Daydreaming: Could this be made for FS-100 substitution?

[x002657]

Given the relative dearth of DTE recording products for the HVX and the other P2 cams, the arguably high cost of the FS-100, the demise of the CinePorter, the lack of HD (not HDV) products by nNovia and Datavideo, and the poor market acceptance of the CitiDisk, I got to wondering how hard it would be to build something that would serve only the software function of external units like the FS-100, nNovia, or the Citidisk, and, rather than include a hard drive, allow for connection of an external Firewire (or maybe even eSATA or some other external) device of our choosing. Basically, I'm picturing a very small "black box" that would handle the necessary processing of HVX/HPX Firewire output and writing DTE-ready files to an external drive. Using external enclosures of our choosing, couldn't such a box have the ability to perform much like any products mentioned above?

Would it require much more than a processing chip and something like an EPROM, CF, or SD card to carry the software? That could allow it to be pretty small. Of course there's the power source issue, but would that be more than negligible? (As you may tell, I don't have a clue about chip design/demands; just "thinking out loud").

Something like this strikes me as useful, if it could even be built. (And I don't know if it could). Considering how close the Cineporter reportedly got in development, those folks and/or FE may be in the best position to make something like this.

Though, with even one more cable or connection to deal with, it could make a real Medusa's head out of a cam.

Would others find something like this useful? If it could be built at a reasonable cost, e.g. < $ 500, and an external drive could be had for approx. $ 200, it would still be less expensive than most current options and would allow me to grow my storage capabilities slowly and in smaller - and controllable - steps than dropping a couple grand on larger & more expensive P2 cards. I'd certainly consider buying one. Would others?

I'm totally unknowledgeable about such things. I have strict budget constraints and little $$ to play with (and I suspect I'm not alone in that regard), but as I stated above, I'm daydreaming, so don't beat on me too hard, please.

 

[TwistedLincoln]

Certainly doable, but difficult to implement for the same reason that you can't capture streaming DVCPROHD from firewire with GNU/Linux yet: you'd need to know how the raw video stream is being sent from the camera. I don't think this is an openly documented process.

The folks at Spec-Comm spent an insane amount of time and money reverse engineering the P2 card functionality to figure out how the camera communicates with the P2 cards when they were building the Cineporter. My guess is that it would take a similar effort to build a device that could take the raw data stream from the camera and write it to the appropriate files on a hard drive.

It's likely much easier to buy and modify an FS-100 to allow for swappable drives, as others here have done.

 

[Noel Evans]

Well Im not so up on the technical aspects myself, but I suspect if you were to do this and it worked. The ability to power tap? from the camera and in turn ourput bus power to the hdd would be a great feature. Then you could allocate a drive and actually mount it somehow, making the setup mobile.

 

[x002657]

Daydreaming as vaporware

Daydreaming as vaporware

Certainly doable, but difficult to implement for the same reason that you can't capture streaming DVCPROHD from firewire with GNU/Linux yet: you'd need to know how the raw video stream is being sent from the camera. I don't think this is an openly documented process.

I didn't think it was openly documented, but somewhere in the CinePorter thread or history I recall that SpecComm had at least been in touch w/Panasonic at some point, so I guessed (apparently in error) that Panny was willing to share with them. I didn't know it was being reverse-engineered.

However, it strikes me as well within the means of Focus Enhancements, since they already know how to deal with the raw video stream for the FS-100. FE would be doing a favor for (I think) a lot of us if they would make a less-expensive, processor-only device and let us choose which actual HDD to use. (Unless Panny is charging an exorbitant fee for licensing the process, which FE must recoup..something I wouldn't be surprised about).

It's likely much easier to buy and modify an FS-100 to allow for swappable drives, as others here have done.

Interesting. I didn't know anyone had done that successfully.
Thanks for the reply.

x

 

[Barry_Green]

This device exists. It's called a laptop computer running OnLocation or one of the Mac alternatives.

Before you proceed with such a device, see if using a laptop wouldn't work just as well. And then factor in that 64GB cards will probably be on the market in about five months or so, so a user with a 32GB card and a 64GB card will have as much storage as an FS-100 with none of the hassle, and you'll have to ask yourself if there really is a market for hard disk recording at all. And if there is a market, how much of that market can be satisfied with the existing products and/or the laptop solution?

I think you'll find that there'd be very little demand. Hard disk recording is an interim phase that's probably very close to being on the way out.

 

[x002657]

Thanks...I needed that (slap).

Thanks...I needed that (slap).

This device exists. It's called a laptop computer running OnLocation or one of the Mac alternatives.

Thanks, folks. I'm sure the laptop route would work, but I don't own one as yet, and am not likely to have the resources to get one that would do justice to OnLocation and still purchase OnLocation any time soon. (Though by the time something like this was built and hit the market, I might).

Before you proceed with such a device, see if using a laptop wouldn't work just as well. And then factor in that 64GB cards will probably be on the market in about five months or so, so a user with a 32GB card and a 64GB card will have as much storage as an FS-100 with none of the hassle, and you'll have to ask yourself if there really is a market for hard disk recording at all. And if there is a market, how much of that market can be satisfied with the existing products and/or the laptop solution?

I think you'll find that there'd be very little demand. Hard disk recording is an interim phase that's probably very close to being on the way out.

Given the balance of my resources, i.e. more time available than money, I was daydreaming that someone like Focus Enhancements or SpecComm might be willing to provide something a bit less bulky than the laptop option, and that costs less than large P2 cards, something that would work with this or a similar product:
http://www.cooldrives.com/saiitofi80al.html
i.e. effectively, an FS-100 without the built-in HDD. I guess I just have to be patient and save my pennies.

Sometimes I even daydream of world peace

Thanks for the feedback.

x