Sound Devices Pix240 is rolling out into Retail

bgundu said:
Curious what would happen if you put a fast spinning HD in the Pix240. I'm sure someone will try!
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it wouldn't even need to be a relatively "fast" drive, prores 422 hq datarates are pretty low compared to what drives these days are capable of. Any normal 7200rpm drive on the market right now would be just fine I'd wager.
 
Does anyone know how the PIX240 handles the naming of clips? I assume it won't match the clip names set up in the camera. So if you record to disc in the camera the clip names match the clip names on the PIX240 SSD, I assume that info doesn't pass via SDI, does anyone know?
 
Toronto shooters: Joe Sutherland just got the pix240 demo/rental unit. Really nice piece of gear. Not that heavy after all. Played just for a bit, need to rent it and try it out soon...
 
Tata Steva said:
Toronto shooters: Joe Sutherland just got the pix240 demo/rental unit. Really nice piece of gear. Not that heavy after all. Played just for a bit, need to rent it and try it out soon...
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Cool. I live about 30 seconds from Joe. I'll check it out. Did he say what the rental will be? Does he provide SSD drives with the rental?Thanks.
 
Thanks for the heads-up I'll have to go check it, should answer a lot of my questions. Did you hear any noticeable fan noise?
 
bgundu said:
Cool. I live about 30 seconds from Joe. I'll check it out. Did he say what the rental will be? Does he provide SSD drives with the rental?Thanks.
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Price? Not sure, so I won't confirm... But, if you know his prices in general, it would be a bargain. He had one SSD in (256GB) with the unit, and I don't know if he will rent it together with unit. If not now, in a few weeks he will have it for sure as with other media. Again, as Joe does: what ever makes rental money- he will have it...
I know he mentioned that he was able to format only Sandisk extreme CF cards, any slower did not work...
 
vcfilms said:
Thanks for the heads-up I'll have to go check it, should answer a lot of my questions. Did you hear any noticeable fan noise?
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Well, that was the first thing I asked him! He just looked at me funny... I guess, fan noise is a non issue...
I guess some hard core testing still needs to be done.
One thing for sure, monitor is very usable. All commands and menus are so simple and idiot proof. Build quality excellent. This unit was powered by 2 Sony L batteries on the back.
All together: very nice!
 
Here are some questions I posed to Sound Devices and the answers they emailed me. Bottom line: CONTACT THEM AT support@sounddevices.com TO LET THEM KNOW YOU WANT PROFESSIONAL MONITOR CALIBRATION TOOLS IN THE PIX 240!! There's a huge difference between a recorder that is also a reliable monitor and a recorder that has a monitor but is worthless for accurately judging the picture. Who wants to attach two monitors to their camera to get one accurate image?

Question #1: My primary inquiry is what options will the LCD have for calibration? Since the 240 will be replacing other recorders AND an onboard monitor, it's critical that the 240 have professional adjustments to allow for proper calibration, such as brightness, contrast, color, B&W, and blue-only. Will you please tell me which of these (or other) calibration and image monitoring features the 240 will have?
Answer: Upon initial release, these features will not be a part of what the PIX does. These are all very good feature suggestions and may be considered for implementation in a future firmware release. Until then, you will have to stick with your current workflow and measurement tools.

Question #2: I read a (perhaps) rumor that the PIX 240 would have peaking. Calibration options aside, are there any features like that to assist in focusing (peaking, one-to-one pixel option, etc.) or seeing IRE levels (e.g. false colors or the like)?
Answer: These are just rumors. However, the PIX is a firmware driven device so the possibilities for future features are vast. We are fully aware that these features are desired and development will have to evaluate these possibilities for implementation. The best thing to do is to keep us informed on what you would like to see. We do a good job at listening to our user base and adapting to their growing needs.

Question #3: Will the PIX 240 record variable frame rates from cameras in 720 or 1080?
Answer: The PIX will record at the rate of the HDMI or HD-SDI input or up/down scale to a range of other supported frame rates. No off-time recording will be available. This could be considered in a future release.

Question #4: With two batteries mounted on the 240, what is the average expected battery life?
Answer: It's very difficult to pinpoint a run time. This will depend on codec used, audio inputs, record time and quite literally everything else. On the lightest of current draw, you could expect over 4 or 5 hours with the standard batteries. However, with the most extreme draw you could possible dip down to a half hour or so. This is why the feature that allows the PIX to be powered off of a camera's battery is so important. You can use the NP type batteries with our XL-NPH cup as well. There are many different powering options for the many different projects and power requirements.

Question #5: I've noticed that with the Ki Pro Mini, the recorded image is slightly darker than the image recorded in-camera (Panasonic AF100), by about 1/2 an f-stop. Has any variation between in-camera image and PIX-recorded image been noted?
Answer: Because of the codec and different compression types used, the videos recorded on the PIX will not be precisely identical to the copy recorded on any camera. The higher the data rate however, the less artifacts will be introduced. This is typical with any compression method. The higher the data rate, the closer it will be to the original. As far as having some bug that decreases the color or brightness of the videos, we do not have such problems.

Question #5: I assume there is a headphone jack, but I couldn't find one in the photos, so to be sure, is there a headphone jack?
Answer: There is a 3.5mm HP jack on the bottom left side of the PIX.
 
Thanks for passing on those responses from SD. So far, as I've written, only device in this price range which does off-time recording is NanoFlash. None of the other PRoRes devices-- Ninja,Samurai,or sideKick-- have any calibration or scopes. I hope that Pix adds all of those functionalities

Ned
 
Thanks for posting the responses. I went to Abel Cine last week to look at the Pix 240. It looked nice, but the salesman didn't really know much about it because it was so new. Hope they can add the calibration and focusing aids soon.
 
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