Cinedeck is a big-league disk recorder at relatively minor league
prices, the next phase in “smaller, faster, cheaper” direct-to-disk
recorders.
By Michael Hanish
Not long ago, digital disk recorders were the realm of the extreme high-end — heavy, expensive, and complex to operate, often requiring a dedicated tech. The last couple of years have seen the introduction of numerous devices at varied places along the quality/price curve; the introduction of each seems to have inspired the development of the next.
The recent unveiling of the Cinedeck recorder sets a new standard for what is possible with a portable recorder in terms of features, functionality, design, and price. The Cinedeck/Extreme, the first of three planned models which all will have the same physical shape but different recording capabilities, was co-developed with, and uses the platform agnostic and visually lossless CineForm Digital Intermediate codec (www.cineform.com). CineForm produces a very high-end codec and workflow system, with quality levels on par with, and some say surpassing, HDCAM SR. The Extreme model records up to 2K resolution at 12-bit 4:4:4 or 10-bit 4:2:2 quality, in .MOV or .AVI format.
The Cinedeck is a 5” x 8” x 3” box — a compact computer, actually — with a high-resolution (focus quality 1024 x 600) LCD touch screen on the front. Sharing the front panel is a vertical row of buttons to change modes. I/O, hard drive (SSD), and power connections are on the left and right sides, and on the back is a built in Anton/Bauer Gold Mount or V-mount battery mount. Top and bottom threaded holes provide several mounting options. The unit weighs about 4 lb. without batteries, consumes an estimated 50 to 65 watts per hour while recording (depending on data rate and encoding type) and roughly 35W/h while idle, and will run on 9-25V from either a battery or the included wall adapter. The unit ships with a dock to allow mounting of the drive onto a host computer for transfer and editing.
I/O includes HDMI, HDSDI/SDI, LAN, and analog sources and destinations at SD and HD frame sizes and a wide variety of frame rates, as well as a headphone jack to monitor audio, external computer and NTSC/PAL monitor ports, an eSATA port with port multiplier and RAID support, two USB ports, and a tethered remote port. On board, real time up and down conversion, de-interlacing, 3:2 pulldown removal and 23.98 to 60i conversion on playout are built in.
The touch-based user interface controls everything about the unit, and is one of the smoothest touch interfaces I have ever used. Cinedeck is a Windows Embedded-based unit and boot up takes about 40 seconds from the moment the power button is pressed. When boot up is complete, the user is presented with a bright LCD screen showing the selected input. Unit info and status is displayed along the top of the screen, including operating temperature, clip name, frame size, rate, and codec choice, and media space available. Soft buttons along the right side offer choices of aspect ratio and grid overlays — with more functionality and features to be added by the time you read this, including image analysis tools such as waveform, histogram, spectrum analyzer, and zebra, and edge detection focus tools; the left side shows audio meters. Time code is prominently displayed at the bottom.
The lower right corner has a soft button that takes you to the setup screen. This is where one sets input and output choices, which include resolution (NTSC/PAL SD to 2K), frame rate, format (YUV 8-bit, YUV 10-bit, RGB 10-bit), video I/O, audio source, codec (currently CineForm variable and fixed-rate and DNxHD, but optionally expandable), and CineForm quality level (low, medium, high, two levels of film scan, and lossless); one can also name files with a touch screen keyboard, set timecode parameters, and overlay and output display options. A soft button in the lower left corner changes the unit into play back mode, and a similar button in the upper right engages record mode, turns on a bright red tally light on the Cinedeck, and frames the monitor image in red. In my use, these buttons required a light touch to activate, and were just sensitive enough so the touch need not be hard enough to shake the unit and presumable the camera to which it is attached.
I shot two jazz concerts with the Cinedeck, attached to top hot shoe of my Sony PMW-EX3 via SDI, with the camera on sticks on a small dolly, with the camera on battery and the Cinedeck on AC (I didn’t have A/B batteries or the correct adaptor). With a few pumping iron sessions, I could have worked the show handheld, but the package felt too heavy for me to be comfortable. Operating Cinedeck is a pleasure. Mounted on top of my rig, I could easily use it for critical focus while shooting and file based review during breaks in the action. One thing that caught me by surprise while shooting in a live performance situation, although it shouldn’t have (RTFM), was the fan sound.
Cinedeck is a compact (and densely packed) computer, in need of cooling during operation; fortunately, there is a software panel to control both fan speed and the alarm that results when the unit gets too warm. I am told that on the shipping unit the cooling system has been revised to cut noise considerably. Since the LCD screen provides a wide angle of clear and accurate viewing, and the unit is so simple to operate, the Cinedeck is a joy to use, even in the “live” situation of shooting an event. The recorded files were noticeably sharper and cleaner than the files recorded to my camera’s media cards.
Bringing the Cinedeck into the studio for editing is an equally straightforward experience. In order to use the files recorded on the unit, I simply downloaded the free Cineform NeoPlayer and installed it in my edit system. I pulled the solid-state drive out of the Cinedeck and plugged it into the included dock, connected that to my edit system via eSATA, and transferred files at quite a respectable speed. From that point on, my main Media 100 system and secondary Final Cut Pro system loaded the recorded CineForm files easily. If I wanted to output or archive my edits in that codec, I would need to purchase the full workflow/codec package at my chosen resolution from Cineform directly.
Cinedeck is a big-league disk recorder at relatively minor league prices, the next phase in “smaller, faster, cheaper” direct-to-disk recorders. The functionality and feature set would be enough to make this unit attractive to production post-production teams. The incredibly smart and user-friendly design makes a strong case for substantial return on investment over a short time period.
Cinedeck/Extreme
SCORE: 
PROS:
Highest quality, flexible I/O, easy to use, compact.
CONS: Minimal documentation, somewhat high power draw, heavy for handheld use,
still some unimplemented features.