(Colorado Springs, CO, May 7, 2009) Convergent Design announced today a $2,995 MSRP price for the highly anticipated nanoFlash, which will ship in June, now with analog audio I/O. nanoFlash is the world’s smallest, lowest-power professional HD/SD recorder/player creating visually lossless Quicktime or MXF files stored on affordable Compact Flash media.

The diminutive (4.2x3.7x1.4” / 107x94x36 mm) nanoFlash easily mounts on any professional camera, adding less than 1 lb (400 grams) additional weight. The very low power consumption of less than 6 Watts assures long battery life, while the very wide power input range of 6.5 to 19.5V makes nanoFlash compatible with most power sources.

nanoFlash utilizes the very high quality XDCAM HD 422 CODEC (from Sony) at 50/100 Mbps (Long-GOP) or 100/140/160 Mbps (I-Frame-Only). Quicktime and/or MXF files can be played/edited in Avid, Final Cut Pro, Edius, Vegas and Premiere (restricted usage) without transcode or re-wrap. HD/SD-SDI and HDMI I/O ports support 1080p30/25/24, 1080i60/50 and 720p60/50 video formats. nanoFlash can also be used as an HD/SD-SDI to HDMI or HDMI to HD/SD-SDI converter.

nanoFlash records embedded audio over HD/SD-SDI or HDMI. Users can optionally input analog audio (stereo unbalanced line, stereo unbalanced mic or one balanced mic) via the 3.5 mm jack recently added. Audio monitoring is available via a headphone output. All audio is recorded at 24-bit, 48KHz sampling.

Two Compact Flash slots (32GB CF cards are US $75) provide 80 minutes of 100 Mbps record/playback time without touching the hot-swappable cards. Video can be played directly off the CF cards using a FW-800 reader (attached to your NLE) or transferred at 3X to 6X faster than real-time to your hard-drive.

Utilizing the same CODEC technology as Flash XDR, nanoFlash is capable of video quality compatible with D-Cinema movies and very high-end cameras, including Thomson Viper. nanoFlash can be used for a wide variety of applications, including tapeless recording, presentations, POV/field recorder, SDI switcher recorder, and video assist among others. The small size and lightweight makes nanoFlash ideal for skydivers, underwater video, 3-D, racing, jet planes, helicopters, medical and virtually anyplace high quality recording and/or playback of HD/SD video/audio is required.

The nanoFlash is scheduled to ship in June with a list price of $2,995.

More information including sample MXF and Quicktime files, a comprehensive FAQ and photos can be found at HDV To HD-SDI Video Converters Professional Video Equipment HDMI To HD-SDI Television Studio Equipment (http://www.convergent-design.com)

Thanks for the news Mike!

Great news, Mike - so you've decided to go with the audio recording, after all:)

I guess I'd express every body's strong wishes, if I ask you to make your best and enable the analog channels to be added to the SDI/HDMI embedded audio (for 3 or 4 channels total).

PS
May I also ask for - even though most NLE do not accept it at this time - the 720p/24/25/30to be added as the output format? When planning slow motion with EX cameras, we usually shoot most of our projects in this format, with only the fragments planned for slo-mo overcrancked to 50/60 fps. Now, I realize the NanoFlash doesn't support overcranking, but those fragment could be recorded on SxS card, and incorporated at post...

Or is there a definite, technical reason why no NLE can support 4:2:2 720p/24(25) at 50/100 Mbps?

Hi Piotr-
OK, I spoke with our engineers and adding the 2 analog audio channels to the embeded audio (to create 4 channels) is doable and on our list of future updates.

Yes, we are going to add 720p30/25/24 support also, at least in MXF file format. There is no technical reason it is not support ny the NLEs, I think they have just not added to their CODECs.

Also overcrank and undercrank looks very likely. We are studying the implementation now.

Best-
Mike Schell

Thanks Mike !

Hi Piotr-
OK, I spoke with our engineers and adding the 2 analog audio channels to the embeded audio (to create 4 channels) is doable and on our list of future updates.

Yes, we are going to add 720p30/25/24 support also, at least in MXF file format. There is no technical reason it is not support ny the NLEs, I think they have just not added to their CODECs.

Also overcrank and undercrank looks very likely. We are studying the implementation now.

Best-
Mike Schell

Overcrank and Undercrank would be a deal maker for my needs.

Overcrank and Undercrank would be a deal maker for my needs.

Hi Bob-
I now understand how we can implement over/under crank. I am adding this to our feature list, will need to discuss with our engineers next week to set an implementation schedule.

Best-

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quick response. Even if you could only implement the over and under crank in 50mbps 4:2:2 Long GOP that would work for me.

This looks like a very interesting product for upgrading and expanding the capabilities of my Sony PDW-F350.

