ARRI has added in-camera support for Avid's DNxHD codec for its Alexa camera range. The ability to record native Avid DNxHD, as MXF files in-camera, delivers a streamlined workflow for the teleproduction market.
Alexa cameras record ARRIRAW uncompressed 3K images that preserve the 35mm "digital negative" for mastering and feature archival. Expanding Alexa's parallel recording capability to include native support for Avid DNxHD eliminates a transcoding step for the dailies generated by an Avid editing system and creates a more streamlined editorial workflow with seamless final conformance back to the archived ARRIRAW digital negative.
By providing native Avid DNxHD recording with the Alexa camera, producers can quickly and easily view dailies, and begin editing, without the need to transcode or rewrap footage. Avid's new Media Composer version 6 also offers the DNxHD 444 codec, which allows customers to preserve the high color information in footage acquired with the Alexa while still having a low bit rate codec suitable for editorial.
The Avid DNxHD recording function for Alexa will be distributed as a downloadable software upgrade in January 2012 and is now entering beta testing with selected broadcast productions. Avid DNxHD codec data rates of up to 145Mbps (8-bit processing) and 220MBps (10-bit) will be supported in the initial release. Avid's highest quality version of the codec, Avid DNxHD 444, will record at 440Mbps at 10-bit depth and will be provided as an upgrade for all adopting customers during the first quarter of 2012.