New Ninja recorder for ProRes

[Shane Ross]

Well, it won’t work with the Canon DSLRs…the HDMI out is the LCD, so it has text and grey bars, plus it shuts down the LCD, so you can’t see what you are shooting. And if you press record, the HD signal via HDMI becomes SD. But tough to use it when you can’t see.

I hear it works with the Panasonic camera though…and other cameras with HDMI out.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Phil Balsdon]

I’d like to see this working or hear from someone who has one before buying one for Canon HDSLRs.

If it just plugs in to the HDMI how does it record an HD image from the 5D which changes its output to SD when you press record. And how does it get rid of the camera info that you see in the camera or any other LCD you plug into the HDMI port, without hacking the firmware in the camera?

If I plug the camera HDMI out into my Blackmagic DeckLink Studio 2 I can record exactly what I see in the Canon 7D LCD to FCP, its HD but has all the camera info too.

I’ve heard the Panasonic GH2 can output a clean HD via the HDMI, but don’t have first hand experience.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Michael Gissing]

Until there is a firmware version or hack to get a clean feed without losing the LCD, it isn’t going to be useful with the Canons, but Nikon are catching up and I am sure there will be more big chip DSLR cameras on the way with HDMI outputs. I hope that third parties are looking at firmware hacks in the meanwhile.

I would be tempted not to put the camera in record in the case of DSLRs. They have problems with overheating as it is, so just externally recording would solve that plus the 12 minute shot limitation. As far as I know the 7D doesn’t switch the HDMI to SD, just the 5D.

[Shane Ross]

I have the T2i, which is exactly like the 7D. It switches to SD when you press record. And if you just use the HDMI out, you get the LCD display, if you clear the display, you still have the grey bars. Connect the HDMI out to anything, the LCD display goes away, so if you connect to a KiPro, or a Ninja, you are shooting blind. Unless they have a Video out…then you need another monitor.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Rafael Amador]

Everything has been hacked from most DSLRs but the HDMI out.
About the NINJA, the only think I don’t like is right that: Just HDMI in, no SDI.
On the field, HDMI is a pain.
Rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Alan Lacey]

At the (UK) show tis week Rafa I was told my my (well respected) friend who works for the European Distributers that they are working on the SDI version. It won’t have both HDMI and HD-SDI though. They are making alternative versions to keep the form factor small.

I was very impressed with what I saw although sad to hear about the DSLR problems hightlit above

Alan

FlashXDR,XDcamHD,XDcamEX,D9 etc
FCS,AE,Combustion,LiquidSilver,Vegas,Edius,
G5,MBP,Vista64,XP

[Phil Balsdon]

The 7D does not drop to SD when recording like other Canon HDSLRs, but you still can’t get a clean HDMI out, you get all the camera info.

Cinematographer, Steadicam Operator, Final Cut Pro Post Production.
https://www.steadi-onfilms.com.au/

[Deleted User]

[Phil Balsdon] “… I’ve heard the Panasonic GH2 can output a clean HD via the HDMI, but don’t have first hand experience. …”

I can confirm that the GH2’s live HDMI video output can be set-up to be completely clean & uncluttered by text or icons. It’s perfect for critical monitoring at full 1080 HD resolution. The GH2’s live HDMI signal is available in most but not all of the camera’s operating modes. Importantly, the GH2’s EVF or LCD can also be used when an HDMI cable is connected.

However, despite this, the GH2’s live HDMI video output is unfortunately not generally appropriate for recording to an external recorder because the video signal is not standard (not “regular”). A monitor or HDTV can display the HDMI video w/o problem for monitoring on set, but as an externally recorded signal it’s problematic.

For those inclined to experiment, a post-processing AviSynth script has been developed to deal with the irregular video in the externally recorded file. Read all about it here:
https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?237584-HDMI-Capture-Problem-SOLVED-AviSynth-RULES!

—

https://www.peterdv.com

[Steve Knattress]

I looked at one at the London broadcast show last week.

It is a very neat product, and comes with 2 hot switchable batteries, charger, disc caddy ( extras are of the order of £5 I was told.), and USB caddy to connect to computer, in a case.

Pity there isn’t SDI I/P as well as the HDMI input.
You can play your records on the touch screen but no HDMI out.
There obviously is also no way to get time code from the camera/deck into it.
No 2.5HD is provided

I had asked about using the ninja as a non-computer digitiser. (the spec for Prores capture is I believe 4 cores or a very new mac book pro at a pinch.)
I was told that the Ninja, although designed for use with cameras, should take an input from any HDMI source for recording in to ProRes.
However some devices certain DSLR cameras included) may not provide a ‘clean’ HDMI output – i.e. there may be an overlay or resolution reduction.

The Ninja won’t accept an HDMI input when HDCP is invoked by the content provider. and gets an error message to the effect that “This monitor does not support HDCP. Please remove your HDMI cable”.
Apparently the rule from the HDCP regulations is “the sending device must refuse to send content to a device that doesn’t support HDCP”. So at the start of a session, the sending device queries the receiving device to ask whether it is HDCP-compliant, and if it isn’t, then it won’t send content.

I hope this helps. Steve

[Michael Gissing]

Thanks Steve for the hands on info. If I was Canon or Nikon, I would be making sure that a clean HDMI signal was going to be available to externals like this as it solves many of the inherent problems with DSLRs of shot length limitation, overheating etc.