Adobe will allegedly announce in Las Vegas this week at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2008 a new professional-quality raw video format. The new specification is going to be designed together with an array of cinema camera manufacturers. The format is a step further in the direction of the DNG (Digital Negative) raw digital still image format designed by Adobe.

"With the CinemaDNG initiative, Adobe is extending its leadership in developing open, interchangeable formats for digital still cameras into the realm of digital cinematography," said Jim Guerard, vice president of Dynamic Media at Adobe.

CinemaDNG's first draft will hopefully be ready later this year. When it will eventually hit the market, Adobe's professional quality video format will be supported only by the high-end equipment. It will have innovative features such as a technology that will create a text transcription of the audio within a video clip at editing time, better resolution, advanced archiving features and more image control for cinematographers and editors.

"It lays the foundation for the correct way that you want to do cinema in the future," said Simon Hayhurst, senior product manager for dynamic media at Adobe, as quoted by CNET. "You want enough space to innovate but have commonality so that you are implementing technology when there is a genuine need for it to be different," Hayhurst said.

In developing CinemaDNG, Adobe is joined by camera manufacturers such as Panavision, Silicon Imaging, Dalsa, Weisscam and ARRI, along with software vendors, including Iridas and The Foundry, and codec provider CineForm. Adobe will be also announcing native support for the Sony XDCAM EX camera format in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, augmenting its previously announced support of the Panasonic P2 format.

Earlier this month, Adobe unveiled the availability of Adobe Media Player 1.0, a customizable Adobe AIR application that offers users ways of interacting with their favorite content. The project was made in collaboration with major television broadcasters and leading content publishers such as CBS, MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, PBS, CondéNet and Scripps Networks, which will offer users a diversified content of television programming and entertaining video content, Adobe said in the announcement.