So much like Billy Steinberg, most of my work is done out of a mobile production truck. My question is is has anyone had success with editing stuff in an NLE and exporting it back to a Blade for playback? I know they record in either ProRes or Avid DNxHD but is it possible to export a sequence as such and play it back through the blade?

Anyone? This is a first for me. Someone here always has the answer I'm looking for.

In a word yes Mark. At least with DNxHD, I'm on Windoz 7.

I had a Blade caddy plugged into the Atomos PC dock and just rendered part of a time line as DNxHD to the drive in the caddy. Pulled the Blade caddy, plugged it back into the Blade, went play and it was a beautiful thing. First time I had no audio so second time around I defined the audio as 48,000Hz 16bit uncompressed and it all worked fine... useful!

Maybe one of the Apple boys can confirm with ProRes?

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I'm a windows guy too so DNxHD works for me. So I guess the next question is is I'm using Premiere. What's the best way to make a DNxHD file from there?

I'm a windows guy too so DNxHD works for me. So I guess the next question is is I'm using Premiere. What's the best way to make a DNxHD file from there?

CTRL+M and choose DNxHD MXF OP1a from the Format drop down in the Export Settings dialogue? Try a couple of flavours which match the sequence settings closely and see which works best?
I don't have my Ninja Blade with me right now, but please do share your findings. Happy to research with you: I will need to be doing this too in a couple of weeks.

Can't advise on Premiere. To render DNxHD in Vegas you just have to install the freely available, from the Avid site, DNxHD codecs and install them on your Windows box. SD and HD DNxHD flavours are now available for selection in the 'render as' dialogue window.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

You *must* export DNxHD via QuickTime in a .MOV container out of Premiere if you want it to playback in a Blade.

So in the export settings menu, I'm going to select Format: QuickTime and towards the bottom I select Video Codec: Avid DNxHD correct? What about the audio codec? My options are uncompressed, AAC, Apple Lossless, IMA 4:1, Qualcomm Purevoice, and iLBC.

Uncompressed worked for me... plus it's the best quality.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Alright, I pulled the trigger and ordered one. Now for the waiting game.

So I finally got my Samurai Blade in. So far I have yet to be able to play back a file on it. I am exporting as DNxHD with uncompressed audio in a Quicktime format. Every time I go to play it back it actually locks the Blade up. The touch screen stops responding and I have to restart it. Any ideas?

Just tried here. Exported 10-bit 1080 50i DNxHD at 220-mbit under the QuickTime render option with uncompressed audio from a Sony Vegas 13 timeline and it plays back fine on the Blade. What DNxHD settings are you using?

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I've tried a couple different clips with 1080i at 59.whatever frames 10 bit and uncompressed audio. The clips are showing up in the playback menu of the blade but I am unable to get them to play. When I press on them just nothing happens.

What software are you creating your DNxHD files with? If they conform to the DNxHD specs correctly they should play. Unless of course there is a problem with with your unit. Just curious are you using HDD or SDD for theses tests?

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I'm using one of the Sandisk SSD's that they recommended on their website and I am using Premiere Pro CS6 to do this with. I'm on the road right now but I was going to try and see if I could make it work with Avid when I get back home. It seems incredibly weird to me that the clips show up in the menu but they can't be played. And I also have the latest firmware installed.

So I contacted the good people at Atomos and they said that currently you can only use Avid or Final Cut to export files and have them work on the Blade. They said they are currently working with the Adobe people to get Premiere to work as well. Not sure what the hang up is but it sure is annoying.

DNxHD export from Sony Vegas to Blade works fine as long as the audio is rendered uncompressed.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney