Shootout - Blackmagic Video Assist 4K vs Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q+

[Andrew Reid]

I've recently had a Video Assist 4K 7"on loan from Blackmagic. Here are some observations on this newcomer to the 4K recorder party.

Read the full review

[silvertonesx24]

What do you think about the quality of the display?

I have a Video Assist HD, and while it's a decent device the monitor has a sickly green cast and a emits high-pitched whine when powered on.

[Andrew Reid]

Can't say I noticed either of those flaws on my View Assist HD. Maybe you had a faulty unit?

The display quality of the 4K is high end... very impressive colour & contrast & visibility. The fan is practically silent, you just hear the air moving if you put your ear to the back, that's about it.

[Nick Hughes]

13 minutes ago, silvertonesx24 said:

What do you think about the quality of the display?

I have a Video Assist HD, and while it's a decent device the monitor has a sickly green cast and a emits high-pitched whine when powered on.

My VAHD also has quite a strong green cast, and seems otherwise inaccurate. Doesn't seem too improbable for BM to have shipped a bunch of sub-par displays. A friend also had to send one back because of dead pixels.

[Dennis L Sorensen]

The green cast is "normal" for the BMD displays.  Look at 16:38 in this video:

 

Andrew is the screen visble outside? It seems VERY reflective.. And it seems BMD use this for all their products   How is the VAHD and VA4K compared to the other records and just as a normal display?

[vovov]

56 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

Can't say I noticed either of those flaws on my View Assist HD. Maybe you had a faulty unit?

The display quality of the 4K is high end... very impressive colour & contrast & visibility. The fan is practically silent, you just hear the air moving if you put your ear to the back, that's about it.

So is the VA4k fan quieter then the VAhd? I have tested a VAhd unit and it had the mentioned whine also. Haven't seen he 4K model yet.

(And it doesn't matter but it's Video Assist, not View Assist  )

[Andrew Reid]

1 hour ago, Dennis L Sorensen said:

Andrew is the screen visble outside? It seems VERY reflective.. And it seems BMD use this for all their products

It is too reflective, like I said in the cons it needs a better anti-reflective coating.

However the high brightness of the screen helps outdoors.

Not as good as the Odyssey 7Q+

[maxmizer]

I decided to buy Atomos flame, because more than a lot of options into, it also has the suitcase, and a battery system that I already had.
In my opinion the price of quality is in favor of Atomos

[Andrew Reid]

Are you using Canon DSLR batteries on your Flame?

How's the build quality?

One thing I love about the Odyssey 7Q+ is the magnesium chassis... very cleanly designed, thin, light. The Shogun had open seals, vents, creaky plastic. If the Flame improves significantly on that then it justifies the $1695. As it is the 7Q+ at $1795 is the one for me, by some margin. No vents or fan. No plastic joins all around the body.

[The Chris]

VA 4k is 350 nits, Ninja Flame is 1500. I realize the Flame is $400 more, but peaking, zebras, false color, built in HDR for easy monitoring of Log recording, Prores/DNxHR codecs, custom LUT's, anamorphic desqueeze, and a much, much brighter screen makes it a compelling option. The quality of the VA's panel is the main reason I'm hesitant to buy one.

I have a job coming up where an external monitor is needed, so I'm just going to get a recorder to get 4k out of my a7s and use the a7rII as a cutaway cam. The VA is tempting because of price/media, but that screen. 

[Andrew Reid]

Fair comment Chris

[Geoff CB]

Hey andrew thank you for the quick review. Question: Can the Video Assist down convert the 4K to 1080p?

Wish someone came out with a recorder that down converted a 4K signal to 1440p or 2.5K, would offer a little bit more breathing room on 1080/2K projects without having to deal with the 4K data load.

Also, why the hell don't all these monitors come with locking mechanism's for the HDMI ports? It's the #1 reason I don't use them on shoots unless I'm locked to a tripod. 

[vovov]

Side note but what's the maker of that tilting hotshoe connector you have on the gx85? Seems very handy.

[marcuswolschon]

1 hour ago, Andrew Reid said:

Are you using Canon DSLR batteries on your Flame?

How's the build quality?

One thing I love about the Odyssey 7Q+ is the magnesium chassis... very cleanly designed, thin, light. The Shogun had open seals, vents, creaky plastic.

 

Atomos uses Sony NP-F batteries or D-Tap or DC-In.

My Shogun has an Aluminium Cage. They are VERY cheap to have. It also has locks for the HDMI ports and an extremely stiurdy protection for the XLR in+out and power port.

The Flame/Inferno are supposed to have a better case to not need such a thing.

The Chris: You left out LUTs for display+output (VERY Handy for a GH4 with V-Log) and that the display is and can be calibrated.

I'm planning to use mine as a mobile grading monitor when traveling with a calibratable 17" 10-bit LCD is inpractical.

If you are into cheap media for long sessions... try beating a 960GB Sandisk for about 200eur in SD-cards for 4K or gigantic mechanical HDDs for FullHD.

If you want to work fast...why copy that SD-card? The Atomos is SATA, just edit from it right away.

 

I'm looking forward to upgrade to a Shogun Flame or Inferno at some point.

 

[Andrew Reid]

13 minutes ago, vovov said:

Side note but what's the maker of that tilting hotshoe connector you have on the gx85? Seems very handy.

I don't know the make as it's a generic chinese thing from eBay. Will try and find a link. Get asked for this a lot. Wish there was a high quality hot-shoe hinge made of metal. This one is plastic and a bit wobbly when something heavy is on the end.

[samuel.cabral]

Sorry for my dumb question... but are the prores files MUCH better for grading compared to the h265 on NX1?

[marcuswolschon]

45 minutes ago, samuel.cabral said:

Sorry for my dumb question... but are the prores files MUCH better for grading compared to the h265 on NX1?

 

10 bit -> 4x as many color shades to work with

no MPEG macro blocks -> fine noise to leave as film grain or to easily remove without visible artifacts

no GOP -> playing backwards and fast forwarding don't require more then a single frame to be rendered, also much faster rendering times for any kind of image modification (color correction, effects, compositing, ...)

->smooth highlight rolloffs/skies/fog

[Andrew Reid]

11 minutes ago, marcuswolschon said:

10 bit -> 4x as many color shades to work with

This assumes the NX1 and all other mirrorless cameras apart from the GH4 output 10bit, they don't. It's still 8bit to the View Assist.

Storing 8bit as 10bit doesn't give you the extra luminance information to work with.

Quote

no MPEG macro blocks -> fine noise to leave as film grain or to easily remove without visible artifacts

The difference is quite small.

We're not talking raw-style noise grain.

It's still a blockier chroma-noise style noise, not like film-grain.

Quote

no GOP -> playing backwards and fast forwarding don't require more then a single frame to be rendered, also much faster rendering times for any kind of image modification (color correction, effects, compositing, ...)

True.

Quote

->smooth highlight rolloffs/skies/fog

Only in true 10bit or RAW is this the case.

[marcuswolschon]

Right, I didn't think about other cameras outputing 8bit.

(Only using Blackmagic Pocket and GH4R myself.)

[Andrew Reid]

55 minutes ago, marcuswolschon said:

Right, I didn't think about other cameras outputing 8bit.

(Only using Blackmagic Pocket and GH4R myself.)

To be honest even with 10bit YUV I can't tell much difference in the grade to 8bit.

RAW or RGB is where it's at