Flash XDR ships with MXF and QT Support
Convergent Design announced MXF file support for their award winning Flash XDR portable recorder/player. MXF support enables users to import video/audio files into most PC based editing programs, including Avid, Vegas, and Edius. MXF combined with the previously available QuickTime will bring to the Flash XDR near universal NLE support.
Flash XDR and the upcoming nanoFlash, are HD/SD portable recorder/players which utilize the very high quality Sony MPEG2 CODEC to capture visually lossless full-raster 100Mbps 4:2:2 video and un-compressed 24-bit audio to low-cost CF (Compact Flash) media. Flash XDR can be found inside fighter jets, race cars, and motorcycles, as well as polecams, for use on reality TV programs, commercials, documentaries and poker tournaments. Flash XDR’s all solid-state, ruggedized design is quickly replacing traditional tape and hard-disk decks, offering significantly lower power, no fans, lighter weight and tapeless workflow.
Firewire based drives/media, utilize the camera’s built-in encoder, thus providing no quality improvement whatsoever. Flash XDR, on the other hand, captures the never-compressed video via HD-SDI encoding it to a visually lossless HD CODEC. Uncompressed 24-bit audio is added to this stunning video stream and written to low-cost CF Media in either QuickTime (.mov) or MXF file format. With a FireWire-800 reader, the video/audio can then be played directly off the CF card without transcode or re-wrap. Flash XDR is now compatible with selected CF media from SanDisk, Lexar, Delkin and Transcend. The 32GB Transcend card, for example, stores 32 minutes of 100Mbps footage for under US $75, or about 1/20 the price of competitive solid-state media.
Solid-State media also enables tapeless workflow, eliminating time-consuming ingest and enabling on-set review without all the tape repositioning issues. Flash XDR uniquely offers high-quality video / audio in a tapeless workflow using low-cost media, without the need to transcode .
“Now with the addition of MXF support, PC as well as MAC users will enjoy the stunning Flash XDR video quality with all the benefits of a tapeless workflow”, noted Dan Keaton, Convergent Design’s Director of Sales and Marketing. Additionally, Flash XDR now offers 100/160 Mbps I-Frame only mode as well as 50/100 Mbps Long-GOP mode in QT and MXF, further expanding the workflow options.
The innovative Flash XDR is shipping and generally available for immediate delivery. Current Flash XDR users can download the new MXF enabled firmware from the Convergent Design website. Finally, an MXF <-> QuickTime converter is near release for all Flash XDR / nanoFlash users, at no charge.
