First Look: BirdDog FLEX NDI Converters

The 4K Flex Backpack

Figure 9 (below) shows my test configuration for the BirdDog Flex. You can see my HD camera with a hooded monitor on top. The monitor is powered and it’s tracking the movements of the camera. I have a battery in the camera. I have HDMI out, which goes into the monitor, and then I have a blue cable, which you can see coming out of the BirdDog device on the back of the camera. The blue cable is providing Power over Ethernet (PoE).

Figure 9. My test configuration for the 4K Flex. Click the image to see it at full size.

That BirdDog device is the 4K Flex Backpack. They call it Backpack because it fits on the back of a monitor.

The 4K Flex Backpack will power a 7” monitor with a lens hood like this one, or an Atomos monitor/recorder like the Ninja. You can take 4K from your DSLR into the Atomos, record at ProRes 10-bit, then apply the gamut to the output. The output comes into the Flex Backpack, and then that signal is sent down the line.

Or you could even output just HD, but still be capturing 4K on a monitor/recorder—a great way to get the best of both worlds. You're getting a fantastic, pristine recording of the signal before it even goes anywhere, with no compression for network at all. You'll also get the lowest latency, full NDI signal down the line. And this will power the monitor on top of your camera.

The 4K Flex Backpack, like the 4K Flex IN, lists for $399. This one on the back of my monitor is green because I have selected this input in the Preview bus of my TriCaster. The Flex is being told it is “next up” and the tally light is green. This Flex Backpack is taking the video from the monitor. Because these Flex units do not have video loop-through, I have to loop through the monitor. When you turn on the camera, you don’t even really see it. But it’s also tally for the people who are in front of the camera who can see it. Figure 9 is the angle you would see if you were talent. You can see that it’s showing green, and when it goes red, you would see that as well.

At the 17:10 mark in the video that accompanies this article, you can see a brief demo of how all of these components come together when you connect the devices, plug in the Flex IN unit, and feed it a signal from the camera.

This is a fantastic illustration of the simplicity of using NDI. In my article, All In On NDI, I explained that just being able to do this—plug things in via ethernet and have them appear on your network—is amazing. Ethernet cabling is a lot easier than trying to run long HDMI cables. Plus if you have three cameras on the stage, with NDI you only have to run one ethernet cable to the stage. Then you add a little switch and break it out. If you also need to feed a monitor at the stage, you use the Flex OUT, and plug it into the switch that’s already on the stage for the cameras.

Flex Benefits and Wish List

That’s a quick look at the Flex line of 4K converters from BirdDog. I'm an independent reviewer, and I'm not working for BirdDog, but I love these little devices. They're fantastically small. They’re well-priced. It’s nice to be able to mount the Backpack on the back of the monitor. But if I'm going with a simpler setup, and I’m using a smaller camcorder, and I'm using just the little viewfinder, I would love to be able to mount the Flex right on the back of the camera.

That way, the camera operator would have this big tally right in their face, which would be really good. But the challenge is that on most camcorders these days, the battery compartment is so deep, and the battery actually taller than the Flex is wide.

I would love to see a “Flex Extender" that would enable me to take the Flex Backpack, clip it onto my extender, and then clip that into my camera. Then I’d be good to go for camera power, tally, coms, and Full NDI video back to the switcher. One cable. Ethernet would become the new Triax.

Plus, this would allow BirdDog to make a series of Extenders. There would be no electronics in it, just the plastic molding to go from NP-F (Sony) to JVC, Panasonic, and Canon, and provide the power that the camcorder needs to see at the depth that it needs to be for that line of camcorders. I think that would be a wonderful addition.

I like the Flex enough that I have three HD camcorders I'd outfit tomorrow with the Flex Backpack to give them all the advantages of NDI, and not have to lug my heavy-duty, directional, not-very-Flexible, long HDMI cables anymore.

This has been a first look at the BirdDog Flex 4K series of converters. I’m very excited about these new devices. I think they’re going to go like hotcakes, and I'm very impressed with the quality and the build of these units.