The current Extreme IIIs write speeds are now higher than they where, so you need to make sure which generation card you've tested.

Of course given how differently CF cards perform in different devices, I guess I should just shut up. The Transcends are cheaper anyway.

Dear E.J.,

Yes, that is exactly the problem.

In years past, when a CompactFlash card manufacturer came out with a specific model of a card, one could expect that future cards of the same model, from the same brand, would have the same performance.

A few years ago this changed for some manufacturers, but not others.

Thus, if one has a SanDisk Extreme III card, it may not perform the same as another SanDisk Extreme III, of the same capacity, purchased at the same time, or at a different time.

As you can see, with the performance that we need from each CompactFlash card to ensure glitch-free recordings, this causes us a problem.

The SanDisk cards might work OK in Flash XDR and nanoFlash, but we will need to test and qualify. To be honest, our engineers are maxed out now developing the QT and MXF code. So, it may be a month or so before we can do the necessary tests for the different CF cards. In the meantime, we're asking that everyone just use the Transcend card, since they seem to be very reasonably priced and widely available.

In the future, we do plan to publish a list of our test results with various CF cards and readers. I have asked our engineers to develop a test program to allow users to evaluate the write and read performance of a given CF card in Flash XDR and nanoFlash. The test results would be displayed on the LCD screen.

Hello.
I've been watching the XDR for a long time now (well actually checking out the site and hearing some bits of information here and there) but i'm seriously thinking about purchasing one.

I have a couple of very noobish questions so please if you have the time answer them or direct me to some links in this thread where I can find the answers because I didn't have the nerves to go through 19 pages of thread:

1) The critical one. I have an EX1. I'm not sure what kind of video signal the camera outputs through its SDI port. Can the XDR capture 1080p from this camera or at least 720p ?

2) As the SDI port will already be occupied with the XDR if i have an external monitor with SDI inputs what are my options ? I assume I can connect the monitor through the SDI interface of the XDR right ?

3) Can I record both to the EX1's cards and to the XDR simultaneously ?

4) How is the playback of files integrated in the XDR ? I've read something about this but i didn't quite understand. Is it similar to a tape - i have to manually rewind to the part that i want - or to EX1's clips ?

5) Audio - if i understand corectly i can plug an external microphone directly into the XDR instead of the XLR inputs of my EX1 ? Does the XDR have phantom power ?
Is there a better audio quality if i do this ?

Can i use all 4 (XDR + EX1) inputs to put them into 4 channels ?
What are the audio capabilities of the XDR (no of channels sampling rate etc. ) compared to the HD standard ?

6) ummm...is it available ? :D

Thanks very much and sorry if my questions have been asked countless times before.

Hello.
I've been watching the XDR for a long time now (well actually checking out the site and hearing some bits of information here and there) but i'm seriously thinking about purchasing one.

I have a couple of very noobish questions so please if you have the time answer them or direct me to some links in this thread where I can find the answers because I didn't have the nerves to go through 19 pages of thread:

1) The critical one. I have an EX1. I'm not sure what kind of video signal the camera outputs through its SDI port. Can the XDR capture 1080p from this camera or at least 720p ?

>>> The Flash XDR can handle, as input, the datastreams that the EX1 is capable of producing through its HD-SDI output port.

Without getting too technical, the EX1 is not capable, as far as I know, of producing 1080p60, but it is capable of producing 1080i60 and other 1080p modes, but just not 1080p60 as this is more data than a HD-SDI single link (at 1.485 Gigabits per second) can handle. It take a HD-SDI dual link (which the EX1 does not have) or a 3.0 Gigabits per second single link (which the EX1 does not have, as far as I know).

Sorry for the very technical answer, but I did not think the simple answer was adequate.

The Flash XDR can not transpose 1080i to 720p or vice versa. The signal from your camera is what is recorded, except that we will compress the HD-SDI signal to one of the user selectable modes. We just can't change 1080i to 720p or 720p to 1080i.

2) As the SDI port will already be occupied with the XDR if i have an external monitor with SDI inputs what are my options ? I assume I can connect the monitor through the SDI interface of the XDR right ?

>>> Yes, the HD-SDI output of the Flash XDR is designed specifically for this purpose.


3) Can I record both to the EX1's cards and to the XDR simultaneously ?

>>> Yes. And you can record on the Flash XDR without recording in camera.

4) How is the playback of files integrated in the XDR ? I've read something about this but i didn't quite understand. Is it similar to a tape - i have to manually rewind to the part that i want - or to EX1's clips ?

>>> The Flash XDR is a file based system. After recording a clip, you can just hit play and it will playback what you just recorded. Or you can select another clip to playback.

>>> If you are playing back, you can hit record and it will start recording immediately, but it will not overwrite any existing takes, it will automatically advance to the proper place for the recording to start. It does this instantly, it is not like tape.

