FX30 and 12G Video Assist Monitor

Hi,
I've seen videos of people using the Panasonic S5iix to record to a BM Video Assist 12G monitor, and using the USB-C port to record BRAW to an external SSD.

Will this work with the Sony FX30 and the BM monitor?

Maybe a silly question. But, I wanted to check.

Thanks in advance.

No. It's only a limited amount of cameras that supports BRAW recording. I wish it was more cameras, Sony in particular. Sony only supports ProResRaw on Atomos recorders.

No. It's only a limited amount of cameras that supports BRAW recording. I wish it was more cameras, Sony in particular. Sony only supports ProResRaw on Atomos recorders.

Strange that it's limited to cameras. I would think that the BRAW recording is coming out of the monitor, since you use a USB-C cable from the monitor to the SSD. Is it related to licensing?

No. It's only a limited amount of cameras that supports BRAW recording. I wish it was more cameras, Sony in particular. Sony only supports ProResRaw on Atomos recorders.

Strange that it's limited to cameras. I would think that the BRAW recording is coming out of the monitor, since you use a USB-C cable from the monitor to the SSD. Is it related to licensing?

The camera manufacturer has to share the camera profile data

No. It's only a limited amount of cameras that supports BRAW recording. I wish it was more cameras, Sony in particular. Sony only supports ProResRaw on Atomos recorders.

Strange that it's limited to cameras. I would think that the BRAW recording is coming out of the monitor, since you use a USB-C cable from the monitor to the SSD. Is it related to licensing?

The camera manufacturer has to share the camera profile data

That makes sense. I hope Sony does. It would add more value to their line of cameras.

There’s more to it. Transporting RAW over HDMI is kind of an ‘off label use’. It’s possible, since after all it’s just zeroes and ones, but the camera’s firmware needs to support that.

The FX30 records 14-bit RAW over HDMI.

When using the Panasonic S5iix, you connect to the BM Monitor via HDMI. Then from the monitor, from the USB-C port you record BRAW to an SSD. So, I assume that BRAW was coming from the monitor not the camera.

So, is it a matter of Sony giving BM codec information to enable the FX30 to work with the monitor?

I doubt that you get true 14 bit when going that that route.
For the rest, all has already been said. It’s up to business politics and the developers to implement or not.

I doubt that you get true 14 bit when going that that route.

The raw HDMI signal is actually 16-bit linear, but you're correct; the ProRes RAW encoder quantizes that down to a 12-bit log file.

The FX30 records 14-bit RAW over HDMI.

When using the Panasonic S5iix, you connect to the BM Monitor via HDMI. Then from the monitor, from the USB-C port you record BRAW to an SSD. So, I assume that BRAW was coming from the monitor not the camera.

So, is it a matter of Sony giving BM codec information to enable the FX30 to work with the monitor?

To be precise, the FX30 does NOT "record" raw. It sends a "raw" signal over HDMI, where raw refers to the untreated signal from the sensor, that's from that camera's (FX30) sensor. That is to say raw is not a specific format, it just means the raw data not converted to RGB, but each manufacturer has his own raw. So yes, for a VideoAssist recorder to be able to convert a FX30's raw signal to BRAW, Sony and BlackMagic would have to come to an agreement and Sony at least, would need to give some info about their raw signal, probably BM would also need to indicate what the VA recorder supports. Now Panasonic, Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Z-cam and even Leica have agreed to allow for BRAW recording with some of their cameras, see https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicvideoassist/techspecs/W-VASS-04#blackmagicraw, why not Sony ?!

Sign the petition asking for Sony to support BRAW recording with their cameras:
https://chng.it/rZkyjTrVfp

Edited on March 22nd 2024 to add the link to the BM page indicating which cameras support BRAW recording via a Video Assist Monitor.