280 Mbps I-Frame-Only Coming Next Week

[Aaron Newsome]

Ok Mike. I'll go ahead and test the 280Mbps for you. Feel free to go ahead and send it over.

Thanks, Aaron.

[Mike Schell]

In addition to the 280 Mbps I-Frame Only, we have decided to add 180 Mbps Long-GOP to the upcoming firmware update. Long-GOP has been found to be about 2X to 3X more efficient I-Frame only. So 180 Mbps Long-GOP roughly translates into 400 Mbps I-Frame.

It's not uncompressed, but you get 99.99999% the quality at about 1/6 the data-rate of uncompressed. Most importantly, you get it in a palm sized, low-power, camcorder mountable package that's available today.

Best-

[Mark Job]

Hi Mike:
You wrote: "It's not uncompressed, but you get 99.99999% the quality at about 1/6 the data-rate of uncompressed."....This is really great Mike. I thank you for this generous update. This is yet another wonderful progression in the evolution of the Flash XDR/Nano Flash products. Now, if you could get to just a slightly higher Long GOP that would be equal to 440 Mbps I - Frame, then we're in HDCAM SR territory ! This is great news.

[John Richard]

For some realistic comparison, a Sony HDCAM SR VTR rents for about $2700/week + tape stock. That is about the cost to own a Nano Flash.

Deckhand Video

And this VTR is far from the portability of the Nano.

I think we looking at a comparison of 2 very different animals here. Although I do understand and appreciate the desire to have the Nano and the XDR in such a lofty realm; and I think we are already pretty darn close; and in some ways such as portability and data wrangling we already far exceed.

[Mark Job]

Hi John:
Agreed.

[Peter Moretti]

Originally Posted by Dan Keaton

Dear Aaron,

We purchase a module from Sony. This module contains two of Sony's latest and greatest, sixth generation MPEG-2 encoder and decoder chips.

Each of these chips is a marvel in engineering.

In addition to the Sony module, we have a very capable, high performance FPGA that does quite a bit of work.

Then we have a microprocessor for other tasks, such as working with the user interface and LCD.

The Flash XDR has two FPGA's so that we can support 4 CompactFlash card slots. The nanoFlash needs only one. This helps reduce the power requirements on the nanoFlash.

In addition their are many other chips or custom circuits for other functions, such as audio.

Dan,

Was there/is there any looking at using DNxHD chips? I have to think that Avid makes DNxHD chips, as their DX hardware encodes/decodes DNxHD. Of course these might not be remotely appropriate for the requirements of your hardware, but I've felt that DNxHD is a very good codec that could be used an acquisition format.

... Thinking about it some more, Ikegami's Editcam records DNxHD 145. But how about 175 and 220 8 and 10 bit varieties?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Peter,

The heart of the nanoFlash is the Sony module.

The Sony module does not do DNxHD, sorry.

[Paul Cronin]

What cards can handle the 280 I-Frame and 180 Long GOP?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Paul,

The following is preliminary information, subject to change:

SanDisk Extreme 3 32/16/8 Gb CF cards for bit rates up to and including 160 Mbps
SanDisk Extreme 4 16 Gbyte CF cards for bit rates up to and including 280 Mbps
SanDisk Extreme 32 Gb CF cards for bit rates up to and including 280 Mbps
SanDisk Extreme Pro 64/32 Gbyte CF cards for bit rates up to and including 280 Mbps
Delkin UDMA 16 Gbyte CF cards for bit rates up to and including 160 Mbps
Lexar 8/16 Gbyte 300x CF cards for bit rates up to and including 280 Mbps
PhotoFast 533x 32/64 Gbyte�CF cards for bit rates up to and including 220 Mbps

[Paul Cronin]

Excellent info thank you Dan.

I look forward to doing some Long GOP test between 100 and 180.

[Gints Klimanis]

"SanDisk Extreme 32 Gb CF cards for bit rates up to and including 280 Mbps"

Thank you for the flash card update. As a confirmation, the card above is the "60MB/sec (400x)" model?

[Mike Schell]

Originally Posted by Gints Klimanis

"SanDisk Extreme 32 Gb CF cards for bit rates up to and including 280 Mbps"

Thank you for the flash card update. As a confirmation, the card above is the "60MB/sec (400x)" model?

Hi Gints-
Yes, this is correct. We have one of these cards in the lab, they perform very well.

Best-

[Jonathan Morrow]

I have to say I have sat on the sidelines watching these discussions and I can no longer contain myself. The nano and the xdr seem to me to be amongst the most exciting products in any field of technology that I am aware of. I am hugely impressed with the progress I have witnessed on these pages over the past few months. I don't own one (I don't even own a camera) but the product concept, the support and development, when taken as a whole, looks astonishing when viewed from afar. Best of luck to Convergent Design, excellent work.

[Paul Cronin]

Jonathan you are correct Convergent Designs is the best company I have worked with in my 25 years of shooting. The best product development, best updates on the product (free), and best staff.

Jonathan now you need to buy a HD camera with HD-SDI or HDMI out and enjoy the ride while it pays the bills.

[Paul Cronin]

Mike,

So at this point there is no need to buy the Extreme Pro card? Except for the 64GB size.