Posted 01/19/10 at 07:19:24 AM by Paul Lilly

If you haven't seen it yet, the movie Avatar crams a ton of special effects in a futuristic landscape, and it owes some of that magic to a data center nestled in Miramar, New Zealand.

According to Weta Digital, the visual effects company tasked with creating the images in James Cameron's flick, each minute of Avatar consumed some 17.28GB of data.

For that kind of processing power, Weta Digital tapped into a 10,000 sq. ft. server farm filled with 34 racks and over 4,000 Hewlett-Packard blade servers. According to Paul Gunn, the data center's system admin, the computing core includes about 35,000 processors and 104TB of RAM.

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Posted 12/18/09 at 09:03:51 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Some German movie goers were a little disappointed yesterday when faulty DRM caused major issues in their advanced screening of Avatar in 3D. The special 3D version was delivered to a number of cinemas in Germany, but some of them were unable to decode the files. The overtly draconian system relies on multiple certificates and time-sensitive keys from online servers to decode 150GB of 3D information.  It would seem that it’s that 3rd dimension they really want to protect, the other two not so much. 

The employees tried for several hours to get the system to work, but they eventually gave up and showed the 2D version instead. When asked about the incident Oliver Fock, general manager of CineStar Group said, “We regret the failures and the associated discomfort, but we are confident that we will be able to play the premiere both in 2D and in 3D.” It does appear that the system has been worked out and the house of cards that is the 3D DRM scheme is currently functioning in the cinemas.

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Posted 07/24/09 at 12:39:51 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

Hall H is the Comic-Con equivalent of the big game, all the biggest panels and previews are there. Even with 6000 seats in the theater, there were people lined up outside all day long to see Twilight, Avatar, and more! Check the video after the jump.

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Posted 08/11/08 at 03:06:41 PM by Paul Lilly

NZXT, the company best know for its lineup of flashy enclosures, looks to expand its horizon by getting into the gaming peripheral market with its new Avatar mouse. The uniquely shaped rodent comes ready for both left and right handed gamers and sports a rubber grip to prevent slippage. NZXT says the "small, light form factor allows for faster and quicker movements," and the company bills the new mouse as being ergonomic.

The Avatar also comes equipped with a 7-button configuration and boasts a high 2600 DPI. Other features include:

• 40 inches/second max speed
• 15g max acceleration
• 6469 max fps
• 650-2600 DPI
• 5.8MP per second
• Up to 1000 USB reports per second

One of the more interesting marketing bullets, NZXT claims the 7 buttons will last for 5 million clicks, which sounds like a really, really long time. Available now, the new Avatar has been given an MSRP of $60, which works out to about $.000012 per click.

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