The Sidewinder VPU is an HDMI processing unit that can rotate and de-squeeze a video signal for easy monitoring of vertically captured video, including vertical video captured using anamorphic lenses.
The unit is small and simple, allowing you to rotate video 90, 180, or 270 degrees before optionally de-squeezing the video by 1.33x, 1.5x, 1.8x, 2x, 2.33x, 2.5x, 2.85x, 3x, or 4x. This list will be updatable via firmware and will likely be different by the time the Sidewinder ships, based on user request. There may even be a custom squeeze factor option.
The unit utilizes a Raspberry Pi CM5 to process the video signal. While this keeps the price down and makes it easy to program, it does come with some caveats as far as performance goes. According to Light Widow, latency and color performance leave a bit to be desired, and there can be some occasional shearing in the image with fast camera moves. Despite this, the unit is still a very usable solution for monitoring vertically captured anamorphic video.
Because of these caveats, the Sidewinder VPU is only really useful for basic monitoring for framing or director/client monitoring, and it is not a good solution for focus pulling, color accuracy, or in-monitor recording.
Pricing & Availability
The Light Widow Sidewinder VPU is scheduled to start shipping in September 2025. You can pre-order it for $249 USD. Hopefully there will be an SDI version in the future.
