Dear Friends,

Today is a very significant day for us and the Gemini 4:4:4.

1. We just announced Avid DNxHD support as a free firmware upgrade, to be released in the Third Quarter this year.

This free firmware upgrade will be a regular firmware upgrade, and it will work with all Gemini 4:4:4’s.

Our press release was posted here on DVInfo.net first:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/digital-video-industry-news/505569-gemini-4-4-4-avid-dnxhd-support.html

Avid DNxHD is widely supported by Non-Linear Editors, including Final Cut Pro. The Avid DNxHD codec is available as a free download from Avid and of course is natively supported by Avid's NLE's.

With Final Cut Pro and most other modern NLE's one can have Avid DNxHD and Apple ProRes on the same timeline.

2. A Gemini 4:4:4 with our ARRIRAW Option is now at ARRI in Munich for certification.

ARRIRAW is an excellent way to get even higher image quality out of an ALEXA;
higher quality than recording ProRes 4:4:4 internally.

And all ALEXA’s have ARRIRAW support built-in, standard.

We expect to deliver this extra cost option in March, 2012.

3. We have Gemini 4:4:4’s in-stock for immediate delivery to dealers.

Background:

We have been planning to add Avid DNxHD to the Gemini 4:4:4 for some time.

We have been working toward this goal, but we did not want to announce it until we were 100% certain that we could do it.

We now have that confidence based on technical evaluations.

With these announcements, the Gemini 4:4:4 is an ideal recorder for a wide range of uses.

One can record DNxHD for certain projects, providing long recording time,
then record full uncompressed from 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 cameras when desired,
then with the extra cost ARRIRAW Option improve the image quality of the high-end ARRI ALEXA.

There is no other recorder that can deliver higher image quality, regardless of cost.

And our built-in 5.0” Monitor LCD is widely recognized as being the best in the industry.
It is a superb monitor with high contrast, high brightness, and an industry leading viewing angle.

And we have other features in work for the Gemini 4:4:4, including 1080p50, 1080p59.94, and 1080p60; dual recording for safety and full 3D support.

Dan,

Are these DNxHD files only going to be wrapped in QT or also as MXF (and if MXF, will they be OpAtom 1a)? And how will they get into MC, via AMA or file import? If import, will they fast import?

BTW, here's a link to the Avid online community about Gemini and DNxHD:

Some Very Good News for Avid - Avid Community (http://community.avid.com/forums/t/106702.aspx)

Dear Peter,

At least initially, our Avid DNxHD files will be in the Quicktime wrapper for compatibility with many NLE's.

Avid supports the Quicktime (."MOV") wrapper also.

Our company and other companies have choosen ".MOV" so as to allow Final Cut Pro users work with the Avid DNxHD. If we recorded in ".MXF", then Final Cut Pro users would struggle.

I do not know of any limitations with this plan as Avid supports ".MOV"'s. If there are, we may support both ".MOV" and ".MXF", if necessary. (But this is not a promise at this time.)

At this time, I do not know the answers to your import questions, sorry.

Thank you for the link.

Dan, if you ever want me to test out some files for you in MC 6, just let me know.

Dear Peter,

Thank you, that may help.

This is really great news. I am looking forward to ordering a Gemini now. If I can do 444 out of the Sony F3 and potentially 1080p 60fps 422 i'll be super psyched on it and for most jobs Avid DNXhd 422 I'll be perfect.

Just hope it has no macroblocking issues of other external recorders that record to Avid DNXHd :)

Last I checked, Premiere Pro and After Effects do not work with many MOV files including from the nanoFlash. For better or for worse, Final Cut will be dead in a couple years with PPro and MC being the standards. At least for PC users, DNxHD is far better than Pro Res because we can encode to DNxHD.

Will it support the new DNxHD 444?

Dear Steve,

We are not promising Avid DNxHD 444 at this time.

We will be investigating it.

For better or for worse, Final Cut will be dead in a couple years...

Probably a bit presumptuous? If Apple want it to succeed, they have massive resources.

Sorry, I was thinking of FCP 7 when typing that.

Dan, from my point of view, I don't see the DNxHD add-on as a great feature just because there are many other current DNxHD recorders at far lower prices to choose from. However, if you add the DNxHD 444 format, then it makes the Gemini one heck of a recorder and separates itself from the pack. (side note: the Alexa's new DNxHD upgrade will support 444)

About the ARRIRAW - so the Gemini supports 12bit and 2880x1620 (and what about the Studio's 2880x2160)?

Dear Steve,

Yes, other recorders can record DNxHD, but most do not give you the option to record full uncompressed with desired.

We do not want to over-promise and under-deliver. Thus, we are not promising DNxHD 4:4:4 mode.
Also, our license from Avid, which was obtained some time ago, prior to Avid announcing DNxHD 4:4:4 mode, did not specify this mode, and thus we do not yet have offical approval to support it.

As we get further along in the development of this feature we will learn what is possible.

We have not done enough research into the ramifications of supporting the Studio's 2880x2160 mode.

Are there liscening issues to contend with in regards to the Prores codec? As nice as it it is that FCP can use other codecs, my workflows are all based in Prores and would love to keep it that way! Not sure if it's a deal break at this point, or if it's MY workflow that needs tweaking! ;)

Dear Christopher,

Just the overall approval process is time-consuming.

I feel that if you tried the Avid DNxHD, you will find that your workflow will not change much.

Of course, I feel that better answers will come from those that already use Avid DNxHD codecs with their Final Cut Pro systems.

Hello Christopher,

To add to what Dan has mentioned you,

If recording ARRI RAW with the Gemini, and if you are recording Pro Res to the Camera you can use the camera's Pro Res recordings as your Proxy, since we receive the file names as well as other information from the camera over the SDI video Stream, so the file names will match up in post, So you do not have to switch to DNxHD, it is simply another option or tool that is available to you. or If you did not want to purchase the DNxHD upgrade for your Alexa, this would be another option for recording DNxHD.


Also importing DNxHD into Final Cut is very simple, Install the Codecs LE direct from Avid, and you can view your footage in Quicktime Player and FCP 7

Hope that Helps

Can the Gemini deal with Phantom Flex 12 bit "raw" files?

Dear Michael,

No, no yet, but that is planned for the future.

Does the Gemini have enough encode power to encode DNxHD at the new 1080p50, 1080p59.94, and 1080p60 framerates? That would be a more economical solution to 1080p60 recording for stuff like broadcast.

Dear Jack,

While our DNxHD support will not be ready until this fall, I believe the answer will be yes, we can support those frame rates (in Avid DNxHD).

Dear Jack,

While our DNxHD support will not be ready until this fall, I believe the answer will be yes, we can support those frame rates (in Avid DNxHD).

This is welcome news Dan! I would predict this would be a space-efficient high quality 1080p60 recording solution for the FS700 (and future prosumer 3G-SDI cameras) that could ease a production transition to 1080p60 broadcast down the line.