My Flash XDR arrived yesterday to use with my EX1. The 32GB Transcend 133x flash cards should be here on Friday maybe Monday due to holiday along with HD-SDI and audio cables. Anton Bauer Dionic 90 battery is on the way with Dual 2722 charger.

First impression of the XDR is the unit is well made and has a solid feel. I am in the process of finding a mounting solution for my Zacuto rails. This will allow me to hand hold use on the tripod and in the helicopter. If all goes well with the XDR which I expect I will also be getting an EX3 with a couple of optional HD lens and modifying Ted’s OMalley’s great looking shoulder brace to hold the flash on that camera.

I know a lot of people are waiting on the Nano Flash for the lower cost and lighter weight. I am sure the Nano will be a great unit but I went for the XDR due to the 4 Flash cards and longer recording. This is important in the helicopter so we can keep the shoot rolling.

I have been in business for along time and it is rare to deal with people as responsive and helpful as Dan and Mike. I look forward to a long business relationship.

I will post more information pictures and clips once I am at that stage.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for the kind words.

We look forward to serving you well.

Wow loads of emails asking about my set up. The battery and cards are not here yet but this is what I have now.

Solved the mounting of the Flash XDR on my Zacuto rails. The system works very well and can be adjusted for my three needs. The Anton Bauer Diconic 90 battery will go under the lens up front to help balance the rig. And the XDR can move forward when on the tripod and Heli gyro rig. Then when it needs to be hand held I slide it back and the LCD with viewfinder options works perfect. I was able to simulate the battery weight and the rig balances perfect. It is a lot lighter then my hand held two-gyro rig.

Cards arrive today so will start testing. The battery arrives tomorrow so I will start field-testing.

Thanks for the photos - nice job of mounting.

You also addressed the prevention of wearing out the SDI ports on the XDR and EX1 by placing a coupler between the camera and XDR as Mike Schell suggested. Can you supply more details on your SDI cable setup.

I can't think of a way to more quickly damage the BNC connectors on a Flash XDR or any other device than leaving cables plugged in when it is not in use and being transported. The leverage that the cable and connector provide are far more likely to damage the XDR during transit than any number of times you might plug it in. I have never heard of any other manufacturer of connectors, cables, or broadcast gear suggest this approach.

Jeff Silverman

John, Dan Keaton built the cables with the coupler it gives me options and he did a very nice job on all of the cables.

Jeff that could be true but it is nice to have the options if I connect and disconnect when the XDR is left on the rails.

Dear Jeff,

Even when using the best available BNC connectors, the manufacturers rate the connectors at around 1,000 mating cycles.

I fully agree that if one attempts to leave the BNC cablele connected to the Flash XDR or camera, one should take into consideration how the unit (with the cable) will be stored.

If one does not have room for cable, or cannot make room for the cable, then it should be removed.

We are attempting to give each user their choice. If one wants, they can leave the cable attached. If there is going to be strain on the device, then remove the cable.

Even if one only leaves the cable attached during a shooting day, this could mean quite a few mating cycles that are avoided (under certain conditions).

So how much $ are these?

Clint from their site the retail is $350-480 for the arm options. This is very high end gear.

5 G's? Would a average videographer notice a substantial difference in this and the Sony?
I shoot hunting DVD's and am very interested in getting started using a flash type drive. I was going to pick up the Sony before I seen this.
thanks

Sorry Clint I thought you were asking about the Zacuto arms.

I suggest you search on the Flash XDR forum so you can see examples of higher bit rates and better color spacing. You will find loads of information on the forum and the Convergent Designs site.

Well cards arrived and battery. Today I took a few hours late in the day to start some test.

First I upgraded the firmware this is a piece of cake and took 3 minutes. Directions are easy to follow.

Then installing the fourth card the eject button got stuck my fault. I called Dan and in 5 minutes he talked me through the easy fix pulling the side cover off and resetting the eject button.

First 1080p 30p 50Mbps 422 test was two clips. I shot both sitting at my desk so not very interesting but in low light. Both went from CF card to Mac Pro easy and imported into FC as XDCAM HD 422 1080p 30 (50Mb/s). I did the same with 100Mb/s and it imported in FC at the same 50Mbps since FC does not support 100Mbp/s yet. But interesting the playback Data Rate in Item Properties is twice what the 50Mbp/s is at 12.2 MB/sec. In the FC manual this is what rate is needed to play back the time line. But I found it interesting it was twice at 100. Either way the footage is stunning. I also recorded on the SxS card and the difference is easy to see.

In QuickTime the 100Mbp/s imports just fine.

