Workflow

[Glazarus]

Ok, I'm still owning a dvx100e and it's beginning to go out of date.
I must move into HD soon or else I'm screwed :P
Now, I looked at the RED camera but that is still way out of my budget. The HVX200 is still far away too, but it's still a little more in range of my economy.

Anyway, I was thinking about the workflow of the HVX200. You need P2 cards to record HD media, but I heared that someone recorded onto his Ipod, or at least recorded to his P2 card first and then transfered it to his Ipod.
Now, does anyone know if there is a way to record onto harddrives that doesn't cost as much as the camera itself?

[wgzn]

no. there is no cheap back door way to avoid P2/firestore. you can record to a hard drive directly through your edit/capture software of choice. but that doesnt work well for work in the field.

the ipod method you refer to (if i recall) was used to dump footage TO not to use for recording.

P2 cards are getting CHEAP! 8 gigs are down to like $650 16gigs for under a grand.
unless you are recording depositions or speeches (situations where you must roll non-stop for over 15 min) you can get by very well with 2 8 gig cards. shoot to one while you transfer the other to a laptop.

so here is the math:
- two 8gig cards $1300
- old pcmcia equipped laptop $700

$2000. IMO, if you cant work that into your budget - you probably dont really "NEED" to go HD at the moment anyway.

a lot of folks are buying the HVX and shooting miniDV to tape until they can afford P2 cards.

[Nathan Beaman]

Here's the ipod thing - I posted a step by step a while back.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=74779

It's not really practical now though, as bus powered firewire drives are more readily avilable and P2 media has come down so much. It will work though. I would currently only use it as a last ditch effort in a crunch.

[Glazarus]

So, if 1 minute 1080p material is about 1 gig, that means an hour footage, or at least 55 minutes (because of the partions) is what you get with the ipod.
Jeez, when I shoot movies I want many takes and many variations of a performance. How do you really solve this timelimit issue?

[wgzn]

get a bigger hard drive. drive space is cheap. dont let that get in your way.

[Glazarus]

Ok, let's get one thing cleared... :)
If I have a HVX200 with an 8gb P2 card, an Ipod and one 1tb portable harddrive (usual 7200rpm harddrive with firewire, like the one I use as a storage space for editing), is that all you need to capture 16 hours of 1080p footage? Or must the harddrive be a laptop? Because a laptop does not have much storage. A cheap laptop has the same amount of diskspace as a 60gb ipod.

[wgzn]

man, you are sooooo just creating hassle and worry for yourself. heck, youve already blown $500 in time and effort just trying to find a work around to save another $500.

no. an ipod and a drive alone isnt going to get you there. plus it introduces a whole bunch of places to screw things up on location. dont try to "ghetto" it up. just get yourself a used (or new gen cheap) laptop and an external hard drive. i dont want to hear you here later this year clammoring for help because in an effort to save a grand you lost 3 months worth of footage ; )

if you NEED to shoot HD, you can find a way to work in good reliable gear into your workflow. if not, you didnt NEED to shoot HD to begin with...

[Glazarus]

I don't have the money to buy either camera at this moment, but I'm planning to do that because everything is going in that direction. HDTV is about to become the standard of TV in just two - three years in Sweden, the blu-ray/HD-DVD market is about to explode etc etc.

If there is a right time to start saving money and check on HD equipment, it's now. So yes, I feel that I must go into HD, because I'm very keen on getting somewhere with my filmmaking. And to do that and to make movies with great visuals, I need something good.
I'm also starting a company that is based around video and stillphotography, so to compete on the market, HD is a good ace. :)


Anyway, ok, Ipod is not a choice then. The Ipod was just a thought because it's small and easy to carry if your going to a location that is difficult to get to, like up on a mountain or something.

But the real question then, is the choice of a good HDD. The HDD's that you can mount on the camera are way too expensive, so do you know a HDD that is powered by the laptop through USB or something? So that you can use it on a remote location? Or is the best choice to get a laptop with a large internal HDD that you can use for remote locations and a usual external drive whenever there is power around?

What I mean by a "usual" drive is this:
http://www.scandinavianphoto.se/product/item.aspx?iID=6126664

It's in swedish, but you get the idea...
So, are there any reliable harddrives that are cheap but with much diskspace?
I'm only interested in 500 - 1tb, because that is close to how many tapes I use when shooting on DV.