Premium Members Charles Papert Posted January 6, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Exciting news. I'm doing a bit of bird-dogging for a company (not Blackmagic, FYI) that will shortly be introducing a mini-downconverter for well under $500. It's a bit smaller than the AJA, has 10-bit processing and low latency, can handle all the HD formats and output PAL or NTSC with selectable aspect ratios. From the specs it seems to have everything we need. I'll be getting a pre-release model to test soon and will report back if something unexpected rears up but so far it looks good. Will be a great accessory for those using the RED and having to work with their EVF on the rig. Right now I'm collecting names of interested parties for the US distributor. If you want to get in on this, please email me at charlespapert "at" earthlink.net with all of your contact info, and let me know your level of interest (ready to buy, want to check it out etc) and I will forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Amando Crespo Posted January 7, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Exciting news. I'm doing a bit of bird-dogging for a company (not Blackmagic, FYI) that will shortly be introducing a mini-downconverter for well under $500. It's a bit smaller than the AJA, has 10-bit processing and low latency, can handle all the HD formats and output PAL or NTSC with selectable aspect ratios. From the specs it seems to have everything we need. I'll be getting a pre-release model to test soon and will report back if something unexpected rears up but so far it looks good. Will be a great accessory for those using the RED and having to work with their EVF on the rig. Right now I'm collecting names of interested parties for the US distributor. If you want to get in on this, please email me at charlespapert "at" earthlink.net with all of your contact info, and let me know your level of interest (ready to buy, want to check it out etc) and I will forward. Fantastic news Charles... I´m very interested for it, because at January-28, I´ll re-start a big movie I´m doing. I can stop the AJA downconverter buy... If your news come soon.. Thanks friend. I´ll be waitting for news... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Grammatikos Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 when you are ready ,if the downconverter dont have delay iam interesting too ,but iam far away (Greece ),i can wait as i will work only in tv serial for the next two months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mike McGowan SOC Posted January 16, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 How does it get power? Does it run on batteries or does it power off the sled or camera? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jason Torbitt Posted January 16, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'd second Mike's question - any details on connectors etc? I'm in the UK but would be interested if possible - maybe a demo sending over and I'll buy if happy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted January 16, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Power connector is the push-on type you find in many consumer devices, but it is the screw-on version so it is a positive lock. By the time it ships there will be cables available for our various rigs. Otherwise it's BNC's for the HD-SDI and composite video. Jason, I'm just forwarding names, not sure if there will be demo units available or not from the distributors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Amando Crespo Posted January 17, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Power connector is the push-on type you find in many consumer devices, but it is the screw-on version so it is a positive lock. By the time it ships there will be cables available for our various rigs. Otherwise it's BNC's for the HD-SDI and composite video. Jason, I'm just forwarding names, not sure if there will be demo units available or not from the distributors. Thanks Charles... You´re the one... But, I think that I´ll buy AJA... Too few time for me and for my next/new movie.... But thanks for your information... Uffff!!! One big movie on the way.....!!!! If I never return at home....Please, said my mother that.....I´M HAPPY!!!!... I´ll send news about. ;) ;) ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mike Germond SOC Posted January 18, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 Sent you an email...I'm very interested in this thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted January 25, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Time to pull the curtain back on this downconverter as it is shipping a few weeks ahead of schedule! http://redbyte.com.au/brochures/REDBYTE_DE...OR_brochure.pdf As mentioned before, it is under $500; the good news is that the list price is not $499 as one would expected but $395! These are now shipping. The US rep will have units in a week. Those who have expressed interest are now hearing from the rep and are first on the list. International customers, visit the Redbyte site to contact your particular rep regarding these (I forwarded the list of those interested to them). I haven't yet received my test unit, looks like it will be the first of the production run but as soon as I can report back on the unit, I will. The Decimator uses the same processor as Redbyte's more full-featured unit which is reportedly comparable to the AJA. Can't say as I'm a fan of the red case but that is their company signature--at that price point it's hard to complain much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jason Torbitt Posted January 26, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 The specs seem fine - it handles all formats / frame rates we need it to. Communication also gets a thumbs-up too; I've had a very helpful email from them pointing me in the direction of a UK distributor, too. Hopefully the product will do the job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Jess Haas SOC Posted January 26, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 I am curious whether there is any noticable delay in the unit and of the overall build quality. Let us know what you think of it as soon as you can. I may be needing one here very shortly. ~Jess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted January 26, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Jess: Here is the information I was given on the latency (delay), based on this I would say that it is unnoticeable: The latency is the length of one input field. Basically, as fast as you can go without creating tearing. 1080p60 to NTSC = (1/60) ~ 16.67ms 1080i60 to NTSC = (1/60) ~ 16.67ms 720p60 to NTSC = (1/60) ~ 16.67ms I have yet to handle a unit myself, will be getting one shortly but I would expect it to be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted January 26, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 If interested in this unit: Please contact the reps directly for more information or to place an order. US: TECADS Perry Drogo 949 597 1053 sales@tecads.com UK and Europe: Symbiosis Andy Duffy Phone: +44 (0)1926 436 945 Email: orders@symbiosis.eu See the Redbyte website for orders elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Charles Papert Posted February 4, 2009 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Update: Received the first unit today. It is nice and small, build quality is fine. The red anodizing is--well, no-one will likely call it "low key" but that's the company's trademark (and has nothing to do with jumping on the RED camera bandwagon as far as I can tell). We tested it with the D21, it worked just fine, and our DIT could see no issues with the image. Terry West is building power cables by request, both 4 pin Lemo (PRO standard) and 4 pin Hirose (Steadicam standard), P-tap cables and whatever else we might need. For $395, it's a great value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members David Shawl SOC Posted February 4, 2009 Premium Members Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 That is great news Charles. I'm tired of relying on productions to rent (or forget to rent) a downconverter. Last weekend a rented AJA came with a busted power cable and no backup. My AC did a frantic on-the-spot rebuild with a knife and electrical tape as the AD panics with our nearing hard out of our location. It all worked out, but I'd like to avoid a disaster and grab one of these Redbyte Decimators for myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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