As we near the end of the year, I think it's worthwhile to take a moment and recap our progress thus far and lay out our plans for next year.

There is no doubt that 2009 was a watershed year for Convergent Design and our Solid-State Recorder development and sales. We rolled out a significant number of product enhancements and delivered over 650 nanoFlash units in about 4 months. But we have not stopped. We have an exciting road-map for our Flash-based recorders (nanoFlash and Flash XDR) for the first half of 2010.

Here’s a summary of where we have been…

2009 Achievements
Product Enhancements
• Time-Lapse Recording
• Pull-Down Removal (1080i60 -> 1080p24) for HD-SDI and HDMI
• Sony Optical Media Compatibility (MXF file format)
• 280 Mbps I-Frame / 180 Mbps Long-GOP
• MPG File Format for DVD and Blu-Ray Authoring
• Pre-Record Buffer (7 seconds for 100 Mbps and less)
• 2X/4X Playback as well as Pause Function
• Jam-Sync
• Added Adobe Premiere CS3/4 Support via the Main Concept Plugin
• Qualified 64GB CF Cards from Delkin, PhotoFast and SanDisk
• Enhanced Standard-Def Support: SD-SDI on Playback
• ASI Encode and Decode (99% complete) – Extra Cost Option
• QT -> MXF File Converter
• Developed Spatial Mapping (GPS) product with Red Hen Systems

Here’s our Near Term Beta Firmware Plans:
• Loop Record
• 720p30/25/24 Support, including 720p24 over 60, 720p30 over 60, 720p25 over 50 frame removal
• Over / Under Crank
• Audio Tones in HP for Start/Stop Record
• 30/40 Mbps IMX added
• 35 Mbps (1440x1080 raster) – nano only
• Audio Level Meters on Playback

Sales / Applications
• Rebuilt website
• Delivered over 650 nanoFlash units in first 4 months of shipments
• Successfully deployed recorders in a wide range of applications:
o 98,000 feet Helium Balloon Shot
o F22 Raptor, pulling over 12 Gs
o 3-D Underwater Shoot at 450 feet below sea level
o Hot Humid forests of Papua New Guinea
o High-Vibration, high-temp race cars
o Several Full-Length Feature Films (output to film)

And here’s where we’re going…

2010 Plans
Here’s a summary of the different features we are considering for our Flash recorders. Most of these features will be available as a free firmware update. We cannot guarantee all listed features will be implemented.

• Hot-Swap Compact Flash cards: replace a card while continuing to record with the option to force the recorder to switch to the other card (you can remove the current card and immediately start the edit).
• 8-Channel Audio including the ability to add the two analog channels to the embedded audio (the max number of audio channels is still limited to 8)
• Redundant Record – two identical CF cards created simultaneously – one for the edit and one for the producer, etc.
• Delete Last Clip
• GPS Support including the ability to time sync nanoFlash and/or embed GPS data into the video – extra cost option
• Configuration Program with 8 Up-loadable Profiles (via CF card) defined on the PC/MAC
• Meta-Data Support
• Revised Menus, including the display of the total playback time
• Wireless Control for playback control and metadata upload
• Improved Playback Control, including advance from clip to clip using the up/down arrow keys
• Record Indicators on Loop-out Monitors
• Record Review of last 10 seconds
• HDMI–SD Support (HDMI-HD is working in current firmware)
• Audio / Video Sync Adjustments to compensate for system delays (switchers, etc)
• New mounting options from 3rd parties, including underwater housings.

Here’s some longer term enhancements still under investigation:
• Image Flip to compensate for special lenses and prisms
• Native integration into Adobe CS Next – more to follow…
• Avid AMA Support

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and recommendations. We will keep rolling out the features as fast as reasonably possible. We recoginize that different users have different priorities; but we'll do our best to accomdate your requests.

Thanks for the update Mike,

Nice to be riding the leading edge with Convergent Design. I look forward to your continued updates and some exciting new features which my clients will appreciate.

The last few days I have been logging stock clips and thought I had a problem. No problem it was some clips were shot at 420 35Mbps and I have become use to looking at 422 50Mbps and up. No need to go back now!

Keep up the great work.

Great work guys.

I already talked to my purchasing dept. about buying a Nano next fiscal. We'll see what happens. I love what you guys have done, and what you are continuing to do.

As we near the end of the year, I think it's worthwhile to take a moment and recap our progress thus far and lay out our plans for next year.

There is no doubt that 2009 was a watershed year for Convergent Design and our Solid-State Recorder development and sales. We rolled out a significant number of product enhancements and delivered over 650 nanoFlash units in about 4 months. But we have not stopped. We have an exciting road-map for our Flash-based recorders (nanoFlash and Flash XDR) for the first half of 2010.

