Sound Devices PIX 270i - Manual (Page 7)

PIX 270i User Guide and Technical Information
1
Intr
oduction
Introduction
The PIX 270i is a rack-mountable, production video recorder with extensive audio and video pro-
cessing capabilities. The foundation of the PIX 270i is hardware-based, 10-bit video up/down/cross
conversion, and hardware-based encoding to Apple ProRes and Avid DNxHD codecs. These features
allow for fast, reliable acquisition of video (at any standard HD or SD resolution and frame rate) and
audio (up to 64 tracks from Analog, AES, HDMI, SDI, MADI, or Dante sources) to ready-for-edit,
industry standard QuickTime .mov files.
Files are recorded simultaneously on (up to) 4 separate, 2.5” SSD storage devices via two front panel
PIX-CADDY slots and two rear panel eSATAp connections. This redundancy in local, removable
storage devices, coupled with standard, Ethernet-based file transfer features further reduces steps in
the production workflow. Gigabit Ethernet network ports enable remote access to recorded files and
the ability to transfer them quickly into a post-production environment.
Full-featured precision timecode and sync reference I/O using Ambient Clockit core technology is
provided to allow tight synchronization with external equipment in complex multi-machine configu-
rations. The PIX 270i supports various external control options: RS-422, GPIO, SDI flags, Timecode
triggering, and an embedded web server for network-based remote control. Network Grouping
functionality enables linked, frame-synchronized recording and playback of multiple PIX 270i units
connected to a standard Ethernet network.
This User Guide details installation and operation of the PIX 270i. This User Guide corresponds to
PIX 270i firmware version 2.10. User Guide revisions are released at the same time as firmware up-
dates and available online:
http://www.sounddevices.com/products/pix270i/downloads/
Manual Conventions
Several formatting features have been included to make navigating the guide easier.
• Physical buttons on the PIX 270i are represented with capital letters (REC button, MENU, etc).
All physical button names are detailed in the Panel Descriptions section.
• Button combinations are represented with the plus (+) symbol. For example: “Press LCD + AU-
DIO” means to first hold down LCD, then press AUDIO, and finally release both buttons.
• Setup Menu items are indicated with this text: [Menu Category - Parameter], where the menu
category is one of the items in the list displayed when MENU is pushed, and the parameter is an
item in the list displayed when that category is selected (by pressing in on the Control Knob).
• Blue italicized text references sections of the user guide containing contextually relevant informa-
tion. When viewing this document on a computer, this text can be clicked to jump to the named
section.
Video Mode and Audio Mode
Throughout this User Guide, the terms Video Mode and Audio Mode will be used. The PIX 270i is
capable of recording video and audio together into a QuickTime .mov file (Video Mode) or record-
ing audio only to a .wav file (Audio Only Mode). The mode is determined by the Setup Menu option
[System - Video/Audio Mode]. When set to [Video + Audio (QuickTime), the PIX 270i is in Video
Mode. When set to Audio Only Poly (Wave) or Audio Only Mono (Wave) the PIX 270i is in Audio
Mode.