By site editor Dan Chung:
Transvideo’s tiny StartliteHD may look like a smartphone, but actually it is a fully functioning HD OLED monitor with 3G-SDI input. It has a five-inch touchscreen display wrapped in a compact aluminium housing that weighs a mere 190g. By adding a dedicated loupe accessory you can also turn the StarliteHD into an electronic viewfinder (EVF). In common with other high-end displays it has a waveform monitor, vectorscope and histogram to help judge correct lighting of a scene.
Power can be from 5 to 44v DC and there are optional battery plates for popular battery types.
Another neat trick is that it can also record low res H.264 files to Class 10 SD card, for previewing quickly. The recording is triggered automatically from many popular cameras and a still image is generated of the first frame. A PDF is also generated that shows the start and end timecodes, as well as additional metadata from ARRI’s ALEXA, AMIRA and some Sony cameras. Stills snapshots can also be recorded and stored to the card.
On the show we discuss how the StarliteHD works well on stabilisers like the Sachtler Artemis or Steadicam for rapid client or director review of a shot. It might also be useful as a quick way to generate smaller files for uploading to the web, at the same time as having full res files recorded in camera for later use.
The price for this functionality does not run cheap, but given that there is no real competition with the same functions I expect it to be popular. The StarliteHD is 1470 Euro + tax.
For more info visit the Transvideo website.
