Atomos Announces Samurai Support for Avid DNxHD, for Seamless

Avid Integration

The highest quality, most affordable SDD and HDD recorder just got better with support for Avid DNxHD.

IBC 2011, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 9 September 2011: Atomos, creator of the Ninja and Samurai portable field recorder, monitor & playback/playout devices, is excited to announce that the Samurai will support the Avid DNxHD® production codec in addition to Apple ProRes. With so many must-have professional features in the Samurai, it’s not surprising that there has been a huge demand for Avid support at the top of Atomos’ product range. Now, editors can always use the best, and native codec for their editing system at the same time as increasing quality with higher bitrates and 4:2:2, 10-bit resolution: ready-to-edit from the Samurai’s HDD or SSD instantly.

Samurai’s clever design means that Avid DNxHD encoding, including Pulldown Removal if needed, runs at full hardware speed; effortlessly creating pristine-quality files ready for transfer to an Avid® Suite or shared network storage.

With a choice of bitrates and 10-bit, 4:2:2 encoding, Samurai gives camera operators, editors and producers a choice of codecs hailed industry-wide as being easy to work with, efficient, and above all, indistinguishable from uncompressed video at higher bitrates.

“We always said we would introduce new codecs, and now we’re announcing the big one for broadcasters and video professionals throughout the industry: Avid DNxHD,” said Jeromy Young, CEO and Co-Founder of Atomos. “Now, editors using Avid software will be able to feel the speed of the Samurai ready-to-edit workflow. All the benefits of capture-at-the-camera will be there: it’s fast, the quality is better, and production costs are dramatically lower because of commodity storage. Combine low running-costs, higher quality and the ability use any HD or SD SDI device from the past 20 years and you have a compelling productivity enhancement for old and new cameras.”

The Samurai is ideal for camera operators who need better quality, a faster workflow with significantly lower costs, and for directors and producers who want a flexible portable playback and review system. In multi-camera multi-camera environments, record the ISO and video switch output versions live, and then edit later - with all original footage available instantly in Avid DNxHD or Apple ProRes.

With the addition of Avid DNxHD to Samurai, even more professionals can now benefit from the

Atomos advantage.

Pricing and Availability

Avid DNxHD codec will be available late 2011, priced at €99, 89GBP or $149 USD for any Samurai user.

About Atomos

Atomos improves the working lives of videomakers by designing cutting-edge, affordable tools that make the best possible use of recent advances in hardware and software. The company is focused on streamlining workflows and solving real world problems such as long battery life with continuous power technology and affordable digital recording to HDDs or SSDs. Based in Australia, Hong Kong, and UK, and with a worldwide distribution network, Atomos has a range of groundbreaking products lined up for release over the coming months and years. Further product information can be found at www.atomos.com.

Avid and Avid DNxHD are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and or other countries.

Looks like the Panasonic AG-AF100 now has a little competition.

One of the most popular items in the DVeStore for all of 2010 has been the 65 watt fluorescent Diva Ring light. Well, Stellar Lighting has listened to the market and created a smaller, battery operated version. Introducing the 40 watt Mini Diva Ring light. We're really impressed with the unit. With our Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70mm F2.8 lens shooting HD video at 1/50th Shutter, ISO 320 F2.8, we're getting great light on a subject 4-5 feet away - way better than your typical on camera light - and with less harsh shadows. The catchlight in the eye is especially spectacular! The bulb is rated at daylight balanced 5500 degrees kelvin and provides for natural looking skin tones - no nasty green tinge. With the 5DM2's Daylight white balance setting, it looks dead on.

Currently the light ships with a lightweight metal bracket to mount to the camera as well as an AC adapter. Perhaps most surprisingly included is an Anton Bauer D-Tap cable for battery use! From what I've been told, I've mounted the unit incorrectly in the picture below, however it works like this with the camera supported by the included bracket. It balances nicely off the tripod for handheld use, we're now just looking for a way to mount the heavy AB brick battery. It's also worth noting that we're also in discussions to have a 7.2V dual DV adapter plate created which will allow two Sony, Canon or JVC batteries to power the unit. The unit requires 14.4V to operate. Proposed pricing looks to be right around $199!

If you're interested in receiving an update along with a money saving coupon code when the Mini Diva arrives, be sure to Subscribe to our Newsletter (it's over there on the left of this page). As soon as these amazing lights ship, you'll be on the list to be promptly notified!

*UPDATE 01/14/2010

We have the Mini Diva Ring light working with battery power! No, not the $1000 Anton Bauer battery, something much less expensive. Stay tuned!

