AJA Announces Ki Pro Mini, MSRP $1995

What do we know about powering options? I saw the AB mount and mention of V mount. What about for an AF100? What are the options. Personally I think this little box is great.
 
What do we know about powering options? I saw the AB mount and mention of V mount. What about for an AF100? What are the options. Personally I think this little box is great.

Noel, I think a standard D-tap to 4-pin cannon will do the trick if you have an ENG camera.
 
i don't see why it can't, you're shooting at 60 fps but in a 24 fps timebase. hence the slow motion. the ki pro will still be recording 24p, the internal camera workings is doing the slow motion work. the ki pro big brother can record high speed out of the SDI, i don't see why this one can't. It just won't give you pro res 4x4 and doesn't do a lot of the framerate conversions.
 
I'm not sure about that. Also, according to Barry, the AF-100 won't output 1080p 60p over HDMI/SDI.
Can CF cards even handle recording 1080p at 60p?
 
well the camera isn't finished yet so hopefully it can and will carry over SDI. I know for a fact that the big brother ki pro can do VFR, but it records to SSD, drive, and SxS. CF cards are iffy, the best chance is gonna be your top of the line lexar, they have the best rated sustain write speeds out of all the off the shelf CF cards. Sandisk has excellent burst rates, but the sustained can't compare.
 
I'm not sure about that. Also, according to Barry, the AF-100 won't output 1080p 60p over HDMI/SDI.
Can CF cards even handle recording 1080p at 60p?
That's because the camera doesn't do 1080/60p.

The 60 fps recording mode is only within a 30p or 24p timebase as VFR.

In those instances, the camera would be still be outputting 30p or 24p. The footage would just be in slow-motion.

There shouldn't be any reason why a device capable of recording 30p or 24p wouldn't be able to record the VFR modes, unless Panasonic is going out of their way to turn off the SDI and HDMI outputs when you're in VFR mode (like how they shut-off output while in pN mode on the HVX200).
 
That's because the camera doesn't do 1080/60p.

The 60 fps recording mode is only within a 30p or 24p timebase as VFR.

In those instances, the camera would be still be outputting 30p or 24p. The footage would just be in slow-motion.

There shouldn't be any reason why a device capable of recording 30p or 24p wouldn't be able to record the VFR modes, unless Panasonic is going out of their way to turn off the SDI and HDMI outputs when you're in VFR mode (like how they shut-off output while in pN mode on the HVX200).

That's not entirely accurate from my understanding. It will shoot and record in 60p in the same way that the pN modes work on the HVX/HXP. You can shoot at whatever framerate you like but it will only playback in 24p or 30p depending on what mode you shot in. You can't output or record slowmo in realtime. You need the flux capacitor add on for that! Slowmo is only viewable on playback.

The KiPro mini would have to be recording at the same framerate you are shooting. The AF-100 would also need to be capable of outputting that framerate out the HDMI/SDI. As I understand it would simple embed whatever VFR you are shooting into a 1080i stream for monitoring.
 
That's not entirely accurate from my understanding. It will shoot and record in 60p in the same way that the pN modes work on the HVX/HXP. You can shoot at whatever framerate you like but it will only playback in 24p or 30p depending on what mode you shot in. You can't output or record slowmo in realtime. You need the flux capacitor add on for that! Slowmo is only viewable on playback.

The KiPro mini would have to be recording at the same framerate you are shooting. The AF-100 would also need to be capable of outputting that framerate out the HDMI/SDI. As I understand it would simple embed whatever VFR you are shooting into a 1080i stream for monitoring.
The Firestore could do it with the HVX200 in 720p/24 mode, though I guess it must have been recording 720p/60 and conforming the speed of the clip after it was done recording.
 
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Power for smaller cameras is one of the concerns I have about the Ki Pro Mini, too. I guess you can always wear a battery belt, but I was hoping for something less cumbersome.

Another concern is the location of the CF sockets on top of the unit, which would make them more susceptible to collecting dust. You can cover them with a piece of paper or something, but a door would have been nicer.
 
