If you're developing an on-set media-management workflow for high-end digital cameras like the ARRI Alexa and the Sony F65, add the Codex Vault, now shipping from Codex Digital, to your potential shopping list. 

 

In its most basic configuration, the $20,000 Vault S Process is designed to ingest camera data via Codex Datapack, Codex Capture Drive (like the ones in the new Onboard S recorders) or SxS card and export Avid DNxHD (MXF) and Apple ProRes formats with preset LUTs, overlay burn-ins, and more.

 

For another $10,000, you can upgrade to either the Vault S Process + Storage, which includes 8 TB of internal storage, or the Vault S Process + Archive, which includes dual LTO-5 drives along with Codex Offload and Conform software for archiving to LTFS or TAR. A cool $40,000 for the Vault S Process + Storage + Archive buys it all. (You didn't think working with the Alexa or the F65 was going to be cheap, did you?)

 

At NAB, Codex demonstrated the workflow, which is meant to remove the need for an expert user to handle every aspect of the data-wrangling process. Instead, an administrator sets up "templates" controlling the on-set workflow — cloning, transcoding, backing up — and specifying deliverables so that tasks can be fired off easily as new media is inserted in the system. 

 

The process is controlled via a pop-up 10.4-inch multi-touch widescreen backlit-LED display with reasonably helpful prompts that guide a user through the process. An on-screen "shot gallery" will give you an idea what's on the media you're working with, and an "OK/NOT SURE" dialog option lets you set a flag to remind you later that you need to double-check something before signing off on a given task.

 

The final step in the workflow uses the new 1 TB Codex Transfer Drives, introduced in tandem with the Codex Vault, to send data back to post, instead of using datapacks (max capacity: 512 GB) or capture drives (max capacity: 480 GB) that could be better used on set. The Vault has one Datapack port, two Capture Drive/Transfer Drive ports, and two SxS card slots.

 

In related news from the Codex booth, here's what the Onboard S recorder looks like on a rig with the new, tiny Canon C500 — the recorder is just about the same size as the camera body.

 

Check out the Codex website for more information on The Vault.