Here’s a summary of where we have been…

2009 Achievements
Product Enhancements
• Time-Lapse Recording
• Pull-Down Removal (1080i60 -> 1080p24) for HD-SDI and HDMI
• Sony Optical Media Compatibility (MXF file format)
• 280 Mbps I-Frame / 180 Mbps Long-GOP
• MPG File Format for DVD and Blu-Ray Authoring
• Pre-Record Buffer (7 seconds for 100 Mbps and less)
• 2X/4X Playback as well as Pause Function
• Jam-Sync
• Added Adobe Premiere CS3/4 Support via the Main Concept Plugin
• Qualified 64GB CF Cards from Delkin, PhotoFast and SanDisk
• Enhanced Standard-Def Support: SD-SDI on Playback
• ASI Encode and Decode (99% complete) – Extra Cost Option
• QT -> MXF File Converter
• Developed Spatial Mapping (GPS) product with Red Hen Systems

Here’s our Near Term Beta Firmware Plans:
• Loop Record
• 720p30/25/24 Support, including 720p24 over 60, 720p30 over 60, 720p25 over 50 frame removal
• Over / Under Crank
• Audio Tones in HP for Start/Stop Record
• 30/40 Mbps IMX added
• 35 Mbps (1440x1080 raster) – nano only
• Audio Level Meters on Playback

Sales / Applications
• Rebuilt website
• Delivered over 650 nanoFlash units in first 4 months of shipments
• Successfully deployed recorders in a wide range of applications:
o 98,000 feet Helium Balloon Shot
o F22 Raptor, pulling over 12 Gs
o 3-D Underwater Shoot at 450 feet below sea level
o Hot Humid forests of Papua New Guinea
o High-Vibration, high-temp race cars
o Several Full-Length Feature Films (output to film)

And here’s where we’re going…

2010 Plans
Here’s a summary of the different features we are considering for our Flash recorders. Most of these features will be available as a free firmware update. We cannot guarantee all listed features will be implemented.

• Hot-Swap Compact Flash cards: replace a card while continuing to record with the option to force the recorder to switch to the other card (you can remove the current card and immediately start the edit).
• 8-Channel Audio including the ability to add the two analog channels to the embedded audio (the max number of audio channels is still limited to 8)
• Redundant Record – two identical CF cards created simultaneously – one for the edit and one for the producer, etc.
• Delete Last Clip
• GPS Support including the ability to time sync nanoFlash and/or embed GPS data into the video – extra cost option
• Configuration Program with 8 Up-loadable Profiles (via CF card) defined on the PC/MAC
• Meta-Data Support
• Revised Menus, including the display of the total playback time
• Wireless Control for playback control and metadata upload
• Improved Playback Control, including advance from clip to clip using the up/down arrow keys
• Record Indicators on Loop-out Monitors
• Record Review of last 10 seconds
• HDMI–SD Support (HDMI-HD is working in current firmware)
• Audio / Video Sync Adjustments to compensate for system delays (switchers, etc)
• New mounting options from 3rd parties, including underwater housings.

Here’s some longer term enhancements still under investigation:
• Image Flip to compensate for special lenses and prisms
• Native integration into Adobe CS Next – more to follow…
• Avid AMA Support

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and recommendations. We will keep rolling out the features as fast as reasonably possible. We recoginize that different users have different priorities; but we'll do our best to accomdate your requests....Hi Mike:
This is a great list and I look forward to these developments. Regarding the XDR specifically, what about the promised A) Uncompressed recording option ?
B) Turning on the RS-422 interface for deck control for VTR dubbing with HDCAM SR/SR Lite format to clip recording and back. Please advise.

Respectfully,

2010 Plans
Here’s a summary of the different features we are considering for our Flash recorders.
• Wireless Control for playback control and metadata upload


Hmmm... so are we talking about possible Wi-Fi control via an iPhone kinda thing? The ability to have the iPhone track the recording process, marking takes "Buy, Hold, NG", make other comments... and then embed that in the metadata with each clip?

That would be too sexy for words. Please move that to the top of the list... right after hot swap.

BTW, I have been consulting with a guy who is developing an iPhone video logging program. If you are looking for a development shortcut, maybe you guys could talk. Let me know.

You guys are the best! My order is going in this week.

Thanks!

