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Rodriguez uses Linux to Edge out ILM
An anonymous reader writes "A Linux device helped legendary independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Desperado, Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and others) win the race with ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) to create the first movie ever to use a digital format supporting full-bandwidth RGB. Rodriguez's Sin City, which opens April 1, was shot in Dual Link, or "4:4:4" format, and transferred between tapes and hard drives using SpectSoft's Linux-based RaveHD DDR (digital disk recorder)."
Rodriguez's Sin City,
Actually, its Frank Miller's Sin City. IMHO the writer is more important than the director.
"For Great Justice."
I know you guys have to frame everything in terms of "LINUX WINS!" but you know what? It's not a race. Nobody was sitting around a table going, "I wanna be the first to make a feature with 4:4:4 dual-link RGB!" In fact, just the opposite: Everybody was sitting around going, "Let somebody else try 4:4:4 HD video. I don't want to take a chance on it with millions of dollars of somebody else's money."
Besides that, this whole thing is completely wrong. We've been using 4:4:4 for years in film production with a device called a "datacine." Go out and shoot 35mm film, which by the way has more color sensitivity than any video camera on the market, then run it through a device that scans each frame at high bit depth and high resolution in (you guessed it) 4:4:4 RGB.
Seriously, these machines have been around for more than a decade. RGB production is nothing new. You guys are making it sound like it's revolutionary, or worse, like it COULDN'T BE DONE WITHOUT LINUX. Inferno has done 4:4:4 since the mid-90s, and that runs on SGI gear.