Dear Friends,

Yesterday, we announced our Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q.

We have had many requests to come out with an enhanced nanoFlash.

While the Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q do not replace the nanoFlash, some may consider it the next step.

Here is the thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-video-industry-news/515313-introducing-odyssey7-7q-convergent-design.html

The nanoFlash is a very flexible device and excels in creating high-quality, low bit-rate recordings.

But, we were asked for 10-Bit, ProRes, and a monitor.

And we were asked not to make it any bigger.

The Odyssey7 is an excellent 7.7" OLED Monitor with great, professional level monitor features.
This does make it a little bigger than the nanoFlash, but the benefits of having a 7.7" diagonal monitor are many.

The Odyssey7 can record in 10-Bit and 12-Bit modes, with extra cost options.

One can pick and choose just the recording options that they may need, and they can rent other features for special shoots.

While this is not a direct replacement for the nanoFlash, it may be very attractive to some.

In addition to the normal uses with video cameras, it should excel as a monitor for DSLR's, and a DSLR recorder for those that have clean HDMI outputs, such as the Canon 5D Mark III and others.

Here is a link to our website:

Odyssey7 and 7Q (http://www.odyssey7.info)


I also think this announcement helps explain why I have been so busy lately.

We hope you like our new products. The Odyssey7 will start shipping on July 15, with the recorder options schedule for Q4 2013.

Looking impressive - any indication of price point and release date of the 7Q?
Cost of the recorder options?
A H.264 recording option would be useful sometimes.

I think I may be cancelling my Small HD pre-order.
(any trade in/concessions for NanoFlash owners? - I've got two ;-)

Dear Rohan,

It is so nice to hear that you like our new products.

While we have settled on a very agressive price for the Odyssey7, as a monitor, all other pricing will be released in May.

This includes the price of the Odyssey7Q, and the recorder options, and the rental pricing.

We have not added H.264. We may consider this for the future. We pride ourselves in listening to our customers.

We have not discussed any trade-in options. But practically, this is very hard for us to do, especially since we are so aggressive on the price of the Odyssey7 at $1,295.

Just compare our monitor to any monitor that costs thousands more. And theirs can not be upgraded into a professional recorder.

Dan Keaton
Convergent Design

My honest opinion on a nanoFlash replacement would include XAVC and a smaller form factor. Imagine adding XAVC to a VG900 or FS700, that would provide a much better alternative to the AVCHD 2.0's 28Mbps, replacing that with 200Mbps I-frame.

XQD could help shrink form factor further.

Dear Jack,

Our 7.7" OLED Monitor is lightweight, a little more than the nanoFlash.

nanoFlash weighs 0.85 pounds, the Odyssey7 weighs about 1.2 pounds.

The Odyssey7 has a one-piece, solid, injection molded magnesium case, which is very strong and durable.

The size of the Odyssey7 is 7.9" wide and 6.1" tall, and 1" thick.

The nanoFlash is around 4.78" tall, about 3.72" wide, and 1.36" thick.

While the monitor itself is 7.7" diagonal, if you cut out a sheet of paper with the above dimension, it is not as unweildy as it may sound.


But, to be fair, after we had selected the 7.7" OLED monitor, we had a some requests to build a recorder no larger than the nanoFlash.

The added features, such as being able to show the video + three other image analysis tools all at one time is nice, but this size monitor does make it bigger. And with the Odyssey7Q, the ability to show four video streams simultaneously is very nice.

Jack, we are certainly listening, and we may come out with a smaller version sometime in the future.

Feedback from our Gemini 4:4:4 which has a 5.0" monitor, has been that certain professionals wanted a larger monitor, around 7" to 8".

No one asked for our Gemini 4:4:4 to be smaller. But, as I noted above, we had about five specific requests to make our next recorder no larger than the nanoFlash.

We may add XAVC or similar codec to the Odyssey7 /Odyssey7Q in the future. We designed it so that we could add it if our customers wanted it.

We hope to be able to win your support in the future.

I hope you have an opportunity to come by our booth, C6713, at NAB. If you do, please ask our Receptionist, Roxanne, to get me.

As a Nanoflash owner, I am trying to see my path from the Nano to the Odyssey. This is tough without pricing for the recorder. But I will think out loud with my guesses.

To justify the Odyssey, I would be selling my Nano and CF cards. I would estimate the Nano would go for around to under the price of the Odyssey. So if we call it break even, I have a monitor in trade for the Nano. I would need to buy the recording capability and media.

