Upcoming 4:4:4 Recorders

Apple just announced 11 and 13 inch MacBook Airs with Thunderbolt I/O, starting at $999 and $1,299 respectively.

The 11" version has a 1366x768 native screen, and the 13" one has 1440x900.

So with a Blackmagic UltraStudio 3D and a MacBook Air you get an off-camera field monitor/director's monitor + 4:4:4 recorder + I/O device combo in a pretty lightweight package for under $2,000 if you go with the 11".
 
All the "lightweight" is loosing it´s charm, by the need to be tattered to an AC outlet. You gonna need a fast RAID, that you need to power. Also the Blackmagic UltraStudio 3D needs - at least a few v-mount batteries or AC. Put that all together and you also could use a small,, self contained and probably cheaper desktop coputer, that has everything in one case, instead of an octopus cluster of boxes and cables.

Frank
 
Frank ,I am interested in mac book air+ BM 3d workflow,Can please suggest cheap alternative as your talking ..current project can accomdate a PC as recorder and monitor

Note:BM 3D compatible with Snow leopard..Mac Air is Lion.. Compatible ?

I didn't find any RGB 444 recorder for PC sofar
 
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All the "lightweight" is loosing it´s charm, by the need to be tattered to an AC outlet. You gonna need a fast RAID, that you need to power. Also the Blackmagic UltraStudio 3D needs - at least a few v-mount batteries or AC. Put that all together and you also could use a small,, self contained and probably cheaper desktop coputer, that has everything in one case, instead of an octopus cluster of boxes and cables.

Frank
What PCIe cards are there for PCs that can capture 444 HDMI? The only one from BM I know of is the $995 http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/decklinkhdextreme/techspecs/. Then one would need a very tiny PC to put the PCIe card and hard drives into, which could be pretty nice as well. Not as portable as you would wish, but much cheaper 444 than a Cinedeck, Cinemartin or Gemini 444.

I didn't find any RGB 444 recorder for PC sofar
http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/decklinkhdextreme/techspecs/
 
Apple route is convincing me as of now.as there is no word available on matrox frame rate support...I am just researching on practical limitations with this workflow..Hope magic has driver for Lion OS as well
Hope somebody could come up thunderbolt + ipad / android tab for making life much easier
 
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Apple route is convincing me as of now.as there is no word available on matrox frame rate support...I am just researching on practical limitations with this workflow..Hope magic has driver for Lion OS as well
Hope somebody could come up thunderbolt + ipad / android tab for making life much easier

You have to incorporate disk space and disk speed into the workflow as well. Drives fast enough will more than likely need external power!
 
1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7,256GB Flash Storage from apple should able to handle though its not large..since i will not edit on mac pro air
 
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You have to incorporate disk space and disk speed into the workflow as well. Drives fast enough will more than likely need external power!
The BlackMagic UltraStudio 3D can capture to a codec of choice, e.g. CineForm 444/1080p or ProRes 4444/1080p, in realtime.

CineForm 444/1080p is around 40 MB/s (source.) ProRes 4444/1080p is around ~35 MB/s (source in Mbit/s, divide by 8 to get in MByte/s.) Many external bus-powered FireWire 800 drives can reach those speeds, e.g. the G-DRIVE mini with ~60 MB/s R/W speeds (source.) There is also the FireWire 800 bus-powered 1.5TB G-RAID mini with write speed of ~115 MB/s (source).

No need to choose G-Tech though. I'm sure there are plenty of other bus-powered FW800 external hard drives that are more than enough for CineForm 444/1080p or ProRes 4444/1080p.
 
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The BlackMagic UltraStudio 3D can capture to a codec of choice, e.g. CineForm 444/1080p or ProRes 4444/1080p, in realtime.

CineForm 444/1080p is around 40 MB/s (source.) ProRes 4444/1080p is around ~35 MB/s (source in Mbit/s, divide by 8 to get in MByte/s.) Many external bus-powered FireWire 800 drives can reach those speeds, e.g. the G-DRIVE mini with ~60 MB/s R/W speeds (source.) There is also the FireWire 800 bus-powered 1.5TB G-RAID mini with write speed of ~115 MB/s (source).

No need to choose G-Tech though. I'm sure there are plenty of other bus-powered FW800 external hard drives that are more than enough for CineForm 444/1080p or ProRes 4444/1080p.

