Blackmagic Forum

Looking for a couple of 5" monitors/recorders to shoot HD-SDI out from my Panasonic HD ENG cameras. RELIABILITY is really important since this will be used in a broadcast environment and recording in Apple ProRes. Looking for feedback on the below both as a monitor and recorder. Also, any of these have a loud fan?

5" Original Video Assist

5"Video Assist 12G(is the upgrade worth it from the original?)

5" Atomos Ninja V with SDI pack.


I'll take reliability over a feature rich monitor/recorder.

Thanks for your feedback!

I've had the 5" original video assist since 2016, it's still working great. The fan has really only been a problem when I put it into a room that was 120 degrees, which I would guess exceeds the recommended operating temperature anyway. I've also used it in extreme cold and found it to be fine. I've gotten it wet, dirty, sandy etc and it's great. I've used it along with the micro cinema camera for jobs where I've mounted the camera to get surveillance style wildlife shots for an animal rehabilitation / rescue non-profit then used a 25' hdmi back to the monitor which also might be mounted in a cage like rig. The fan will often blow dust and dirt out.

The SDI pack on the 5" Atomos seems like a better idea over the micro SDI, I've bent up the connection on the SDI on the Blackmagic. I guess the SDI pack integrates into the battery slot on the Atomos? Then maybe being behind the monitor has some better protection.

I've also not been so careful with SD cards for the Video Assist and while not losing any clips have bent the connection back to where it should be.