Another Firestore Alternative Thread

[Kit Hannah]

So I was thinking of either making some sort of external recorder to capture HD (like a small HD-DVR) or more likely, just making some sort of Hard Disc Enclosure to offload cards to hard drive. Obviously, I know that you can currently offload cards to external hard drives, but it might be cool to have an external hard drive that's mounted inline with your battery system, rather than an external just floating around. Pointless? What do you think? Maybe even a "mobile P2 store" that's hooked on the back of your camera. I'm not sure it would really save much time rather than going to an external hard drive, but it would be cool even if you had 2x P2 Cards and while recording to one, you dump the other right on the camera..

Just a thought. Maybe a cheaper or better solution than the Firestore..

And BTW, I have owned multiple Firestores and I hate theway the interface is, the case design, etc. If they made the Firestore the way that Nnovia used to make their products, they would have a much better design and many more users.

Watcha think?

Kit

[SMGINC]

I agree Kit! I've had 4 diff firestores over the years and they are pretty bad. Do you really think it would be worth the effort now though since the E series cards have been brought out? I would be interested in something with a better UI, adaptable battery plate like a nebtek but integrated, much like certain battery chargers that take a slew of battery options, SSD possibly or even a board that takes CF cards like the Convergent Designs deal but smaller. IDK but these would be some of my choices for a drive. oh yeah locking 6pin FW.

[cheezweezl]

if it records realtime, then useful. if only for offloading during downtime, sounds like dead weight. well i guess i can see how it might be convenient in some ways. just seems like a lot to go through to save yourself from simply pulling a drive out of a bag and plugging it in.

but hey, if you build it i wanna see it!!!

[Kit Hannah]

Yeah, I understand. I don't know though. I'm wondering if some sort of jazzed up handheld computer would pull it off. It might look pretty cool having some sort of touch screen device hanging off the back of your camera.

I do agree, Cheez, that it would somewhat be dead weight, but it would be handy to still be able to use your camera at the same time. More or less, it would kind of be for run and gun situations. I do a lot of freelance work and sometimes I'm running all over the place. Might be cool instead of having to dock somewhere. But I agree, for most situations, you could just offload through an external PCMCIA reader to a laptop.

I'm just trying to add some cool stuff to my camera to make it more effective.

I also agree SMG that the newer priced cards may be more efficient.

[SMGINC]

Touch screen would be pretty cool, but only if it was as responsive as an iPhones haha, and maybe did playback via proxies from the footage captured, and with an external button for last clip review.

[andythefilmer]

You know... believe it or not, I actually heard about an app possibly coming out for the iPhone/iTouch, along with a special piece of hardware that records any format of video to this special piece of hardware. It has a 6 pin firewire in and another out with a built in 40, 60 or 100 GB hd in it. That thing has a cord going to the iPhone where you can control everything. It also comes with a mount to attach the iPhone to the hot shoe of the camera. I read the article somewhere online here but I can't find it again. If I find it will let you know.

[Kit Hannah]

The iphone idea is cool. But then what, your phone is tied up while you're shooting? unless it is some sort of fully hardware driven device, it might just be vaporware. I don't think the iphone has that kind of processing power to pull that off.

I think I have a really good idea in the works here after doing another 12+ hours of research and I just may be able to pull it off. Might be something viable. I gotta keep plugging away at this...

Kit

[Postmaster]

Mini Notebook and On Location?

Frank

[Kit Hannah]

Kinda, Postmaster. There's going to be a lot more to it though. More of an integrated solution. The small notebooks these days have come a long way but still have many limitations. Especially hard drive speed. 4200 rpm wont cut it. But processor speed is still slow too in those as well as i/o configurations. Gonna take me a month or 2 to come up with something.

[MikeD]

Do you mean something like the Flash XDR only docked to the camera? If so I would buy that for sure.

[Kit Hannah]

I definitely plan on having it docked, Mike, otherwise there's no point IMO, might as well be tethered to a laptop. The Flash XDR is fine for what it does, but to me,it's more of a supped up firestore. It even has close to the same form factor.

It has always been my dream to integrate something revolutionary into the camera, or at least dockable inline with the battery system - something that is streamlined. Maybe it provides different things than just recording.

I can't say something like this is going to be cheap, but I almost bet that there could be a solution cheaper than the the Fash XDR that does more. That puppy costs $4800 at B&H.