Blackmagic Design Video Assist 5" 3G-SDI/HDMI Recording Monitor

Video Assist 5" 3G

Perfect for Digital Cinema, Broadcast Test and Live Production!

Blackmagic Video Assist is so versatile it can be used for hundreds of tasks! Add it onto your camera rig to get a large screen viewfinder with modern record codecs, focus assist features and 3D LUTS! Video Assist is also an ultra portable scope that lets you test equipment in broadcast and live production to ensure your video levels are correct and all your gear is working correctly. If you're doing live production then Video Assist is just like a large screen HyperDeck so it can be used as a mastering recorder, or as a clip player for inserting ads or promos into live programs. You can even use it as an ISO recorder with each camera having a dedicated monitor and recorder!

Blackmagic Video Assist 5" 3G

This model supports video formats up to 1080p60 and has a large 5" LCD with focus peaking, zebra and false color. Connections include 3G‑SDI and HDMI. This model includes a single SD Card recorder for ProRes recording. Other features include WFM, vector, histogram and RGB parade scopes plus 3D LUTs!

Modern Design with 12G‑SDI and Bright HDR Screens

All Video Assist models are dominated by a large touch screen with all controls for recording, playback of clips, viewing scopes and setting focus assist features. Both 7" models are large enough to include analog inputs for audio and two SD card slots so you get continuous recording, with automatic recording to the second card. Both of the 12G models include 12G-SDI and Ultra HD HDMI connections and USB-C for recording direct to external flash media disks. All models include a rear tally light, a front panel speaker for clip playback and a headphone jack! Video Assist uses Sony L-Series batteries, and with 2 battery slots, you can change batteries without interrupting recording!

Transforms Camera Usability with Video Assist!

Traditional cameras are designed for shoulder mounted operation, so are a compromise. Hours spent leaning into a viewfinder for long tripod mounted shoots can be tough! Video Assist will transform your shooting style with an on-board rigged screen. It's much more comfortable using a screen rigged to a position best suited for a shooting setup. Plus you get better situational awareness for the operator, assistant or director. With both 5" and 7" models, you choose the size of a rigged monitor that suits you best. Plus you're also adding fantastic features such as focus zoom, focus peaking, zebras, histogram, false color, scopes, frame markers, frame guides, touch screen and more!

Customize your Touchscreen Tools and Features

With large and bright 5 and 7" touchscreens, Video Assist makes it incredible easy to frame shots and accurately focus. The touchscreen displays critical information while you’re shooting including the timecode, transport control, audio meters and a histogram for exposure. You can also customize the LCD to add or remove overlays such as current filename, focus peaking, zebra, false color, frame guides, 3D LUTs and more. 3D LUTs support allows monitoring shots with the desired color and look, plus you can even "bake in" the LUT if you want to record it into the file. If you're using Blackmagic RAW, the 3D LUT is only added into the metadata so it can be disabled in post production.

Dual Media Recorders for Uninterrupted Recording

Video Assist uses commonly available SD card media, so you can record to flash memory cards that are easy to obtain. The files are small enough to allow long recordings on standard SD cards or the faster UHS-II cards. The larger Video Assist 12G 7" model even includes 2 SD card slots so you can swap out any full cards even during recording, allowing infinite length recording. Standard SD cards or the faster UHS-II cards are perfect for broadcast because they are small, high speed and affordable.

Upgrade to Better Recording for Digital Cameras

Blackmagic Video Assist is an ideal upgrade for cameras, as its bright display is bigger than the tiny displays found on consumer cameras, plus you're also adding professional focus assist features and better quality file formats. Video Assist is also a great solution for professional cameras because you can use it to upgrade older broadcast cameras to modern file formats used on the latest editing software. You get support for all editing software as you can record in Apple ProRes and Avid DNx. You can even use Blackmagic RAW on supported cameras. With both HDMI and SDI inputs you can connect it to any consumer camera, broadcast camera or even DSLR cameras.

Large HDR Monitor with Easy Touch Controls

The innovative touchscreen LCD user interface provides incredible control. On screen, there are dedicated buttons for play, stop and record, plus a mini timeline for scrolling through your recordings. You can even image swipe to jog! The LCD includes a heads up display of timecode, video standard, media status as well as audio meters. Scopes can be enabled via the touch screen as well as focus and exposure assist. There's also an extensive range of settings all controlled from the large LCD. Plus you can load and save 3D LUTs!

Advanced HDR Models Include 12G‑SDI and HDMI 2.0!

Video Assist features a wide range of video and audio connections such as multi-rate SDI for SD, HD on all models and Ultra HD on the 12G-SDI models. HDMI is included for HDMI cameras and monitoring to consumer televisions and video projectors. The 7" model features Mini XLR inputs which are provided for audio input from microphones and external audio mixers. The USB-C connection lets you plug in external flash disks or SSDs for recording, which means you can get extremely long record durations because flash disks are often much larger than the physically smaller SD Cards. Video Assist even includes a 12V DC power connection and the 12G models include a locking power connector.

