Atomos offers open HDMI standard

The company said that while SDI was “dependable”, cameras such as Canon’s 5D, Nikon’s D800 and Sony and Panasonic’s 4K cameras had made HDMI the default connection for video professionals - despite it missing some of the advantages of SDI.

The company has teamed up with the HDMI Forum to offer the free trigger and timecode protocol which is available via the Atomos website.

“We love HDMI, but as it gets more popular on the camera side we need to help make it work in the pro world,” said Atomos co-founder and chief executive Jeromy Young.

“Historically this has only been achieved in the tech industry by creating an open standard, which is what we’ve done.”

Atomos initially engineered auto HDMI start/stop and timecode communication with Sony in 2011 for the firm’s FS100 camera. That was followed with Canon in 2013 for the 5D Mark III, 1DC and C100.

“Currently almost all professional Sony and Canon HDMI cameras including the A7S employ this protocol.

“As the popularity of Atomos external monitor and recorders has grown, demand for this connection has spread quickly to all camera manufacturers. Now with an open, free and available standard this transition can happen quickly and easily,” the company said.

In a bid to further bridge the gap between SDI and HDMI, Atomos has developed a range of HDMI cables with tight fitting connections and coiled cable lengths that it said would allow for less clutter on a tripod and less force pulling at the HDMI connection.

“Initially we developed these cables purely to support the Ninja Star, our lightweight, pocket size ProRes recorder but after consulting with our user base we soon discovered no one had yet developed a complete range of HDMI cables purely for professional video users in our space,” added Young.

The HDMI cables available from 15 August.

IBC 2014: Hall 9 Stand D25