Wow, didn't realize bus powered FW800 would get even close to those speeds. Especially since you see those smaller/slower drives in the bus powered versions anyway. Good to know.

If someone can confirm the MacBook Air and one of the Thunderbolt solutions working, I'm extremely intrigued. The MacBook could double as a director's monitor. I do remember though when recording via an AJA card on a MacPro there was lag between what was happening real-time and what was being displayed on the computer monitor. I would hope that isn't the case with this solution

I also might be missing something, but I don't think the MacBook Air comes with FW800?
 
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I also might be missing something, but I don't think the MacBook Air comes with FW800?
True. The MB Air has no FW800. It has one Thunderbolt and two USB 2.0 ports.

There is a Thunderbolt to FW800 adapter. It could be daisy-chained with other Thunderbolt products, if the other product has an extra Thunderbolt port. At NAB 2011 BlackMagic showed off the UltraStudio 3D with two Thunderbolt ports (in and out) for daisy chaining (source.) But for some reason BlackMagic seems to have removed one of the Thunderbolt ports on the UltraStudio 3D in the shipping product which means no daisy-chaining (source.)

So for now, until someone releases a daisy-chainable Thunderbolt FW800 adapter, you'll need a MacBook Pro I guess.
 
Alright. I have it. No need to get a MacBook Pro (if you don't already have one, that is.)

You could get the $599 Mac Mini. It has FireWire 800, HDMI out and Thunderbolt I/O + other stuff.

You would however need an HDMI screen and AC power, just as the BlackMagic UltraStudio 3D needs AC power as well. So this is not a run-and-gun solution like perhaps the Cinedeck. But for studio work, or when you're doing narrative and you have access to power, it's much cheaper. Something like $7,000 cheaper (source.)
 
Any 8bit 444 vs 10bit 422 comparison?

You're not going to see much difference between 422 and 444 at the same bit depth unless you're doing very heavy VFX compositing. There's just not that much of a difference as there is going from 420 to 422.

8 bit vs 10 bit is another story (you can have 422 8 or 10 bit and 444 8 or 10 bit; they are independent). 10 bit color can give you better color gradiations. The key is what comes out of the camera; the FS100 can only output 8 bit color. The F3 can do 10 bit. Both can do 444.
 
I would say it depends on where the final images are being displayed...

IMHO - if it's for broadcast (in YUV/422 by defination) or web, the diffrences are not very noticable
IMHO - if it's for 444 deliverables like DCP, then the diffrences are substaintial, even more so if you are working in P3.

This is from working in 444 constantly, and then doing the broadcast version in YUV/422 - today i'm doing day 6 of the grade on a feature, all 444/P3 in a Dci2K project.. this one is shot on film, last one was RED, before that Alexa, and before that an indie feature shot on Ex1's.. the Ex1 was a pig like object in comaprison.. the film still made it into the Montreal Film Fest a week ago or so....

I'm spoiled by 444 and uncompressed for sure....

d/
 
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You're not going to see much difference between 422 and 444 at the same bit depth unless you're doing very heavy VFX compositing. There's just not that much of a difference as there is going from 420 to 422.

8 bit vs 10 bit is another story (you can have 422 8 or 10 bit and 444 8 or 10 bit; they are independent). 10 bit color can give you better color gradiations. The key is what comes out of the camera; the FS100 can only output 8 bit color. The F3 can do 10 bit. Both can do 444.

Yes I know, but since 444 is a free lunch in the FS100, I´m quite curious to see how it will perform. If something between 8bit 422 and 10bit 422 it will already be very nice extra juice to play.
 
I would say it depends on where the final images are being displayed...

IMHO - if it's for broadcast (in YUV/422 by defination) or web, the diffrences are not very noticable
IMHO - if it's for 444 deliverables like DCP, then the diffrences are substaintial, even more so if you are working in P3.

This is from working in 444 constantly, and then doing the broadcast version in YUV/422 - today i'm doing day 6 of the grade on a feature, all 444/P3 in a Dci2K project.. this one is shot on film, last one was RED, before that Alexa, and before that an indie feature shot on Ex1's.. the Ex1 was a pig like object in comaprison.. the film still made it into the Montreal Film Fest a week ago or so....

I'm spoiled by 444 and uncompressed for sure....

d/

I'l give you that, though it depends on your workflow. I was thinking Broadcast or lower.
 
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