Blackmagic Video Assist - 1080p 10-bit monitor/recorder

Peaking is not a perfect solution. It never will be and is like using auto focus in terms of accuracy. Monitors in the past needed peaking because they were no where near the actual resolution of the video format. Even 1280x720 monitors were not the full 1920x1080 resolution. Once you move to 1920x1080 you really start to lose the need to have peaking because you can actually see every pixel in focus on the screen. full 1080p will give you a much more accurate indication of focus than peaking usually would.

As to what else to compare this to well that all depends on what is more important to you. There are pros out there who swear by a 1024x600 monitor just because it has amazing color and contrast reproduction. Just having 1920x1080 isn't always enough to represent how the video will look while shooting. There are many who would rather have an accurate looking image in terms of color than they would 1920x1080 pixels. We already pretty know the panel is a TFT panel due to the 135 degree angle of view. While not the end of the world TFT may be of lower quality in terms of color reproduction as well. Especially if it is 6 bit. There are so many ways people judge the quality of current monitors even when they are all 1280x720. Just because this adds 1920x1080 doesn't mean all those other quality indicators get tossed out the window. Lilliput on paper can have the same specs as a SmallHD but which one do we know looks better? MustHD makes a very good looking 8bit IPS panel for $400.00 so if an accurate look on the monitor that represents what your shot actually looks like is important then to many people that could be a good alternative.

Don't get me wrong I am very excited about this monitor and this is the single one thing this year I will likely buy if it is a good quality display but I'm tired of buying monitors that sound great on paper and don't show how the shot will actually look in terms of accuracy. Focus is important but so is trusting the color and exposure of the shot. With that said I honestly don't expect BMD to put out crap. They are smarter than that and building a monitor is something they have a lot of experience with. It may not have the industry top color and exposure reproduction but I am hoping it is at least fairly accurate.

Since according to BH the monitor looks like it is shipping in mid July it very well could be the monitor isn't 100% finished yet. It makes complete sense that the software features may not be finished yet and the pre production models at the show just showed the basics for now.
 
Darren Levine said:
one thing i find very interesting is that he said it will take in 4K and downconvert/record 1080 from it, that would result in super sharp 1080.

furthermore, if it can downscale 4k on the fly... what else might that hardware be capable of doing with 4k... ;)
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yeah too bad the device doesn't support ProRes4444 recording for that situation. That would have made this a pretty sweet option for the 4k shooters who master at 2k 4:4:4. shooting 4k and down converting in post still gives that slight 4:4:4 advantage.
 
i for one, welcome any monitor that provides decent exposure tools.

i really wish this monitor/recorder would have something more than a histogram.

what i would want is a waveform monitor + vector scope.

i believe both are available on the big ursa.

after exposure, i too welcome focusing tools.

no peaking, ok. how about double-tap 2x-4x-8x so we can focus.

and let me move that focus box around the 5" screen, don't lock me into only center focus.

perhaps there is a way for the good folks at blackmagic to accomplish more functionality via a software update.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions/nyc
 
Thomas Smet said:
Peaking is not a perfect solution. It never will be and is like using auto focus in terms of accuracy. Monitors in the past needed peaking because they were no where near the actual resolution of the video format. Even 1280x720 monitors were not the full 1920x1080 resolution. Once you move to 1920x1080 you really start to lose the need to have peaking because you can actually see every pixel in focus on the screen. full 1080p will give you a much more accurate indication of focus than peaking usually would.

As to what else to compare this to well that all depends on what is more important to you. There are pros out there who swear by a 1024x600 monitor just because it has amazing color and contrast reproduction. Just having 1920x1080 isn't always enough to represent how the video will look while shooting. There are many who would rather have an accurate looking image in terms of color than they would 1920x1080 pixels. We already pretty know the panel is a TFT panel due to the 135 degree angle of view. While not the end of the world TFT may be of lower quality in terms of color reproduction as well. Especially if it is 6 bit. There are so many ways people judge the quality of current monitors even when they are all 1280x720. Just because this adds 1920x1080 doesn't mean all those other quality indicators get tossed out the window. Lilliput on paper can have the same specs as a SmallHD but which one do we know looks better? MustHD makes a very good looking 8bit IPS panel for $400.00 so if an accurate look on the monitor that represents what your shot actually looks like is important then to many people that could be a good alternative.

