Silicon Imaging Shows 1920x1080P Camera System

by Guy Bruner
Published on Apr 25, 2006 8:00 AM



Las Vegas, NAB, April 25, 2006 - Just a week before NAB, Silicon Imaging announced it would demonstrate its new SI-1920HDVR high definition camera system. We could say camcorder because, with its built-in dual core CPU running Windows XP, which saves the video to a 160 GB laptop hard drive, tje SI-1920 is technically a camcorder. However, this 16:9 format camera head, with a single 2/3” CMOS sensor, attached to a computer for storage, is really designed to be mounted on a tripod. It is more the size of a 16mm film camera, especially after you attach a 35 or 16mm lens with hood and filter slots. But, if this size gets to be too limiting, the camera head can be detached and linked to the computer storage unit via Gigabit Ethernet, making the camera much more portable. Also, two camera heads can be mounted side-by-side for shooting 3D video.

A 7 inch widescreen LCD doubles as a viewfinder and touch screen graphical user interface. On-screen menus and hot-spot zones provide intuitive camera, recorder, and playback controls. These controls include a false-color meter, 2x digital zoom for fine focus, safe-zone markers, compression quality, and SMPTE timecode. In addition to traditional 1080/24, 25, and 30P frame rates, special effects and off-speed shooting capabilities include overcranking (slow motion) up to 72 FPS at 720P, undercranking (fast motion), long exposure and time-lapse modes.

With programming by Cineform, a software company that designs intermediate digital video codecs, the SI-1920HDVR records full 1920x1080P frames in 10 bit resolution to the hard disk drive. Due to the efficiency of the Cineform RAW wavelet codec, up to four hours of video can be recorded on a 160 GB, hot swappable laptop hard disk drive. Because the video is recorded in raw form, the original pixel data is retained. Thus, the editor has the ability to adjust color and luminance information in post without having to deal with values that were preset when the video was shot. For editing, the Cineform RAW codec is mated with Adobe Production Studio and Cineform’s Prospect HD software.

The SI-1920HDVR will be available in the third quarter of 2006. A complete system, including software, will be priced at less than $20,000. For folks who already have a computer on which to store the video, the camera head alone will sell for $12,500. Full specs are available at Silicon Imaging's SI-1920HDVR's product page.