Sound Devices, expert in portable audio and video products for field production, introduced its new PIX 260 at the 2012 NAB Show. Based on Sound Devices’ field-proven PIX 220 and PIX 240 recorders, the PIX 260 is a file-based video/audio recorder/player that replaces tape-based video decks in production and post production environments. Using the Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHD codecs, the PIX 260 records and plays files up to 220 Mbps in high-quality 10-bit 4:2:2 video as well as 32 tracks of 48 kHz audio. Files from the PIX 260 are ready for direct import into Avid and Final Cut editing environments, eliminating time-consuming transferring and transcoding. Files can also play out of the PIX 260 for real-time applications. In addition to 16 channels of embedded SDI audio and eight channels of HDMI audio, the PIX 260 also accepts eight channels of line-level analogue I/O and eight channels of AES digital audio. Using Dante, the PIX 260 can accept and transmit up to 32 channels of audio over Ethernet. The PIX 260 has a built-in five-inch 800 x 480-pixel video display that allows users to view video and setup-menu selections. With its extensive control capabilities, the PIX 260 is a flexible video playback source that is compatible with Final Cut Pro 7, Final Cut Pro X and Avid sessions. The PIX 260 can be controlled by both external RS-422 and via Ethernet through the embedded web server, allowing for machine transport control over Ethernet-based networks. Up to four SATA drives can be connected to the PIX 260 simultaneously. All four drives can be recorded to simultaneously, for RAID-1 type redundancy and to eliminate the need for post record copying when multiple copies are required. The PIX 260 includes a built-in Ambient Clockit time-code generator/reader with genlock output for multi-camera and double-system sound applications. In addition to generating ultra-stable time-code, time-code can be read from the SDI stream, the HDMI stream or from an external source. Like the PIX 220 and PIX 240, the PIX 260 includes a sophisticated scaler and frame rate converter. Regardless of the incoming signal, the PIX recorders can record the signal after up, down or cross-conversion at the same rate or a different rate. Hardware-based 3:2 pull-down removal is included as well. www.sounddevices.com