This is a good list Mike. Any plans on doing any XDR specific development? There's a few capabilities on the XDR that are currently not being used. I'm curious if there are any plans that the XDR users can get excited about?

dont forget us cheapskates
1 good file format
1 set prime HD resolution
1 good codec
0 confusion
64gig chips
long recording time
low battery consumption
small size
zero "features"
reliability
CHEAP

and if your going to stuff 4-8 channel recording in, then stuff a set of simple secondary audio inputs on the Box itself, the cams are not doing a great job of letting us feed more audios into them, an external input that could be adapted to even, could stuff in a board feed, or backup mics, or something, even if the audio is not directally synced , due to camera buffering the video.

"• 8-Channel Audio including the ability to add the two analog channels to the embedded audio (the max number of audio channels is still limited to 8)"

I'm anxiously awaiting the four channels.

...Hi Mike:
This is a great list and I look forward to these developments. Regarding the XDR specifically, what about the promised A) Uncompressed recording option ?
B) Turning on the RS-422 interface for deck control for VTR dubbing with HDCAM SR/SR Lite format to clip recording and back. Please advise.

Respectfully,

Hi Mark-
We'll do the best we can, but our engineering resources are tapped out for the immediate future.

Best-

This is a good list Mike. Any plans on doing any XDR specific development? There's a few capabilities on the XDR that are currently not being used. I'm curious if there are any plans that the XDR users can get excited about?

Hi Aaron-
Almost all these features also apply to the Flash XDR, except the GPS and the HDMI I/O. Yes, we agree, there are some XDR specific capabilities which have not been enabled.

If we continue to see strong sales, we plan to hire more engineering resources to accelerate these developments.

Best-

Hmmm... so are we talking about possible Wi-Fi control via an iPhone kinda thing? The ability to have the iPhone track the recording process, marking takes "Buy, Hold, NG", make other comments... and then embed that in the metadata with each clip?

That would be too sexy for words. Please move that to the top of the list... right after hot swap.

BTW, I have been consulting with a guy who is developing an iPhone video logging program. If you are looking for a development shortcut, maybe you guys could talk. Let me know.

You guys are the best! My order is going in this week.

Thanks!

Hi Bob-
We are considering this sort of wireless. No guarantees, but we agree, this would be very sexy. We are studying the various hardware implementaions now.

Thanks for the incoming order, we should have available stock.

Best-

If you guys can get the redundant recording by 2Q, I think I am good to go. I've got a huge project that I'd like this unit for, but I'll put it off until the fall if you guys can get that feature installed.

If you guys can get the redundant recording by 2Q, I think I am good to go. I've got a huge project that I'd like this unit for, but I'll put it off until the fall if you guys can get that feature installed.

Hi Perrone-
I am expecting redundant recording in 1Q 2010. We have plenty of requests for this feature from the Sports community.

Best-

Hi Perrone-
I am expecting redundant recording in 1Q 2010. We have plenty of requests for this feature from the Sports community.

Best-

Best news I've had all day!

dont forget us cheapskates
1 good file format
1 set prime HD resolution
1 good codec
0 confusion
64gig chips
long recording time
low battery consumption
small size
zero "features"
reliability
CHEAP

and if your going to stuff 4-8 channel recording in, then stuff a set of simple secondary audio inputs on the Box itself, the cams are not doing a great job of letting us feed more audios into them, an external input that could be adapted to even, could stuff in a board feed, or backup mics, or something, even if the audio is not directally synced , due to camera buffering the video.

Hi Marty-
We can deliver on most of this list, but we're not likely to offer zero "features" or CHEAP. We add value to the product through our software and already think the nanoFlash is a bargin.

The nanoFlash offers two channels of analog audio (consumer level) now. We do plan to allow users to add these two analog channels to the HD-SDI embedded audio (total number of audio channels limited to 8).

Best-

Hi Mark-
We'll do the best we can, but our engineering resources are tapped out for the immediate future.

Best-...Hi Mike: OK. Understood. We're nearly tapped out on engineering resources as well with our SD recorder box development, so I do sympathize. I will continue to wait and hope for these features to come hopefully sooner than much, much, much later :-) Speaking of new recorder boxes, there's this guy in New York City named Charles Dautrement, who's got a box which can do uncompressed HD up to 4:4:4 12 bit uncompressed, as well as 2k and compressed HD recording in the brilliantly clear Cineon codec. He calls his box the Cinemadeck HD. This box seems to be a hybrid tablet PC running what looks like it could be Windows 7. The thing looks exactly like a Marshall 7 inch on camera LCD monitor, but it's touch screen and much, much more. Looks like we've been scooped again on our SD recorder box. Oh well, we've started it, so we will finish it, but I digress.

Mike -

Please consider the first character of the file name generated to be ALPHA NUMERIC.

For multi-camera work, this is better than all numerals.

I've brought this up before and hope it's on a list somewhere.

Thanks.

