Blackmagic Video Assist User Manual  Recording

To start recording straight away, simply tap the circular ‘record’ icon at the bottom of the LCD. Tap the stop icon to stop recording.

The timecode display in the upper toolbar will illuminate red while recording

Clips can be recorded using Apple ProRes and Avid DNx codecs.

You can also set your video assist to use ‘timecode’ or ‘SDI/HDMI start/stop’ trigger recording.

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TIP When the upper and lower toolbars are hidden on your 5” video assist, a small record indicator will be displayed at the bottom of the LCD so you can easily confirm you’re recording. Swiping the screen up or down brings the toolbars back in view.

On 5” video assist models, swipe the screen up or down to reveal or hide the toolbars.

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NOTE When recording from an HDMI or SDI camera, make sure the output is clean with overlays turned off as any overlays that are present in your camera’s video output will be recorded with your image. Please refer to the section titled ‘recording clean HDMI from DSLR cameras’ for more information.

Remote Control via the LANC Connector

On 7” video assist models you can start and stop recording remotely using an external LANC controller. Simply plug the LANC controller into the 2.5mm LANC input on the right side of the unit.

Continuous Recording

7” video assist models support continuous recording when using more than one card, or on an external drive for 12G video assist models via the USB-C port. If you are recording an important event and you don’t want to stop recording, simply insert a second SD card or connect an external drive. Once your current card or drive is full, the recording will automatically spill over to the next slot. There will be no frames dropped in the process. For example, if the first segment on card 1 stopped at 00:40:01:00, the recording on the second card will start at 00:40:01:01.

When editing your clips on the timeline, simply place the second clip against the tail of the first and they will play through the recording as if it is one complete clip.

Having an additional card or drive connected also lets you quickly change media. If you want to switch to another card or the active drive, simply hold down the ‘record’ button. The recording will spill over to the next available slot without missing a frame. Now you can remove the first card or drive and start using the media right away!

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TIP For continuous recording or fast slot change overs, make sure your cards are formatted before you start your recording. You can format your SD card or external drive while recording on another slot, simply tap on the storage indicators to reveal the storage settings. See the ‘storage media’ section later in this manual for further information on formatting.

Recording Clean HDMI from DSLR Cameras

Some DSLR cameras record 8-bit video internally, and some can provide a clean video image via their HDMI output. By plugging the DSLR camera’s HDMI output into your video assist, you can bypass the camera’s internal compression and record using high quality 10-bit ProRes or Avid DNx codecs. Some DSLR cameras can output 10-bit 4:2:2, which is higher quality video than their internally recorded 8-bit 4:2:0 compression.

Many DSLR cameras are also limited to short recording durations, so an added benefit of recording externally is bypassing these recording limitations. This is particularly helpful when recording live events or interviews for documentaries.

To make the most of this feature, you will need to set your camera to output a clean image with overlays turned off. This is normally done by changing your DSLR camera’s HDMI output settings so it does not show any status information in the video signal. This is important because if there are any overlays visible in your image via the HDMI output they will be recorded in your video, which you probably don’t want.

To check the DSLR camera overlays are not visible:

1. Swipe the touchscreen up or down to hide the on screen meters so you can monitor only your DSLR camera’s image. On 7” video assist models the upper toolbar at the top of the LCD is independent and separate from the image. This means you can monitor the entire image cleanly and still have the upper toolbar visible.

2. With the on screen meters hidden, carefully check the DSLR camera’s output video does not show any information other than your clean video image. If you can see camera overlays on your video assist’s LCD, change the HDMI output or display menu settings on your camera so HDMI overlays are turned off.

With a clean HDMI output from your camera you can now record better quality video!