DEFINITION September 2019

USER REVI EW | SHOGUN 7

Just when you thought field monitors couldn’t get any more advanced, Australian firm Atomos continues to push the envelope with its Shogun 7 precision HDR monitor recorder ATOMOS SHOGUN 7 PRICE £1558/$1499

WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH / PICTURES ADAM DUCKWORTH / ATOMOS

“IT CAN BE USED AS A FLEXIBLE MASTER RECORDER FOR LIVE STREAMING”

ong gone are the days when external monitors were just that – to help monitor what the camera

is capturing. First came recording, thanks to large-capacity, fast SSD drives unlocking higher bit rates and colour depth from the majority of cameras, and Raw recording from others. All converted to edit-ready ProRes in a variety of formats. Add in efficient monitor tools like waveforms and vectorscopes then, of course, make the screens very bright for outdoor use. Next came HDR for the next-generation TV screens. Then, in high-end Atomos units, the ground-breaking Apple ProRes Raw offers the benefits of Raw without the huge file sizes. NEW FEATURES Now the Atomos Shogun 7 adds in live switching, making it ideal for event coverage, especially with the boom in live streaming platforms. Of course, for £1558/$1499, it’s not going to replace a dedicated switcher for outside broadcast TV as it’s limited to four inputs but, for the majority of small crews, can be used as a flexible master recording and production station for livestreaming. The Shogun 7 can monitor, record and switch between four

live HD SDI video streams with genlock in and out. After the streams are recorded, you can then import the Atomos XML file into your editing software and your timeline populates with all your edits in place. The mixed analogue stereo audio is also imported, as well as two channels of digital audio embedded in each stream. With HDMI 2.0v, you can capture up to 4K60p or via Quad Link, Dual Link or Single Link. It also allows slow-motion capture in 2K at up to 240p. You can also check how your content will look on high-resolution TV sets in real time with the Dolby Vision output. INTERFACE We’d love to report how good the unit is as doing all this, but

unfortunately the switching, 240fps slow motion and Dolby Vision support is not available at launch. It will come via a free firmware upgrade very soon, promises Atomos. Until then, the unit performs very much like Atomos’ Shogun Inferno monitor recorder, although it does have a different body and new user interface that makes it a step above the well-known Inferno unit. And new screen technology makes the screen appear more consistent, right to the edges. The HDR screen uses what Atomos call Dynamic AtomHDR backlit technology, with 360 zones that give a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, with ultra-wide colour for very deep blacks with lots of detail and – thanks to the 1500 nit LCD – vivid, bright performance. We couldn’t measure the claims, but

IMAGES The I/Os for the Shogun 7

92 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 9

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