Odyssey7Q February 2014 Firmware Update

Everyone needs to chill. CD brought a product to market to fill a hefty gap created by Sony's outrageous solution to external recording.
So what's with all the vitriol? Especially from those of you who haven't even invested or outlayed anything yet!
Delays are regrettable and annoying, but without CD taking a risk on a new product, imagine how limited for choice you would be right now without them.

Sell your car and buy the Sony solution, or have some semblance of patience for a product and company that is quite earnestly endeavoring to help you get the best out of your camera.
Right now I'm recording continuous 240fps. I'm recording 2k raw DNG's that are truly incredible compared to the internal avchd codec. I'm talking a total night and day comparison! And now in a couple of weeks, compressed options for the space-savers and long-form shooters out there.

Alternatively go buy a different camera. Your real beef is with Sony letting you down so badly with that ridiculous external contraption when we were all expecting a viable and affordable solution from all the marketing hype surrounding the fs700's release.
I for one am looking forward to watching my already great investment just get better and better over time.
 
I can't speak for a lot of us but I think where the frustration lies is not knowing what's next or if it's even worth it by the time it gets here. There's something to be said for being an early adapter on the positive end as well. That is coming out of the gate trying to earn a living with the latest and gear. I figurd the 4k upgrade would extend the life of the camera. By the time that happens I'm afraid with what I need another camera will already have it. It's a great monitor, a terrific product, I love CD and how they do business but if I can shoot a robust codec without an external device I'd be happier than a pig in the mud. Everybody has a preference, the camera is great but it's a shame it's taken Sony so long for us to use their upgrade they sold us back in June 2013. Again the Sony recorder is not an option. Nobody with an fs700 is renting that thing, maybe a few own it, idk. But I do know if this thing takes a lot more time it's not going to benefit any of us. By then we'll looking at other cameras. Please know I'm not applying pressure to CD. I believe they're doing the best they can with what the manufactures give them (and they're allowed to do) Maybe Sony isn't as easy to work with as let say...Canon. Jeez, look at the c500 specs with the Odyssey, Amazing Right? I don't think anybody should take anyones frustrations personal. We're still waiting, the camera is over 1 1/2 old, Its paid for plus some, so by now I think the early adopter excuse should be put to rest. We just may need to keep barking in Sony's ears, hopefully they'll hear us.
 
Shooting with the 2K DNGs on the 7Q, and knowing what the 4K ProRes upgrade is going to do for that, the only other cameras I have my eye on are spectacularly beyond this price range. If you're trying a "NAB is around the corner" argument, look at the trend for announcements vs. release times for every product, every year. The best camera ever made may be announced at NAB this year. And it will be guaranteed to come out in 6 months. And you'll wait a year. Or longer. As an owner of the 7Q, I'm certainly frustrated, as I would love to be shooting 4K Pro Res next week, but it's not CD's fault that they're on the frontier and it takes a little longer to get it right. They've been very respectful, honest, helpful and forthright. Some things in life just take longer than we want them to... but if history tells us anything, even if we have to wait another couple of months, it's still going to beat anything that's out at this price for the next year. And looking at the quality the 4K is taking off of the sensor... it's going to be quite useful for sometime.

If nothing else, the 7Q is worth the price as a monitor alone. The device might be the best $2300 (+ extras) I've spent on equipment in years.
 
People are complaining a lot, but have you guys shot with the 2K RAW yet? The image is spectacular compared to AVCHD. Yeah, the workflow is a little tedious, but it's totally worth the price of the unit just for that IQ bump IMO. And it's really not even that bad since Resolve transcodes so blazing fast. I remember transcoding my Canon 7D footage not too long ago. It took way, way longer than Resolve.

I really don't think anything will come out this year that will beat the FS700 + 7Q. The high frames rates, great dynamic range with S-Log. Unless it's different than the C300, the C500 has about a 12 stop DR. FS700 with 7Q and S-Log is definitely over 13, plus it's way cheaper and has higher frame rates. Yes, the GH4 is coming out with 4K and it will be cheap, but it's probably going to have way less DR and lower frame rate options. FS700 + 7Q is the only option right now and probably for a while that has 1) 240fps 2) RAW 3) High Dynamic Range with S-Log two 4) Good lowlight 5) relatively light and I love how I rigged it. I actually like the ergonomics more since I put on the 7Q.

The 7Q RAW just looks so damn good. I love it. Yeah, I can't wait for the features and the bug fixes (especially the flicker), but for now, I'm glad I got it and am using it.
 
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I'll tell you what I'm hoping for....
AFAIK, the Sony FS700 is an expendable. Here today, gone tomorrow. Technology marches on. But, what attracted me to the O7Q was the programmable processor concept. The implication to being programmable is that it can adapt, by way of new software, to whatever is offered at NAB, CES, etc. The fly in the ointment is C-D capacity to adapt quickly enough to stay current with camera development. I love the modular concept in which camera makers supply a state of the art sensor in a box with SDI outputs. Then, any one of a number of 3rd party vendors can supply a recording module to plug into the SDI port on the sensor box. And we're not very far from that operational reality. I love my Sound Devices hardware. I bought a 702 recorder over 7 years ago and it's still a viable piece of kit. I love my PIX 240i. Now, if only C-D can step up to the plate, I'd be a happy camper.

But, one thing is clear. A vendor that makes claims then doesn't meet those claims, will lose it's place in the food chain very quickly. I have no complaints about honest representation of a product. But making unachievable claims...well....enough said....just look at prior threads. yep, there's fanboys, there will always be...but, the sales numbers will always tell the real story.