*UPDATE 01/17/2010

We have received our first batch of inventory - the Mini Diva Ring light is ready to order!

Litepanels has released photometric data on the spot and flood version of the new Sola 6 Fresnel LED. Imagine a light that utilizes 95% less energy than an HMI. Sure you can buy more lights than the cost of the a single Litepanels Sola, however, how many HMI's can you run off of household circuit breakers? The Sola6 outputs as much light as a typical 650w hot light fresnel. How often are bulbs changed? With a 50,000 hour bulb life, there is less chance of halting valuable production time during a globe change. The upfront cost of the Sola may seem pricey, however, the operating costs over the years pencils out to a better value. Less heat equals less air conditioning, built in dimmer, means no flagging or scrimming. For the right type of productions, these tools will be valuable. It's great to see innovative products such as the Litepanels Sola 6 entering the market. Be sure to drop by the manufacturer's site to see some great examples of the product in action.

For more information visit http://www.litepanels.com/lp/products/products.html

More and more often now we're getting questions about live streaming. People are starting to get it. You can have your own "tv station" nowadays and deliver your message to millions of potential viewers. In the past we were able to do what the new Roland VR5 does with a variety of separate components. The only issue, was that it was just that, a bunch of components kludged together to do what one device could.

Initially when I heard about the VR 5, I poo poo'd the idea because it was Standard Definition. Now I understand. If it were HD, the price would double or triple and a number of customers would be priced out. You see, I believe this device is well suited for educators, house of workshop, and live event - standard def is fine for streaming and what most folks are streaming in these days. Recently I watched Chase Jarvis' Keynote at PDN. The in-person audience was around 500 - the internet audience was well over 2000. It's that idea right there, that you can engage 4-5 times the audience with a simple piece of equipment and an internet connection, events which never would have been broadcast, can now be affordably distributed. The Roland VR 5 may be ahead of it's time, but we're glad to see a company getting devices like this to market.

RØDE Lavalier: dvestore.com/​products/​RODE-Lavalier-Mic.html
Sanken COS11D: dvestore.com/​products/​Sanken-COS11D-lavalier-for-Sennheiser-Wireless.html
Sennheiser G3 Wireless: dvestore.com/​products/​Sennheiser-EW-112P-G3-Wireless-System.html
Tram TR-50: dvestore.com/​search.php?search_query=tram&x=0&y=0
RØDE NTG-3: dvestore.com/​products/​RODE-NTG%252d3-Shotgun-mic.html

Now shipping in every Reflecmedia bundle you'll find four free adapter rings. Inside the box are the most popular sized adapters to make your Reflecmedia kit compable with a variety of lenses.

Small Litering: 37mm, 43mm, 58mm, 72mm

Medium Litering: 72mm, 77mm, 82mm, 95mm

For example, with the Canon 5D Mark II HDSLR camera, you may want to switch from a 72 to 77mm. No problem. Here's an example:

DR-680 Hands on Review : Field and Sync Tests

The DR-680 from Tascam is being offered at a very irresistible price. It claims to be a full 8 track recorder for under $1k street price. The question is, it worth adding to your gear ?  Does it really perform or is it overspec'd and under performing in reality? Here is my take.

First you can check out my video review of the device. I used it to record my sound while shooting on a EOS T2I. I went a full 12 minutes so you can see how it starts, and how it ends. You can also get an idea of the sound quality of the unit as well.

Review of the Tascam DR-680 8 Track Audio Recorder from Steve Oakley on Vimeo.

Specs:

Its really a 6 analog channel recorder with option to mix down 6 to 2 stereo. Yes it can record 4 digital channels on the TRS inputs making the total 8, but how many of us have stereo or even mono AES mics yet ?  or are connecting to AES/SPDIF 2 channel feeds ? not many. So lets count the inputs you can actually use: 4  dual XLR and 1/4" TRS Mic or Line Level inputs, 2 1/4" TRS  mic or line level inputs all with phantom power. You can use TRS->XLR adapters for powering mics that need power. The unit specs do not state what the total phantom power available is so I can't say if you can really plug 6 phantom power mics in at the 20ma max power spec and Be Happy‚Ñ¢.  Since most mics only use about half of that, you might be ok. I don't have 6 phantom power mics to confirm or deny if the unit can power them, nor do the specs state if it can. I had no problems powering 2 phantom power mics. All inputs can take also take line level. Each input in mic level also has a High-Low switch. As far as I can tell this is a -20db input pad which is handy to have when working with loud sounds.

