After just a few minutes, enthusiasm for the new Pearl Nano has sunk considerably if you take a closer look at the well-known “layout editor” here, which by far * does not * have the flexibility of a Pearl-Mini.
Unfortunately, this was always well hidden in the previous product video presentations and webinar events …
Creating a side-by-side scenario from two input sources is tedious. Changing the size of a video source in the layout editor is not possible (“locked”), yet- just moving of a previous scales source is allowed:
Scaling has to be done directly in the source (e.g. HDMI input) itself, here in the “Frame Grabber Settings” (only fixed video sizes are allowed).
So this “video source” can now only be moved in the layout “editor”, something that every simpler video mixer can do today. So this editor looks here more like a image shuffle tool.
I think … here the Pearl actually just a little too “Nano” (tiny) at the moment … somehow annoying.
So please be careful before PURCHASING and check this topic very carefully.
Oh dear … it can get worse !!!
An RTSP video source cannot currently be scaled at all, so it must always be provided in the correct video size suitable for the layout size (here 1920x1080) - when is that the case?
(RTSP video size is 1024x768, Full-HD would fill up the whole screen - can not be changed !!!)
With these sizing restrictions, the Pearl Nano can only be used to a very limited extent … probably save the money and … buy a “real” Pearl Mini … right?
This is something we are aware of, currently the dynamic scaling that the bigger brothers of Pearl Mini and Pearl-2 is not possible, it needs to be a fixed scale as you have shown, but this is something we hope to improve in future updates.
Keep in mind that Nano is nowhere near as powerful as Mini or 2, and is not intended to be as dynamic as a full all-in-one production system like Mini or 2. As such there are going to be some things that are not available on Nano in the same way as the larger models.
This is a huge dealbreaker for us gang - I thought it would be added by now! If the Nano could hold and switch between even a few layouts and make them easy to change, it would handle 99% of our use cases. We would quite literally be purchasing them by the hundreds. And before you recommend I look at the Mini, understand you’re asking us to pay more than twice the price for this one feature while your competitor already offers this feature on their competing product for just $100 more than the Nano.
Please look at getting this feature added or creating a Nano v2 with this capability!
You are absolutely right ! The Pearl Nano is (here) still not to be used seriously - since its appearance back then - many simple “things” are still missing.
We use many Pearl-2 or Pearl-Minis here at our university, but buying more of this equipment would simply not be possible - especially for many smaller seminar rooms - (too expensive).
What is BAD about the current NANO - and I don’t need NANOv2 (!) and could certainly be fixed:
Only one fixed layout for a MOBILE device - developed completely at the market !! Not all rooms are the same.
It’s still not even possible to connect a single (enough!) USB camera, although support was announced at the first time. It’s a mobile system, so you can’t always have an “SDI studio cam” with you. Guys, where does the development team live !!
The 4K option is nice and beautiful, but we only have the NANO in the closet due to the few but serious limitations - expensive decorative goods !! 4K will not be activated until this is fixed !
Pearl Mini ? It is clear that if too much goes on the Nano, the Mini sells less - but then the Mini does not sell at all - since it is often too expensive - it is always just a component for recording !!
We would have equipped many more smaller rooms with a “Nano” or made such devices available for mobile loan, but in the current state of development a “laptop with the free Open Broadcaster Studio” has to be enough.
** Unfortunately, intelligent marketing / product development looks different …
Ilja Kaleck
Head of Networking/Streaming Media Department
University of Applied Sciences, Wedel
Germany
We greatly appreciate your feedback. We see great value in the thoughts/viewpoints of our clients and believe it is important to take these into serious consideration when developing new features/services/products.
Things like dynamic scaling of video inputs (just like Mini or Pearl-2), 4K ingestion, recording, and streaming, H265 encoding and other improvements under to hood have been released for Nano since the previous post from March 2021. As an end-of-the-line recording and streaming encoder, an SRT contribution encoder, or a simple 2 video-in solution, Nano has seen great success in the field. However, there will always be things that we can improve on and do better.
I have raised your concerns with the greater team and added both of you to the appropriate feature requests. We review client feedback on a regular basis and I will be sure to highlight what both of you have mentioned here today during our next feedback meeting.
Basically Pearl Mini is indeed limited by its current hardware, and likely nothing short of a significant hardware refresh will allow it to support H.265 and 4k in the future.
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