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Shoot Review: Hamlet Flexiscope

Aug 1, 2006 12:00 PM, Reviewer: Tom Patrick McAuliffe

Provides portable multi-format signal monitoring.

The U.S. Congress recently set the final official date for the end of analog television. This is the end of a 20-year process. By Feb. 17, 2009, all analog television transmissions in America should be history, and the transition to digital television will be over.

But traditional analog gear and the video signals they create will, nevertheless, be around for a long time. In order for video creators to get their content aired over broadcast or cable television, they need to provide a legal tape with color bars and audio tone, as well as a signal level that meets the requirements of the NTSC RS170a broadcast signal standard. How will you know if you've met these requirements? Whether you are using analog or digital tape, you need to monitor your video and audio signals with a waveform/vectorsope (WFM/VS). This will also help you match the color of your multiple source videos.

Hamlet Video International's new Flexiscope is a unique multiformat, multi-standard handheld waveform/vectorscope as well as a portable picture/audio monitor and test signal generator. The all-digital device provides simultaneous operation in both HD and SD serial digital interface (SDI). The new Flexiscope's proprietary patented designs have a host processor that was developed by Hamlet and features plug-in application modules, all of which may be controlled over the Internet.

The product handles virtually every standard-and high-def video format, as well as embedded AES/EBU audio via a 1/8in. monitor jack for headphones (there's also a built-in speaker). It is strong as steel, although its body is built from milled aluminum. The all-digital device provides simultaneous operation with a variety of formats, depending on which I/O the user has purchased. There's an HD/SD module (which we tested), which looks for a 601 signal, and a SD/composite unit, which allows basic standard-definition video monitoring in NTSC or PAL. Providing signal information via a high-quality built-in 3.5in. TFT VGA display, which shows the actual video picture in either 4:3 or 16:9 formats, the Flexiscope also shows conventional waveform, vector, and audio displays together with analysis of the video or audio signal. You can hook up the unit to a PC to display error files and download waveforms for storage — and you can control all functions remotely. In addition to the video displays, four channels of audio can be displayed and analyzed. The unit also functions as a test signal generator with both video patterns and audio tones and signals.

Hamlet has a long history of creating professional test and measurement solutions, and the Flexiscope is at the high end of the price scale for these products.

Testing

I am not a broadcast engineer, and normally I use a WFM/VS that costs much less than the Flexiscope and still gets the basic job done. (If these were cars, I'd be driving an old VW and the Flexiscope would be a Cadillac.)

My unit has the HD/SD module, and, because HD is yet to become popular here in Hawaii, I used the Flexiscope with a SDI feed from a Sony DSBK-1501 DVCAM format VTR. This is the modified DSR-1500 with the optional SDI/SDTI/AES/EBU interface board installed. While I wish the Flexiscope unit had a IEEE-1394 interface, I understand the decision to go with an SDI, especially given the product's price point and what seems to be its primary target markets (ENG, extreme field conditions, government, education, and military). In the near future, the SDI media/data transmission standard will become just as popular as IEEE-1394/FireWire is now, and it ensures a migration path to and from the higher-end SD/HD formats like Digital Betacam, MPEG IMX, Betacam SX, and other digital video devices. And with the module approach, you can configure a Flexiscope to match your exact signal monitoring needs.

The product performed as advertised, as it should for the price. My only gripe is that, while the Flexiscope may be handheld and ergonomically designed, it is very heavy at just less than 6lbs. In this day of miniaturization, certainly we could cut the weight in half? But it is built like a tank with a solid metal casing that can withstand just about anything. In fact, I can say that without question because I stepped on it with 250lbs. of Irish manhood and it took that licking and kept right on ticking.

Under the heading, “Your mileage may vary,” the internal NiMh batteries should last more than four hours, but running multiple functions meant it lasted closer to three hours and it took the unit about twice as long to recharge. But the shortcomings are few and far between as this is a solidly built product backed up with a one-year warranty that can be doubled simply by registering the product with the folks at Hamlet.

At around four grand, there are more inexpensive AV test and measurement devices to be had, but for sheer rock-solid design, the Flexiscope wins hands down. If you had to go to war, this would be the WFM/VS you'd take with you. I'd just like to see it cut both its weight and cost in half.

Who knows what Hamlet will do next. At NAB 2006, the company introduced a new range of audio measurement and monitoring units, capable of handling anything from analog audio all the way up to embedded multi-channel Dolby-E. To address the weight issue, Hamlet introduced the Flexiscope Micro — a small USB drive device similar to the ItWorks Calibug I reviewed last year (see digitalcontentproducer.com/cameras/revfeat/video_itworks_calibug).

The Hamlet Flexiscope is perfect for rugged in-the-field production chores; ENG news teams on the run in any major city; war videographers in Bahgdad; documentary nature crews in the deep, dark Amazon — you get the idea. Use it anytime and anywhere a multi-format handheld, waveform, vectorscope, and audio monitor is needed. Whether you're still working in standard definition or have migrated to HD — and you can afford it — you'll find the Hamlet Flexiscope portable, able to take almost any AV signal and the rigors of the road.

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bottomline

Company: Hamlet Video International USA
26741 Portola Pkwy, Suite 1E, #601
Foothill Ranch,Calif; (866) 442-6538
www.hamlet.us.com

Product: Flexiscope

Assets: Standard and high definition; AES audio; modular design; USB; very solid construction.

Caveats: High price tag; heavy; Microsoft Windows only.

Demographic: Professional video makers in need of a rock-solid waveform, vectorscope, signal generator, and AV analyzer.

PRICE: $3,900 (BASE UNIT), $2,595 (SD/HD MODULE), $1,095 (SD/COMPOSITE MODULE)

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Contributing Writer Tom Patrick McAuliffe is a journalist, entertainer, and video creator who also writes for Broadcast Engineering.

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.