Odyssey7Q now Shipping

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Friends,

We have had a supply chain problem and a manufacturing problem.

Both are now solved, as of Friday, November 15, 2013.

1. In spite of having ordered substantial quantities of BNC connectors well in advance, the manufacturer has not be able to deliver them until recently.

And what is worse, we had multiple promises that they were actually shipped and would arrive in a few days.

Many thousands of these connectors arrived yesterday solving this problem.


As is relatively common, we use a Contract Manufacturer to "Pick and Place" the electronic components on the circuit board, then solder them in place.

Soldering the BNC's onto the circuit board is the last step of this manufacturing process.

This has allowed our contact manufacturer to build up hundreds of circuit boards, all complete except for the soldering of the BNC's in place.

And since the BNC's are now in their hands, they are completing this final step.

Thus, we expect to start receiving (again) completed circuit boards, for our Quality Control testing, burn-in and final test, very soon.


2. Earlier, in October, when we received our first batch of competed circuit boards, it was only 52% of what we expected.

Then shortly later we received another 25%.

Our Contract Manufacturer had an unexpected yield problem with the circuit boards.

This yield problem prevented us from sending out as many of units that we planed for in our first batch.

And it has prevented us from sending out more units on a regular basis.


This problem was detected and solved Friday, November 8, 2013.


The problem was a solder bridge (a blob of solder) underneath an inductor.

The blob was undetectable in an X-Ray since the inductor blocked the X-Rays. And if we unsoldered the inductor, the blob disappeared during the unsoldering process.

And it was not detectable using standard resistance testing due to the low resistance of the inductor.

We have devised a special technique to detect this solder blob, so this problem is behind us.


Summary, now that both problems are solved, we expect to start shipments to our dealers in two weeks or less.

And we expect to continue to ship, in volume, on a weekly basis.

And we hope to have all of our current backlog of orders fulfilled before the end of December.

We will be allocating these shipments, to our dealers, in as fair as way as possible.

(As much as we would like to, we just cannot fulfill all of our orders all at once, but we will be building these as fast as possible without compromising on quality.)

Respectfully,

[Brian T. Young]

Hi Dan -
THAT is how public relations is done.

Keep up the good work - I think we'll all wait a little longer for a quality device.

Thanks,

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Brian,

Thank you very much!

Respectfully,

[Brian T. Young]

Hi Dan -
Got to play with a demo model today - (serial 0000 I believe) - and it may not have been benefitting from the latest firmware, but i couldn't see where I could get it into 720. Am I correct in my assumption?

Before anyone dumps on my needs for 720, a major client of mine shoots 720, so it's a very real need for me.

Thanks,
Brian

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Brian,

At this time, with our initial firmware, the Odyssey7Q supports 1080p only for HD.

Of course, it also supports 2K and 4K from specific cameras.

720p is not supported at this time, but will be added as soon as possible.

I can't provide an exact or approximate date.

I can say that it will probably be supported first using a Compressed Codec, or we will add 720p support for Compressed and Full Uncompressed at the same time.

We understand the need for 720p.

4K Raw is supported for the Canon C500 with our C500 Option activated or with a watermark in the image for C500 Demo Mode.

We have not received permission from Sony yet so that we can record 4K Raw from the Sony FS700.

But, we do have the FS700 4K Raw support ready to be activated as soon as we do get permission.

This feature has been already tested.

Respectfully,

[Paul Gale]

Hi Dan,

That sounds like you are hopeful that you will get permission from Sony to be able to record 4K raw - is that the case?

Thanks.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Paul,

Yes, we are hopeful.

But, we have to be realistic, the decision is up to Sony's upper management.

Respectfully,

[Brian T. Young]

for the record: Odyssey 7/7Q feature request:

UDF file system
.MXF capability
720

and ultimately, all of these along with the other fantastic Odyssey offerings in a small package withOUT a monitor. A "new" nanoflash, if you will.

Many of us already have monitors and while this one looks great (literally, I've had a demo in my hands) a small box in the form similar to a nanoflash would be killer.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Brian,

Thank you for your suggestions.

We will discuss your suggestions internally.

Do you want all of the features of the Odyssey7Q, or just a subset of them, plus the features that you have requested?

Respectfully,

[Brian T. Young]

Hi Dan,
I see it as a super-nano.
In addition to the above, I'd see it's capabilities as a hybrid of the nano and the odyssey.
No Monitor - text/data display only like the nano, and of a similar size.
Hard/dedicated buttons (nano-like) or touchscreen panel.
As a result of not having a monitor, some of the features of an Odyssey obviously go away, but....

