H.264 on hyperdeck or other new box

The next version of hyperdeck you do (or the new monitor with recording on it) please add h.264 recording. Frequently i would love a good standalone h.264 recorder, as i dont always need the high end editable video. Or make a new box to do this. A good, standalone h.264 recorder to SD card would be awesome.

I second this request. I work in the education sector, and we really don't want to store lecture material at high bit rate lossless codecs. We have a lot of material, want to push a button on a box, record to h.264 and be done with it. Preferably on an SD card. The VideoAssist would be killer if you had an encoder in that thing.

And a reliable standalone unit is key. The whole h.264 box to usb to computer to Media Express to hard drive thing is far too unreliable to count on. Especially in a remote setting.

I would definitely buy a couple stand-alone h.264 recording units. At the same time . . . I would really love to see it in a Hyperdeck, so that i can choose between high quality ProRes422 or h.264. That would be soooo ideal. Sometimes i want that superior quality, sometimes I want a basic recording to repost online quickly after an event. In both cases, I want a dedicated box made to do the job, and not a computer interface.

There are dozens of these exact products on the market.
Does it really matter if it doesn't have a black magic logo on it.
I am sure bmd is busy designing new products that don't exist, rather than ones that already do.

I would love to see a robust standalone H.264 recorder aimed at the professional video market as well. If it also supported ProRes or some higher-end codecs in addition to H.264, even better. But even just H.264 at selectable bitrates would be great.

The only standalone products I know of that currently do this are mostly aimed at the gaming community. Such as the AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable or the Hauppauge HD PVR Rocket.

Both of these are very consumer focused (plasticy build quality), and have various limitations. The AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable for example, requires SD cards to be FAT32 formatted which limits both card size and recorded file size. Both have a maximum bitrate in the 16 to 18 Mbps range. Neither has SDI connections or support for battery powered operation (which may not be essential for everyone).

The closest thing I've been able to find aimed at the professional market is the Panasonic AG-HMR10 which does have SDI inputs. Unfortunately, it records in AVCHD (rather than MP4 or MOV) and it maxes out at 21 Mbps. At $1495, it also seems a bit expensive for what it does, considering there are several ProRes recorders out there at lower price points.

A standalone hardware H.264 recorder with HDMI and SDI inputs that can record at selectable bitrates up to say 50 Mbps would be awesome. Especially if it comes in at a price point of $500 or less. This would allow it to be used for lower bitrate recording (2-6 Mbps for the web) as well as higher quality encoding for archival purposes without eating up as much disk space as ProRes 422 and the like.

If someone knows of such a product that exists already, I'd love to hear about it. I've looked, but couldn't find anything.

I have two hmr-10's, and they are decent, but as you said, AVCHD, not m4v or mov. And pricey. I do want HDSDI professional type unit, not some consumer crap.

http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/monarch_hd/

Yeah. Thanks Tom. I actually do have one of those. HDMI in. Horrible software interface. I need to get it back out, update the firmware and try it out again. My initial use of it was so discouraging as a web-streaming device (mainly due to the web interface), I put it away and haven't taken it back out.

I concur that a Hypdeck that can record H.264 would be ideal. The form factor and user interface of the Hyperdeck Studio (rack mount, individual lighted controls, jog/shuttle) are what I'm looking for, but with files sizes that can be uploaded to the cloud for playback at remote locations (ProRes is just too big for near real-time transfer over the internet).

We also use a Panasonic HMR10 for onsite recording and playback, but the controls are difficult to use, especially when trying to queue up a clip for playback.

I concur that a Hypdeck that can record H.264 would be ideal. The form factor and user interface of the Hyperdeck Studio (rack mount, individual lighted controls, jog/shuttle) are what I'm looking for, but with files sizes that can be uploaded to the cloud for playback at remote locations (ProRes is just too big for near real-time transfer over the internet).

We also use a Panasonic HMR10 for onsite recording and playback, but the controls are difficult to use, especially when trying to queue up a clip for playback.

If we're to judge how h.264 Pro Recorder did then you will be melting a lot of ice cubes on that Hyperdeck.... and that's just to keep it from skipping frames and delaying sound. Thermal design was really poor. By the time you can feel anything on the outside, the main processor/encoder chip would be frying... I had to take it apart to find out that the only contact points are the sides of the circuit board. After filling the gap between encoder chip and the metal shell, I could cool it more efficiently with external fan. Still not ideal for portable situations.

Enough of h.264 Pro Recorder short falls, lets hope if they do come up with stand alone recorder.. they implement it a little bit better for much more reliable final product.