Reel-Stream now taking orders for Andromeda

M

mgalvan

Well-known member
Hey,

Just saw that you can now order the Andromeda from their site.

Although I am set to purchase the HVX and have one on preorder, for some reason, I am still quite compelled to buy Andromeda instead for my DVX.

What do you guys think about the image that could come out of this modification. Do you think overall that it will produce a "better" image ... those of you with experience from the beta, please chime in ... also those who have worked with fully uncompressed footage before too ...

They are saying that the data rate from the mod is something along the lines of 240mb/sec. Interesting indeed, along with greater dynamic range. Any thoughts on the images of this mod compared to the HVX?
 
I have watched closely for what seems like forever on this and I am impressed with the imagery I am seeing.

But $3000 and $6500 ? What are they smoking?

With the HVX out now I can't even fathom something like this. I can get an HVX for less than this option and with what I'm seeing so far would not be an issue.

I think this product may be a day late and a dollar short
 
There is no doubt that the tech is amazing but I'm just wondering WHO this would appeal to.

Not only is the price insane but you need a PC (actually a Mac) to use it meaning no portability.

Maybe if all you do is shoot greenscreen inside a studio but still...buy a decent HD and you are set.

I'm wondering how popular this will actually be...
 
I'll wait to see what, if anything, they can do with the HVX200. When it comes to the DVX I think it's a little pointless now. For the same price of the adromeda I can sell my DVX and buy a HVX. What's the point?
 
Couldn't this technology also be applied to an HVX? That'd mean WAY more res than 1080... but would it be progressive? too many questions. I love the idea though.
 
John_Hudson said:
I have watched closely for what seems like forever on this and I am impressed with the imagery I am seeing.

But $3000 and $6500 ? What are they smoking?

With the HVX out now I can't even fathom something like this. I can get an HVX for less than this option and with what I'm seeing so far would not be an issue.

I think this product may be a day late and a dollar short
Click to expand...

I have gotta agree with John, the price seems a bit absurd. My reasoning is slightly different though, I simply consider the BOM (bill of materials) and what sort of gross multiplier must be involved to come up with a $3000 selling price.

The hardware side of the interface is likely a programmable logic device (I doubt that they have made the capital investment to go with a masked solution) something like an Altera or Xilinx FPGA should be more than enough horsepower for the task. Even in low quantity manufacturing environments, these devices have costs of $10 - $20, add to that a boot EE and a few passives, a connector and a PCB; and if you came up to $100 I would be surprised.

I do realize that there are some expenses to the installation of the PCB, but I don't see how this could be more than a few hours of work. So even with the desire to cover their long development cycle costs, it seems a bit optimistic to have a 3000% (or higher) gross multiplier.
 
I think they said something about student discount? :thumbsup:

How does it acheive the image size? Will the HVX mod have a 2k image? What magic is this?
 
I think it's pretty impressive. The uncompressed raw footage and increased latitude is pretty sweet. I definitely think there's a market for it for people who have the money and realize the advantages.

The footage coming from it is pretty amazing. I'm considering getting the mod.
 
I'd love to see a latitude test between the HVX and the Andromedized DVX. If the DVX has greater dynamic range, it could make a very compelling argument in it's favor for narrative filmmaking. Poor dynamic range is one of the key problems with digital video for filmmaking, even with the big 2/3" cameras. If this thing can add 2.5 stops of latitude and 720p HD to my DVX for only $3K, it's pretty hard to ignore.
 
From the samples I've seen, I think the DVX w/ Andromeda would win that contest hands down.

Also, I think the Andromeda is geared to a very different crowd.
Sure, there is some cross over, but something like the Andromeda isn't made for just anyone who is looking to shoot an indie movie.
It's really for that percentage of gear heads that wants to squeeze every last ounce of image quality out of their camera.

The HVX may shoot 720 & 1080, but it's still at a very high compression ratio, higher than DV.
(6.7:1 vs 5:1 if I'm not mistaken)

While the HVX will give you 40mb/s in 720P24 mode, the Andromeda will be spitting out somewhere in the ballpark of 200+mb/s

That's nothing to sneeze at.
I think this thing will find a market...albeit a small one, but there are those out there that have been waiting for an option like this at a "reasonable" cost.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
It's really for that percentage of gear heads that wants to squeeze every last ounce of image quality out of their camera.

.
Click to expand...

Probably says it all right there. Not practical at all IMHO, How much does a person need when it starts infringing on realistic usefulness....
 
Obviously they have put time and effort into this (I've been aware of the project now for about 6 months). I think the price is too high also, but I wonder if they would consider bringing it down. If they offered something like this between $500-$1000 I think they might achieve higher volume in sales.
 
ovjamaica said:
Obviously they have put time and effort into this (I've been aware of the project now for about 6 months).
Click to expand...


As far as I know, Juan's been working on this since January of 2004.
That was the first I heard of it.

That's a lot of R&D time.
But still, in the end something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.
It'll be curious to see how it goes.
 
How do you guys think footage from the DVX/Andromeda would fare against footage from the HVX in terms of a 35mm filmout?

Though the HVX does shoot higher rez with 1080p, I would think that the full uncompressed nature + more latitude of the DVX/Andromeda would prove a better picture, even after an uprez to 1080p.
 
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