New XDR / nanoFlash Firmware
 

The updated nanoFlash / Flash XDR firmware is being posted tomorrow morning (pending documentation updates) to the Convergent Design website. Here's a synopsis of the features:

New Features
1. Time Lapse Recording: I-Frame only mode, 1 frame/HH:MM:SS
2. E to E Direct, provide 1080psf output during record and zero delay through the nanoFlash
3. Loop Play option: All/None; None option plays through all files on the card and then stops, very useful for dubbing to tape.
4. Record Ready indicator added to LCD menu
5. Option to leave LCD backlight on constantly
6. 2X Fast-Forward for QT/MXF files (by holding down the Play button for 5 seconds).
7. Option to hit record button (while recording) to create a new file
8. Expanded PreRecord buffer to 7 seconds (for bit-rates of 100Mbps and lower)
9. Added check for slow CF cards (buffer overflow). Error message will be displayed and the recording will restart at next lower bit-rate.
10. Added check for A/V sync errors. If detected and not in record mode, nanoFlash will automatically restart to correct problem.
11. Added SD support for HDMI recording.

Corrections/Bug Fixes
1. Fixed some major issues with the MPG files format.
2. Corrected SDI-out audio CRC errors that occurred during playback
3. Fixed various CF card DMA Read and Write errors.
4. Fixed 220Mbps Time-Code
5. Deleted M2V file format as unnecessary and 50Mbps selection for MPG (unsupported by any DVD or Blu-Ray player).
6. Fixed random shut-down and random display of LCD backlight.
7. Deleted audio level meter during playback (will add back in future firmware, when fixed)
8. Fixed the time-code when using 3:2 pulldown removal.

Important notes on Time-Lapse
Always use a solid, reliable power source when opearating in time-lapse mode. Due to the nature of the recording, if a power failure occurs during time-lapse recording, then you may lose a considerable amount of footage! So, make sure the battery is well charged or you have a UPS attached to the AC power.

We recommend that you record at 220 Mbps I-Frame only for maximum quality. You can use the 133X CF cards in Time-Lapse recording, but smooth playback directly out of the nano/XDR can not be guaranteed. The footage, however, will work fine in your NLE (note Sony Vegas does not support our I-Frame only CODEC and cannot be used with Time-Lapse).

Known Issues / Current Limitations
1) A/V Sync when using tape based cameras. We have included a possible fix in the current firmware, but have not received confimation from customers with A/V sync problems.
2) SD playback out SDI or HDMI is not functional at this time.
3) Audio Level Meters on Playback are not functional.
4) SanDisk Extreme III CF cards are limited to 140 Mbps, while SanDisk Extreme cards are limited to 160 Mbps. These limits will be opened to 160 and 220 Mbps respectively on the next firmware release (following the pending release).
5) The analog audio out (for monitoring) is out of sync by 4-5 frames when the audio-in source is embedded.

Best-

Known Issue with XL H1 24 F
 

Hi Mike:
Can you confirm if the Canon 24 F not being recognized and then properly recorded by the Flash XDR has been fixed yet in this release ???

Hi Mark-
You need the new Flash XDR firmware (to be posted tomorrow) to take full advantage of the Canon 24F mode. You should enable the 3:2 pull-down removal to take out the extra frames, as the output from the Canon is 1080i60, when operating in 24F mode.

Best-

Confused ??
 

...OK. This is the direct opposite I was told by Dan Keaton. Dan had mentioned there is a problem with the XDR *not* detecting the 24 F from the XL H1. He said if I check the PsF box, then I would have *artifacts* in my recorded video, which I did have when I had that box checked. Where do I enable 3:2 pull down removeal ? Is this setting different than the PsF check box ? I'm quite confused about this.

Hi Mark-
Ok, this can be confusing. On the Canon XL-H1 when operating in 24F mode, the HD-SDI output is 1080i60 with the pull-downs added. So, in the video menu on the XDR/nano, you need to uncheck the PSF-IN and check the 3:2 Pulldown removal. The extra frames/fields will be discarded and the video will be recorded as 24p.