PreAmps:

Does anything get audio people more animated in a conversation besides the quality of preamps ? probably not. When I first powered the unit up out of the box, I was not thrilled. It seemed noisy, and some quick test recordings somewhat confirmed this. My first tests were done with a Sanken COS-11 powered via Emule XLR power module plugged directly into the unit.

Now having been around gear for a long time, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel and send the DR-680 back. Instead, I put the unit into pause record over night. This forces the preamps to be on. The good news is that the unit will stay in pause record indefinitely which is great. I truly dislike gear that drops out of pause record after a certain amount of time, which is usually 30 seconds less then what you need. Even if it did, it went into record almost instantly anyway which was fine. I will say the Pause button acts far more like a Record Cue then pause button, its a little bit weird how it works. You can also just  hit the record button and start rolling pretty much instantly. Last, the unit does have a pre-record function you can engage in a menu for just in case.

So back on topic, despite all the digital parts, there is still an analog front end here. What I have found from many years of experience is that gear right out of the box often isn't quite hitting spec. It needs "on" time to burn the components in. Various parts settle into their ideal values, and suddenly the unit is hitting its specs. The DR-680 was no different. After an nearly 24 hour burn in, I redid my tests and got much better results.

The preamps are reasonably quite. They aren't Sound Devices quite, but they are good enough for most people's needs if you aren't working high end broadcast or film work. For web, corporate, cable TV type productions, more then good enough to use direct. I'd say that its preamps are better then most cheaper cameras have which are shooting half of these shows in the first place, so you are ahead of the game here.

I also tried feeding line level from my FP33 running on 24V into the mixer. The FP33 running on 24V is a much better sounding mixer then if you have ever run it at 12-14V where it is barely functional. Its a very different mixer at 24V where the limiters function correctly, and the headroom is there. Overall I found the FP33 preamps made for a bit warmer sound which could well be in part due to its transformer inputs and outputs. Either way, the DR-680 worked well being fed by the mixer at line level. If you have a mixer you like the sound of, you can certainly use it as a front end to the DR-680.

One Knob, Many Channels:

It works. Ok, lets be clear here, it works fine for reasonably controlled shoots where you don't need continuos level fiddling on everything. You can certainly use the one knob to ride one channel without a problem. If you really need to ride the levels of 4-6 channels at once, then you need a mixer that lets you do so. With some practice, you could get a bit quick hitting the input channel selector ride levels if things aren't too crazy.

Limiters :

They are there, but don't work great. I could yell into the mic up close and clip input levels. It seems the limiters may stop a peak or two, but if you are hot on your overall levels, they won't save you. Then again, lets ask the question, how much does this thing cost ? perhaps some firmware update might make for better limiter handling.

Lowcuts :

The low cuts are settable for 60/80/120hz. The LC can be enabled for each input, and seems to work ok. I left it at 80hz which seemed ok when using direct ins.

Firmware:

Out of the box I had 1.0 firmware. A quick trip to Tascam's website had me downloading firmware 1.1, and updating the unit. Good to know its updateable, lets see what they might add going down the road to add value and functionality to the unit.

Stereo Mix:

You can mix a stereo output with a separate set of menu levels. This is something like a bus mix where you can adjust each input channel into the final mix level, then go to each channel adjust the somewhat mislabeled channel trim which is really input level. You can also disable the recording of the stereo output if you want.

Timecode :

There is none. This is the one single major flaw of the DR-680. You could feed timecode into one of the audio channels and use your NLE to read it, but I dearly wish the DR-680 had some sort of TC chase lock / read / record ability. Working with dSLR's this may be a moot point anyway since dSLR's don't have TC either, unless you feed it to them as an audio channel loosing the in camera sound as a scratch track to sync against. Either way its pretty abysmal that timecode support is such an after thought with lower priced gear when there is no good reason it should be.

Sync:

There is nothing like doing a simple slate clap to check sync at the end of a long roll to check sync. One frame at 24FPS is about .041 sec long. The drift I measured at about 72F between camera audio and the DR-680's recording was about 560-620 samples across several takes, or .012 - .013 sec. This is less then a 1/4 frame of drift. I'd say more then good enough for most of use. This would mean about 1 frame after 40 minutes or so. Pretty solid performance considering there is no timecode, word clock, or video sync locking the unit.