For my work, 50mbps 4:2:2 is perfect because I shoot a lot of live events. I do not want anything over 50mbps because I need to store the footage as well and it just loads up the hard drives over time. So I only need the bare minimum for codec/bitrates. As far as media, this is where I am concerned. The Odyssey only uses SSDs. At B&H, the only CD SSD I see listed is a 512GB version which costs $1500. I would only need a 240GB at most and would perfer to have 2 120GB. The pricing of SSDs seem very expensive and overkill for my bitrate needs.

So from the outset, the Odyssey seems like it might be over my needs so to speak. Great that it has the high end covered, but the entry price almost precludes the lower end due to media costs. I do not know much about SSDs and continuous recording. It would seem like 50mbps would work with any SSD as 5 year old CF cards can record at this bitrate.

These are just thoughts right now. I wil be watching though.

On another note, the live switch mention about the Q model has my attention. For a single person crew (one man band!) like myself, the opportunity to do a live switch inside your recrding device might be a great time saver. I would like to ask what methods will be available to do the switch? This will sound strange, but I would really like to use a foot controller, like a MIDI effect chooser to be able to make the switches while I still operate one camera. For the time when I lock a wide shot down and operate a closer shot this would allow me to come home with a finished product for certain jobs.

Thanks

Dear Tim,

I am sorry it took me so long to respond.

I was tied up all morning.

We feel that the nanoFlash is an excellent recorder, especially since it can record to the Sony XDCam 4:2:2 codec, and Sony XDCam EX 4:2:0 codec for special applications.

It is very versatile.

Our new Odyssey7 and 7Q do not have the Sony XDCam codecs built in, Thus the Odyssey7 and 7Q are not direct replacements for the nanoFlash, they are still very desirable, especially for network productions and many other projects.

If we could easily add Sony XDCam 4:2:2 codec to the Odyssey7, we would. Recording at 50, and 100 Mbps in the nanoFlash are very effective and very efficient.

We will release our SSD Pricing in May, but you should not use our current 1.8" SSD pricing as a guide, they do not compare evenly in price.

We plan on offering 240 GB, 480 GB and 960 GB. The 120 GB SSD, while available, is not as high a performance, and this could create a disaster as someone may show up on set with the slower 120 GB SSD, when they need the faster models. Thus, we choose not to offer the 120 GB SSD with the Odyssey7.

Thus, keeping the nanoFlash for certain shoots seems very viable to me.

The Odyssey7Q, does seem to be attractive to you.

We may be able to design a foot switch. Would an iPhone, iPad app work also, I assume not.

Are you switching from Camera 1 to Camera 2, etc, or do you have more than two cameras?

Tim, please feel free to call me, as always.

Respectfully,

Thanks for your Reply Dan. I will give you a call when I get the chance.

Tim

Dear Tim,

I look forward to your call.

Dan

Dan,

Here is my wildlife filmers issue again: does the Odyssey have a prebuffer option?

Dear Cees,

No, we do not have a Pre-Buffer option for uncompressed formats, but we will have it when using compressed codecs.

Any plans for a protective case, sun shade, and an attachable battery? I would want all those if I'm going to replace my current Panasonic 8" field monitor. Thanks. See you at NAB.

Dear Michael,

We will offer a Sun Shade, and Battery System with charger for the Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q.

I expect that we will offer a protective case. I do not have the final word on the case yet.

Thanks Dan. Can't wait to see it at NAB.

Dear Michael,

We look forward to seeing you in our booth.

Our booth number is C6713, in the Central Hall.

Dear Cees,

No, we do not have a Pre-Buffer option for uncompressed formats, but we will have it when using compressed codecs.

Dan, Does this mean it will be available with the release of the compressed codec(s) or does it mean it may become a future firmware upgrade?

Dear Cees,

Regretfully, I do not know the timing of the Cache Recording feature for the Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q.

Our engineers are working very hard to finish the Avid DNxHD codec for the Gemini 4:4:4, Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q.

Of course we would love for the Cache Recording (Pre-Buffer) feature to be ready at the same time.

Respectfully,

Dan .......any idea of the 7Q's capability with the 480 and 960 fps selections on the FS700? I'm curious if there will be any enhancements in resolution. I understand whats possible with 120 and 240fps.

cheers....mark

Dan, do you see the NanoFlash as an end of life product, or will you continue to produce, support, and upgrade it?