UDF or FAT32 selectable file system
Sony .MXF 422/50 (XDCAM) capability
720/1080

SDI BNC Ports - 2-In, 2-Out, All SD/HD/3G
HDMI I/O, Up to 1080p60
Timecode: LTC I/O (BNC), SDI/HDMI Embedded
Firmware Updates via USB port
Power In - Reverse Protection, on/off switch
Embedded Audio, 48K, 24-Bit (Broadcast Wave)
8 channels
Analog Audio, 3.5mm Stereo I/O, HP support
Simple Intuitive Menus, Auto Setup Based on SDI MetaData
Bluetooth Control (iPhone, Android App), Wired Remote
SINGLE SSD capability only (due to size??)
240/480/960 GB SSD Support (Purchase from CD)
Record Triggers: Touchscreen (dedicated hard button?), iPhone/Android App, SDI (ARRI, Canon, Panasonic, Red, Sony) or HDMI (Sony, Canon)
3:2, 2:2 Pulldown Removal, Record Cache, VariFrame, Time-Lapse
DNxHD YCC 8/10-Bit to 1080p60/60i, 720p60 (.mov, .mxf)
Sony F3: Unc HD 10-Bit RGB 444 Recording (.dpx) + Proxy
2K/HD Raw support for WeissCam, LMP, IndieCam, IO Industries (.dng)
ARRIRAW 12-Bit 16:9/4:3 Support (.ari) + Proxy
Canon C500 4K 10-Bit Raw @ 60fps in single recorder (.rmf) + Proxy
Sony FS700: 2K RAW 240fps (.dng), 4K YCC 30fps (.dpx) + Proxy
Sony F55 4K YCC 30fps Compressed Via Four SDI Links

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Brian,

Some of the spec's you listed require two SSD's, such as Canon 4K Raw at 60 fps, as this mode is over 660 Megabytes per second.

A smaller unit would generally require us to put in only one SSD.

The last item on your list requires four HD-SDI inputs, which would be hard to fit into a much smaller device.

I feel that the biggest hurdle is developing a new Human Interface as good as the Touch Screen interface which we have now. Most people find it very intuitive.

Respectfully,

[Brian T. Young]

Dan -
I understand that some of the Odyssey specs require 2 SSDs, so those options wouldn't be possible/available in my dream device as I don't see where there would be physical room for 2 SSDs in this small package.

maybe that's just one of the things that separates this from the Odyssey line: anything with 2 SSDs (or 4 BNC's for that matter) as a requirement doesn't make it to the super-nano. (Odyssey-lite?)

As to the touch-screen interface on the Odyssey - i agree. it's VERY good.
but the nano ain't bad either once you get the hang of it - which only takes a couple of trips through. It's very simple to operate.

I'm still trying to work through the idea of how i'm going to strap an Odyssey to my F3 and make it useable in a handheld scenario - you've spoiled me with the compact size of the nano.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Brian,

I have an F3 + an Odyssey7Q.

The Viewing Angle of the Odyssey7Q is very good, thus, you do have the option of mounting it on top of the F3 or anywhere you choose with a Noga arm or similar device.

We are certainly listening and respect your comments. Others have also asked us to build a smaller version of the Odyssey7/Odyssey7Q.

The Odyssey7Q weights 1.20 pounds and 1.46 pounds with two 256 GB SSD's installed. A smaller unit would weigh less (as should be obvious).

Here are some of my concerns.

Without a monitor there are trade-offs in the human interface.

Without a monitor, we lose the wonderful built-in focus assist, but this could be sent out to the external monitor. But, if the new smaller unit is mounted on the back of the camera, and another monitor is used for viewing, then the human interface will be on the back of the camera.

Thus, the ability to mount the new unit and control the new unit via a simple, intuitive interface is lost, and I wonder if we can overcome this issue in an effective way.

I also worry that if we build a smaller unit, with some of these trade-offs, will it be attractive enough for enough people to purchase it. For example, will some want to purchase it for its small size, then after carefully analyzing the trade-offs and price, decide to purchase the larger 7.7" OLED unit since they get a monitor, recorder and touch-screen interface all in one.


We love having two SSD's, as we plan to offer a feature we record to two SSD's simultaneously, thus creating two "Masters" simultaneously, which provides a great deal of safety for your footage.

I hope you understand that I am not dismissing your request, I am just letting you know of some of the issues we have to solve.

I also understand the difficultly of hand-holding any camera like the F3 with any external monitor attached.

Respectfully,

[Brian T. Young]

Hi Dan -
I should quit responding to your responses so that you can get some sleep! (I'm out west...it's not so late here yet...)

Thanks for being SO responses to this hair-brained idea from some camera jockey in an easy chair! I'm just dreaming this stuff up with absolutely NO idea if something with these capabilities could even be engineered...let alone manufactured to fit in such a small package. But...it's very easy to spend someone else's money!

You boiled it down nicely - handheld.

That's my concern. I love the idea of having the recorder and monitor as one. Most of the time. It's the times I have to put the F3 on my shoulder, or shoot b-roll where i'm physically moving around quite a bit that concerns me. I have a nice Alphatron VF that does the trick for me in those situations, so a larger monitor (in my world) is unnecessary. But, I've seen a picture of a good setup with the Odyssey on rails with the screen facing to the rear, away from the body of the F3 and that seems do-able. So - it's not impossible I know.

Thanks again and have a great Thanksgiving. If I can chime in on anything you might find helpful, let me know. Happy to help. You know...UDF....MXF....720... ;-)

[Steffen Sailer]

Originally Posted by Steve Kimmel

Thanks Dan. Wonder if it sounds anything like RoPres? :)

Or may be something like XAVC?