Yes! You don't need a high-end workstation for full-speed frame capture or processing. Most PCs with mid-range specifications and a USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) port are perfectly capable. Our AxionFlow™ frame processing software is incredibly efficient. You can typically achieve real-time processing, meaning a 5-minute footage takes just 5 minutes to process, even on a mid-range PC.

Yes, you can absolutely use an external or network drive as your save location. You'll manage it just like any other drive on your PC. However, it's crucial to consider data transfer speeds. The full bandwidth generated during scanning can exceed 5 Gbps. To avoid creating a performance bottleneck, your chosen drive must be able to handle these high data rates. External Drives: A USB 3.0 or higher SSD external drive generally works, but USB 3.1 or USB 3.2 drives are strongly recommended for optimal performance. Network Drives: A 5-Gigabit Ethernet (5GbE) network is the minimum requirement, with a 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) network recommended. We've built a Drive Speed Assessment tool right into our AxionDirect scanning software. You can use this tool to test and confirm if a specific drive is fast enough for full-speed scanning and processing. If a drive doesn't meet the full-speed requirement, it is possible that you can still successfully perform lower-speed scanning with it.

AxionFlow™ uses a flexible, configuration-driven output system rather than a fixed set of formats. All output formats are defined through a dedicated, upgradeable configuration file, allowing users to freely add, modify, or remove format profiles to match their workflow. Out of the box, AxionFlow™ supports a wide range of industry-standard formats, including: H.264 (multiple encoder options, including software and hardware acceleration) H.265 / HEVC (multiple encoder options, including software and hardware acceleration) AV1 VP9 FFV1 (lossless archival codec) Apple ProRes variants DPX image sequences PNG image sequences This list is not fixed. We continuously expand and refine available profiles based on user feedback and real-world use cases. If you have specific requirements, we can go beyond simply adding new formats. We can also fine-tune existing profiles to meet precise technical targets, for example, a specific bitrate or data rate constraints for H.265, or achieving a particular compression outcome. Custom profiles can be tailored to align with your exact workflow, delivery specifications, or archival standards. Feel free to reach out with your requirements.

At launch in Fall 2025, the software will be available for Windows only. Mac support is already in development and will be released in a future update.

Processing speed in AxionFlow™ depends on several factors, including: Selected output video format(s) Output resolution Whether audio processing (e.g., OST) is enabled System hardware (CPU and GPU capabilities) Storage performance (local drive or network storage) How processing is handled Optical Soundtrack (OST) audio is always processed on the CPU Video encoding may be handled by: CPU (software encoding) Integrated CPU hardware encoders Dedicated GPU encoders (typically the fastest option) Dedicated GPU encoders (such as newer NVIDIA GPUs) generally provide the best performance, followed by integrated CPU encoders, with pure software encoding being the slowest. Typical performance example (as a general guideline): A 10-minute 4K (24 fps) scan with H.264 output and OST audio enabled can be processed in under 3 minutes on a modern system (e.g., a CPU comparable to an Intel 265k with hardware encoding support) On older systems (e.g., a laptop-class CPU like an Intel 11700T), the same task may take approximately 7–8 minutes Adding a newer NVIDIA GPU can improve performance by up to ~25%, depending on configuration Impact of output format Formats such as H.264, H.265, and AV1 can leverage hardware encoders (if supported), resulting in faster processing Formats such as ProRes, VP9, DPX, and PNG image sequences are currently CPU-only and will take longer due to: Lack of hardware acceleration Higher computational complexity Larger output file sizes Storage and network considerations Fast local storage (e.g., NVMe SSD) helps maintain consistent processing speeds, especially for high-resolution or image sequence outputs Slower drives (e.g., HDDs or SATA SSDs) may become a bottleneck when writing large files When using network storage: Limited bandwidth or network congestion can reduce performance High-speed connections (e.g., 5GbE, 10GbE) are recommended for large workflows such as DPX or PNG sequences Additional considerations Processing multiple output formats simultaneously will increase total processing time Higher resolutions and more complex encoding settings will also extend processing duration