Off to town meeting or I would keep testing tonight.

A couple of questions for Dan or Mike when they read this post:

1. How do I record with out camera info and still have it on my LCD/viewfinder? Or is this not possible?
2. Options to start record with camera? I know it is on the way and it will be a great feature. You talk about a remote?

3. Oh yea how do I change files names with out loosing data?

Dear Paul,

We are testing a new release.

One of the features in this new release is a menu item for record triggers.

You will be able to set each of the three options individually. By this I mean that you can set any or all of them on, in any combination.

One Record Trigger is the Record Button. If this is disabled, then pressing the Record Button on the Flash XDR will have no effect.

Another is the Remote Trigger. This enables the remote control input, via the Hirose connector.

The third is the Timecode Trigger. This allows the Flash XDR to automatically start when it detects incrementing timecode on the External Timecode Input, or incrementing timecode embedded in the HD-SDI signal.

If this is enabled, then your camera, if appropriate timecode options are set, will be able to start and stop the Flash XDR.

I will attempt to research your other question.

Wow that was 5 minutes for a response you are quick.

All three trigger options sound great.

Dear Paul,

I am downloading the Sony EX1 manual now.

I hope to have an answer soon.

Dear Paul,

For the Sony EX1, set the following in the "Video Set" menu:

"YPbPr/SDI Display" to Off

I found this on Page 102 of the EX1 manual.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Dan,

Sorry you had to pull out the EX1 manual to find that. I have the manual on my desk and it will be part of my testing this afternoon.

Dear Paul,

No problem at all, we are here to help.

Dan

Dan very nice to now have the record button on the the EX start the record on the XDR by way of TC.

What I thought was a Anton Bauer plate purchased from Zacuto was in fact a Pro-X plate. Do not buy this plate for two reasons. One once screwed to the red plate it will not lock the Anton Bauer battery. Two it is more expensive then the Anton Bauer ANQRCGOLD QRC-GOLD Gold Mount Battery Plate which I ordered from B&H once I tried the Pro-X plate.

When the Pro-X is not screwed to the red plate is locks 75% of the time. Also it is built cheap compared to the Anton Bauer plates.

I am in australia and own the jvc pro hd 251e
I believe the sdi output on this camera will produce 422 10 bit images uncompressed,
so am obviously excited about the potential with the flash xdr.
1.Has anyone tried the flash xdr with this camera,
2.is there a way to trigger the unit with cameras record button?
3.this camera gives a great picture, but have always been disappointed with the noise in picture in underlit areas, does anyone know if the lack of hdv compression will improve the noise levels?
4.I edit with premier axio le and have been disappointed with results from firestore hd100 drive that records hdv1 mt2 files, it appears the long gop format doesn't translate very well to mt2 and I lose all realtime features in axio when trying to edit these files, does anyone have any experience in trying the 720p or 1080i mxf files from flash xdr in a premier/axio environment?
5.any expected date for shipping nano?
6. It appears there have been no flash xdr units shipped to Australia, Dan do you want a test pilot for a jvc prohd 251e (pal camera) using the flash xdr, and importing to a axio/premier timeline?

Steve I think you should start a new thread "JVC Pro HD 215e and Flash XDR". That way people will see the topic and know to help you out.

The only question I can answer is #2 yes this came out today with the new firmware. See post for new firmware today.

Dear Steven,

I can answer a few questions.

1.Sorry, but I do not know all of the cameras are being used with the Flash XDR.
However, HD-SDI is a very rigid standard, the Flash XDR should work with your camera.

2. Yes, if any camera has timecode, and can use Record Run timecode, then the timecode on your camera starts incrementing when you start recording. The Flash XDR will detect this and then start recording, and stop when your timecode stops.

3. I do not know, sorry.

4. We are still developing our MXF support. We expect to be done in two weeks. We are currently building an editing suite with all of the main Non-Linear Editors.

Quicktime support is available now and is support by more than one editor.

5. We are not ready to release the shipping date on the nanoFlash, sorry.

6. Yes, there are Flash XDR units in Australia. I will bring up your offer to Mike Schell.

In summary, we are confident, that the Flash XDR will improve the image quality from your camera and you get tapeless workflow with zero dropouts.

There certainly are units in Australia - I am near Sydney and own a Flash XDR which I am using with an original Canon XL-H1 and happy with it.

However, I gather from the documents that came with the latest firmware upgrade (0.0.184) that the original XL-H1 will require me to connect a second cable between the camera's TC out and the XDR's TC in - is that correct and will that ALWAYS detect when the camera's record button is pushed? If not, what kind of remote can I buy that will plug into the XDR's remote slot?