If, on the other hand, you are shooting in 25F or 30F mode, the HD-SDI output is 1080psf25 or 1080psf30, respectively. In this case, you want to check the PSF-IN and uncheck the 3:2 pulldown removal (basically the opposite of 24F mode). With PSF-In checked, the incoming video will be processed as a true progressive frame (25p or 30p). If you forget to check the PSF-IN, then the video will be processed as 1080i50 or 1080i60.

Best-

....OK. Your explanation made sense, but here's where it gets fuzzy for yours truly. I know and can see where the check box for PsF is, but where's the setting for 3:2 pull down removal ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Hi Mark-
From a post earlier today: "You need the new Flash XDR firmware (to be posted tomorrow) to take full advantage of the Canon 24F mode."

The new firmware will have the 3:2 pull-down removal.

Cheers-

....OK. Understood. Thank you for the clarification. I can't find this adjustment because it doesn't exist yet ;-) I will be sure to download the new firmware update tomorrow.

Successfully updated my demo Nano to the new firmware.

Looking forward to trying time lapse!

Ned Soltz

Flash XDR Updates Performed
 

Hi Dan & Mike:
I have successfully performed both updates to arrive at the final current firmware ver 1.1.63 . The update was smooth and easy to do actually. I should add it was a very scary experience, with ominous warnings to have a good power source and not to unplug update card or power down unit (Common sense things you shouldn't ever be doing unless program update tells you to). Plus the warning that your unit will become inoperable should you lose power in the middle of actually performing an update. - This was tight sphincter time boys ;-) I congratulate the CD engineers for making the unit basicly update itself with almost no user intervention. I couldn't manage to break it so it must be good :-)

....My stress levels were rewarded with seeing wonderful new features in the menus - like Timelapse and 3:2 pulldown removal :-) Sweet ! Now I hope XDR will see Canon 24 F in 1080 60 i stream. :-) (??) I can't wait to get out there over this holiday weekend and try out the timelapse feature !

HDMI pulldown
 

Hi every one,

I was very disappointed there was no HDMI pulldown in this update.

Is there any estimate on when this will be added.

Hi Rob-
We will try to get HDMI Pull-down removal in the next release, due in 2-3 weeks.

Best-

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the RE. looking forward to this upgrade.

Hi Mike & Dan,
I have upgraded my Nano to the new firmware no problems work well just trying out the time lapse now. I get my new Mac Pro 8 core with Decklink HD Extreme this week and the Mac comes with "Snow Leopard" installed. While researching for known issues with "Snow Leopard", I found an old post regarding CF cards been damaged during the eject process from the USB readers. Is this still a problem and is the Lexar firewire readers also effected or has this issue been resolved by the updated firmware.
Thanks

Dear Lance,

We do not know if the CompactFlash card voltage problems, which first surfaced with Leopard, have been resolved or not.

Since the problem is with Apple's Operating System, it is independent of our firmware release. We do not cause the problem that has occurred with Leopard.


We certainly hope that Snow Leopard has resolved this issue, but we do not have enough information at this time.

Note: The problem with Leopard occurred with both USB and Firewire card readers.

Thanks Dan I will pose the question to Apple.

this would be fantastic. Upon reading through the forums here more and more - ive realised the setup im trying to pipe out is all via HDMI, which has a few limitations it appears at the moment.

HDMI Pull-Down would be great. Please do try and get this in the next release. I cant use the HDMI from HV40 until this is implemented. The Canon HV40's also have true native 24p - though ive read that HDMI wont support this? Thats a shame.
Have you guys tested any of these models?

Same here ...
 

I have also been reluctant to install the firmware update because of operating in Snow Leopard. Hope to find out as I don't want to burn CF cards.

