some pretty cool content. They have a Reality TV show, have done Music Video's with big name bands, done feature length movies, and provide great service to their customers. I've heard several good things from their School and Church customers!



Check them out at http://www.avio-kron.com/

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Video Storytelling Principles DVD

Here's a little teaser from one of our Dealer and Users - Hughes Productions. They've been making all kinds of shows and video's over the years. Music Video's from big name acts to Reality TV shows and everything in the middle. Some of the topics covered include -
* Introduction * Tripods
* Video Storytelling * Lighting
* Making a Video * Microphones
* Camera moves * Green Screen
* Camera Tips * Crossing the Line

Check them out here - www.avio-kron.com

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Morning at Home

Since I'm not working today, I thought I'd post some non-work related content.
Anyone who knows can tell you a few things that are universally true. I love my Family, I love Mountain Biking, I love a good meal, and I love good coffee.

On to this morning's helpful tip.

Step One - buy yourself some great fresh coffee. I recommend getting some coffee from rocky mountain roastery, they bring in the best beans they can find and then roast them in house as needed (Super Fresh). http://www.rockymountainroastery.com/



Step Two - Grind baby Grind
Get yourself a nice Bur Grinder... it makes as big of a difference as the beans themselves. Seriously - this may be the most important part as the grinder is what shapes the "ground" bean into a form that allows for extraction into the drink we know as coffee.



Step Three - Brew
I like my Cuisinart as it's not the most expensive, but is extremely consistent. This is important so that you can experiment and get down a volume, strength, and ratio that will suite your taste.
This Cuisinart is also super insulated, so it doesn't require as much heat from the heating element. This is important as re-heating and over heating results in a tinny/ bitter taste.
Mine happens to have a built in Burr Grinder... but most do not.














I store my ready to use coffee in an air tight container for beans I'll use within a week or so - anything longer and I store it in a freezer-burn-proof bag surrounding the original packaging.
The refrigerator is a NO-NO! The beans will pickup fragrances from other foods and such.

Enjoy!

Snow Day

It's a snow day here at MacroSystem, or rather NOT t MacroSystem (we're all at home today)... Mother Nature gave us a healthy portion of snow overnight - 2 feet - and it's still coming down hard. Don't expect anyone to pick up the phones because we won't be there.
Got to love Spring in Colorado!

Now I just need to figure out how to get up to the ski slopes without my boss getting mad. Maybe if I take some video with my helmet cam...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Casablanca Expert Workshops

Let's say you buy a tool that's not only pretty nifty, but it's incredibly powerful. Let's say you are a business and this tool is at the core of the production of your product. Wouldn't you want to get everything out of this tool that you could? Wouldn't you invest in training and knowledge transfer for this tool? Since your investments and purchases are all ROI based - aren't you looking for ways to maximize that ROI?

Your Casablanca is a tool to help you produce your product more efficiently and more effectively. It's built to have the highest ROI possible for the small business owner. Education will help you maximize this ROI - this is true of any complex tool you purchase and it's true of the Casablanca line.

Education is the single best way to increase ROI and Profitability in any business - so check out these workshops designed to help you increase your ROI and Profitability. Chet Davis has a gift for education and he puts on some great workshops in easy to get to locations around the country.




Casablanca Hands-on Intermediate Workshop
Pennsylvania/New Jersey (Westampton, NJ)
Tuesday-Wednesday April 6-7, 2010
http://philly2010.eventbrite.com/

Casablanca Hands-on Intermediate Workshop
Boston, Massachusetts
Thursday-Friday April 8-9, 2010
http://boston2010.eventbrite.com/


Casablanca Hands-on Intermediate Workshop
Buena Park, California
Tuesday-Wednesday April 27-28, 2010
http://southernca.eventbrite.com/


Casablanca Hands-on Workshop
SF Bay Area, California
Wednesday-Thursday May 5-6, 2010
http://norcal2010.eventbrite.com/


Casablanca Hands-on Advanced Workshop
Dallas, Texas
Sunday-Monday May 18-19, 2010
Online Details & Registration to be posted

Casablanca Hands-on Workshop
Metro Atlanta, Georgia
Sunday-Monday July 11-12, 2010
http://atlanta2010.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Be a Speaker at WEVA!!

We've got some incredible talent out there in the Cassie Family of Users. Anyone want to speak at WEVA?



