Live REDMix

[Zach Swena]

Hi,

I would like to see a setup to mix RED video live and record the output to redcode for later use/post, or output live down scaled to broadcast. Sure there are HD SDI mixers out there already but the finished product is HD rather then full res.

Possible Solution: The REDMix
Connect several Epic, Scarlet, or RED One cameras to REDMix in addition to their own RED Drive. (Obviously shooting res must be the same) The REDMix unit would have all the common mixing features and keying. The mix brains could be expandable to accommodate higher resolutions of some Epic models. The mixer would then output to the appropriate output module (4K, 3K, 2K, HD, internet stream) and another RED Drive. The RED Drive connected to the mixed output should be formatted in such a way that if a production error occurred, it could be loaded to post and mixed with the video from the appropriate camera red drive. If input channels are a price point make that modular also.

This could significantly reduce production time for certain projects/venues, while leaving the ability to fine edit and color correct in post for a hard copy release. It would also make the work flow easier for live broadcast programs that are also released on BD/DVD and soon RED


NOTE: While this is a brainstorm thread please keep ideas practical and leave pricing suggestions up to RED.

PS: Please nicely let me know if I'm off the wall, although I have tried to temper my imagination. Just realize I'm a new engineering student, so I'm full of ideas both good and bad. (please don't see my previous posts) :laugh:

 

[Jeffrey Holland]

I would LOVE this....

 

[Zach Swena]

some more ideas

some more ideas

Another alternative could be taking the output for the RED Drive (or some other RED bus) from the camera and making a multi-channel input card to input the red video stream into a computer. Then the card can be configured in drivers to act like any multi-channel video input card and the output could be mixed in software.

A big disadvantage of this would be the processing power required. This processing could be accomplished with graphics card power (currently around 5Tflops for some cards). An inherent disadvantage of computer based systems though is overhead created by other processes run by the user and system stability. (system stability is much better on Linux or Mac systems)

The mix could be sent to various types of video outputs. One advantage of this system is all inputs could be recorded to a massive RAID array while the mixed output could be represented by just a command string (mix file). Mix playback would happen as a re-rendering of the mix functions from each individual channel of footage.

It would also be nice if this mix file could be opened by editing software and altered just like if the media was imported and edited in post.

The mix file function could work with either hardware mixing or computer based mixing.