5) Audio - if i understand corectly i can plug an external microphone directly into the XDR instead of the XLR inputs of my EX1 ?

>>> Yes. And you can connect the XLR outputs of the Flash XDR to the XLR inputs of the EX1 to record a sound track in camera, if desired.

Does the XDR have phantom power ?

>>> Yes. +48V phantom power is available and it is user selectable.

Is there a better audio quality if i do this ?

>>> For most all cameras, yes. The Flash XDR is capable of 24 bit audio and the audio circuits use very high quality components. Our goal was to produce very high quality audio.

Can i use all 4 (XDR + EX1) inputs to put them into 4 channels ?
What are the audio capabilities of the XDR (no of channels sampling rate etc. ) compared to the HD standard ?

>>> Our plans are to enable what you have requested. This will be in a future firmware release. It may be the the current firmware release, but I do not think so.

>>> The Flash XDR will record up to 8 audio channels embedded in the HD-SDI input stream. Our goal is to record embedded and/or external audio, or a combination of both, as desired, up to a total of 8 audio channels.

The recordings will be at 16 bit or 24 bit (user selectable) and 48K samples per second.


6) ummm...is it available ? :D

We have a backlog of orders at this time which we are attempting to fill as fast as we can.

Thanks very much and sorry if my questions have been asked countless times before.

>>> We are happy to answer your questions. Please feel free to ask some more.

thank you for the great andswer. Great little device.

1) I was not talkning about 1080 60p. The Ex1 is not capable of this (just 720 60p) . I just wanted to know is the XDR can capture 1920 * 1080 @ 24p. I'm asking this because as far as i understand the EX1 can output just 1080i through it's SDI which if true, very unfortunate in my opinion. I would have loved to capture 1080p with your high quality codec.
Or if i record 1080 24P with the EX1 and the SDI ouputs 1080i maybe the XDR can do some pulldown removal and i'll end up with 1080p final data stream ?


2) So you have a price for the 10 bit software updgrade ?

3) I saw that the XDR has Anton Bauer, IDX and tripod connectors. So i can mount the XDR to a 3-stud battery plate or a v-mount one ? The tripod is a 1/4 20" hole that can be screwed in right?

4) How do you power the XDR. I've read the brochure but couldn't find any information regarding this.

5) When do you think you will have the units ready for shipping for everyone and not just by booking them.

Thanks again.

The EX will output 1080i over SDI and progressive will be embedded. With pulldown removal (which I believe the XDR/nano are capable of doing) you end up with true progressive footage on your storage media.

With firmware 1.11 with EXes are also capable of outputting 1080p @24 directly from the HS SDI out.

This would be the "uncompressed option". MPEG2 is always 8-bit. I believe there is a guide price on the upgrade in another thread. It may also be on the C-D website.

George/

Thank you for the great answer. Great little device.

1) I was not talkning about 1080 60p. The Ex1 is not capable of this (just 720 60p) . I just wanted to know if the XDR can capture 1920 * 1080 @ 24p.

>>> Yes.

I'm asking this because as far as i understand the EX1 can output just 1080i through it's SDI which if true, very unfortunate in my opinion. I would have loved to capture 1080p with your high quality codec.

>>> The Flash XDR is capable of recording 1080p24. As with all cameras, as far as I know, this (technically) comes across the HD-SDI as 24p embedded in a 1080i60 datastream.

>>> We only record the proper frames, the redundant frames are skipped.

Or if i record 1080 24P with the EX1 and the SDI ouputs 1080i maybe the XDR can do some pulldown removal and i'll end up with 1080p final data stream ?

>>> Yes, see the above answer.


2) So you have a price for the 10 bit software updgrade ?

>>> This will become available as our "Uncompressed Option" for $995 US. We would like for you to check out 100 Mb mode first as "Uncompressed" creates a lot of data.

3) I saw that the XDR has Anton Bauer, IDX and tripod connectors. So i can mount the XDR to a 3-stud battery plate or a v-mount one ?

>>> Mike Schell will need to answer this question.

The tripod is a 1/4 20" hole that can be screwed in right?

>>> Yes.

4) How do you power the XDR. I've read the brochure but couldn't find any information regarding this.

>>> The Flash XDR has a 4-pin XLR connector for power input. The voltage can be 6 to 20 Volts.

>>> Also, the Flash XDR comes with an AC power supply.

5) When do you think you will have the units ready for shipping for everyone and not just by booking them.

>>> We are in a mode of building the units as fast as we can. Our team worked over the weekend to build a batch for shipment this week.

>>> We will be in a continous process of building, testing, and shipping the units. But, it is difficult to predict when we will just have them "On the Shelf", ready for shippment immediately, as this depends on the number of orders we receive.

Thanks again.

>>> We welcome your questions.

Woww...great feedback from you guys. Thanks a lot!

@George: Thanks ! Really helped me. Do you know if I have to send the EX1 to Sony for firmware upgrade or can i do it myself ?