For example, right now, the most attractive thing CD could do, is forget the prores codec, forget the DNxHD codec....let's see a 10-bit, 444, XAVC codec, recording off of a RAW 10 bit feed from the FS700. Now there's something that would make the FS700 competitive with an F5. I'd invest in an F5 today, except that $20k is a bit much for an expendable piece of kit, that will be obsolete in 2 years.
 
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I feel I have to say this. By no means am I sour towards CD or even Sony. Over the last few months I purchased 3 consumer products from Sony and my order is in for the Odyssey. What I am upset with is the vagueness sometimes Sony exhibits. I'm over it and I love my fs700. I won't ever sell it, I hope it can be my go to cam for my docu jobs for many years to come. (at least a few more anyway) I trust we'll get what is talked about, promised and now slated. It will come, after looking on the CD site it still has HD 12 bit 444 from the 4k stream listed, 2k raw is great and I imagine the 4k will be even better when it happens. If that's what we get then I'll be satisfied. I just can't endure any more surprises like, oh that can't happen, it's not our fault it's the manufactures call. That's just an example I'm using and no, I don't exspect 4k RAW which is fine. I respect this forum and hope some understand what sounds like frustration is really nothing more than wanting to be told what to expect.
At least by now. Thanks
 
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OK everyone, I just got through all five pages of your heartfelt posts. I'm going to go back to the beginning and respond and clarify as needed, but I think a lot has been answered along the way. Let me just point out a few things.

We always said that regular "popular compressed codec" from HD would come first. We need to get that done as it clears the way for everything else. We fully expect to be able to do up to 60p, but we don't know if we'll have that for this release, so we say 30p for now.

Part of the reason we do not have "compressed HD derived from 4K" listed is that while we are already looking at the 4K RAW, deBayering it and turning it into 1080p for monitoring, we know that we can do an even better job of it than we are doing now. We have people working on this right now. We are no longer going to make predictions that we are not quite confident we can meet. We don't know if it will be ready in time for this release so that's why it is not listed.

Let me also state that there is no one more frustrated with the delays in our forecasts than the good people at Convergent Design.
 
freshTEA said:
Do we have any idea on how long we have to wait for true 10-bit? Pro-res up to 60p? 4K compressed? Are we talking about weeks or months? Are CD putting their focus somewhere else? What can I as a customer now expect? Is there any guarantee that we will see these options at all?

I apologise if I have offended anyone or if I have been ignorant in anyway, I would likely be corrected if what Ive asked or presumed is wrong.
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I'm hoping for weeks, not months. But if I tell you dates then I'm sure to be wrong somewhere and disappoint. They are coming. The first one is always the hardest; after than one builds upon what came before.

We are not putting our focus elsewhere. What we have done is expand our team to expedite the process.

You have not offended. You got news that was not what you wanted.
 
Thank you Mitch,

Have you found out if the odyssey 7 will have enough processing power to handle 12bit 444 in the future?
12bit option is very exciting for us F35 & C500 users, and CD has our attention!
 
olof said:
One question Mitch. What about vector scope? I thought that was part of the next update as well. This is not super important but would be nice.
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If we get it perfect in time then we will include it. What I listed are what we are highly confident we will get done. If the team responsible for one necessary aspect is taking a little more time and the team working on something else like the vectorscope catches up, then it will make it into the release. That's why one can't be absolute in these things. To many plates spinning.
 
gene_can_sing said:
Hey Mitch,

Thanks for posting the update. The Option to remove image analysis tools from SDI & HDMI outputs, sounds nice.

1) So does that mean that a client monitor running from the 7Q will not see the peaking, histogram, zebra, etc...???

2) I noticed there was no mention of the screen flicker. Will the firmware update fix the flicker? It's pretty annoying on my monitor.

3) Also, does February mean early Feb or late Feb? Early Feb preferred obviously :)

Thanks
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1 - correct
2 - Yes. It is associated with another issue which is being corrected.
3 - February means February. I can tell you it won't be Feb. 1st.
 
Marino215 said:
The 4k Raw I can live without. Compressed is obviously on the road map and that's fine. What excited me most about the odyssey was the ability to record from the 4k signal. I guess my question is, are we going to see any "True" 12 bit 444, 10 bit 422 in the future. I know we can get that from from 2k raw, but will we get it from the 4k raw? I'm just a little confused, perhaps lazy. The legalities behind it all is what's confusing me most. Not that matters to us, its between CD, Sony and whoever else, I would just like to know what's slated as a definite reality, anything else will be a bonus if it happened. TBH it was the "the perhaps" Mitch said in post #7 that had me question myself. Thanks
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We will have compressed recording formats derived from the 4K RAW. We have no restrictions on this. This will happen.
 
greenheron said:
I have asked these same questions and all I have gotten is vague conflicting and misleading information. CD has stated yesterday that it may be until the end of the year before DNXHD codec is available and that the ProRes codec will NOT be included in the February FW update, with no information about when it will be available. I really feel mislead at this point. Glad I decided to hold off buying.
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You have never seen the name of the "popular codec" publicly from Convergent Design, as we are not formally allowed to say it until we are certified by the manufacturer. The vast majority of our clients have clearly stated to us that they want this codec first, so we will complete it and several of its variations before completing DNxHD. But I have no idea where you are getting these timelines.

To be as clear as I can be given what I just stated above, the statement you made about what "will NOT be included in the February" update is wrong. The truth is in fact the exact opposite of what you state.
 
Joemami said:
Thank you Mitch,

Have you found out if the odyssey 7 will have enough processing power to handle 12bit 444 in the future?
12bit option is very exciting for us F35 & C500 users, and CD has our attention!
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This functionality is planned for the Odyssey7Q, but it will not be a part of the Odyssey7.
 
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