Two Compact Flash slots (32GB CF cards are US $75) provide 80 minutes of 100 Mbps record/playback time without touching the hot-swappable cards.
Can I infer from this ("hot-swappable") that the shipping unit, while recording, will allow me to swap out a full card with an empty card? e.g., Allowing me to record as much as I want without interrupting the recording, by just swapping out the full card with an empty one?

Billy

Dear Billy,

Yes.

While we do not have "Hot Swapping" feature ready just yet, it is scheduled to be ready by the time we are ready to ship the initial nanoFlashes.

We fully expect to meet this deadline.

If you add under and overcrank to the Nanoflash, will it also be able to record the long time-lapses possible from the EX-3?

Or, for that matter, generate and record its own interval time lapse from an HD-SDI signal?

Audio monitoring is available via a headphone output
I forgot to ask in my last message, does this mean I can monitor any pair of embedded audio channels, or just the analog input audio channels?

And great news that I will be able to record long shows without having to shut down to swap cards!

I've been waiting a long time for the nano, and I'm very excited!

Billy

Dear Billy,

You will be able to monitor the channels being recorded, as selected in the menu.

Yes, you can record long shows, but remember, it is illegal to record shows that are protected by HDCP.

By law, our device has to be designed to check if the HDMI input is receiving protected content. If the content is protected, then the nanoFlash can not be used to record HDCP protected content.

HD-SDI is considered a professional interface and does not have HDCP.

HDMI is considered a consumer interface and must respect HDCP.

HDMI to HD-SDI converters also detect HDCP and will not pass protected content.

Any content that you produce via a camera, or a computer, is typically not protected.

If you add under and overcrank to the Nanoflash, will it also be able to record the long time-lapses possible from the EX-3?

Or, for that matter, generate and record its own interval time lapse from an HD-SDI signal?

Dear Bill,

I am not up to speed on the long time-lapse capabilities of the EX-3. My best answer would be yes, we should be able to handle the long time-lapses from the EX-3.

However, it is in our plans to add time-lapse recording to the Flash XDR and to the nanoFlash.

One part of our project to add time-lapse was to add internally generated time-code. This is now a feature of our recorders.

Our plans for time-lapse also required I-Frame Only, which we now support.

Our time-lapse feature will use our internally generated time-code or externally generated time code as the clock to determine when to record one or more frames.

This should be very flexible, as one could record one frame every so many frames, or minutes, or hours, or days, etc. I expect that we will also allow you to control how many frames you want every time the frame timer goes off.

Just be prepared to power the recorder for the duration of your recording session. In standby mode, the nanoFlash just draws 0.1 watt and just 6 watts while operational.

If you are away from utility power, then a large car battery should power the Flash XDR for a long time. Add a solar panel to charge the battery and one could record time-lapse for years (until the media is full), or the battery dies of old age.

If one does use a solar battery charger, one would not need to use a battery as large as a car battery, one just powerful enough to handle to nights and very cloudy days.

Add Hot Swapping, a feature that we are scheduled to have soon, then it would be possible to record time-lapse for a very long time with proper swapping out of the cards.

(Colorado Springs, CO, May 7, 2009) ... Quicktime and/or MXF files can be played/edited in Avid, Final Cut Pro, Edius, Vegas and Premiere (restricted usage) without transcode or re-wrap. [/url]

I happen to edit with Premiere CS3 + Axio LE. What are the restricted usage with Premiere please? Thanks

Dear Brian,

Adobe CS3 does not have a native codec that supports XDCam 4:2:2 HL footage.

A codec is available from MainConcept.

We also support a 4:2:0 35 Mbps mode (EX1/EX3 quality) since CS3 does not natively support our higher quality mode, nor does it support the Sony PDW-700 or PDW-800 cameras.

This is great news guys.

I am shooting a feature in the start of July where I am currently going to record the HD-SDI from my Canon XL H1S to the AJA IO HD. But this Nano Flash would be great for this shoot.

I guess I'm just concerned about release timeframe at this point. Realistically, what is the probability of getting one in June at this point?

Dear Michael,

If you place order for a nanoFlash now, you should have one by the end of June.

If one took advantage of our priority pre-order program, they should have their's by the end of June.

Thanks Dan! I have to bring this up with the producers then.

But they will probably want some sort of guarantee of it coming in June before placing the money upfront to buy now.

Are you certain about June?

Sorry, not to question you, but we've been burned before in a scenario exactly like this where a company told us a certain timeframe, we paid upfront and then didn't deliver on time. Suffice to say, we don't buy anything from them anymore.

Dear Michael,

To open up a bit, we are building quite a few in June.

We are building 5 production units at this time (to prove that everthing will work in our production units). We will have these built in the next week or so.

We are building more than twice as many as we have priority pre-orders.

