Vision Research Launches Phantom CineStation
Vision Research, a leading manufacturer of high-speed digital imaging systems, today introduced the Phantom CineStation – a docking station for the company’s popular CineMag hot-swappable, non-volatile memory.
High-speed imaging requires a significant amount of memory, and this is especially true with high-resolution cameras such as the Phantom HD, Phantom 65, or the new V12. For example, with a resolution of 1920x1080, the Phantom HD camera consumes almost 4 megabytes of memory for each frame shot. At a speed of 1,000 frames-per-second, the camera needs almost 4 gigabytes of memory for each second of record time, depleting 16 gigabytes of internal camera memory in just over 4 seconds!
With the CineMag, users can upload the camera memory to the CineMag’s non-volatile memory at a rate of 13.6Gbits per second – taking 10 seconds to save a 16GB file. Additionally, users can record directly to CineMag memory at frame rates of up to 450 frames-per-second at HD resolution.
Prior to the availability of the Phantom CineMag, a shot in camera memory had to be downloaded to a hard disk drive over GigaBit Ethernet, taking between 10 and 16 minutes depending upon network and computer performance. This download time interrupted the momentum on set and made a day of shooting longer and more costly. The CineMag, introduced last year, has been a breakthrough on set, but until now, still required using the camera offline to download the massive amounts of high-speed imagery. The new Phantom CineStation streamlines this workflow breakthrough by allowing CineMags to be viewed, trimmed, played over video, and saved to hard disk using an offline docking station rather than the valuable camera asset.
The Phantom CineStation is a simple setup that connects to a PC using GigaBit Ethernet. Users simply snap in a CineMag to the CineStation and use the supplied software to view each cine stored on the CineMag, play the cine files over the dual HD-SDI ports or component video ports, set in- and out-points to trim the cines, and save the files to a connected hard disk drive. To help speed the download process even further, an optional 10GigaBit Ethernet connection is planned for summer 2008.
The Phantom CineStation comes with dual HD-SDI outputs allowing for 4:4:4 playback of the recorded cine files at all HD formats (except 60p which is 4:2:2), making it easy to review and select shots to download and archive. Component video is also supported.
Vision Research is accepting orders for the CineStation at NAB 2008 with deliveries set for early June. The 10Gbit interface will be available this summer and can be purchased as an option to a new CineStation or as an upgrade to an existing system.
