FS5: Is it worth it to hold out for Shogun Inferno, or just invest in 7Q+ instead?

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zebratape

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Inferno still has a tentative September ship date. I know everyone talks about how great the Odyssey is, but from what i have read the Inferno seems to be geared more towards the paid upgrade on the FS5
 
Owning both a Shogun Flame and an Odyssey 7Q+, I will suggest the following considerations:
1-The Inferno is slightly cheaper. You don't have to pay extra to license camera brands.
2-Build quality is about the same.
3-Inferno has DNxHR. C-D has been promising DNxHR for over 2 years and it still hasn't appeared.
4-The Inferno has a 1500 nit display that can be used in an edit bay as a cheap HDR monitor.
5-The O7Q+ has considerably more capability and flexibility, like licensing for Apollo, loading and applying LUTs..
6-C-D has a much more accessible Customer Service and Support.
7-The Inferno requires their media to be packaged in a proprietary enclosure that limits use of SSD's in conventional readers like the BMD thunderbolt devices(faster downloads).
8-The O7Q+ is capable of higher framerate recording
 
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Seems like Atomos keeps releasing new monitors / recorders while Convergent's 7Q has been mature for a while.

7Q was great for me on the FS700 and while I've only used it as a monitor on the FS7, it's been rock solid going on three years soon. It's the only piece of electronics that I've regularly used across 3 cameras - FS700, FS7 and now Scarlet-W. Solid piece of kit.

Customer service for CD products is quite good as well.
 
Now, mid of August, I would wait and check the first reviews. And we are talking about the Inferno but not the Flame I think. Differences will exist in terms of frame rates - but also in terms of the display.
 
Just consider this: Shogun was promised as having CDNG with full frame rate support on FS raw. One of the reasons why I got one over the 7Q+. Atomos still hasn't delivered CDNG (it's a buggy beta) and won't support HFR on FS raw with the Shogun (need to buy the Inferno now). The Shogun is a capable monitor, and from what I saw at NAB, the Inferno will be alright, but I frankly regret investing my money in the Shogun instead of the 7Q+. Fool me once..... Personally I am done with Atomos, and even if the inferno is as great as they say, except for HDR, it will just be what the Shogun was promised to be originally.
 
The only way I'd buy an Inferno is if it could be demonstrated to accept and record DCI 4K input from the FS7.

I really wish Convergent Design would put in a full HD OLED display on their next product. Originally, it was the low resolution that steered me away from buying it. The feature set other than that, is terrific.
 
zebratape said:
Inferno still has a tentative September ship date. I know everyone talks about how great the Odyssey is, but from what i have read the Inferno seems to be geared more towards the paid upgrade on the FS5
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My only experience with Atmos was with the Ninja and I hated it and got rid of it quickly. Crappy monitor. They may be better now. The only redeeming quality was the Ninja could do both ProRes and DNxHD, which I'm told the Odyssey will have in future updates.
As an Odyssey owner I am constantly thrilled at the options offered. Quad recording in Apollo mode is a godsend when shooting interviews with multiple cameras. No need to worry about TC or audio as the master cam sends common TC to all sources. Using the other sources camera mics gives a nice reference to post syncing but with a common TC, it's pretty simple. And with all your sources on one device, it makes color matching pretty simple for us non-engineer types.
The Odyssey is also very robust but the real key is customer service. There is NO better customer service than Convergent Design. None!
 
allenfacemire said:
My only experience with Atmos was with the Ninja and I hated it and got rid of it quickly. Crappy monitor. They may be better now. The only redeeming quality was the Ninja could do both ProRes and DNxHD, which I'm told the Odyssey will have in future updates.
As an Odyssey owner I am constantly thrilled at the options offered. Quad recording in Apollo mode is a godsend when shooting interviews with multiple cameras. No need to worry about TC or audio as the master cam sends common TC to all sources. Using the other sources camera mics gives a nice reference to post syncing but with a common TC, it's pretty simple. And with all your sources on one device, it makes color matching pretty simple for us non-engineer types.
The Odyssey is also very robust but the real key is customer service. There is NO better customer service than Convergent Design. None!
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My experience with Atomos support has been terrific. I am on my third Samurai Blade, which now is rock solid and through the journey, Atomos never hesitated to honor the warranty and ship replacement units out quickly. They even threw in a more powerful battery. It is nice that we have a competition going among two very capable companies.
 
I had a very different experience with Atomos. They don't answer tech support tickets. Three times, when I fist got the Shogun, I put in a trouble ticket for "no input" when I was attempting to use it to record 4K output from my FS7, and three times, I got no response from them.
 
For me here in Europe the direct customer service is a questionmark anyway.

And I do not not for CD - but Atomos has answered all my tickets without an issue.

At least the replacement of the Akku for the Shogun 1 free of charge for the customer was no issue too.
 
It seems odd that they do not discuss the 4K issue with their HDMI input. Even their marketing people don't respond. It's as if they are stuck with a legal gag order on discussing it, as if an embarrassing licensing issue were the cause.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Thanks Cuervo, I would add one more. With the Odyssey7Q+ you know what you are getting. It has been shipping for a long time and has a well-established track record. More functions are coming, but it is a very usable kit today out of the box.
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Mitch, does the 7Q+ support the constant 240 HFR enabled in the FS5 update?
 
basspig said:
It seems odd that they do not discuss the 4K issue with their HDMI input. Even their marketing people don't respond. It's as if they are stuck with a legal gag order on discussing it, as if an embarrassing licensing issue were the cause.
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So you think that Convergent Design has an 4K issue wih their HDMI input? Or was it Atomos? Because the specfications are near to the same for HDMI!

Both perform UHD resolution up to 3840x2160 with 30p and 10bit 422 only. No wonder since it is the same outdated HDMI 1.4a/1.4b interfaced interface in both products.

The 7Q+ performs also 24p 4K DCI (4096x2160). This is not performed by the Shogun 1. Maybe that is of interest for Cinema productions, but not for other productions in 25p or 30p. But even the 7Q+ is not capable of 4K DCI (4096x2160) for 25p or 30p using HDMI as one can read from the specifications.
 

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Which deepens the mystery.. if Shogun and 7Q+ have the same spec'd HDMI port, and one supports DCI 4K at 23.98 FPS and the other does not, it just demonstrates that not all manufacturers adhere to the port specification. No matter what I have tried, I have never been able to get DCI 4K video to appear at 23.98 FPS on the Shogun.

One sometimes chooses the FS7 for the DCI 4K capability. Otherwise, one can save lots of money by buying a UHD camera like the A7S.
 
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