Odyssey7Q April 2014 Firmware Update

Pgale said:
Thanks for the honesty Mitch, it really is appreciated and helps put my mind at rest, even if there are daily struggles with bugs and quirks.

It it sounds like you need an even more intense beta / bug squashing phase. Or maybe even a public beta where many people represented here would be more than happy to help out by testing. I know there's always the risk of someone using a beta on a live shoot and coming unstuck, no matter how much you say the beta shouldn't be used as such - maybe a beta could have a watermark to prevent that. I know I'd still be happy to test even if I couldn't use it in production.
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Public betas aren't such a bad idea because a lot of folk here are individuals rather than large productions and do have the ability to do the beta thing during downtime and everyone here has such a different set up and perspective. Hand in hand with a formalised bug tracking solution otherwise that could overwhelm. Software companies like the foundry (nuke et al) have a very organised way of handling this.

AFAICG (can guess) CD are working with FGPA programming which complicates matters? Otherwise when running most source control systems branching a new build whilst maintaining current builds is a standard operating procedure - something like microsofts TFS allows for branching and merging of codebases in this way. I presume that's why it's more difficult bouncing between builds.

cheers
Paul
 
Hey Mitch,

Any guess on when 120fps will be enabled for recording with the Canon C500? We love our C500/Oddyssey7Q combo, but are still having to rent a Red Epic everytime we need to do slow-mo and those costs are starting to add up.

Thanks!
Chris
 
Thanks for the offers of assistance. The problem with beta builds is that I can tell you from my personal attempts to work with them what we have is catastrophic failures. Everything is going fine and then when the code breaks, boy does it ever break. I made the mistake of looking at some beta firmware while at the trade show in Singapore and effectively bricked one of my display units for the remainder of the show. We wouldn't want to unleash that on anyone.

We do have a beta program in place. And thank you, but no, we do not need anyone else to be beta testers at this time. Any bugs or issues you find, please submit a Support Ticket and we will add it to our list.
 
chris f said:
Hey Mitch,

Any guess on when 120fps will be enabled for recording with the Canon C500? We love our C500/Oddyssey7Q combo, but are still having to rent a Red Epic everytime we need to do slow-mo and those costs are starting to add up.

Thanks!
Chris
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I do not believe C500 120fps will make it into this release, but I could be wrong.
 
Mitch Gross said:
Thanks for the offers of assistance. The problem with beta builds is that I can tell you from my personal attempts to work with them what we have is catastrophic failures. Everything is going fine and then when the code breaks, boy does it ever break. I made the mistake of looking at some beta firmware while at the trade show in Singapore and effectively bricked one of my display units for the remainder of the show. We wouldn't want to unleash that on anyone.

We do have a beta program in place. And thank you, but no, we do not need anyone else to be beta testers at this time. Any bugs or issues you find, please submit a Support Ticket and we will add it to our list.
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Ah OK, bricking the unit wouldn't be good!
 
I have been waiting and waiting for the c500 120fps. We had to pay the highest price for the 4k and it seems that all the development is going to the fs 700. I mean that I really want the 120fps. I need what was promised that the c500/od7q would be the one all around camera that I could take into any environment and pretty much handle anything. So far I love the Q7, but it is not living completely up to its promise. I know that a lot of people are bitching and all, but when is the c500 going to get what was promised?
 
And further, I really want to buy 2 more q7's to use with gh4 and sony a7s but need to know how it is going to work, If it requires a board update that is expensive I need to know, as I would just wait to buy new with a new board and not upgrade the q7 that is with the c500. Can you give us any idea what is happening?
 
lightstrum said:
I have been waiting and waiting for the c500 120fps. We had to pay the highest price for the 4k and it seems that all the development is going to the fs 700. I mean that I really want the 120fps. I need what was promised that the c500/od7q would be the one all around camera that I could take into any environment and pretty much handle anything. So far I love the Q7, but it is not living completely up to its promise. I know that a lot of people are bitching and all, but when is the c500 going to get what was promised?
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AMEN! I have been waiting patiently since I spent over $10k on two Gemini's in December of 2012. We were promised so much with those units (ProRes/DNXHD etc) even back then. I will admit I was able to use both of my Gemini's to shoot 4k 120fps but not without a post production circus. I just spent another $10k on 2 Odyssey's with the Canon RAW upgrade and several SSD's. So After $20k invested with CD and over $50k with Canon (not including glass) I am still waiting to be able to shoot FullHD/2k/4k 120fps/ProRes/DNXHD? etc) with my c500's. Enough already, by time the firmware is released that will finally make my C500's complete I will be purchasing new cameras that will record compressed codec's, all resolutions, higher hi- speed to in camera media and my Odyssey's will be two overpriced monitors that will be worth nothing.
 
