New Silicon Imaging SI-1920HDVR Digital Cinema Camera

J

Jason Rodriguez

Well-known member
Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to give a quick heads-up on a new digital direct-to-disk digital cinema camera from Silicon Imaging in partnership with CineForm.

We'll be at NAB in the Adobe booth, #SL3732 doing demonstrations. This camera is NOT vaporware :)

In a nutshell it's a new single-sensor Altasens 3570 2/3" CMOS camera (12-bit A/D), has a pretty neat RAW workflow by recording to a new 10-bit RAW codec from CineForm, and records to anything you want that is USB 2.0 compatible. Of course there is on-board recording with a removeable 2.5" HDD drive cartridge, and you can put any off-the-shelf notebook hard-drive in there that is at least 5400RPM. Compression of the RAW data is wavelet-based (like the other Cineform codecs), and is a mild 5:1 compression. You can mix/match the CineForm RAW data with any other CineForm CFHD files on a Premiere Pro timeline all in real-time; the RAW data is integration is seemless.

You can see more at www.siliconimaging.com/DigitalCinema/

The press release is at www.siliconimaging.com/DigitalCinema/news.html, and should hit the news wires sometime this morning.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at NAB :)

Jason Rodriguez
Silicon Imaging (my sig for today ;)
 
Wow! I simply have GOT to see this. Any more info, like price, sample footage and so on?

Cant go to NAB. Live too far off for that.
 
ok, just saw the website. 12,500$!!! And this is an Indie camera? "professional" Low-budget films maybe, but low-budget "indie" films are out of the question. Why not buy two HVXs along with a capture card for uncompressed HD...
 
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That price is for the tethered camera head for remote Direct-to-Disk recording, and I think all the post-production tools. The pricing for the mobile camera unit hasn't been officially announced. The price will impress for what this camera can do. More info at NAB.
 
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Those shots in the "gallery" on that site aren't very impressive...

I guess they are going for the most boring imagery possible...
 
Well, actually true. The camera does rock. 10 stops of latitude seems too good to be true. I just wish Camera manufacturers had some price changes for the developing countries. We always get stuck with the sonys becaue they are cheaper even when they are not necesserily better.

Oh well, lets wait for NAB :)

@Loki: Yeah, they seem kinda fuzzy. But i think its because they are scaled down, and highly compressed. Latitude does impress though.
 
Fugitive said:
ok, just saw the website. 12,500$!!! And this is an Indie camera? "professional" Low-budget films maybe, but low-budget "indie" films are out of the question. Why not buy two HVXs along with a capture card for uncompressed HD...
Click to expand...

I think you need to review the specs one more time my friend. This is a pretty sweet little number. But to be honest, I think RED will blow em' out a the water - especially considering the proposed specs/options that RED will allow... (like the 4K option) BTW - the HVX is a mass produced product, where as this thing probably is not ... less demand means the consumer pays more ... (considering that fact, and the specs - its not too outrageous of a price point imho)

Things are getting interesting ... it was only a year ago that hdv was introduced and now cameras like RED, and this camera are becoming a reality ... It's certainly an exciting time to be be a filmmaker/ camera nut.
 
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Loki,

I agree the gallery images are missing a marketing punch you would normally get from a larger company, yet the camera does perform. I hoping for some more exciting footage to come from the Atomic VFX guys who are using this new camera on their feature Spoon. Read http://indiefilmlive.blogspot.com for info on Spoon.
 
David Newman said:
Andrew,

As far as specs go nothing will beat Red, on it specs :), yet a working camera can be pretty compelling.
Click to expand...

Touche.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm excited as hell about this camera.
I must say - the fact that I can't come to NAB this year is down right criminal.
 
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BTW David, I am wondering - and I apologize in advance - I have done absolutely zero research on cineform other than what I have stumbled across on the Adobe Website: but here it is - could I set up a computer (a Dell Workstation) that I already own to be a cineform/ premiere pro workstation that is compatible with HD cameras like this one ... or does one have to buy a dedicated cineform turn key station from the get go? ...

Cineform is of great interest to me - as I am a long time happy premiere user - that has recently purchased Avid Express HD and thus far I must say, we have not been getting along ...
 
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Andrew, David nailed it. The problem with red is that... it doesnt exist! (yet anyways). I wouldnt want to wait for another year to make my film, i want to make it now. Red is the future and Cineform is "now". That makes a huge difference.

About the price, its not too much, for what it can do. But the problem is, given how much it costs, Panasonic, Sony and Canon would be out pretty soon with a rival in that price range. So, given that these guys really want to compete, you would expect a "mass-produced" low-cost camera rather than yet-another-even-costlier camera. If you wanted more uncompressed HD and all that, Canon's HD-SDI is a much cheaper option. My point? If the price is higher than even the Canon+accessories, there wont be that many people buying it.

Just my 2 cents,
Fugitive
 
You make some good points. All I was saying is that these specs have been thus far unheard of - and because this camera is (at this time) more tangible than any other camera (we don't know what RED will cost) - it is not such a rediculous asking price. Prices change: and silicon imaging will not employ competitive pricing until they have some competition ...

I have no brand allegiance. I am a filmmaker with very high aesthetic expectations (and a not so deep pocket) ... if the Silicon Camera, and the RED camera inspire competition - I'm all for it ... it can only benefit us filmmakers.
 
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Andrew M said:
BTW David, I am wondering - and I apologize in advance - I have done absolutely zero research on cineform other than what I have stumbled across on the Adobe Website: but here it is - could I set up a computer (a Dell Workstation) that I already own to be a cineform/ premiere pro workstation that is compatible with HD footage cameras like this one ... or does one have to buy a dedicated cineform turn key station from the get go? ...
Click to expand...

We mainly sell software, and it will run on any PC (no turnkey required.) If you are interested in this particular camera, it comes with CineForm software that enables RT 10-bit editing within Premiere Pro. If you are interested in 10-bit RT workflow in general, a Prospect HD seat costs between $2000 and $3500 depending on the features you need. Plently of information is available at www.cineform.com.
 
The complete camera, head and recording module, Prospect HD editing software comes in under $20K, but I don't have any more details on the pricing.

As for Final Cut Pro support, if you read carefully this is hinted at. Silicon Imagining is waiting for CineForm to complete the Quicktime port of the codec -- that will happen very soon. I'm not going to give more details on that.
 
Andrew M said:
You make some good points. All I was saying is that these specs have been thus far unheard of - and because this camera is (at this time) more tangible than any other camera (we don't know what RED will cost) - it is not such a rediculous asking price. Prices change: and silicon imaging will not employ competitive pricing until they have some competition ...

I have no brand allegiance. I am a filmmaker with very high aesthetic expectations (and a not so deep pocket) ... if the Silicon Camera, and the RED camera inspire competition - I'm all for it ... it can only benefit us filmmakers.
Click to expand...
Regarding this 04-17-2006 discussion during one hour, I was following your point Andrew and exclusively from a filmmakers' POV, it's worthy of notice to have PRO posters like David Newman or Jason Rodriguez around here, where we have the opportunity to ask and to know@first hand all the info about an excellent tool for the indie filmmaking world. We must not to see this competition between brands as a childish one but as professionals however and specially if it's the case.
 
BTW and also exclusively from a filmmakers' POV, it's worthy of notice to have opportunity to have this competition so h(w)ealthy for the price issue. And about this point yours is valid as well.
 
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