Flash XDR HD Portable Recorder / Player debuts at NAB

Convergent Design will demonstrate Flash XDR, their new portable HD Recorder / Player at NAB. Flash XDR will be recording and playing back an HD-SDI stream, compressed to 50Mbps MPEG 4:2:2, and stored onto a 32GByte Compact Flash card.

Flash XDR is the first portable HD field recorder which utilizes CompactFlash media coupled with the high-quality, reprogrammable Sony MPEG2 CODEC. These two key technologies allow Flash XDR to redefine HD field recorders in terms of size (8x6x2.5”), weight (3 lbs), power (10 watts), noise (no fans), and affordability (US $4995). The all solid-state construction opens up unrealized applications where older tape or disk-drive based solutions were too large, too heavy, too noisy, too costly, or too fragile.

Flash XDR records HD-SDI video compressed to MPEG2 4:2:2 full-raster (1920 x 1080) at bit-rates up to 100 Mbps (Long-GOP) or 160 Mbps (I-Frame only), either of which exceeds the recording quality of most cameras or decks. This superb video is accompanied by 4-channels of embedded or 2-channels of balanced / microphone level analog audio captured in 16/24-bit uncompressed PCM format as well as time-code (embedded or LTC). These capabilities make Flash XDR an excellent recorder/player for POV cameras (Iconix) as well as a high-quality upgrade for HDV/XDCAM/HDCAM cameras, in which the live HD-SDI output is superior to the native recording capability of the camera.

Four hot-swappable CompactFlash card slots support up to 4.5 hours of recording at 50Mbps using low-cost (US $150) 32Gbyte CF cards. Data can be recorded sequentially from card to card or two cards can be configured in RAID1 for automatic backups. Video/audio data is stored in MXF format (OP-1A) which can be readily transferred to most NLE systems via USB or Firewire readers. Four Lexar UDMA Firewire-800 readers can be daisy-chained to create a high-speed (320 Mbps) CF drive for instant edits or offload to a hard-drive.

Additional unique features of Flash XDR include time-lapse recording (popular for nature events), 24p pulldown removal (1080i60 -> 1080p24), image flip (for use with P+S Tecknik converters), and extensive meta-data support. An included PC/MAC program allows users to pre-define operating parameters (data-rates, audio input, etc.) as well as metadata (cameraman, producer, event, etc.) and to store configurations onto a CF card for easy upload into a Flash XDR.

For HD ENG as well as video-over-IP applications, Flash XDR offers an optional ASI I/O firmware upgrade (US $995). Live HD ENG events use Flash XDR to encode the HD-SDI stream at the camera (to a 19 Mbps ASI stream) for transmission over coax to the OB truck where it is relayed back to the TV station via microwave or satellite uplink. Third party ASI to IP converters enable video over IP streaming.

Flash XDR carries an MSRP of US $4995 and is expected to ship in May 2008. For those extremely demanding applications, an uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 option (firmware upgrade) will be available this fall.