CineTechnica » convergent-design http://blog.abelcine.com AbelCine's Technology Report Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:49:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Camera-Mounted Recorders Comparison http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/05/16/camera-mounted-recorders-comparison/ http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/05/16/camera-mounted-recorders-comparison/#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 19:03:52 +0000 Ian McCausland http://blog.abelcine.com/?p=11803
One of the big stories at NAB 2011 was the release of numerous Camera Mounted HD recorders. From the AJA Ki Pro Mini to the Sound Devices PIX 240, a huge variety of portable recorders are becoming available. These recorders all aim to increase recording quality and ease workflow needs, but they differ greatly in their form, function and price point. To help navigate these different options, we created a Camera Mounted Recorder Comparison Chart that compares several of the different camera mounted recorders. The chart includes details on recording format, media, inputs and other information that should help you decide which might be right for you. We also included the high end recorders from Codex and S.two, which feature ARRIRAW recording capability. ARRIRAW is a 12-bit RAW Uncompressed format that can be sent out of the ARRI ALEXA camera.

NOTE: Several excellent recorders from Sony, Panasonic, AJA and others are not included, because we wanted to focus on recorders that are designed to be mounted on a camera for production. Check out the chart and let us know what you think.

]]> http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/05/16/camera-mounted-recorders-comparison/feed/ 4 NAB ’11: Hands on with the Gemini 4:4:4 http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/04/12/nab-11-hands-on-with-the-gemini-444/ http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/04/12/nab-11-hands-on-with-the-gemini-444/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:35:33 +0000 Ian McCausland http://blog.abelcine.com/?p=11360

While at NAB, we were able to get our hands on the much anticipated Gemini 4:4:4 recorder from Convergent Design, which Andy blogged about a few weeks ago here. This tiny device has a very bright, high-resolution monitor that rivals any small monitor available today. Watch my video as I go over some of the features and benefits of this new 10-bit uncompressed recorder.

]]> http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/04/12/nab-11-hands-on-with-the-gemini-444/feed/ 0 Convergent Design’s Gemini 4:4:4 Recorder http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/03/21/convergent-designs-gemini-444-recorder/ http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/03/21/convergent-designs-gemini-444-recorder/#comments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:15:57 +0000 Andy Shipsides http://blog.abelcine.com/?p=10909

Convergent Design, makers of the popular NanoFlash, have created a new 10-bit uncompressed video recorder with a list price of only $5,995. The Gemini 4:4:4 combines a small (5″) touch screen monitor with an uncompressed HD recorder. The recorder supports HD-SDI, Dual Link and 3G-SDI inputs. It records to one or two 1.8″ solid state hard drives. Just about every HD format is supported up to 2k in resolution in both the 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 color space. Additionally, it is an incredibly light and small device, weighing in at around half a pound, and just about 5″ wide by 1″ thick (5.4 x 4.5 x 1.1”). The built-in touch screen controls the unit and also acts as an on-board monitor. The power draw is a very low 8 to 15 watts, which varies because of the monitor brightness and shooting mode. Convergent Design has pulled out all the stops on this recorder. Keep reading below to learn more.


Uncompressed Recording – The Gemini is strictly an uncompressed recorder, which means it records only the highest quality signal possible; it also means that the files are quite large. A 1080 24P 4:4:4 10-bit signal is nearly 130 MBps (Bytes not bits), which adds up to about 68 minutes on a 512 gb hard drive. This may seem like a problem to some, but hard drives are growing in size every day and lowering in price at the same time.The Gemini allows you to record at the highest quality and push compression into post production when needed. Uncompressed video is easy and quick for most computers to compress, because there is no decompression step. Additionally, many cameras offer compressed on-board recording, which can act as offline media when mixed with the Gemini. See the chart below for record times.

Dual Recording – The Gemini features room for two 1.8″ solid state hard drives. You can choose to record to one drive at a time, or to both at the same time. This is a great option for anyone concerned about their loosing their footage. SSD’s are available from many sources, but only drives qualified by Convergent Design will be able to function in the recorder. An eSATA drive reader is included.

LUT Corrected Monitoring – The Gemini 4:4:4 is built to support the gamma modes supported by the latest cameras. The recorder will take just about any signal you send to it, but if you are feeding it a signal in S-Log or Log-C modes it also has the ability to provide a corrected output. It comes preloaded with LUTs for proper monitoring of S-Log or Log-C, which makes it a perfect recorder for Sony cameras as well as the Arri ALEXA. In Dual Record mode, the clean signal can be sent to one drive, while the LUT applied signal can be sent to the other. The Gemini has Dual SDI outputs as well as HDMI outputs for monitoring.

Future Options – Right away the Gemini 4:4:4 will have a huge variety of features, but if you have followed Convergent Design you know they are constantly updating their products. For instance, 1080 60P recording will not be available right away, but will be with a future free firmware release. Other updates like 3:2 pull down removal are also on the way for the future. Recording in 3D will be a future paid upgrade option, and will allow for two signals to be recorded, as well as 3D output for monitoring.

