The new HyperDeck Shuttle low-cost uncompressed recorder from Blackmagic Design started shipping today, reportedly to high demand, writes David Fox.
The €235/£215 unit can capture uncompressed 10-bit video onto 2.5-inch (laptop-sized) Solid State Disks. Input and output choices are up to 3Gbps SDI or HDMI 1.4a. The compact deck is battery powered for location use, and it can be used with live production switchers.
“There are a lot of pre-orders to fulfil. It was probably the most popular product we launched at NAB,” said Blackmagic’s Director EMEA, Stuart Ashton (pictured with the Shuttle at last night’s FCPUG London SuperMeet).
Instead of having to use whatever compression system is used by the camera, or by other external recorders, the Shuttle bypasses the camera’s compression and records from SDI and HDMI directly into the highest quality uncompressed video. “It takes the most perfect image from the camera and delivers it to the editing system so that you can make your choices there.”
Although SSDs can be expensive, and recording uncompressed uses a lot of disk space, they are cheaper per gigabyte than other solid-state media and fast enough that users can edit directly from them by plugging the SSD into an eSATA dock. As SSDs get cheaper and capacities increase, Ashton believes that camera crews will naturally gravitate to using less compression. Blackmagic has tested various SSDs with the device and will provide a list of all that it has found suitable on its website.
The Shuttle captures uncompressed QuickTime files that can be used with all popular software packages, such as Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and DaVinci Resolve.
