Convergent Design unveils nano3D

[Mike Schell]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Convergent Design unveils nano3D

(April 9, 2010, Colorado Springs, CO) Building on the highly successful nanoFlash, Convergent Design unveiled today, nano3D, the world’s smallest professional 3D-HD portable recorder/player. nano3D combines two nanoFlash recorders/players, for fully-synchronized stereoscopic recording and playback. Additionally, nano3D can also be used for simultaneous off-line/online (high quality + proxy modes) or redundant (2 identical masters) recording.

The diminutive size: 3”(H) x 4.2” (L) x 3.8”(W), lightweight (2 lbs), and lower power (12 W), makes nano3D an ideal choice for almost every 3D camera rig. nano3D utilizes the very high quality full-raster 4:2:2 Sony MPEG2 CODEC, but extends the bit-rate up to 280 Mbps for superb video quality. Compressed video and audio are stored on affordable Compact Flash media (now up to 64GB) in Quicktime or MXF file format, providing universal NLE support, including Avid, Final Cut Pro, Edius, Vegas and Premiere.

As a recorder, nano3D features dual HD-SDI inputs as well as a LTC input for time-code. nano3D supports a wide range of video formats, including 1080i60/50, 1080p30/25/24, and 720p60/50/30/25/24. I-Frame only recording (up to 280 Mbps) guarantees that both the left and right frames are processed identically, for superior 3D rendering. Finally, up to 8-channels of embedded audio per HD-SDI stream can be recorded in uncompressed 24-bit 48KHz format, enabling full HD 5.1 or 7.1 program creation.

As a playback device, nano3D offers the standard dual-stream synchronized HD-SDI output. However, what really sets nano3D apart, is the built-in combiner function which merges the left and right video into one of the popular 3D formats such as side by side, top and bottom, or line by line. The merged video is output over a single HD-SDI cable for display on professional 3D monitors. Furthermore, the addition of a low-cost HD-SDI to HDMI converter enables the 3D HD-SDI stream to be displayed on consumer 3D TVs. This is important, as a large-screen is considered essential for critical analysis of 3D material.

”The nano3D is a significant advance, since for the first time, a low-cost 3D recorder / 3D playback solution will allow the immediate critical analysis of footage on-set, allowing for an immediate confirmation that the scene was recorded properly. This will enable 3D projects to be shot with confidence”, said Dan Keaton, Director of Sales and Marketing for Convergent Design.

“nanoFlash revolutionized the market as an affordable high-quality recorder that could be mounted-on and powered-by, your camera. nanoFlash continues to set the standard in terms of size, weight, power, and quality. We expect nano3D, with synchronized record / playback and built-in stream combiner, will now revolutionize 3D production,” noted Mike Schell, President of Convergent Design.

nanoFlash and nano3D can be seen at the Convergent Design booth (C11731) at the NAB show, April 12-15. More info available at Convergent Design |

Hope to see you at NAB-

[Luben Izov]

Well Done CD!!
Good Luck at the NAB 2010. Unfortunately I am on my way to Portland today for the next 3 days and if time permits I'll stop by in Vegas, but so far doesn't look that way. Good Luck
Cheers
Luben

[Bill Koehler]

I didn't see this video referenced anywhere else on DVInfoNet or on the CD website, so I thought it was worth including here:

New World's Smallest 3D Compact Flash Recorder - NAB 2010 on Vimeo

[Mark Job]

Hi Mike:
I'm very interested in the Nano Flash 3D System. According to several posts made in this Nano Flash forum over the last several months, there seems to be a two (2) second de-synchronization between the Audio & Video when recorded video clips are played back within the Nano Flash Recorder itself. How does this malfunction affect the 3D Nano Flash Recorder ? Is the 3D Nano Flash Recording System unaffected by 2D Nano Flash audio/video de-synchronization when the 3D Video clips are played back from within the Nano Flashes themselves ?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Mark,

The audio sync problem is 2 frames, not 2 seconds, and this will be fixed as soon as possible.

[Mark Job]

Hi Dan:
Ooops ! OK. That's Two (2) frames ! My mistake, Sorry. OK. This is good.

[Daniel Melius]

So according to the above video, the nano3D would not work with 2 EX1R's because they don't have Genlock?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Daniel,

Correct. For proper 3D, one needs two genlocked cameras.

However, there are some nice tricks to get two cameras genlocked together, if one has at least one genlockable camera.

For example, if one wants to use an EX1 and an EX3, then this is a great conbination for 3D work.

The lenses are matched, as are the quality of the images out of the cameras, thus allowing for good 3D out of these two different cameras.

To achive genlock, take the Component Y out of the EX1 or EX1R, then feed this into the GenLock Input of the EX3. This will use the EX1 as the master and the EX3 will be genlocked to the EX1.