Blackmagic Design announced a whopping 30+ new products at this year’s NAB 2015 trade show in Las Vegas. Of course the URSA Mini 4K and Mini 4.6K cameras were the crowned jewels for BMD at the show, but out of all the new product announcement, the 5-inch Video Assist got the attention of a lot of folks. With a full HD 1080p touch screen display, 6G-SDI and HDMI connections as well as the ability to record 1080p ProRes internally to SD cards, the Blackmagic Video Assist, priced at $495 became a top item on the shopping list of many shooters. The Video Assist started shipping not that long ago and some early reviews and reports did point out the unit was a bit slim on the features side of things.
However, just yesterday Blackmagic Design just released the first major firmware update for their newly released 5-inch Video Assist monitor/recorder enabling key monitoring features such as peaking, pixel zoom and improved battery life.
What’s new in Blackmagic Video Assist 1.1
- Adds Focus Peaking indication
- Adds Zebra indication for setting iris
- Adds central Zoom to aid focus
- Adds timecode over HDMI
- Improved battery information
- Performance and stability updates
Minimum system requirements for Mac OS X
- Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan or later
- Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later
- USB 2.0 port for software updates
Minimum system requirements for Windows
- Microsoft Windows 10 64-bit
- Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit
- USB 2.0 port for software updates
You can download the firmware update from the official Blackmagic Design website here.
For those of you not yet familiar with the Blackmagic Video Assist here are some product highlights you mind find useful.
Features & Highlights
- 1920 x 1080 Touchscreen LCD
- Records 1080p up to 60 fps
- ProRes and DNxHD 10-Bit, 4:2:2 Encoding
- HDMI and 6G-SDI Video Inputs
- Loop-Through Video Outputs
- Stores to Single SDHC/SDXC Memory Card
- On-Screen Histogram and Audio Levels
- Dual Canon LP-E6 Type Battery Slots
- AC Adapter Included
You can get the Blackmagic Video Assist from the recommended retailers below:
B&H
Video Assist HDMI/6G-SDI Recorder and 5″ Monitor – $495
Adorama
Video Assist HDMI/6G-SDI Recorder and Monitor – $495
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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