I am looking forward to seeing this little recorder in action. Read more about the Gemini 4:4:4 on the Convergent Design press release, or over at DVInfo’s interview. Look for it at NAB 2011 in the Convergent Design booth and possibly in our booth as well.

]]> http://blog.abelcine.com/2011/03/21/convergent-designs-gemini-444-recorder/feed/ 17 How to Put nanoFlash Video on an XDCAM Disc http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/11/17/how-to-put-nanoflash-video-on-a-xdcam-disc/ http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/11/17/how-to-put-nanoflash-video-on-a-xdcam-disc/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:50:18 +0000 Andy Shipsides http://blog.abelcine.com/?p=3323 nanoFlash & XDCAM ProDiscThis week Convergent Design will be releasing a new firmware for their nanoFlash recorder (version 1.1.131), which contains some significant improvements. They have bumped up the data rate options once again to 180 Mbps LongGOP and 280 Mbps I-Frame. This is great for really pushing the premium video quality. But the new feature that excites me is not a new data rate, but a small change that makes the MXF files generated by the nanoFlash compatible with those on the XDCAM ProDisc. The nanoFlash utilizes the same Sony codec found in the PDW-700 and PDWF800, just at many different data rates. So CD and Sony worked together to make the two MXF files compatible. This means that material recorded in the nanoFlash at 50 Mbps LongGOP (the highest quality currently supported by the disc) can be put on a XDCAM ProDisc and played back on an XDCAM deck. This is a great option because, not only is the XDCAM disc a terrific format, but many television networks require it as a deliverable. On top of that, it makes for an excellent archiving solution. I decided to test out this new feature by combining the PMWEX1, nanoFlash, and PDW-U1 (inexpensive ProDisc reader/writer). Keep reading to see my process.

So I shot a number of short clips on to the nanoFlash at 50Mbps LongGOP, and brought them onto my MacBook Pro.

nanoFlash Clips

I also attached the PDW-U1 drive to my computer and inserted a 23 GB disc. Make sure you have the latest software and firmware (2.21) for the U1 because they just added the write back option recently. Run the U1 Utility, which is included in the Sony download, and set the naming form of the disc to “free.” This can be found on the setup page, and allows for files of any name to be written to the disc.

U1 Settings

I then ran the latest version of XDCAM Transfer (2.10.0), which automatically found my attached XDCAM disc. I had a single clip on it from before, but a fresh disc will also work. IMPORTANT NOTE: Version 2.10.0 of XDCAM Transfer has many issues in Snow Leopard, which will hopefully be resolved with a Sony 2.11.0 release.

xdcamtrans 1

Then I added the }CLIP{ folder found on the nanoFlash CF card to the XDCAM Transfer source window. This properly displayed all six clips that I just captured.

XDCAM Transfer

I selected all of my clips and selected “Export all clips to folder” from the Clip menu. And finally I chose the destination as the ‘clip’ folder on my XDCAM disc.

xdcamtransSAVE 1

After a few moments of writing I had all of the nanoFlash clips on my disc.

xdcamtransFINALFINAL 1

Just to verify, I played back the material on a PDW-F800 camera, and it looked great.

]]> http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/11/17/how-to-put-nanoflash-video-on-a-xdcam-disc/feed/ 0 The nanoFlash from Convergent Design http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/09/17/nanoflash-from-convergent-design/ http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/09/17/nanoflash-from-convergent-design/#comments Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:30:04 +0000 Andy Shipsides http://blog.abelcine.com/?p=2716 I recently traveled to Chicago to shoot a music video on an Sony PMW-EX1 camera. Much of the shooting was on greenscreen so I brought along the nanoFlash from Convergent Design to increase the quality of my recording. While the EX1 records excellent quality video, I really needed the bitrate and color sampling improvements that the nanoFlash offers. I shot both to the EX1 in XDCAM EX at 35Mbps, and to the nanoFlash in XDCAM 422 at 160Mbps. The quality difference between the two versions was significant, and I found that the nanoFlash footage was very easy to key. Watch the video to see my review of the nanoFlash, and the difference between the XDCAM EX footage and what the nanoFlash recorded. Update: The latest firmware for the nanoFlash also offers 24P pull-down removal.

]]> http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/09/17/nanoflash-from-convergent-design/feed/ 0 Helicopter Shoot with Panasonic Medical Cams http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/02/05/helicopter-shoot-with-panasonic-medical-cameras/ http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/02/05/helicopter-shoot-with-panasonic-medical-cameras/#comments Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:07:03 +0000 Andy Shipsides http://dev.abelcine.com/blog/?p=99 Last month a client of ours asked us to demonstrate some of the new Panasonic GP-US932H cameras in a helicopter. The hope was to create a multi-angle video of his client’s helicopter tours over NYC. The tiny Panasonic cameras from their medical division seemed perfect for the job. We attached all of the cameras to a Panasonic (AV-HS300) switcher and recorded to the Flash XDR from Convergent Design. Check out the video from this test shoot.

Here are some shots from inside the helicopter. This was a quick test that we did in a day. The actual setup would have shock mounted cameras inside and outside the helicopter, all the gear would be hidden away, and the switcher would be set to automatically cycle between shots.

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