That’s a really nice list of up coming features. Personally am looking forward to the following features most;

• Over / Under Crank
• Audio Level Meters on Playback
• Hot-Swap Compact Flash cards: replace a card while continuing to record with the option to force the recorder to switch to the other card (you can remove the current card and immediately start the edit).
• 8-Channel Audio including the ability to add the two analog channels to the embedded audio (the max number of audio channels is still limited to 8)
• Redundant Record – two identical CF cards created simultaneously – one for the edit and one for the producer, etc.
• Delete Last Clip
• Configuration Program with 8 Up-loadable Profiles (via CF card) defined on the PC/MAC
• Meta-Data Support
• Revised Menus, including the display of the total playback time
• Record Indicators on Loop-out Monitors
• Record Review of last 10 seconds
• New mounting options from 3rd parties, including underwater housings.

• Image Flip to compensate for special lenses and prisms

I have to say that I think the nanoFLASH is the best investment I’ve made this year.

Merry Christmas Guys!!!

I understand that development by committee is not how development gets done. I know this isn't a democracy, but if it were, and I had a vote then it would look something like this:

1.) Hot Swap Recording
2.) Uncompressed Recording (10 bit 4:2:2)
3.) Minimum 4 Channels of Audio
4.) Headphone Output Level Adjustment
5.) Audio Level Meters on Playback
6.) Information overlay in SDI Monitor Output
7.) Add clip metadata via Wifi/Bluetooth/Anything (understand there is no hardware for this)
8.) Sync XDR time to time of day via GPS (cheap multi-camera sync to time of day)

And finally a feature that would require a whole new box:

A small, single card, self contained, very simple, no controls "SLAVE PROXY RECORDER" for the Nano/XDR. This box would have no settings or controls to mess with, only a single SDI input, 12v input (or on-board battery), timecode in (to start stop the recorder). Since the box is recording low bitrate proxies, a single card will do just fine.

Mike -

Please consider the first character of the file name generated to be ALPHA NUMERIC.

For multi-camera work, this is better than all numerals.

I've brought this up before and hope it's on a list somewhere.

Thanks.

Hi Daniel-
Thanks for the reminder, I will add this to the list for updates. Good suggestion.

Best-

Hi Mike:
Let us also add fixing the Jam-Sync feature to not drift away @ 24 F, please.

Respectfully,

I realise this will be something that is probably added with hot swap, but having used the nano on plenty of shoots now I would like the logic of the recording system to be the same as my JVC 700. For example if I put an empty SD card in my 700 it will continue to record to the card it is on until it is full. However if I do the same thing on the nano and the new card goes in slot 1 it starts recording on the empty card instead of filling up the one in the existing slot 2.

Also one really minor feature - the ability to format cards one slot at a time would be nice :)


I've had a look at some green screen material of the 700 @ 100Mbs with the Nano and all I can say is wow - what a difference. Perfect key on Avid and didn't have to touch it.

Dear John,

Yes, I have asked for that feature, so we fill up one card before going to another.
We just get so busy, we have not implemented it yet.

In the meantime, you can take the card out of slot 2, and put it into slot 1, then put the new card in slot 2.

For safety reasons, we want to format all cards that are in the nanoFlash.
Thus, it is up to the user to put the cards in that he or she wants to format, and remove all others.

If we allow two cards in the nanoFlash, and the user requests to format the card in slot 1 or slot 2, we expect some mistakes to be made. So we like our current way better.

Isn't it nice that green screen work is so much easier now?

I realise this will be something that is probably added with hot swap, but having used the nano on plenty of shoots now I would like the logic of the recording system to be the same as my JVC 700. For example if I put an empty SD card in my 700 it will continue to record to the card it is on until it is full. However if I do the same thing on the nano and the new card goes in slot 1 it starts recording on the empty card instead of filling up the one in the existing slot 2.

Also one really minor feature - the ability to format cards one slot at a time would be nice :)


I've had a look at some green screen material of the 700 @ 100Mbs with the Nano and all I can say is wow - what a difference. Perfect key on Avid and didn't have to touch it.Hi John: I was curious to know how you were able to pull a perfect anything in Avid with a 100 Mbps file ? Where you importing Long GOP 100 Mbps or I-Frame ? Long GOP 100 *will not work* in Avid. Perhaps you simply played the footage into Avid with the Mojo DX or Nitris DX box ?

Hi Mark - I recorded in MXF 100Mbs MXF LongGOP. It plays back perfectly inthe Avid, except when you park it you often get FIFO errors depending on the frame - I'd say it is only decoding I Frames correctly when parked but during playback it works fine for me.

