what would you choose? 16gig or DTE HDD

robertwerden

robertwerden

Well-known member
Im going to be getting an hvx next month and at first I figured Id get the 16 gig p2.
However my plans for shooting will be out doors for long periods of time. So it is now interesting to me to have a DTE hdd.

Would you stick with the 16 gig or go with the DTE?
If you were to go with the DTE,
Would you choose the citidisk 120 or the fs-100? and why.

Thanks in advance.
Rob
 
I would not take the Citidisk if you gave it to me for free -- I have yet to hear something positive about it.

The P2 cards are ideal for use in the field because of their robustness and tolerance of adverse conditions. You can get two 16GB cards for the price of a FS-100, and if you need more capacity than the cards offer, you can offload to a laptop. It's not ideal, but I'd rather do that than worry about maintaining a good Firewire connection at all times and keeping the FS-100 battery charged.
 
Robert, get and stay with P2. Many of us started on the HVX P2 road more than a year ago with 4GB as the "standard" and then the 8GB. You are coming into this at a great time. 16GB will be your standard for just a bit more than I paid for my 4GB.

Enjoy and don't look back. Before you know it the 32GBs will be out.

The harddisk based systems were a short-term and seemingly short-lived poor solution.
Maybe some have had good luck with them, but they added their own set of rules to the work flow equation.

So get a couple of 16s an backup to a laptop as Thoff said above.
 
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You know if they had started out with 32 or 64 gig cards I dont think there would have been so much confusion as to DTE or not to DTE. 4 and 8 gig record times were so small and for documentry film making not a valid solution.
I think your right. DTE seems to be very uncertain and there are litterly no user concensus supporting its use.
I do googles for all the models of DTE and the reports are all a year to 2 years old. Almost like vapor ware.
 
If you want to go the DTE route, there is simply no other product other than the FS-100 that you should even consider. There are only two products on the market, and only one has a proven track record. However, even that is IMHO more complicated and inherently less reliable than P2.
 
Im reading the hvx instruction manual and on page 84 it describes how to copy p2 from the camera to a firewire hdd.
I was under the impression that dumping required a Computer to be hooked up to the HDD.
Is this not so?
Can you dump directly from the hvx to a powered firewire hdd? If so who makes these ?
 
Yes you can offload directly to a firewire hard disk. And practically nobody makes a self-powered firewire hard disk, that's probably why you don't hear about it very often.
 
I say use the p2, and a laptop with pcmcia slot, thats what I do, and I have a 4gb, I can't wait till some of these rich folk start selling off their 8 gigs after getting their 16s

Jason
 
Easily, i'd pick the 16gb P2 card. I even picked a 8gb P2 card over a fs-100 or similar devices.
 
If you have a laptop and time in between scenes to offload, then get two 16GB P2 cards. Otherwise, get an FS-100.
 
I agree. If you are a Mac user, especially a MacBook Pro user, don't be so quick to dismiss the FS-100. I haven't seen many positive things written about the Duel Adapter for ingesting the card. I have an FS-100 and it works like a dream in QTnative. I shoot long format docs and would be happy to use p2 cards when the 32GBs come out IF someone can find a reliable means to download the cards (reliable being the keyword). I just received my 16GB card from B&H and will be testing it out in the next 2 or 3 days. More later.
 
external self powered firewire hard disk

external self powered firewire hard disk

You can find external (2.5") hard drives on ebay which are powered through the firewire cable. Just don't know if the hvx delivers enough power to power such a disk. These are made for notebooks - which also run on a battery.

So, if I understand it well, it is possible to offload my P2 data to such an external firewire disk?
 
The HVX delivers no power at all, period. It's not possible using a four-pin connector, and even if it had a six-pin connector, supplying power is an optional feature.
 
I bought a FS100 with my HVX a couple of months ago... I got my 16GB rebate p2 in the mail yesterday. Having worked with P2 before on a friend's cam, and used teh FS-100 for 90% of my shooting thus far, here is what I have learned or otherwise experienced:

1. P2 rules with the ability to playback slow-mo and fast-mo footage instantaneously.
2. I have been on many shoots where I've shot over two hours of footage, and (while being kind of bulky to lug around as I don't have a jimmybox or anything) the FS-100 has performed just fine in each of those situations. I have the stock FW cord, and also a 15' FW cord for crane or other applications.
3. With the FS-100 I have an extra step in post production (running my footage through the Frame rate converter) that is not always 100% neccesary, but should be done.

So IMO, if you can afford two 16GB cards, and a 120GB or better laptop for offloading, AND don't need to roll continuous for more than about 80 minutes @ 24pn, then go with p2.

I did not at the time I bought my FS-100 because I coudln't afford it (no 16Gb at that time) or justify it, since I do lots of event work. THoff is right,
if you are going to get a disk recorder, your only option should be the FS-100.

Also remember that you do not HAVE to shoot everything in HD. DVCPRO50 is a very decent quality, and with much longer recording times for both the p2 or FS-100.
 
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