Post Production Friendly File Formats!

Video Assist records using standard open file formats so you don’t have to waste time transcoding media. Files are compatible with all post production software so you can work with the software of your choice, including DaVinci Resolve Studio. Recording works in industry standard 10-bit ProRes or DNx files in all formats and from all HDMI or SDI cameras, as well as 12-bit Blackmagic RAW on the 12G-SDI HDR models when connected to supported cameras. Blackmagic RAW is the fastest growing RAW format and developers can download and use the free Blackmagic RAW SDK to add support to their applications. Best of all media files work on all operating systems!

Video Assist 12G HDR Models Include Blackmagic RAW Recording!

Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary format designed to capture the quality of sensor data from cameras. Video Assist supports Blackmagic RAW recording from popular cameras such as Sigma fp, Panasonic EVA1 and Canon C300 MK II. Popular camera formats such as H.264 are highly compressed resulting in noise and processing artifacts. Blackmagic RAW eliminates these problems so you get incredible detail and color throughout the production pipeline from camera to edit, color and mastering. It also saves camera settings in metadata so you can set ISO, white balance and exposure, then override them later while editing. Only Blackmagic RAW gives you the highest quality, smallest files and fastest performance!

Record Direct to External USB‑C Media Disks

The Blackmagic Video Assist 12G models even include a USB-C expansion port so you can plug in an external flash disk for recording. USB‑C flash disks have massive capacity as they don't suffer from any size constraint. Plus, it's possible to record to the same disk you are using or editing, so you don't need to waste time copying files before starting post production. Flash disks are so fast, they can record high data rate formats such as high frame rate Ultra HD. Imagine adding a Blackmagic MultiDock 10G for easy SSD compatibility so you can record across multiple disks as each disk fills. You even get on screen menus for managing external disks using the touch screen!

Built In Scopes Ensure Compliance to Standards

Video Assist features scopes for accurate exposure on cameras and compliance to broadcast standards. That means it’s also a great portable waveform monitoring solution! The waveform display provides a traditional luminance (brightness) level view of the video inputs or the playback signal. The vectorscope allows you to see the intensity of color at 100% SDI reference levels. You also get a RGB parade display which is ideal for color correction. Histogram shows the distribution of white to black detail in your images and highlights or shadows clipping. The built in scopes can even be overlaid on live video, or as a small picture in picture view at the top right of the scope!

HDR Models Include Bright Wide Gamut Screens!

On the Video Assist 12G models you'll be ready for the latest HDR workflows as they support the latest HDR standards and include an extremely bright screen with a wide color gamut. Plus the high brightness screen makes shooting outdoors in sunlight easy! The built in scopes even support HDR when required. Files are tagged with the correct HDR information which means SDI and HDMI inputs will also automatically detect HDR video standards. Static metadata PQ and HLG formats are handled according to the ST2084 standard. The bright LCD has a wider color gamut so it can handle both Rec. 2020 and Rec. 709 colorspaces. The Video Assist LCD color gamut can even handle 100% of the DCI‑P3 format.

Latest Multi Rate 12G SDI for SD, HD and Ultra HD

You get full support for the most popular video standards. The SDI and HDMI connections are multi-rate, so all models handle SD and HD television standards plus the 12G models add extra support for Ultra HD standards. Standard definition formats include NTSC and PAL. 720p HD standards include 720p50 and 59.94p. 1080i HD interlaced formats include 1080i50 and 59.94. 1080p HD formats include 1080p23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60p. Plus you can even work in 1080 PsF formats. On the Blackmagic Video Assist 12G models you also get support for Ultra HD formats up to 2160p59.94. On these 12G models you can even record 2K and 4K DCI rates up to 25p for digital film work!

Professional Multi Channel SDI and Analog Audio

Blackmagic Video Assist includes a built in professional audio recorder that’s much better quality than the audio found in most cameras, eliminating the need to carry around extra audio equipment. When working in SDI formats, you can record 2, 4, 8 or 16 channels of audio. For connecting microphones the 7" models have 2 XLR analog audio inputs with phantom power and high definition audio sample rates of 192 kHz at 16 and 24 bit per sample. The audio meters can even be changed between VU or PPM ballistics. Blackmagic Video Assist 12G features the latest audio technology to ensure low noise floor and very low distortion so you can use it for digital cinema and broadcast work.

Works with the World's Most Popular Video Software

The files from Blackmagic Video Assist are common and are compatible with all operating systems or in most video software. Media can be formatted using ExFAT or HFS+ so you can easily access the media on computers and access the files like regular disks. DaVinci Resolve is perfect for using with Video Assist as it features editing, color correction, audio post production and visual effects all in one software application. Plus you can download DaVinci Resolve free of charge for Mac, Windows and Linux! You can also use recorded files in other popular software such as Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X. With Video Assist, your media is common so your files will remain readable in the future.