My records have been in 1080i50 and 720P50. I'm using Avid MC V4.04 and I'm typing this on a Dell laptop XPS1710 - a little old and underpowered but it still plays it back fullscreen and in overlay mode. Using Windows XP. HTH

Oh and I have both a Nitris and Adrenaline but I imported these files...sorry forgot to add that in my original post.

Dear John,

Yes, I have asked for that feature, so we fill up one card before going to another.
We just get so busy, we have not implemented it yet.

In the meantime, you can take the card out of slot 2, and put it into slot 1, then put the new card in slot 2.

Yep that's what I do now.



For safety reasons, we want to format all cards that are in the nanoFlash.
Thus, it is up to the user to put the cards in that he or she wants to format, and remove all others.

If we allow two cards in the nanoFlash, and the user requests to format the card in slot 1 or slot 2, we expect some mistakes to be made. So we like our current way better.

Isn't it nice that green screen work is so much easier now?

Yeah I thought about that after I posted - it makes sense from a safety perspective. Well done an dhave a very safe and happy festive season.

John

Hi Mark - I recorded in MXF 100Mbs MXF LongGOP. It plays back perfectly inthe Avid, except when you park it you often get FIFO errors depending on the frame - I'd say it is only decoding I Frames correctly when parked but during playback it works fine for me.

My records have been in 1080i50 and 720P50. I'm using Avid MC V4.04 and I'm typing this on a Dell laptop XPS1710 - a little old and underpowered but it still plays it back fullscreen and in overlay mode. Using Windows XP. HTHHey John:
I tried desperately to get this to work in Avid MC version 4.03, or at least perfect a decent workaround to post for others, but I gave up after 2 weeks of trying :-( I now have MC ver 4.0.4, and I haven't bothered to try it since, so your post had encouraged me to try Long GOP 100 once again in the latest version. I still hold out faint hope that it will now work :-) John, did you have any difficulty in exporting your edited sequence back out of MC at all ?

Hi Mike:
Let us also add fixing the Jam-Sync feature to not drift away @ 24 F, please.

Respectfully,

Hi Mark-
I am adding 24p Jam-Sync to our list of issues to test/resolve when we return back from the holidays. Appreciate the feedback.

Best-

Hi Mike:
OK. This is great to know. Thank You. May I take this opportunity to wish you and your whole family a very Merry Christmas and Happy & Prosperous New Year ! :-)

Mark

Hey John:
I tried desperately to get this to work in Avid MC version 4.03, or at least perfect a decent workaround to post for others, but I gave up after 2 weeks of trying :-( I now have MC ver 4.0.4, and I haven't bothered to try it since, so your post had encouraged me to try Long GOP 100 once again in the latest version. I still hold out faint hope that it will now work :-) John, did you have any difficulty in exporting your edited sequence back out of MC at all ?

Hi Mark

I haven't finished editing yet but I imagine I'll have to transcode to dnxhd - can you fill me in on what you've tried. And what happened and why it failed. Perhaps we can workout where our workflows differ?Eg would your clips not import or would they not play back?
Also remember my framerate differs from yours @ 25p

Hi Mike:
OK. This is great to know. Thank You. May I take this opportunity to wish you and your whole family a very Merry Christmas and Happy & Prosperous New Year ! :-)

Mark

Hi Mark-
Thanks! I am getting some R&R visiting my relatives in Texas. 2010 looks like a very busy year.

Cheers-

Hi Mark

I haven't finished editing yet but I imagine I'll have to transcode to dnxhd - can you fill me in on what you've tried. And what happened and why it failed. Perhaps we can workout where our workflows differ?Eg would your clips not import or would they not play back?
Also remember my framerate differs from yours @ 25p....Hi John: I was able to import and play Long GOP 100 on the timeline, but I couldn't get the sucker back out of the system ! I couldn't encode to DNxHD or export to QT movie or anything ! The project just sat there on the timeline being useless ! I imported the Long GOP 100 Mbps clips from my Flash XDR recorder CF card media. I wonder if a possible workaround could be to *output via Avid adrenalin or Mojo DX or Nitris Dx ?* This way one would not have to encode to DNxHD or export to anything. Since the malfunction just leaves your edited project trapped dead inside the system, then let it be trapped and simply playout the movie in realtime through the Mojo DX or Nitris Dx or Adrenalin.

**The one BIG caveat here is you need to have one of these ***VERY EXPENSIVE*** external - proprietary Avid devices !** attached to your system. I suppose this *Maybe* a workaround, but a very pricey one indeed ;-)

Mark if you check out the Avid MC 4.05 thread I've posted a workaround there. It's tedious but it will work. At least it offers a method to get the project out.