Call For WEVA EXPO 2010 Speaker Proposals - Deadline March 30


Sarasota, FL - Are you doing wedding & event video/DSLR creativity or marketing that’s unique and different? Share your knowledge and skills, get recognized worldwide - be a Featured Presenter at the WEVA 20th-Year Wedding & Event Video Expo August 23-26, 2010 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. It’s the biggest convention and trade show for anyone involved in (or wanting to work in) professional wedding and event video. Enter your WEVA EXPO 2010 topic proposal(s) NOW! – click here: http://www.weva.com/proposals

Quick & Easy

"WEVA EXPO 2010 is open to all -- and the WEVA online proposal form makes it quick and simple to enter your topic proposal(s)," said John Zale, WEVA’s Director of Educational Development. Go to http://www.weva.com/proposals and create your own personal log-in account. Then just follow the prompts. You can submit more than one topic proposal. Just create a separate login for each proposed topic."

You don't have to enter all your information in one visit. The WEVA EXPO 2010 Proposal Form automatically saves your text until you are ready to add more text or ready to submit your proposal(s) in final form. Whenever you log-in you will automatically be placed at the point where you left off.

What Topics to Enter?

"You may propose topic(s) relating to ANY aspect of the production and business sides of professional wedding video, event video/DSLR HD filmmaking, and professional DSLR photography, including: camerawork, digital cinema, editing, marketing, selling, business administration, HD topics, new techniques and creativity, recitals, Blu-ray authoring, special events, workflow, IT video issues, audio, business add-ons, graphics/titles, software-specific workshops, special event marketing, corporate video, DVD authoring (production, packaging, etc.), lighting, Internet marketing, 'Camera Clinic' topics, and more," Zale said. Enter your topic(s) now. Deadline for all topic entries is March 30, 2010.

Friday, March 19, 2010

WEVA - Registration Info

Registration isn't open yet - but here's some early bird details


WEVA 20th Annual Wedding & Event Video Expo Heads to Disney World
January 18, 2010

Sarasota, FL - Discover the new magic in digital wedding and event cinema this summer! Mark your calendar and plan now to attend. Open to all, our industry’s special 20th-year Wedding & Event Video Expo will be presented by WEVA International August 23-26, 2010 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.

An industry milestone event, the WEVA EXPO 2010 international convention and trade show will be held at The Dolphin Resort in the renown Swan and Dolphin Resort complex next to the Disney Boardwalk in Walt Disney World.

Discounted guest room rates for all WEVA attendees at The Dolphin Resort will be just $99/night (single or double occupancy). Parking will be free for all registered WEVA guests. And there are no additional charges for in-room high-speed Internet access or resort fees. The discount rate also includes free Dolphin Health Club access, plus more. And, all registered WEVA guests will have complimentary access to the adjacent Swan Resort pools and facilities as well.
The special guest room rate is valid for 4 days before and 3 three days after WEVA EXPO 2010. Reservations for WEVA guests have already opened. Make your guest room reservations now. More EXPO news will be posted soon. Save the dates - August 23-26 - for the WEVA 20th Annual Wedding & Event Video Expo at Walt Disney World!

OT - Boulder Weather

Really?

The last couple of days we've all been coming into the office in shorts and t-shirts. High 60's here in Boulder, CO. Primo weather for being outside! We were even considering breaking out the grill for lunches. Yes - we have a webber charcoal grill next to the warehouse dock. Yes, it's awesome. Yes, I'll grill for you if you come visit.

Anyway - we've got 6 inches of snow already (noon) and it's coming down even harder. Webber dreams are fading fast.

Ok - I'm done complaining now. Back to work.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

MacroSystem at NAB 2010

MacroSystem attending NAB

-Meet the Company Executive Leadership!
-Get a Free Expo Pass!
-Free Food!
-Free Drinks!
-Appointments Recommended!


Join MacroSystem at 2010 edition of the NAB exhibition! Once again we've reserved a Suite at the Hilton Grand Vacation hotel to host our guests in style.

We look forward to meeting with Customers, Dealers, Partners - and anyone else who might be in attendance. At the Suite you can expect to meet with Eric Kloor (MSUS CEO), Jorg Sprave (MSDE CEO), and Philip Bice (MSUS VP Sales & Marketing). The Suite will be stocked with food, goodies, treats, beverages, and good times.

Even more exciting? We'll be showing off some top secret projects! That's right, never before seen tech!

eMail MacroSystem at marketing@macrosystem.us with your contact info (Name, Phone, eMail, Street Address) and we'll hook you up with a free expo pass for April 12-15th.


Some quick fun facts about NAB
-More than 85,000 audio, video and film content professionals
-157 countries represented
-$30 billion in purchasing power
-500+ conference and training sessions
-1,500+ exhibiting companies and 800,000+ net square feet of exhibit space
-1,300+ members of the press
-82 years of industry leadership

Monday, March 15, 2010

What Would You Do with 1,000 FPS?