Here's another new recorder to consider: the Atomos Ninja. Records Prores to 2.5" HDD or SSD, comes with 2 batteries, HDMI only, MSRP $995. The company is new, so I'm not sure about reliability.

Here's the press release:

http://www.atomos.com/


Enter the Ninja

Atomos brings to market a unique solution for low cost, high-capacity on-camera recording

10, Sept, 2010 – Atomos, a new company in digital video solutions, is excited to announce the
Atomos Ninja. This attractive external drive case has been designed in partnership with Apple and
by-passes in-camera video compression to record your pristine, uncompressed images straight
from the HDMI connector of your DSLR or camcorder directly to Apple ProRes. All while you’re
recording.

“The Ninja had to be simple to use, rugged and portable. There are no fiddly buttons, just a crisp,
high-resolution touch screen monitor with just four main functions: Record, Stop, Monitor and
Play.,” said Jeromy Young, CEO at Atomos. “And it’s designed to sit silently on or near the
camera or camera operator, so it’s small, light yet tough. Recording direct to high capacity hard
discs means you go form Lens to Timeline with no capture or transcoding steps - saving money
and valuable time in production."

The Ninja implements Apple ProRes in hardware to give you real-time, 10-bit recording anytime,
anywhere. It takes advantage of low-cost, modern technology by utilizing HDMI-capable pro-video
and consumer camcorders as well as DSLRs. Record directly to the Ninja on location in super high
quality, for the most streamlined, affordable Final Cut Pro workflow available today.

The Ninja uses ordinary, low-cost 2.5" Notebook HDD or SSD hard drives which are housed
securely inside the Atomos Master Caddy and lock inside the Ninja. The drives are hot-swappable,
which means inserting new drives on the fly is a snap.

Pricing and Availability

• The Atomos Ninja is scheduled for manufacture and shipping December 2010 and will be
available for $995.00 excluding shipping (€795.00). HDD or SSD hard drives available from
various resellers. For a list of recommended drives see the Atomos web site.

For further information visit HYPERLINK "http://atomos.com" atomos.com

About Atomos

Atomos is a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of high quality video related recording
devices. Atomos has a clear vision - to revolutionize digital video production by taking advantage of
affordable, modern technologies. We aim to combine smart workflows with simple operation to
deliver cost-effective, efficient, recording solutions for today’s professionals. Atomos products will
be available globally from carefully selected resellers and distribution partners.
 
Isn't HDMI an 8-bit only spec? And no timecode input/provision either so what's the point of recording ProRes HQ (10-bit) if HDMI can't actually transmit the added color depth?
 
Isn't HDMI an 8-bit only spec? And no timecode input/provision either so what's the point of recording ProRes HQ (10-bit) if HDMI can't actually transmit the added color depth?

Well, we don't even know if the Af100 will stream anything more than 8bit.
 
Isn't HDMI an 8-bit only spec? And no timecode input/provision either so what's the point of recording ProRes HQ (10-bit) if HDMI can't actually transmit the added color depth?

Not anymore. HDMI 1.3 supports "deep color" up to 16 bpp: http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/faq.aspx#15

Deep Color: HDMI 1.3 supports 10-bit, 12-bit and 16-bit (RGB or YCbCr) color depths, up from the 8-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification, for stunning rendering of over one billion colors in unprecedented detail.
 
That Atomos Ninja looks interesting. No HDMI-thru, however. Monitoring with my external on-camera HDMI display would be impossible, unless some kind of HDMI splitter is used :(
 
Yeah, Atomos have best design from all offerings.
It is cheap, uses cheap touchscreen (you can get it for $15 because of smartphones rush).
Cheap 2.5" caddy. Sounds really smart.
To make this thing $100 we need someone like MStart, Realtek or chinese developers to come with LSI solution.
Plus next generations will have multiple audio inputs (double as audio recorder) audio levels display, zebra, vectorscope, focus assust etc. All this on 4" 960x540 screen.
 
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