Dear Ron,

We do expect more of our customers to be migrating to the Odyssey7 or Odyssey7Q.

We feel that this is only natural, as our customers asked for a built-in monitor, and have asked for Avid DNxHD and Apple ProRes.

We are currently offering Avid DNxHD in the initial firmware release of the Odyssey7Q, and we plan on supporting another very popular codec later.

But, the nanoFlash is a very unique product as it is so versatile, and can record at true Broadcast Quality at only 50 Megabits per second.

The Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q will offer compressed codecs, but the Sony XDCam codec used in the nanoFlash is outstanding for lower bit-rate recordings, and is very widely supported.

We will continue to support it for many years to come, and provide at least one more firmware upgrade, maybe more.

We use the Sony XDCam 4:2:2 module as an integrated part of the nanoFlash. We can continue to produce the nanoFlashes as long as we can obtain this module from Sony. When Sony discontinues the manufacturing of this XDCam module, then we will have to purchase as many as we think is prudent.

I hope this helps.


Respectfully,

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to update the status of our Avid DNxHD codec project.

There are three main parts of this project.

We started with the codec "decoder". This is done and is working perfectly, We used a SMPTE Standard Test file and it looks great after being decoded.

I understand that our encoder is also working now, but I am certain that we have at least some more work on this portion before we can say it is 100% finished.

We are also working on the Quicktime (".MOV" wrapper), but we have extensive experience in this area.

So, overall, our team is making very good progress.

As soon as we can share some end to end test results, I will do so.

This project applies to both the Gemini 4:4:4, and the Odyssey7/Odyssey7Q.

This will be a free firmware upgrade for the Gemini 4:4:4 and will be standard on both the Odyssey7 and Odyssey7Q.

Respectfully,

Thank you Dan. That is very helpful. It looks like the NanoFlash will be useful for sometime so I feel good about that. The Nano works good for green screen work. What codec on the Odyssey would be the equivalent of the XD Cam on the NanoFlash?

Dear Ron,

I highly recommend, that if someone loves their nanoFlash, then if they get an Odyssey7 or Odyssey7Q, then they should hold on to it.

The Avid DNxHD 220 should be as good as Sony XDCam 50 Mbps.

We will know more later, and there are other Avid DNxHD bit rates available.

Respectfully,

Thanks again Dan you have been very helpful.

We do expect more of our customers to be migrating to the Odyssey7 or Odyssey7Q.


This will certainly be the case.

However, for my kind of shootings, wildlife documentary, the Odyssey7 is too big and the Gemini too expensive (an Odyssey5 would be perfect!). So there is no real successor to the NanoFlash from Convergent Design, for the moment, in my opinion.
Anyway, I'm happy with it and still look for a firmware upgrade, if it comes.

Dear Ronan,

We appreciate your suggestion and comments.

We decided to go with 2.5" SSD's for a variety of reasons.

And, to accomplish some of our goals, such a being able to support both 4K and 60 frames per second, and HD/2K at very high frame rates, such as 2K Raw at 240 fps, we needed to have two SSD's available for recording.

And having two SSD's will allow us to record to two SSD's simultaneously, or to extend the recording time.

We feel, for proper heat management, without using a fan, the two SSD's need to be side-by-side, as opposed to stacked on top of each other.

Thus, this dictates a unit that is wider than the nanoFlash.

We can certainly consider a Odyssey5 model.

On a personal note, I found that the 7.7" diagonal spec seems bigger than it actually is.

The dimensions are 6.1" High and 7.9" wide, and about 1" thick, weighing 1.2 pounds.

Before I saw the and held one for the first time, I made a cutout to envision the actual size. I was surprised that it was smaller than I had expected.

At NAB, our brochure was actual size so our friends could envision it on their cameras.

Again, thank you for your suggestion and we will give it serious consideration.

Respectfully,

I'd be more open to a Odyssey5 or an OdysseyEVF if the codec options are fixed and non-upgradable (for instance, with proprietary encoding hardware)

Having everything you need already in box at purchase (without activation needs) IMHO is better than buying options for a "Monitor." It works out better for a smaller form factor and for run and gun shoots. If size is not an hurdle, (like on a cinema shoot) the purchasing options seem more logical for the Odyssey7 and 7Q.