GH4 Blackmagic Video Assist

Wow reading through the manual this thing is extremely weak when it comes to software features.

No peaking, only has a histogram for exposure, no tools to check color at all, no LUT support.

The display adjustment settings are only brightness, contrast and saturation which means this monitor will be virtually impossible to match a look or other monitor.

Just to note I don't have a monitor yet (and now likely never will) but I read through the manual and as of right now the software on this thing kind of sucks. Perhaps that will change in the future but not having LUTS or being able to fine tune the display for color and exposure is pretty weak. To me Video Assist doesn't just mean focus assist but also color and exposure assist. It should be a tool to help every aspect of shooting video.
 
Another negative, the Video Assist only has trigger record via SDI and not via HDMI. On the GH3 not a big deal since the camera doesn't send record triggers via HDMI anyway but the GH4 does.
 
Just got one. Will test later today. So far, I can confirm that there is no trigger record over HDMI. Deal breaker for the C100 crowd.
The resolution is soooo nice to have, but the color isn't that good at first glance. I'll see if I can make time to shoot my color chart to see how close we can get it. With only brightness, saturation, and contrast, it's going to be tough to match it up.
 
Mine arrived on Wednesday and my initial disappointment was that its original claim to downscale 4K-UHD sources has a big catch: via SDI only. I posted this video to show how it doesn't take any 4K-UHD output from a GH4 (though you can force the GH4 to downconvert its HDMI output):

http://focuspull.in/1Mv5Zlo

I also find that its all-metal sturdiness also makes it heavy, defeating the main purpose to fly with a gimbal. Bummed! Full review coming soon at www.focuspulling.com.
 
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focuspulling said:
Mine arrived on Wednesday and my initial disappointment was that its original claim to downscale 4K-UHD sources has a big catch: via SDI only. I posted this video to show how it doesn't take any 4K-UHD output from a GH4 (though you can force the GH4 to downconvert its HDMI output):

http://focuspull.in/1Mv5Zlo

I also find that its all-metal sturdiness also makes it heavy, defeating the main purpose to fly with a gimbal. Bummed! Full review coming soon at www.focuspulling.com.
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Well that sucks. Main reason i considered it was to downconvert
 
i am using BM VA with gh4 about two weeks and i pretty like it prores hq is noticeably better quality and lighter for editing (premiere, ae), they will add more functions in future firmware updates (yes its BM it will take years) but guys, u cant buy better recorder for money like this now. Internal gh4 downconverting from uhd working good. Only thing i dont like is there is no hdmi trigger as i bought remote triggers for rig and ronin before, hope they will make some update
 
sergeiicz said:
i am using BM VA with gh4 about two weeks and i pretty like it prores hq is noticeably better quality and lighter for editing (premiere, ae), they will add more functions in future firmware updates (yes its BM it will take years) but guys, u cant buy better recorder for money like this now. Internal gh4 downconverting from uhd working good. Only thing i dont like is there is no hdmi trigger as i bought remote triggers for rig and ronin before, hope they will make some update
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when you say "internal GH4 downconvert" does that mean the camera itself downconverts instead of the recorder?
& does your footage from the Video Assist look much different than if you were to drop a gh4 8 bit 420 4k file into a 1080 timeline?
 
RedChalice said:
when you say "internal GH4 downconvert" does that mean the camera itself downconverts instead of the recorder?
& does your footage from the Video Assist look much different than if you were to drop a gh4 8 bit 420 4k file into a 1080 timeline?
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yes camera sending downconverted 4k footage to recorder. Yes i can see more noise in shadows with 8bit 420 but bigger difference that Premiere working with prores files much better now i can use many effects as colorista or rgb curves and still preview it in real time without rendering - with h246 .mov i cant even if i have kinda high end pc
 
Keep in mind not all down conversions are created equal. If they were then DSLR cameras wouldn't have aliasing and moire issues. Even software handles down conversion very differently and some do it better than others. I have not seen any studies on how good the in-camera down conversion is compared to other methods but with the limited processing power I would assume a few corners are cut in order to do it in real time.
 
looks interesting, but I hope BM adds some features

looks interesting, but I hope BM adds some features

I'm not clear on a few things:
Will the BMVA work as a monitor when shooting 4K? I realize it doesn't record 4k, but there are times when I'd like to use it as a monitor.
Will the BMVA display the GH4's peaking and zebras without recording them?
Does the BMVA support LUTs for previewing footage while shooting with V-Log?

The Atomos Assassin is obviously a good choice for recording 4K, but I'd like a smaller monitor for using with my gimbal, and for times when I want to record 1080.
 
davidp158 said:
Will the BMVA work as a monitor when shooting 4K? I realize it doesn't record 4k, but there are times when I'd like to use it as a monitor.
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As long as you can output HD over HDMI it will show that. It can down convert 4k over SDI, but I don't have a 4k camera so can't confirm that.
davidp158 said:
Will the BMVA display the GH4's peaking and zebras without recording them?
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No. Whatever comes over the HDMI will be recorded.
davidp158 said:
Does the BMVA support LUTs for previewing footage while shooting with V-Log?
Click to expand...
Nope.
davidp158 said:
The Atomos Assassin is obviously a good choice for recording 4K, but I'd like a smaller monitor for using with my gimbal, and for times when I want to record 1080.
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It's nice to have a full 1080 resolution in a small monitor, but also keep in mind that the VA is kind of heavy for it's small size.
 
Seems the BMVA is primarily designed for use with BlackMagic's cameras. For use with other cameras there are so many compromises that I'd look at options from PIX & Convergent Design.
 
Just got a used one for $385. It was good with the latest firmware. I mostly use it for gimbal so this would work well.
 
I've used ours a couple of times as a monitor, pretty decent image. Haven't done any recording, but I might buy a second for another place in our studio and use it for both monitor and recorder. Wishing it would give me an h.264 compressed mp4 file right now, would save time if I needed something ready for upload. Otherwise I need to FTP out of our Airspeed (XDCam at 50mbps OP1a) and run it through a software convertor.
 
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