I'm sure a few of you have seen these Phantom Camera's in the past... but I love all the fun stuff people cook up with em!

what you would you do with 1 thousand frames per second?


MGT 2010

I had a great time at MGT 2010, thanks to all that attended, spoke to me, and had feedback for us to bring back to MSUS here in Boulder, CO. If all MGT's are like this, it's a pretty incredible event. It's truely rare that you can get a 5x ROI on attending an event - and everyone's ticket was payed for through increased knowledge on the first day. Incredible.

Of Course, in true roadtrip fashion - all of my pictures have been destroyed by my laptop. Hard drive failure - AGAIN.


Thanks Apple. FAIL.


Jim has already announced he's booked the same hotel and space for 2011 - and in my humble opinion he's made the right choice.

Great Job Jim! I'll be there next year!

Monday, March 8, 2010

MGT - Monday Evening

Wow - Really Great stuff today!

Got to meet some very good people today - many of whom have been involved with Casablanca Products for 10+ years.

Chet Davis gave a great overview of our software releases from the past 12 months as well as SE9 and Bogart 3 releases.


I'm really looking forward to Tuesday and our product roundtable!

MGT - Monday Morning

March 7th - Traveling to MGT 2010.

Delayed Flights,
Missing Rental Car,
Heavy Fog,
Icy Streets,
Car Accident,
Broken Laptop,
Heartburn Inducing Apple Juice


March 8th - Day one of MGT 2010.

8am and I'm already meeting some pretty interesting people and the show I'm really looking forward to the events this week!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Bogart 3 Teaser

Hello all! I've just taken a sneak peak of Bogart 3 in our Beta Testing Lab... it's looking pretty good!

Here's a quick teaser of things to come,
*-Many new changes and enhancements to audio editing especially when using the Timeline display.
*-Audio rendering is only needed for effects. Other audio mixing will not need any rendering!
*-Pre pre-mixing is now possible! You can edit on top of an unlocked track of audio without having to delete the sample.
*-A new display mode has been added during playback of the storyboard which allows you to see relevant scene names, effect names, and images.
*-A project can now be copied to a different and empty project!
-In addition to 1440x1080, HD resolutions 1920x1080 and 1280x720 are now also supported
-It is now possible to record HDV and AVCHD in SD projects and to record DV in HD projects. If necessary, everything will be converted while recording.
-When importing via USB, it is now possible to read several other formats in addition to AVCHD in the Bogart Recording menu.
-Photo and time-lapse recordings are now also possible for HD projects

High School Broadcast Journalism Project

If you haven't seen these guys in action, you're missing out!

Try getting bouncing around their site and you'll find tutorials, scholarships, forums, and all kinds of helpful stuff!

http://hsbj.org/

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Eric's Top Three List of Famous but Unnameable Casablanca Owners

1. A certain heavyweight boxer.
2. The father of a wildly successful and creative film director.
3. An NFL player of renown.

Yeah ... it's one of those 'if we told you, bullets may fly' type of situations. And we're not sure a boxer, tackler, or a director's dad's accolades would further sales that much more ... but it's cool to have these owners/users.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

March Get Together

Next week Philip Bice, MacroSystem US's illustrious VP of Sales and Marketing will be at the Annual March Get Together in Davenport, IA.

What's the March Get Together? it's the largest User Conference for MacroSystem products in the country. It's organized, driven by, and created by users! Did I mention that we love our users?

What is Philip doing there? Well, he's new - so he's got to introduce himself to the masses at some point. He's also going to talk about some of the things that the company will be doing differently moving forward (communication and internet might be hot topics). On Tuesday morning, Phil will moderate a Product Roundtable where users who are dependent upon MacroSystem products for their income will weigh in with their biggest desires and needs. In addition, Phil will also be conducting interviews with end users on video - and then using this video in MSUS marketing materials.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Time for a Poll!!

Did I mention that we really like our customers? If you're cool enough to have found this gem-of-a-blog, then please take part in our poll.

I know it's not hard to figure out - but please rate the level of importance for the corresponding efforts. Want to see something added? Have something to contribute (in depth)? eMail us at suggestions@macrosystem.us

Macrosystem.US

Yup, we're blogging. We're bloggers. We Blog.

Glad to see that you've found us here on the internet... on our little corner in the vast series of tubes you'll find some company news, learn about video editing best practices, read about some industry news, and find some content to help all you editors out there!

Now, on to the blogging...