Hello All,
I spent quite some time with Apple support on this issue of damaged cards on ejection. To cut a long story short Apple support are not aware of this problem and have not had anyone report this issue. The support staff member came on the DVinfo site and I directed him to the thread listing the problem. He then searched his database and again confirmed that there is no listing or report of this problem. He came to the conclusion that because the reports date back to January this year and there have been OS updates that if there was a problem it would have been fixed by now.

Well I have my new Mack Pro here with Snow Leopard installed I guess the only way to find out is to use the adventure technique or play safe and do not eject the cards as has been suggested.

Dear Lance,

Apple has two systems to report problems such as these.

They are called "Sonar" and "Radar".

This problem is in at least one of these systems.

We have confirmation from Apple directly that they are aware of the problem.

We even sent them the original Macbook that caused some cards to fail to them. And we supplied cards to them for testing.

Hello Dan thank you for your reply. This is a very frustrating situation where Apple has not passed the information on to the support staff. I am still no wiser, has Apple fixed the problem or is it still an issue?
Dan can you tell me was the defect card that you sent to Apple physically damaged or destroyed beyond use or was it just data corruption and reformatting the card allow it to be reused.
I intend to invest in 64GB cards as soon as you have approved them for use and I would not be a happy chap if my computer destroyed a high valued card and losing the data as well.
Surely it's not just effecting CF cards it would also effect SxS, SDHC, firewire and USB cards.

Would you still be advocating not to use the eject procedure with “Snow Leopard” at this time?
Many Thanks

Dear Lance.

We would love for Apple to communicate that they found the problem and have fixed it.

Before we do that, the absolute safest way is to never put a CompactFlash card in a Mac.

The Transcend cards, the original ones without overvoltage protection were physically destroyed, under certain conditions, in Leopard. In one case, we know that the cards got very hot.

Many, but not all, other cards have overvoltage protection.

It is very hard to provide perfect technical advice for this.
The problem is componded by the number of users and the variety of systems people use.

For example, if 99% of the cards that were in use with our units where Transcend when Apple changed over to Leopard, then most of the problems would be linked to the Transcend cards.

In theory, a CompactFlash card need not have overvoltage protection, as a computer should not output an illegal voltage.

We feel that Apple Leopard has affected more cards than just Transcend. I feel that it may take longer for other cards to fail in Leopard, but we do know it happens. This appears to happen across all brands of cards.

Disclaimer: We just became a dealer for Nexto DI.

We feel that the safest way is to use an intermediate device, such as the Nexto DI eXtreme 2700.

This allows one to, on-set, copy the contents of their CompactFlash cards to the internal 500 GB hard drive.

Then, while the card is safely stored away, the Nexto can be connected to a computer, included a Mac with Leopard, and the transfer can occur at very fast speeds via eSATA, or at slower speeds via USB 2.0.

I hope you see our delimma. We have been recommending the Nexto DI since December 2008. Now that we are a dealer for Nexto we want everyone to know that we still feel that this is the safest method. But we now have an interest in this so our advice could be considered tainted.


The Nexto gives you many options.

If one wants to still load the CompactFlash cards into a card reader attached to a Mac, then copying the card to the Nexto first is a great idea.

I like going out on set and at the earliest convenience loading the files into the Nexto for safety purposes.

The Nexto DI is very smart in that it allows you to copy the files that are on a CompactFlash card, then you may continue to use the card. When you put the same card back into the Nexto DI, it will only copy the new files.

Then I like the 500 GB storage size so that you can store quite a lot of footage for backup purposes.


Another option is to first load the cards into the Nexto DI, then use attach it to your computer to do the file transfer. This is much faster than most card readers.

This ensures that the card is not harmed by Leopard.

I have safely been able to eject a Sandisk 32gb CF card in a card reader on both MacPro and MacBook Pro. FWIW

Ned Soltz

Dear Ned,

We have very few problems with the SanDisk Extreme III 32 GB cards.

This is the main reason why we recommend them.

The problem with Apple Leopard is that the problem is highly intermittent. This has really frustated Apple in their attempt to determine the cause of the problem.