Interesting facts I found along the way with sync :

The  audio  on the EOS 550D is a full frame early from the picture!  Put another way, the picture is one full frame late. This is most likely caused by processing of the image, but the delay hasn't been compensated for in the audio processing. Hopefully a firmware update will fix this. I confirmed this with many slate claps.

For comparison, I also ran a testing rolling my JVC HD100 in 720p24 mode. The HD100 shooting in 720p24 also has early audio as well, but only by about 118 samples which isn't enough to normally worry about.

I used Premiere Pro CS5 for my analysis. The big reason for doing so is that if you toggle the timeline into audio samples, you can literally edit, measure, and even slip / slide / nudge edit audio down to the sample. This made things very simple for measuring drift and aligning things. In order even this out as best I could, I slipped the audio of the EOS 550D 1 frame forwards, and then nudged by samples to get the audio waveform lined up to the slate close on sample one of the slate close frame. I then aligned the DR-680 with the JVC perfectly.  Both cameras now had the slate closing in the same visual frame, and the audio as lined up  within a few samples for an even start.

Lets go to the 12 minute mark and see if sync is there. Drum roll please ! at 12 minutes,  both cameras closed the slate visually on the same frame.  What about the DR-680 ? it was 500-600 samples off from the slate close. Thats a total drift of about no more then 600 samples in 12 minutes ! at 23.976, there are 2002.002 samples per frame, 2002 for quick math. That means a total drift of about 1/4th to 1/3rd of a frame, or way more then good enough for just about anyone.  

Ready for a shock ? Audio on both the JVC HD100 and EOS 550D where different ! they had actually drifted internally despite the expectation that once they were locked at the head, they should come out perfect at the end as well. The HD100 was 1009 samples early, the 550D was about 780 samples early. Remember I had locked the waveform together at the start to match the close frame. So the bottom line is the DR-680 is more accurate for for recording then the cameras ! No one has complained about the camera audio drifting around which it clearly does, so the DR-680 is safe for 12 minute takes for sure. I'd guess you'd probably be safe out to 30 minutes for a total drift of 1200 samples or so, this is  a 1/2frame at 24FPS. At 60i (48,000/59.94) its 800.8008 samples per frame, so your drift would be 1.5 frames which might become noticeable. Even if it was, it would be simple enough to make one or two edits in dead spots, slip the sound a few hundred samples and be back on. However this would only count with video cameras since none of the dslr's shoot this long.

Conclusion:

Its a steal ! the DR-680 runs accurately enough for any dSLR user to be happy. Sound quality is respectable, and the overall ergonomics of the unit are tolerable. Please understand that there are differences between the DR-680 and something like the SD 788T or even 744T, but are they worth 5-10X the price ? That entirely depends on the project, your date rate, and the stakes at hand. In most cases, probably not for low to medium budget work unless timecode is critical. If you have to have BWAV files sync'd to external TC to get the gig, well then you don't have much choice. For the rest of us, the DR-680 should serve as a great audio recorder at a super reasonable price.

 Steve Oakley
Digital Illusionist - DP - Motion Graphics - Editing
http://www.practicali.com
 



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RODE Microphones has released a new miniature lavalier. The new model offers a unique design with switchable MiCon connectors. This allows you to change from a XLR style connection to a wireless type connector quicky. Popular wireless such as those from Shure, Sony, Sennheiser are supported. In the past we've had to buy multiple lavaliers for each type of use, when we switched wireless brands, we wound up having to send in the mics to be recabled at $50 a piece! Also included in the package is a furry wind jammer, and a plastic "anti-trauma" hardcase.

In testing the mic, we found the sound quality to be on par with other mics in this category-even mics costing nearly twice as much. The RODE lavalier's low frequency bass specifications of 60hz initially had us worried that we wouldn't hear a full sound. For example the sub-miniature Countryman B6 lavalier goes down to 20Hz. Fortunately, the human voice does not actually go that low -not even if you've got a thick ole hearty voice like James Earl Jones. If your main objective is to pick-up high quality dialogue, it's worth noting that most of the low frequencies below 80Hz are handling noise - this is the reason why most all shotgun mics have a low frequency cut, usually for cutting low end wind rumble.

Overall, we're quite pleased with the RODE lavalier sound on dialogue and with the innovative MiCon connections - the included clip, foam windscreen, plus the furry wind jammer, and the pelican style case are a nice bonus. We're also really impressed with the "no questions asked" 5 year warranty.

Order yours today. use Coupon CODE "INUG0D03H89" and receive a FREE MICON-2 Connector! (Must be added to cart)