I've been trying to follow the development of the Ninja throughout last year, and finally got to see it first-hand. The Ninja must have been the fifth external recorder available, but it's by far the cheapest and most complete. For less than $1000, the Ninja ships with the Ninja unit, two drive cases, drive dock, two batteries, charger, and a tough padded case. HDMI is the only way in to the Ninja, which is becoming more readily available. They weren't able to tell me if it will be able to properly record an over/undercranked signal; that may only be available in the onboard recording mechanism of the camera.
The basic interface is touch-screen; a big record button, and a big play button. Simple. There is a live-view button that displays a live feed, though its only good enough to be a confidence monitor. The device records native ProRes LT or standard 422.
The drives are the simplest part of the Ninja. Included are two plastic drive carriers, that can be filled with whatever off-the-shelf laptop hard drive you want. There is a known compatibility list that is continually growing, but is otherwise very inexpensive. The included dock is similar to the RED dock; a metal housing with dual firewire 800 and what I think is USB 3; don't quote me on that. All these components are available apart from the kit.
The Ninja has been shipping for a month now, with new firmwares available regularly. Atamos has also announced the Samurai, which is a slightly larger touch-screen and HD-SDI loop-through. No date on shipping.
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