Odyssey 7Q Firmware Update on Temp Hold

[Dave Allen]

From CD:

February 27, 2014, Colorado Springs

There are many improvements and added functions in our Odyssey7Q Firmware Update. Sony FS700 4K RAW recording, additional Canon C500 recording formats, and a host of small functions and minor fixes. The most anticipated new function is the popular compressed recording format to complement all of our other recording functions.

This codec is the intellectual property of another company, and Convergent Design needed to go through extensive technical training and then a certification process to make sure the code we wrote was qualified by the other company. We have been in continual contact with the other company and believe that we have answered all of the requirements it has posed to us. However, as of today, February 27, 2014, we have not been issued our certification.

Without this certification we are contractually bound from releasing this firmware. So while we fully anticipate full approval and certification from the other company, we must delay the release of our February Firmware Update.

Our engineers continue to work on. They sweep the code searching for programming bugs as well as work on additional functions that we have not yet announced. The firmware will improve every day.

It is not practical in the short term to release a version of the firmware update that does not include the popular compressed recording format. Its functions are intertwined with many others and locking it out could cause issues in other functions. However if the delay appears to extend beyond a minimal time we will do exactly this.

Again, we expect this delay to be very short-lived, and apologize to all of our Odyssey7Q owners for the delay.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Dave,

I have been traveling all day again today, visiting our dealers.

I was just going to post our press release, but you posted it first.

Thank you.

I will be available to answer any questions.

Respectfully,

[Dave Allen]

Fear not Dan, between the 7Q, you and the awesome support at CD, you all have well earned a bunch of new Apple-esque fanbois. :)

[Paul Gale]

That's very frustrating. I imagine it is for you too.

Are Apple just very slow or is there some reason they've not certified you yet?

Are we talking days, weeks or months here? Or do you just not know?

Thanks.

[Dave Allen]

Paul, CD is reserving stating whose codec it is till the deal is done I think. But fear not, because the codec I I am sure will give you PROfessional RESolution. ;)

[Clermond Ferrand]

CD went through licensing with the Gemini, they should have
known about issues and have made a realistic planning.

Why did they not go the XAVC route?
It's from Sony, it's field tested in the F5/55 and it supports
all major NLEs without converting.

Missing a compressed format is one thing. But what about eliminating
all these bugs which are in sole responsibility of CD? White balance,
LUT not displayed properly and waveform with LUT added neither.
bright line in display, changing from HFR to standard and back on the
same SSD without formatting (very dangerous to loose footage under stress)
missing time code on audio...

It's frustrating as it was already announced for 4th quarter 2013 and most people
were patiently waiting accepting the matter of course that February means 28th.

[Paul Gale]

Originally Posted by Dave Allen

Paul, CD is reserving stating whose codec it is till the deal is done I think. But fear not, because the codec I I am sure will give you PROfessional RESolution. ;)

Yeah we all know it's Apple ProRes but they can't officially say until they have certification.

[Chris Medico]

Originally Posted by Paul Gale

That's very frustrating. I imagine it is for you too.

Are Apple just very slow or is there some reason they've not certified you yet?

Are we talking days, weeks or months here? Or do you just not know?

Thanks.

Its already been months and for some of us it is a serious problem.

[Paul Gale]

Must admit, having the colour balance issue resolved before new features would be good.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Friends,

I am sorry, but we are still contractually obligated not to name the codec that we are going to provide.

We have had great support from the company that has to perform the certifications.

And this support has been very timely.

Thus, we are cautiously optimistic that we will receive the certification soon.

From a technical point of view, this company provided us with test footage that we had to encode in their codec.

And they provided a test program that analyzes each frame of video for quality and accuracy.

We passed all of these tests prior to us sending our encoded footage to the company.

And we exceeded their requirements for image quality.

But there was some minor errors in the header of the file.

So we corrected this and resent the encoded files.

Then they found another issue which we corrected and resent.

Thus we have reason to be optimistic.

To be clear, we fully expect to be able to release this new firmware next week,

And this will included many enhancements and fixes for the issues mentioned in this thread.

If we do not receive certification in a timely basis, the we will issue a release to correct the other issues and provide the other enhancements.

Respectfully,

[Paul Gale]

Thanks for the good info as usual Dan :)

Was hoping to be able to test this weekend but will have wait ;)

[John Mastrogiacomo]

"If we do not receive certification in a timely basis..."

What is a timely manner - a week, a month, 3 months, etc.?

[Dave Allen]

Unless one has a production, a few more weeks is nothing! Sure beats 6 months! I like how CD is majorly transparent. Other manufacturers and the U.S. government should emulate such.

[Steve Thompsen]

I hear the frustration in CDs press release & do have some sympathy for your circumstances. I don’t know what they’ve done to upset the codec gods but I hope it’s solved very soon!

I took delivery of my 7Q in early December knowing the ‘popular’ compressed codec release was due by 31DEC2013. That changed to end of February, now ??

I am yet to use my recorder for a job because I do not want to have to handle the large DNG or DPX files so in the interim I have a very expensive paper weight. I have the first of a series of six short films for a good client starting on 19 March so I am now sweating on certification as well, 3 months after I took delivery of my 7Q.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Friends,

As you may know I like to provide as much information as possible.

We fully expect to receive certification very soon, not weeks or months.

If we do not receive it soon, we do have a backup plan.

Respectfully,