A1/G1/H1 firewire streaming???

[meta4]

I've searched but haven't found anything. And with the existence of the Firestore I'm guessing no.

But can the Canon's stream video out their firewire's to a firewire hdd?

'cuz if they can...I'm looking at this (http://www.seagate.com/products/retail/external/usbfirewire/index.html).

or would I have to connect with this (http://www.bella-usa.com/Catapult.htm)?

[Elton]

Yes, it streams in the .m2t format, which can be captured by a number of HDV-compatible devices, including HDD's.

[meta4]

super cool, so I could just buy that firewire hdd, no need for that catapult converter thing???

Then record 24f straight to the firewire hdd, then straight to computer editing workstation?

(I guess this is obvious from your answer, just want to make sure)

thanks again Elton

It seems like if I could just record straight to firewire hard drive, nobody would buy a firestore.

[meta4]

bump

[Barry_Green]

No, no camera on the market today (that I know of) goes straight to a firewire hard disk. You must have something in-between. Which is why the FireStore, CitiDisk HD, Sony DR60, and nNovia QuickCapture all exist.

[meta4]

thanks for clearing that Barry

[Elton]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant HDV compatible firewire hard disk recorders like Firestore C and CitiDisk.

That said, I'm not sure if the Firestore C actually records 24F as an FCP-compatible, demuxed .m2v file. I think it just records the m2t stream and you will need software to convert it. Come to think of it...you might be able to stream clips via firewire into FCP 1080p 24 HDV mode, which converts it to an editable, demuxed .m2v QT file.

That said, it might be easier to just buy the little Canon HV10 as an ingest deck, and capture tapes with scene detection. This captures all your clips in 1080 24p, and separates them as individual clips for each time you hit the record button.

This seems to be working well for some right now.

[meta4]

nah, I'll just get one of these, I can't believe more people aren't excited about this.

Catapult (http://www.bella-usa.com/Catapult.htm)

[Barry_Green]

Well it looks very promising. If it works rock-solid-reliably, I think you'll see a lot more people being excited by it. I think a lot of us are a bit gunshy about hard disk recorders in general, seeing what the other companies have gone through.

[Bogdan]

Yeap, unfortunately no camcorder in this price range can record directly to HDD because an operating system is required to manage the files. That's why Firestore and other direct-to-disk solutions come with OS built in the firmware. They are actually specialized computers.

RED and other upcoming projects will be equipped with SATA ports for recording on hot-swappable hard disks. File management will be done from the camera or specialized notebook computer built in the system like with Silicon Imaging for example.

[meta4]

yeah, ummm...Red is kinda outta my price range:)

Heck, the HVX200 is outta my price range!

I'm sticking with anything that I can get:
HD resolution,
Hard Drive capture,
Cineform
**for less than an HVX is the goal
I might be able to squeeze in a brevis35 if that little thingy works, it'll save me money. I already have some external USB2 hard drives.


Here's to hoping, but good point Barry, if it doesn't work reliably...it doesn't work.

I'm also disappointed that they haven't contacted or joined these forums, talking about the unit the way cineform does is great for sales!! Worries me regarding customer focus.

[meta4]

Yeap, unfortunately no camcorder in this price range can record directly to HDD because an operating system is required to manage the files. That's why Firestore and other direct-to-disk solutions come with OS built in the firmware. They are actually specialized computers.

Although, if a consumer sony camera can store to an internal HDD. I think we sometimes make things more complex (expensive) than they are.

The technology is here, and relatively cheap, to write to a HDD. Why not make it external?

Wonder why they don't do that? Seems like they would totally transform the way we capture.


If I had the money, I'd build a Canon A1 for AVC-HD, with a firewire & USB 2.0 plug that writes directly to external HDD. Then I'd sell external HDDs with shock protection and RAID options.

Users could buy my tested & shock proof HDDs or use their own untested, non-shock proof'd external HDDs.

Of course if I had money, I'd do a lot of cool stuff...

[Bogdan]

You're right, technology is here and relatively cheap, but hardware gets only half the job done. External, swappable HDD recording with direct-to-NLE access requires Windows and Mac compatibility so we're talking about licensing. Recorder has to provide plenty of high speed buffer memory and that also costs money. Portable HDD has to meet higher requirements (shock and environmental), maybe not on military level, but definitely higher than regular HDDs inside our desktop computers. Those are the reasons why Firestore and similar devices cost so much. They don't sell in numbers like regular HDDs. Of course, I'm confident they could cost less, but the pro video market takes what they supply.

[Norbert]

Does anyone know if Citidisk can handle 25F?

[Elton]

Pretty sure it does.

[Noel Evans]

Well since direct to HDD isnt going to improve image quality I am waylaying that expense for now.

I have ordered:

Canon A1
m2 HD 35 mm adapter

(with the camera size and its lens mount I am expecting all my other accessories like mattebox, shoulder mount set up, merlin to work well with it)

What I am looking for is something that will allow component capture to my imac, in studio situations I always do direct capture to my imac, so want to keep doing that using the higher color space if possible. I did see something but need to research again. Anyone remember?

[Elton]

Pretty sure you need a Mac with a PCI-X or PCI Express slot in order to do this.

ncje, you might be surprised to find Canon's HDV to be pretty keyable, especially if you transcode to a better codec like pjpeg or Sheer and work in those formats. Nattress Film Effects plug-in has some nice features called "G Chroma Sharpen Progressive" and "G Nicer" which are excellent chroma reconstruction filters. They will help to pull clean keys from HDV footage.

http://www.nattress.com/Products/filmeffects/G_Chroma_Sharpen_Prog.htm

[Noel Evans]

Yeah Elton but I did see one that works through firewire.... just cant remember where hmmm. Need to do a thorough search again.

And on the Natress film effects plug in, thats great news as I already have it. I have used the g chroma sharpen on footage with reds on the DVX and it really cleaned them nicely.


EDIT
Quick search and ye shall find : http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=AJIOLA&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=307759

So for an extra $1k I have my 10 bit uncompressed composite capturing at 4:2:2. As I said I only need it in certain circumstances but good to have.

Just found one used on ebay for $600.. wonder should I pick it up .. ebay worries me.

I am assuming as this was co developed with apple its the best solution out there.