HyperDeck Shuttle from Blackmagic Design

[Felix van Oost]

At first glance the Hyperdeck Shuttle was what I've been waiting for and more, but there do seem to be some issues with it. Although it's only $345, you have to factor in the cost of an SSD (a 256GB SSD will give you around 35 mins of recording time and cost upwards of $400), and depending on what you already have you might need a field monitor and an investment in a new RAID storage solution for all that data. So it's not as cheap as expected.

I'm thrilled that they managed to make something so small, so cheap (compared to other recorders out there), and with full uncompressed 1080p 4:2:2 10-bit, which was previously unheard of at this price. However, for me, I'm not sure I can live with the 35 min recording time and I don't have anywhere to dump footage when in the field - I'm usually shooting on mountains, and I also can't afford a much larger drive at the moment). It would also add another step to my workflow - transcoding all those files to CineForm, which means buying a second CineForm license for my laptop. If I can make it work though, it would be sick.

[Felix van Oost]

Originally Posted by Ray Bell

How does the Shuttle compare to the Nanoflash.... Also... anyone know the answer to this... looks like the Shuttle only works with Apple... did they say when it would work with PC based systems...

The Shuttle is higher quality than the nanoFlash - uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p vs. maximum 280Mb/s XDCAM 4:2:2 8-bit. The files generated by the Shuttle are universal QuickTime files (not ProRes) that work on both PC and Mac in all major NLEs.

[Michael Dalton]

One major device that I'm looking for is something that can be used for creating Digital Broadcast Masters on SSD. A device like this or the AJA ki-pro or mini that can be used as these products are, but can also work like a deck, where I can take my final edit, set it up with; timecode,bars and tone, black, slates etc, and put it on a SSD card. It would work like a tape, so if I have errors I can do insert edits etc.

Since they can do un-ccompressed 10-bit out of SDI, Why doesn't some use this technology to finally get rid of TAPE?

The price point can be so low everyone can afford to adopt. 1-3k range.

All home edit station can have one, all post houses so they can go to tape and make dubs without having to go through a suite, networks can use them so we can avoid going to TAPE, and give digital deliveries of our EPISODE masters on SSD.

Just storing SSD's would take up significantly less space. I think they are robust too.

Life would be good!!!

[Nick Hiltgen]

I can't help but think given the amount of money you'll have to spend on SSD's it might be better to invest in the Ultrastudio 3d. You can capture the full 444 out as well as 422 and if you daisy chain it with a thunderbolt equipped NAS you can use spinning hard drives instead of the SSD's.

I get that it's not as portable to have that capture option but I can't help but think you'll need 3 or 4 512 SSD drives on set for a full day of shooting or you'll need a computer for off loading and archiving. So if you're already going to have a computer on set it seems like it might be better to get a 444 option, maybe I'm wrong.

[Bryce Comer]

So looking at the pictures & scaling from those roughly. I think it looks to be around 125mm x 22mm x 90mm, or 5" x 7/8" x 3 1/2"
If this is the case, wow, it's very small indeed!

[Duncan Craig]

I've posted these thoughts elsewhere, but here they are anyway:

WOW, this looks great, it's a shame they can't fit a compression system in there.
So I suppose the NanoFlash is still worthwhile to get the 50mb/s broadcast spec requirements.

I still have questions, though I'm sure we'll find out soon.

How long does the battery last?
Does it record timecode from SDI?
Is it timecode triggered too? (personally I shoot TOD so this won't work for me, but other need it)
Is it possible to have a miniUSB remote control, (like a lanc start button)
Can you lock out the buttons to stop accidental presses (perhaps a short tap of the power button could disable the buttons, a longer press switches it off/on)
What are the mounting options. Standard threads would suffice.

[Giuseppe Pugliese]

would love to know what the estimated price for SSD's that can sustain the uncompressed rate, would be.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Pieter de Vries

No pricing or capacity on the SSD cards, but with the recorder costing so little,

That's because you are supposed to supply your own drives.

gb

[Ray Bell]

Originally Posted by Mathieu Ghekiere

And a free version of DaVinci Resolve is very interesting for people to let them get to know the software (and it's pretty functional too, for being a free version).

can you point us to the website for the free version of DaVinci Resolve...

Thanks

[Andrew Stone]

Certainly worth keeping an eye on as a 422 10bit recorder in some situations where you don't have to worry about swapping out drives between shots but like others who have issued concerns about continuous data throughput on SSDs, I would be concerned. Part of buying a recorder, like buying a lot of video gear is the support after you own the product.

Blackmagic Design has turned out some really great products but some not so great and when a product doesn't live up to their expectations they are quick to just "move on" and not address concerns with software or firmware updates. UltraScope is such a product.

The extremely low price of this device has me worried about this as they will have to maintain business incentive to continue improving the product once it is released.

[Ronan Fournier]

On the Shuttle, how do you know the empty space left on the SSD while recording? No screen, no gauge…

[Sanjin Svajger]

4:2:2 uncompressed... Is there really such a diference betwen this and let's say prores from ninja at 220 Mbits?? Why not go 4:4:4? 4:4:4 would be great for chroma key work. But uncompressed 4:2:2 compared to prores 4:2:2 at 220 is it really worth it?

[Felix van Oost]

The reason the Shuttle is so cheap is because it does almost no processing. There is no large processor and no codec licensing fees to be paid - all it does is take the stream directly from the camera and package it into a QuickTime container. The only format it does is 4:2:2 10-bit uncompressed - anything else defeats the purpose.

The purpose of the Shuttle is a cheap, no-frills way to get original masters from your camera to your computer. The whole point is that you then transcode to your editing codec of choice - that's the beauty of it. Since it's uncompressed, you can choose whatever format you want to edit to, without being in locked in with specific formats like the nanoFlash or Ninja. Yes, it does require transcoding, but it's much faster if the source is uncompressed than if you try to convert AVCHD files to something else. That's where you save the money in all this.

[Dom Stevenson]

Felix

Excuse my ignorance, but i'm slightly baffled as to the point of this thing.

So having transcoded you'd create new files and dump the originals? I mean who wants these kind of file sizes sitting on their drives, or is this gizmo for high end folks only?

[Ray Bell]

Dom, The primary function of these video recorders is to allow you to record the non-compressed video out of the camera before the camera has performed any compression of the video... So the non-compressed video will not have any of the on-board compression artifacts present... several people then take the video files and use an intermediate like Cineform to expand on the editability of the files further.... So in post processing you are given more latitude in your edits... like color correction or color grading...

an example would be bypassing on-board mpeg2 compression (8 bit), capture in non-compressed format, use Cineform to convert the file structure to 12bit 4,4,4 - color correct and color grade then output to blu-ray.

Another advantage is recording to disk vs recording to tape.... and other benefits depending on how you use them in your workflow.