Our production boards are due to us on June 5. Then we have to assemble and test the units. We test the unit, then we burn it in for about 14 or more hours, then we test it again.

It does not take us too long (my opinion) to build each one.

We have been promising by the end of June. We expect to start shipping around the middle of June.

But, we have been thoroughly checking to see if we will have any parts availability problems.

But, we are receiving quite a few orders from our dealers at this time.

Michael, you could just place an order, without placing a deposit. If you wait too long, we feel that we will not be able to fulfill your order by the end of June.

Also, we will fulfill our priority pre-orders first as this is only fair.

If you wish, please send me a private message and I will respond with my phone number.

(Colorado Springs, CO, May 7, 2009) Convergent Design announced today a $2,995 MSRP price for the highly anticipated nanoFlash, which will ship in June, now with analog audio I/O.....Now that price is approaching a point which makes more sense. This price point will get this product out of the hands of most of the elite and into the hands of digi-independents and underground shooters. $3K US is less than an HVX 200 A or an XL H1. Good to see you folks at Convergent are beginning to see the light.

Dear Brian,

Adobe CS3 does not have a native codec that supports XDCam 4:2:2 HL footage.

A codec is available from MainConcept.



Dear Dan,

I was searching your site on the nano and I've read that Axio supports all formats. Does this mean that if I have Axio + Premier CS3 I can work in all formats or does Premiere restricts the other formats even though bundled with an Axio?

And if I buy the codec from Main concept can I use CS3 with all formats?

Thanks

Dear Dan,

I was searching your site on the nano and I've read that Axio supports all formats. Does this mean that if I have Axio + Premier CS3 I can work in all formats or does Premiere restricts the other formats even though bundled with an Axio?

And if I buy the codec from Main concept can I use CS3 with all formats?

Thanks

Dear Brian,

I will attempt to find an answer for your regarding Axio + Premier CS3.

I have spoken with MainConcept and I believe that their codec package for CS3 supports our formats, specifically Sony PDW-700 4:2:2 HL footage that we create.

Check out this thread on Matrox Axio and Flash XDR. Multi-stream playback is possible: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/convergent-design-flash-xdr/145578-c-d-mxf-files-real-time-axio.html

Best-

I’m so excited about the NanoFlash . Gh-1 has bad video compression but has HDMI output. Nanoflash would be the perfect pair. I would love to have a set of XLR audio input so we can have high quality audio too. I do not see this feature (XLR audio) on the website.

Remote record switch and tally led in the right place where we are used to in a pro video camera. Is there a photo of this somewhere on the site?
Kim W

I’m so excited about the NanoFlash . Gh-1 has bad video compression but has HDMI output. Nanoflash would be the perfect pair. I would love to have a set of XLR audio input so we can have high quality audio too. I do not see this feature (XLR audio) on the website.

Remote record switch and tally led in the right place where we are used to in a pro video camera. Is there a photo of this somewhere on the site?
Kim WSorry Kim...but the HDMI out is crippled ont he GH-1. No uncompressed out or even live viewingh.

I happen to edit with Premiere CS3 + Axio LE. What are the restricted usage with Premiere please? Thanks

Just to point out that with your Axio LE, the Matrox 4 series drivers, and Pr CS4 you can edit the C-D material natively just like Matrox I-frame material. In fact the system sees it as Matrox I-frame so all the real time capabilities are present.

(Oh, I see that Mike already pointed to the thread...)

Dan or Mike,

I was watching the video on the new PPRO CS4 version 4.1. Although there was no mention of it in the video, I thought I saw a codec choice for Convergent Design MXF while the narrator was demonstrating setting up a new project.

Am I correct that the new version of PPRO CS4 is going to be able to handle all of the convergent design MXF files?

Thanks,
Alan

Dear Alan,

Sorry, but I do not know for certain at this time.

I will check with Mike.

Dear Alan,

Mike will send, or has already sent, an email to Adobe.

We will post what we learn as soon as possible.

Hi,

Adobe said the demo was kind of a mock-up for a future release, where they will support our files. They are still 2 to 3 months out on a release which will support our files, we are told.

Tommy Schell

Hi Tommy,

Many thanks to all three of you for following up pso quickly on this. I must admit, I was very pleased to see the line on the screen implying C-D was ready to go. I am sure it will get there.

I do wish promos (from whatever company) were closer to reality, it does make one wonder what else that they presented was just a mock-up.

Once again, many thanks for the quick response.

Alan

Hi,

Adobe said the demo was kind of a mock-up for a future release, where they will support our files. They are still 2 to 3 months out on a release which will support our files, we are told.

Tommy Schell

Glad to hear the Adobe will be supporting this format in the near future, last night I updated CS4.01 to CS4.1 in the hope that it CS4.1 would support MXF 422 files but obviously it doesn't, just waiting now for the next update.