Avid dnxhd support on Arri Alexa

On November 7th Arri announced that its Alexa camera will now be able to record with Avid’s open codec dnxhd with MXF structure. The (paid) upgrade of the camera will be available from the beginning of next year. The first version will record with the dnxhd 145 Mb/s 8b and 22oMb/s 10b (bitrates referred to 29.97 fps, in Europe will be the dnxhd 120 and 185 Mb/s respectively) but they have already announced that the next version will allow using the new dnxhd 444 10b 440 Mb/s.

What is not yet known is whether the camera will allow dnxhd and pro res recording at the same time or whether one family or the other will have to be chosen. We will also have to wait to see if they support the dnxhd 36 Mb/s which could be very practical for offline editing of feature films. As soon as there is a workflow between Alexa and Avid MC we will let you know.

You can read the press release published at Creative Cow here or download the pdf