Dear Nic,

For the original Canon XL H1, yes, you will need a timecode cable from the XL H1's timecode out, to the Flash XDR's timecode in.

The Flash XDR was designed specifically with the original Canon XL H1 in mind.

For the Flash XDR to start recording on incrementing timecode, the Canon XL H1 must be setup to use Record Run timecode. This means that the timecode increments only when the camera is recording.

Then, on the Flash XDR, one needs to set the TC check box in the Timecode>Trigger menu.
This instructs the Flash XDR to start when the timecode starts incrementing, and stop when the timecode stops.

Just like your XL H1, these is a slight delay from when the timecode starts incrementing before the first frame is recorded. On the XL H1, this is about 3 seconds, it is faster on the Flash XDR.

In a future release we will probabaly reduce the delay to the smallest value possible. I understand the current delay is around 1 second or less.

We have a Canon XH G1, an original XL H1, and a XL H1s.

Yes, with the proper settings, it will always start recoding properly.

With the current release 0.0.184, you have the luxury of seeing the current timecode display prominently on the top line of the Flash XDR display.

If you have the proper menu settings on the camera and the Flash XDR, once you hit the record button on the camera, you willl see the timecode increment on the display, and the record light will go on. The reverse happens when you stop recording.

I have not forgotten about this thread just been busy getting two jobs out the door. Both will be out this week and that will give me the holidays to do some field testing with the XDR.

My power cable arrived last week and the Anton Bauer battery works great under the Zacuto rails.

Also found out today from Dan Keaton that Final Cut does handle long GOP 100Mbp/s 422 along with the 50Mbp/s. It just does not have 100Mbp/s labeled. This is why I was seeing the data rate of 12.2MB/sec for 100Mbp/s which is twice that of the 50Mbp/s at 6.1MB/sec

More soon.

Tried to shoot some test shots today and could not get the XDR to record.

Dan if you are there I have the newest firmware the unit powers up fine and all connections look great. I have the settings at 100Mbp/s, QT, and TC is checked so recording starts with the camera which worked great on the last shoot. The camera has SDI at HD.

When I start the camera it records on the S&S cards fine but nothing happens on the XDR. Then if I set the TC to not record when the camera starts and hit record on the XDR once the camera is recording i get the message "No Trigger".

I have been able to resolve the problem. One of the HD-SDI cables was not working. I put the other cable in and all seems fine.

Dear Paul,

Do I need to send you a replacement HD-SDI cable today or tomorrow? If so, I need to know the color of the boots and the length you desire.

No Dan it was not one of the cables you sent me I was in a different studio not mine. Forgot my cables but will use mine tomorrow.

I did have a problem with the short power cable. The end at the D-Tap has pulled out of the shrink wrap. Not sure how bad this is but I am happy to send it back and have it replaced.

Dear Paul,

Please let me know what length you need and we will build you another one.

I have quite a few already built, but they are in Colorado Springs.

Thanks Dan 20" is what I am using. Do you want me to send this one back? No hurry since I have the longer cable to use in the meantime.

Dear Paul,

If you are not in a hurry, we could send one from our Colorado Springs stock after the holidays.

Could you send me a picture of the problem cable, via a private message, at your convenience?

Sounds good Dan after the holidays. I will use the longer power cable which seems to be fine.

Email with picture coming.

Just to give you an update on some of my finding with the Flash XDR.

I thought Final Cut would not be able to deal with 100Mbp/s long GOP 422. Well I was wrong. When you import into FC set the timeline at XDCAM HD422 1080p30p (50 Mb/s) and it will handle the 100Mbp/s. Of course this is if you shot 1080p30p. Or I just let the timeline adjust for the clip when I put it onto the timeline and agree with changing the setting to match the clip. Of course I always check afterwards. But the real proof is when I export the clip QuickTime Movie. Then open the clip in QuickTime and open Window/Movie Inspector. This shows the data rate. The lowest rate I have viewed for 100Mbp/s is 92 and the highest is 105. So I have had no problems with Final Cut working with the Flash XDR at 100Mbp/s.

Not sure what the problem is with DVinfo.net site on uploading picture but once it is solved I will post some stills for people to look at in detail to see the footage.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for posting your experiences.

I assume that you are using Final Cut Pro version 6.0.4 or higher.

Hi Dan,

I am using FC 6.0.5 and QuickTime 7.5.5 on Mac OS 10.5.5. I was told by Dulce Products not to upgrade my OS system to 10.5.6 since it will not read my RAID but all other upgrades are to date.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for the version information.