We sent a Mac to Apple, one which had destroyed 8 Transcend cards, with a few Transcend cards, and they could not get it to fail!

Many PC users continue to use the Transcend 133x cards. We have never received a report of a problem from Apple Tiger users, nor any PC user.

It is too early to tell, but we have no reported problems with Snow Leopard.


At this time, if one wants to use CompactFlash cards with Apple Leopard, we recommend that one just physically pull the card out when the transfer is complete. One will get an error message, but this can just be acknowledged by pressing OK.

We recommend against using the Eject Command and avoid dragging and dropping the Card Reader Icon to the trash.
The problem is that old habits die hard.

Also, while we recommend the above techniques, these do not provide 100% protection from the problem.


Another reason why we recommend the SanDisk cards is that they recommend a company that, for a fee, will attempt to get data off a card that is not working. They will even perform surgery on a card in an attempt to retrieve the data. I believe the fee for this service is $175, but the results are not guaranteed.

I'm using the SanDisk Extreme IV.
I use the supplied USB reader or a Lexar FW.
No problem ejecting the cards with Leopard.
rafael

No Trashed Sandisk CF Cards in Snow Leopard Yet
 

Hi Dan:
I have been using 2 x 32 GB Extreme III and 1 x 16 GB Extreme IV cards in the CD supplied USB 2.0 card reader and I use a very recent 2009 vintage top 24 inch iMAC model computer without issue with the cards. I use the "Eject" command without issue. If I just pull out the USB 2 reader without first ejecting it, then I get an error message which I can't close and my iMac semi locks up. Only a reboot makes that message go away. I can format my cards on my XDR without issue and shoot and re-record without issue.

Hi Dan. Any chance you'll sell Nexto DI sans HD? I'd like to buy one "NOW"!

Thanks for that Dan looks like I have my Apple names mixed up. What you are saying is the problem happened with Apple Leopard Version 10.5 not Apple Snow Leopard version 10.6. Have I got that right and you have not had the problem with Sandisk CF cards the problem has only been with Transcend 133x cards cards?

Oops I up graded My Macbook Pro to Apple Leopard version 10.5 in April have been using it with all my Sandisk CF cards unaware of the problem till now.
Bugger!

Dear Aaron,

Sorry, but no. We are not allowed to.

The disk drive in the Nexto Di's is critical.

Since it is a small device, it is typically used hand-held. This is very bad for many disk drives. It is far better for most disk drives to be on a solid surface when they are operating.

Some major brands of laptop hard drives can handle being moved while writing to the disk, others can not.

Nexto worked very hard to come up with a reliable disk drive for this environment. I was amazed at the major brands that caused problems.

So, this unit requires a very high quality drive to work well.

In essense, Nexto was not happy when warranty problems which were caused by the user using an unsuitable disk drive. So, they no longer sell the units without a disk drive.

Yes, Apple Leopard, Version 10.5 was the start of the problem. Apple announced, in a technical bulletin, that they were changing their "Voltage Levels" with this release.

Apple Tiger, Version 10.4 did not have the problem.

We do not know enough to determine if Apple Snow Leopard, 10.6, has the problem or not.

With Leopard, the failures with the Transcend cards was widespread.

With Leopard, the failures with SanDisk are significantly less, but we are still concerned.

With Leopard, some of every brand of card has failed.

We still feel that avoiding the Eject Command and Drag and Drop to the Trash, of the Card Reader Icon, should be avoided as a precaution.

Backing up a bit, Vegas cannot use the nanoflash I-frame only codec, so I can't do time-lapse from nanoflash directly, I assume there is a get around?

Dear Jonathan,

I do not know of a work-around, for Sony Vegas, at this time.

Personally, I am wondering if our changes, in our MXF header, to conform to Sony's Optical Disk format, will solve the I-Frame Only problem in Vegas.

I welcome suggestions from others.

Would Cineform do the job?

Dear Jonathan,

That is a very interesting suggestion.