The Babyslate digital slate is about to hit the market and here is a sneak peek of what we are in for. May we present to you the prototype Babyslate. The Ball park price will possibly be around 500€ or about $650.
This is an entry level digital slate housed in a custom aluminum enclosure. It’s powered by four
removable AA NiMH rechargeable cells and will work with any standard time code: 23.976 , 24,
25, 29.97 and 30fps.
From the Babyslate preliminary manual, and is provided for general information.
Babyslate with two operational modes:
Time code
The display reads and displays external time code when the clapper is open. When the clapper
closes the display will be frozen and held for 4 frames. The display will then blank and the slate will go to sleep until the clapper is re-opened. Continuous time code is required for normal operation.
Jammed
The slate will lock onto the external time code and will continue to display accurately the time
when the external time code is removed. The accuracy will be better than 1 frame in 6 hours. When jamming, the slate assumes that the external time code is running at the correct clock rate, and works in an absolute mode. The slate does not attempt to estimate the external time code clock rate, and run at that clock rate. If the external time code is running at the wrong clock rate, this may show as a discrepancy when editing.
General Controls
POWER. Toggle switch.
FRAME RATE. Rotary switch.
JAM. Momentary toggle switch.
DISPLAY INTENSITY. Toggle switch. 31steps
Clap sensor
High speed hall effect semiconductor.
Time keeping
Initial frequency tolerance better than 1 PPM @ 25C
Over temperature range +- 2.5 PPM from -30C to 85C
Time code levels
Nominal 100 milliVolts peak to peak. Maximum input level 10Volts peak to peak.
Time code speed
Currently untested, but should work for at least +- 10%
Dimensions
Width 160mm, excluding controls, height 130mm, depth 36mm.
Power
The minimum volts to function is 4.1V at about 600mA when the display is at maximum intensity.
Option of external power, 2.5mm laptop style connector.
User Bits
The user bits are decoded and stored on a frame by frame basis when reading time code but are not currently utilized by the software.
Other
Reverse polarity protected
Options
External DC in. 9 to 20Volts DC, will charge batteries at 100mA
Lithium 7.4V battery back under development
For more information on the Babyslate digital slate please go HERE.
Big HT to @hoccusfoccus for pointing out the Babyslate to us.