Sd-sdi
 

How much is the quantity of data with SD-SDI (in Gbps or Mbps)?

My understanding from very limited reading is that the SD SDI spec allows variable bit rates from 143 Mbps to 540 Mbps, but that 270 Mbps seems to be the standard data rate that most equipment will support. I don't know how the XL H1 handles SD SDI; maybe someone with more tech info can add some comments.

SMPTE standard is 270Mbps so that should be what the camera outputs.

I think, the SD-SDI feature of the XL H1 is a very interesting one too. I just cannot wait to see the quality in comparison with DV, DVCPRO and DVCPRO50.
Does anybody know, why with SD-SDI there could be variable bit rates from 143 Mbps to 540 Mbps, as Pete has written?

Its not "variable" per say. It has to do with the exact specification of the image. Colourspace (4:2:2 vs 4:4:4) and bitdepth (8bit or 10bit) are the actual big factors that change bitrate along with the sample frequency, but like said before 270Mbps is pretty much the standard for SMPTE 125.

SMPTE 125M = 27mhz at max of 10 bit = 270mbps
SMPTE 267M = 36mhz at max of 10 bit = 360mbps
SMPTE 344M = 54mhz at max of 10 bit = 540mbps
SMPTE 274M = 74.25mhz at 20bit = 1.485Gbps

Most SD-SDI will be smpte 125, if its widescreen possibly (doubtful at best, haven't even see this used anywhere) smpte 267m, and really strange and high end smpte 344. The XL H1 will be Smpte 274M and if it does SD over SDI then SMPTE 125M but I would doubt any of the others. The actual capturable datarate is dependant on active samples which is actually different rate, just a little lower.

So, what kind of setup would you need to capture 4:2:2 SD?

A BMD declink card and a decent SATA RAID 0 disk system on either a Mac or a PC. For field recording either a Digital Betacam or DVCPRO50 deck. Don't know much about DVCPRO 50 but for DB Sony do a field recorder. Any tape based recorder though is going to cost you more than the camera I think.

How much would a SATA RAID setup cost? Sorry, I am very new to this.

720 x 486 x 10 bit (?) x 30 fps x 1 full channel and 2 half channels = 25 Megabytes/ Second.

So a nice single Sata drive should deal okay and a two drive raid 0 should be plenty.

Black magic has their prices on their website and all you would need other than that is a sata card and a couple of drives. Aja cards are available too, and I think they recently released PC versions of their cards. The 7200.8 seagates are pretty fast along with the Maxline III in the larger sizes. Sorry I can't give a better idea on price, it varies a lot and a lot of PC's have sata Raid onboard.

Ok, I've never looked into Raid drives. I don't know where to buy them, or anything. I'll have to research a bit more.