Odyssey7Q February 2014 Firmware Update

So wait... is there no firmware update coming haha? I'm confused.

I don't care about the compressed format, give me the 4k! come on guys, release it!
 
Not surprised but gutted as I was planning to use it for a shoot next week. Why promise a February update if you can't deliver? Seems silly to assume Apple would certify you by the end of the month.
 
Seems odd that CD scheduled a hard deadline that relied on a factor completely out of their hands... I assumed their announcing that the firmware would come by the end of the month signified that they had approval for Prores. So this could go on indefinitely if Apple drags their feet forever? Why not support some other compressed format that does not require licensing or is much easier to license? We could have been using that months ago.

Frankly it would be great anyway to have a highly compressed 4k recording option even if its 8bit and 420, why not do that first since it could probably be done without any 3rd party licensing? It would be a good start and work for a lot of people and adding the prores option later whenever it came through would still be great.

Isn't prores practically just a 10bit 422 implementation of MJPEG anyway? Couldn't we get a generic version that isnt apple branded? Or dnx?
 
rotierney said:
Not surprised but gutted as I was planning to use it for a shoot next week. Why promise a February update if you can't deliver? Seems silly to assume Apple would certify you by the end of the month.
Click to expand...

Yeah it does seem odd considering this is exactly what has happened to all past deadlines... Oh it's all ready but turns out we're still waiting on Apple.

I feel like they could have told us a week ago or two weeks ago they were still waiting on Apple so we would know the February deadline wasn't actually a deadline just a hope that Apple might happen to come through before then and then we could all have known it probably wasn't coming.
 
Not that it really matters, but I've also been talking to colleagues/clients about the firmware update coming "this Friday" because I actually believed Mitch/CD when they made statement after statement confirming that it would be out in February.

I still love my Odyssey7Q because it lets my FS700 do some amazing things, but CD is getting into the over-promise/under-deliver territory. Not a good place to be.

I'll be sure to take Mitch/CD's future statements with a generous helping of salt.
 
I'm not usually one to jump on the angry at a manufacturer bandwagon, but this is rather silly. The fact that it was a self imposed deadline is what makes it so absurd. Also the fact that not only did CD announce the deadline last month, they added features and promises that were to be delivered in the firmware a mere two weeks ago. If I deliver late for a client, be it television or coorporate, I most likely don't get another shot. At this level in the game, I'd rather spend 10k for something that works exactly as promised as opposed to 3k for something that seems like it may take over a year to deliver on it's promises. It's crazy though, it seems like no one can get this mystical "popular compressed codec" to license them, well except for Atomos, Sound Devices, Cinedeck, Black Magic and Aja.
 
Gentlemen, not going to be defensive here. Not much to defend. And we can take our lumps.

Please believe that all parties on both sides we're well aware of the schedule. We were as surprised as anyone when this occurred. It is not how it was supposed to happen.

Convergent Design will work to earn back any lost trust. I will work to earn back lost trust. We do care.
 
Managing expectations 101, i.e. no real point here. Just talkin

Managing expectations 101, i.e. no real point here. Just talkin

I think most of us weren't surprised by this. For you younger folks, Google the history of "Vaporware" sometime. It's quite interesting.

If you want to play the game of desktop "Hollywood", you need to pay the big bucks to be part of the brave new world of super imagery early on. That's not new news.

These promises from Convergent Design are pretty fantastic, and even if it comes in April, I think it'll still be worth it. The fact that Sony is pulling the condom off their 4k is pretty incredible, since they are the masters at manipulating their product line and their customers. I'm still scratching my head on that one. I think they realize that the indy filmmaker, and the professional filmmaker can coexist in the same jungle, and canabalism will not be as rampant as they think.

I think you have to go through that period early on in your career, when you don't have any money but want to make Citizen Kane, and participate in whatever cheap camera revolution that happens to come along at the time. The 20 sumthins are the luckiest generation alive right now when it comes to film making tools. My 2 options were 16mm and VHS/Hi-8, and even then, editing that footage was not an easy or cheap process. Do I sound like an old curmudgeon now? Yep I'm the ripe old age of 45.

Basically I'm saying, yes, we're all bummed because Christmas will have come and gone, and Santa Clause didn't show up when he promised, even if you were a good boy or girl all year. And yes, companies should not get you all excited about stuff before contracts are signed or tech is fully ready to go. It's cheap marketing and it isn't right. But if and when CD delivers, and all their tech lives up to our expectations, it'll be some great stuff(I hope...see? I'm not totally jaded).

So lets all "converge", wipe away the tears, hold a vigil, sing "Kumbaya", and we'll all get through this together. You just have to promise, that when it does come, you have to swear that you will not make a zombie film or a "Reservoir Dogs" rip off, because that would negate all the bitching about the fact that you couldn't make your great American film next Tuesday.
 
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Lost trust?? That's impossible Mitch. There's been no one in camera history (maybe 50 years ago) has anyone been as transparent and forthright about their company's strategic plans as you and if I may I like to add Dan Keating to the list. Convergent Design is smart and its obvious they care a lot about their client base to have hired you. People just need to be patient, we're lucky to have the Q7, perhaps some may have forgotten the day when they first saw the Sony solution. That wasn't a happy day for me, so Jeez guys is coming man...relax. It's almost embarrassing to hear anyone try to hold CD's feet to fire, so I had to chime in.
 
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My girlfriend was listening my anticipation the whole week (not even knowing what a codec is)and making bad jokes about Feb 2015 update.... Who's laughing now :/
I've never liked "the fruit" as a company, but now when they are dragging the whole update on my recorder, it makes me a bit mad.
Mitch, if you could go back in time and you'd have to choose one compressed codec for O7Q for 2k/4k between "popular" and xavc/other alt. what would be your choice?
If you're trying to be on the leading edge of 4k isn't the xavc the way to go?
 
"We were as surprised as anyone when this occurred. It is not how it was supposed to happen."

I hope CD has learned their lesson not to rely on Apple for anything. Apple basically gives no direction on anything.

Start working on some compressed open source alternatives(ex. DNxHD, etc. - I know it still has to be licensed for commercial use) RIGHT NOW instead of keeping your fingers crossed that Apple will come through. You can always add ProRes later if it ever get approved.

This is really tarnishing CD's reputation. I'm rooting for CD but not I'm holding my breath.
 
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there are two things I don't understand: CD went through licensing with the Gemini, they should have known about issues and have made a realistic planning.

Why did they not go the XAVC route? It's from Sony, it's field tested in the F5/55 and it supports all major NLEs without converting.

missing a compressed format is one thing. But what about eliminating all these bugs which are in sole responsibility of CD? White balance, bright line in display, changing from HFR to standard and back on the same SSD without formatting, missing time code on audio...


I was always happy about CD's way of communication compared to BMD but in the end were are all judged by facts not by talking. 'tick tock goes the clock" was little bigheaded in the end
 
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Why are people blaming Apple? Just because they are the big bad corp? I'm no fan boy of Apple, but I never heard them promise a firmware update for the O7Q. Mitch Gross did tweet "The February Firmware update will arrive during the month of February". Hate to be the D@$#% here but CD via Mitch Gross need to take some responsibility for what they say. You could get all Bill Clinton and dissect the semantics of what was said, but at the end of the day, it's still a major f-up, especially for someone with the title of "Director of Communications". Lessons learned. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again" is probably the best response right now.
 
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