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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

New low-cost downconverter available soon

C

Charles Papert

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I'm bird-dogging for a company (not Blackmagic) that is 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. HD-SDI goes in, composite video comes out. 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.

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 your contact info and let me know your level of interest (ready to buy, want to check it out etc) and I will forward it along.
 
Would also be ready to buy one, unfortunately i´m in Germany and not US,
If you have any info if we can buy from overseas , I´ll do so.

Manuel
 
If it's still in development, it'd be good if it also output standard def SDI too. Basically it should do everything that the AJA HD10MD3 downconverter does, with just as good quality for less! :)

If it could better the HD10MD3 by say offering two standard def SDI outs and/or two composites out it would also save a separate distribution amp box. If it had extra features, and the cost was the same as the HD10MD3, I'm sure there's a market for that too. Maybe have two models. One cheaper offering only what the AJA box does, and the other pricier one with the extra features.
 
Bravo...
Please put us on this list
can't wait to see...
 
Hi Charles,

Just thinking out loud but if the company you're scouting for was interested in making some kind of breakout box like the Element Technica one that could firmly attach/screw into the camera body and also provide full size HD, SD and genlock outputs in a small compact size....I think that would be a winning product! Basically it would combine two products into one (i.e. the need for down-conversion and the need to protect the flimsy mini-BNC connectors on the Red body while providing more solid, standard full-size BNC outputs). It's maybe a bit niche to gear it towards just Red owners in this way (but there are about 4,000 of them :wink:).

The only downside would be the shelf-life of the Red One with Epic & Scarlet coming out (although as far as I know there won't be any down-conversion built into the I/O modules on them), therefore the form-factor of something that bolts onto the Red One like the Element Technica breakout box would probably have to change to fit Epic/Scarlet unless they could pre-guess some clever kind of adaptor they could make when Epic/Scarlet actually comes out (?).

http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/view.php?p=1
 
I think that only a certain percentage of RED users need a downconverter at all, many of them already own a breakout box of some sort and it would probably make more sense just to add the downconverter when needed. Probably not a cost-effective concept at this point (especially as you said, with Epic and Scarlet on the way, and the flexibility of a universal downconverter in working with other cameras).
 
The Decimator is indeed the same unit I was originally posting about. It is now beginning to ship. US customers who contacted me have been put on the list to receive them first and should be hearing from the rep shortly if they haven't already. International customers were forwarded to the main sales office.

I should be receiving the first production model soon and will report back on it. I'm working with a top-notch DIT at the moment so it will be a quick evaluation.
 
Michael Lindsay said:
Any feedback would be great!!

Size? Availability? Power?

Michael L
Click to expand...

Hi Michael,

I'm from Symbiosis, distributor for Redbyte in the UK and Europe.

The Decimator's external dimensions are 78mm x 71mm x 23mm.

The power connector on the unit is a positive centre-pin DC input, and can accept anything from +5V to +20V so you can power it from a range of batteries. We (Symbiosis) also include an AC adaptor for mains use.

As for availability, we should be receiving the first stock of the Decimators to our warehouse on Wednesday. We've pre-sold quite a few already and there's already been quite a lot of interest from RED One and Steadicam users.
See Charles' post above for Andy Duffy's contact info, he's the guy to speak to on the sales front!

Kind Regards,
Paul
 
In addition to supplied AC adaptor, many users will be needing DC power cables. I've got a cable maker who will be building P-tap and Steadicam (4-pin Lemo PRO standard and 4-pin Hirose Tiffen standard) cables, any other ones come to mind? As I understand it, the RED doesn't like external devices drawing power from the body so the P-tap seems to be the way to go, yes?
 
Charles Papert said:
In addition to supplied AC adaptor, many users will be needing DC power cables. I've got a cable maker who will be building P-tap and Steadicam (4-pin Lemo PRO standard and 4-pin Hirose Tiffen standard) cables, any other ones come to mind? As I understand it, the RED doesn't like external devices drawing power from the body so the P-tap seems to be the way to go, yes?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have been using the p-tap for the bartech for my actioncam-red setup.
 
any reviews up yet? Is this comparable to the $1000 AJA offering?
 
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