Don't get me wrong I am very excited about this monitor and this is the single one thing this year I will likely buy if it is a good quality display but I'm tired of buying monitors that sound great on paper and don't show how the shot will actually look in terms of accuracy. Focus is important but so is trusting the color and exposure of the shot. With that said I honestly don't expect BMD to put out crap. They are smarter than that and building a monitor is something they have a lot of experience with. It may not have the industry top color and exposure reproduction but I am hoping it is at least fairly accurate.

Since according to BH the monitor looks like it is shipping in mid July it very well could be the monitor isn't 100% finished yet. It makes complete sense that the software features may not be finished yet and the pre production models at the show just showed the basics for now.
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"Finally, someone who speaks English!". ~Tony Stark


Thanks for that man! People get nutty about what they expect for $500.
even if the monitor isn't pro quality - what pro would even be looking at this? I watch pro's spend $2,000 on basic shoulder rigs every day. For anyone working at that level to come with complaints about some tiny, cheap, little piss-ant product like this $500 10-bit recorder with monitor just seems really silly to me. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it won't come close to the versions that cost 3 or 4 times as much... Was someone really thinking it was supposed to.
 
Thought: I'd really like to see a ProRes Proxy or LT option to enable recording proxy files while recording full res in cam. Set this little guy to the side for director confidence and then send them home with a svelte copy of everything while I offload the cam footage to a hard drive.
 
mcbob said:
Thought: I'd really like to see a ProRes Proxy or LT option to enable recording proxy files while recording full res in cam. Set this little guy to the side for director confidence and then send them home with a svelte copy of everything while I offload the cam footage to a hard drive.
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I'm pretty sure it does record LT and proxy according to the website. Only flavor it doesn't seem to support is ProRes4444 which is a bummer for the 4k down conversion.
 
Since this thing costs $500 and has inputs that are 4K ready already, I can imagine BlackMagic release a version that records 4K for $1,000. That would be incredible.
 
Without false colour or peaking this one loses a lot of appeal for me. The SmallHD 502 and Video Devices E5 are the more interesting options to me. But that price sure holds a lot of appeal.
 
Grug said:
Without false colour or peaking this one loses a lot of appeal for me. The SmallHD 502 and Video Devices E5 are the more interesting options to me. But that price sure holds a lot of appeal.
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Stephan went to the booth and CONFIRMED that the VIdeo Assist has peaking and false color.

CaptainHook from Blackmagic also CINFIRMED that it will record downscaled 4k in addition to displaying it.

Well, that's that.

WIN.
 
Finster said:
So then, any reason to still consider the SmallHD? Pros & cons?
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8 bit color and IPS panel could be one reason. A monitor isn't just about resolution and focus. It can be about what you see on the monitor in terms of color and exposure can match what the actual footage looks like. Lilliput makes a 1280x720 monitor that on paper should match the SmallHD but it is well known that it does not. Until we know exactly how good the BMD panel stands up against other high monitors we don't know how it will compare overall.
 
So I tested their floor model...there's a big problem - when you play back your footage everyone suddenly has an Australian accent.
 
Finster said:
So then, any reason to still consider the SmallHD? Pros & cons?
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For less and about the same price you can get a Sound Devices new 4k PIX recorder with 1080p IPS screen. The PIX has everything from peaking to rgb parade and vectroscope. You also have the shogun which is now 1700 and Convergent 7Q models with 720p oled screen. So I see that it will be more and more difficult to sell monitor for much more than 1k. Atomos also has the 720p IPS blade for 700 if I am not mistaken.
 
DPStewart said:
So I tested their floor model...there's a big problem - when you play back your footage everyone suddenly has an Australian accent.
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You are joking about testing it or not, as on BMCUSER we got report from two people that their is no peaking and only histogram for exposure.
 
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