Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

The techs at Band Pro and Abel in L.A. are hinting that Convergent will launch this unit at NAB, priced point around $6K. So with Sony's SRW-1 recorder announced priced at $58K at Abel's, anybody taking sides?

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Not yet. We still don't know the price on the Sony SR-R1 (do I have that name right?), nor do we know what AJA might up their sleeve, etc etc.

I think it's likely there will be a lot of options on the way after NAB.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Brian is referring to the deck for the F35 and F23 camera heads.

Sony reps have intimated a couple of times the SR-R1 deck is to be a bit less than the cost of the F3 body, so people are figuring around 10 grand without memory cards. Sony may surprise us even further. 4 weeks and counting to NAB.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Yeah, I know. But I don't think anybody would be using it with the F3 unless they just happen to have one around...so...

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

AJA does not at all seem interested in portable 4:4:4 recording. It can't be that big of a market really. The number of 4:4:4 capable cameras, that can't natively record 4:4:4 on-board is really pretty small.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

I hope it's not Prores. Make's life difficult for we poor people on PCs :)

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

From what I've heard in the rumour mill the SR1 is supposed to be shipping with a 256Gb cards, so IF the price is around that of the F3 body, with an included card, it's a good proposition. Cards are rumoured to cost the same per Gb as SxS, so with a 32Gb SxS costing $850 approx, a 256 Gb card should be $6,800 which is pretty steep for 2 hours of storage.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

If it's a 2 to 3 grand less than the price of the F3 body it is a good proposition in light of the existing recorder and the ones to be in the coming months.

It's good to hear that Sony may be including a 256 GB stick with it. I was thinking they would do that to make a turnkey price on the unit.

Sure is going to be an interesting April.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Actually, it's going to get very interesting by March 23rd.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Looks like Convergent Design may have found a new use for the XDR that was discontinued. Makes perfect sense!

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

It's much more than that, but I'm under NDA and can't say more. You're going to love it.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Dean, it's likely that the new convergent designs recorder has nothing to do with the discontinued XDR. They left that recorder to die at the roadside and that's where it'll stay. They never completed a number of features that were promised in the XDR, I know because I have one. With the rumor of the new recorder coming, I don't expect they'll ever complete those promised features.

Here's just a few reasons why the XDR can't be a part of any new 4:4:4 recorder

- XDR SDI input circuitry is single link 422 only, I recall that 3G/s is simply not possible with this hardware
- Codec is MPEG2, which is 8 bit 422 only
- Records to CF card only, which is not practical for 4:4:4 recording (which is why no 4:4:4 CF recorders exist. Any new recorder would likely record to SSD)

I'd love to hear about some kind of affordable upgrade path to 4:4:4 recording for us XDR owners. However, I'm pretty sure the upgrade path with be eBay the XDR on eBay and scrape together the difference to buy the new recorder.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

:) It IS going to be awesome......

Just wait a few days.

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

Just seen this...
Apologies if anyone else posted it.
:)


2011 NAB Show: Convergent Design, Inc.: Profile

Re: Convergent Design unit records 4.4.4.
 

I almost missed the sunlight viewable monitor in the specs. Goodness gracious.