News

Version 1.71 firmware for Panasonic's AG-DVX200 4K camera adds support for the newly released AJ-WM50E wireless module. Channel settings for Wireless LAN are as follows:

2.4GHz frequency band: Auto, CH1, CH6, CH11
5 GHz frequency band: Auto, CH36, CH40, CH44, CH48

Video Devices PIX-E Series firmware v3.00 is available now for PIX-E5H, PIX-E5 and PIX-E7 camera monitors/recorders. Get the new version here.

New

Supports recording of H.264 codec (MP4 files) with timecode stamp directly to SpeedDrive and/or SD card. New H.264 options in MENU > Recorder & Drives > Codec and also MENU > Recorder & Drives > SD Card H.264 Recording.

Supports simultaneous ProRes and H.264 recording - ProRes to a SpeedDrive and H.264 to an SD card. This feature includes automatic 4K to 1080p scaling for H.264.

Note: When a LUT is active, it is baked into the recorded H.264 file, but it will not impact ProRes recordings. This is ideal for when you want to simultaneously record a full dynamic range, log-encoded ProRes master file for the edit suite and a REC709 H.264 file suitable for client viewing.

Samsung 850 EVO 1TB mSATA is added as approved media for use in SpeedDrive.

New SD Card File List screen is now available for viewing information on MP4 files recorded to the SD card.

With an SD card inserted, the drive's remaining space is now displayed on-screen as D2 in the information bar.

Changes

Alert appears if the mSATA drive is approaching maximum operating temperature.

Fixed

Eliminates a rare issue where some units could randomly reboot.

Eliminated Rare issue with some units where screen displays a corrupt image after Video Devices Splash Screen, mid operation, or entering/exiting playback.

Touch Screen Axis flipped when running in upside-down mode with certain USB Keyboards.

Intermittent issue where files are stamped with the incorrect time/date.

Occasional drops on HDMI Output.

Inaccuracies in the RGB Waveform and Histogram monitors

Note: Enhancements made and issues resolved in previous firmware updates still apply.

Known Issues or Limitations

This is a list of any published Known Issues or Limitations for the latest PIX-E Series Firmware

H.264 Playback is not supported.

While recording H.264, HDMI output, scopes, and the 4-way view are disabled.

When 720p is coming in and the monitor is set to anamorphic desqueeze with the following combination of settings (16:9, 2x, Full), the display will be noticeably choppy. This is only a display issue; the recordings are fine. Display of incoming 720p with any other combination of anamorphic desqueeze settings is okay, and the aforementioned combination of settings will work just fine with other resolutions.

There is a compatibility issue with 29.97 fps or 23.98 fps timecode for H.264 and Final Cut Pro X.

Adobe gave a sneak peek at Content-Aware Crop, a feature the Photoshop team is currently working on. With Content-Aware Crop, Photoshop looks at all the pixels around the edges of your image and automatically, seamlessly fills in the blank space with content when you expand or rotate an image. You will be able to move the horizon by adding more sky or ground, change the aspect ratio by adding content around the edges of your image or fill in the corners when you rotate an image so you don’t give up any of your pixels. Content-Aware Crop is just one of the cool new features coming to Photoshop CC and our Creative Cloud subscribers as part of an upcoming major release.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design announced that URSA EF and Blackmagic Production Camera 4K were used to shoot the popular TV drama series “tenai Keikan. Production of the show is also based around a number of Blackmagic Design products, and is graded using DaVinci Resolve.

Takahiro Imai, the DoP of this series, used URSA as the A Camera and Blackmagic Production Camera 4K as the B Camera. “In my past, I have primarily shot with film cameras. This show is the first time that we have used the URSA as the A camera. Most of the scenes were shot with the URSA, with narrow shots needing a smaller camera as the only shots not done on the URSA. For these we used the Production Camera 4K. The shoots went very smoothly and the URSA has a great sense of stability like film cameras.”

Imai continued: “Usually, the sound of a camera’s fan would be a problem when using similar sized cameras. However, since URSA adapted a water-cooling system, the operational sound was very quiet so that the shooting team gave it very high praise.”

Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder was attached to the URSA and used for this series. “Since I have a lot of experience in film shooting, I am used to creating scenes looking through a viewfinder. Therefore, to find a camera with a high quality viewfinder is one of the most important elements. Clipping highlights and crushing shadows can be easily caused if you were using a low quality viewfinder, making it hard to see the right color and brightness. However, the Blackmagic Viewfinder has no color bleeding and no further delay from the camera. It’s quite amazing that you can get the Blackmagic Viewfinder at this price.”

The show also uses Blackmagic Design’s SmartView 4K monitors for on set monitoring and DaVinci Resolve Studio for color correction.

“We used the SmartView 4K for monitor checking on set,” Imai continued. “I used it by switching two ways; one with the LUT on and the other keeping it as log. SmartView 4K is affordable and its battery drive is supported by 12V, so it worked as the ideal solution for shooting.”

The show, which is shot in RAW, is graded at Tokyo’s Interceptor Inc production/post production house.

“Even though the file size could be large, we decided to shoot all the scenes in RAW because it allowed us to get the perfect image that we wanted. During the test footage, we created the comparison of RAW and RAW 3:1. No one could tell the difference, so we decided to shoot in RAW 3:1. It’s great that we could save up the data while keeping the quality we wanted,” said Imai.

Genta Tamaki from Interceptor Inc., who is in charge of grading the show, explained: “People definitely have a tendency to expect high contrasted hard-boiled images for a police TV drama. You do actually get a hard-boiled kind of impression at the first look, but this story is not a typical so-called morality play, with the hero running to solve crime incidents. Therefore, I got a specific request from Mr. Imai to draw a line from those typical images and make it unique, using different color tone. For that reason, I reduced saturation to lower the contrast on purpose.”

Tamaki continued. “For flashback scenes, I boosted up the saturation. The footage shot with the Blackmagic camera can keep all the colors remaining at the same levels, even when raising the saturation quite high. With other cameras, sometimes it could affect red too much and could fall apart. But with Blackmagic cameras, you get to shoot very flat footage without those problems, so it’s very handy. Even when I lowered saturation to make it look like black and white footage, I was not worried that some colors could be still left in gradation. How it fades its color was just impressively beautiful.”

Imai added, “A very useful aspect of shooting with URSA is that it has the monitor and the setting screen on the right side as well, so that both my assistant and I could check and operate. I felt that the design of the camera is more like a film camera, so it was very easy for me to use. Not just only the camera, but all the other peripheral equipment was affordable, so it was great that we could manage to shoot RAW even with the limited budget.”

Press Photography

Product photos of the URSA EF, Production Camera 4K, SmartView 4K, URSA Viewfinder, DaVinci Resolve and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/press/images.

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.