Atomos' Shogun 4K recorder/monitor has been shipping for a few weeks - in quite large numbers, apparently - but has lacked a major feature: playback. Now, as promised, that's been fixed with a new firmware upgrade.
It's always a difficult decision for manufacturers: should you ship a new product with important features missing and start the revenues flowing, or should you wait until it's all working, and then release a "complete" product.
You can never imagine Apple saying "shall we ship this now, and tell people we'll fill in the gaps later?" No? But that's exactly what they did with the iPhone. They shipped it without any app store or developer's kit, and that didn't stop it remodelling the mobile phone landscape (for ever, it would seem). So the real question isn't "should it be perfect from the outset", but "does it make sense as a product - does it give any significant value - with elements still missing"?. And, with the Shogun, Atomos clearly thought that there was enough to like about the Shogun to ship it without playback in place.
And they were probably right about this. It's called a recorder and a monitor, and it did both of those things. Playback is important but, unless you have some unusual mode of operation in mind for it, it's not essential.
Anyway, this is an argument that can be consigned to the trashcan of history, because the problem has been fixed and the download is available from here.
This will make the Shogun much nicer to use, as you'll be able to review your material immediately. And new customers will no longer have to be frustrated by what was supposed to be an integral feature of their purchase.
Here's the full list of fixes and new features in the new software:
Shogun 6.1 release notes FID:060306100207 Bug fixes: - Improved speed of SATA drive mounting. - Recording will start a new clip when exceeding the quicktime sample count limitations - fixes corrupt clips on long recordings - Changed screen settings to improve calibration results - Fixed obscure problems in timecode accuracy Features: - Playback! - Scrolling movie picker - Audio meters added to playback - Independently record or mute left and right analog channels when recording (Important for 48V) - Input screen will notify when monitor is not compatible with the video mode - Option to disable HDMI timecode output for monitors who do not accept this flag - Tally light now blinks when recording - Many Gui enhancements Known bugs: - A few seconds analog headphone delay is experienced when switching between playback and record.