lightstrum said:
I have been waiting and waiting for the c500 120fps. We had to pay the highest price for the 4k and it seems that all the development is going to the fs 700. I mean that I really want the 120fps. I need what was promised that the c500/od7q would be the one all around camera that I could take into any environment and pretty much handle anything. So far I love the Q7, but it is not living completely up to its promise. I know that a lot of people are bitching and all, but when is the c500 going to get what was promised?
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We have people working full time on features for the C500. 120p is working, but not at a level where we feel confident to release at this time. We are committed to delivering as much C500 support as the Odyssey7Q can possibly handle, which is a lot.
 
lightstrum said:
And further, I really want to buy 2 more q7's to use with gh4 and sony a7s but need to know how it is going to work, If it requires a board update that is expensive I need to know, as I would just wait to buy new with a new board and not upgrade the q7 that is with the c500. Can you give us any idea what is happening?
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The current hardware within the Odyssey7Q will not allow 4K over HDMI. We are working on solutions but they will not be no-cost solutions. We have not yet determined exactly what the best solution will be as we are testing various options. We recently eliminated one as we decided it would be too expensive for endusers and therefore unattractive. As soon as we decide we will let you know.

So based on what you just stated above, you may wish to hold off until we can inform you further.

Currently there are no recorders shipping on the market that will accept 4K over HDMI.
 
fab410 said:
AMEN! I have been waiting patiently since I spent over $10k on two Gemini's in December of 2012. We were promised so much with those units (ProRes/DNXHD etc) even back then. I will admit I was able to use both of my Gemini's to shoot 4k 120fps but not without a post production circus. I just spent another $10k on 2 Odyssey's with the Canon RAW upgrade and several SSD's. So After $20k invested with CD and over $50k with Canon (not including glass) I am still waiting to be able to shoot FullHD/2k/4k 120fps/ProRes/DNXHD? etc) with my c500's. Enough already, by time the firmware is released that will finally make my C500's complete I will be purchasing new cameras that will record compressed codec's, all resolutions, higher hi- speed to in camera media and my Odyssey's will be two overpriced monitors that will be worth nothing.
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It was before my time at CD, but I do not believe that ProRes was ever promised for the Gemini. We are about to institute a trade-up program for all Gemini owners so that they can move to Odyssey7Qs with some benefits. When we are ready to start the program I can let you know more, or you can feel free to contact me directly.
 
Thanks Mitch. I know it was before your time my frustration is not with you. I know it was some compressed format that was promised. Anyway, I did use the trade-up program Dan Keaton helped me out. I hope the engineers can sort out the C500 features ASAP I have a large shoot in Spain coming up in August and it would be nice to finally be able to somewhat easily shoot 120fps. BTW if anyone needs any Gemini SSD's I have lots of them for sale.
 
I would really like to know why CD didn't realize how hard it would be to program the 7Q from the beginning.
 
rejdmast said:
I would really like to know why CD didn't realize how hard it would be to program the 7Q from the beginning.
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You could ask that of any piece of hardware with a processor. Every board i'm on is filled with the same questions (except for Red...i don't own one so don't follow developments). I figure at some point in a controlled environment all of these devices did what they were supposed to do...in a vacuum. Maybe if the 7q only supported one device there would be fewer bugs to contend with. But these damn Canon guys are putting flies in our FS700 soup and vice versa. I don't envy the engineers at all...I don't envy all that damn programming...but I do want them to forget about those c500 guys for about a month...get the fs700 squared away...then support those other crappy cams :)
 
I don't imagine c500 development affects fs700 stability or improvements, each mode is totally isolated as you have to load each program separately and reboot in the different mode.
 
rejdmast said:
I would really like to know why CD didn't realize how hard it would be to program the 7Q from the beginning.
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Ask Microsoft why 1000s of programmers took so long to get each version of Windows done.
Ask RED why they have delays.
Ask Adobe why it takes so long for them to do stuff.
Ask ARRI why it took nearly two years for them to implement everything on the ALEXA.
Ask AJA what the SxS slots are for on the original Ki Pro (They were never enabled - Jay at AJA likes to joke that they're good for storing sticks of gum).

Stuff takes time. The only reason you don't hear about it from a company like Sony is because they don't tell anyone what they're doing. When they do share the process - guess what? - stuff takes just as long. Sony has announced that they will put ProRes & DNxHD into the F5 & F55. Anyone want to bet that it will be this calendar year?

It used to be that no one talked about stuff in development and no one released products until everything was enabled. It was kinda cool to watch Sony unveil something like DigiBeta with "here's the pro camera, here's the industrial camera, here's the player deck, here's the recorder deck, here's the studio deck, here's the new tape stock, and everything will be available to purchase in three weeks." It's a different world now. RED (in part, can't just lay it in their laps) made it okay to release an unfinished product and then complete it over time with firmware and even hardware updates. Development cycles didn't change, just the point in the cycle at which something reached the end users. So in order to keep up, other manufacturers have to do similar release patterns. Sony would never have released the F5 & F55 with another year expected until all of the features were enabled.
 
The Odyssey is a great piece of kit and great monitor but I honestly fear that by the time everything that has been promised has been implemented, that there will be cameras out that will shoot compressed 4k at high speed internally and render the Odyssey an antiquated device.
 
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