CinePorter™ FAQ

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Hi Endurance Man. We are still shooting for the middle of summer. This may change due to some factors, including the parts supply chain. We will announce an official date when everything is nailed down.

Thanks for sticking with us,

David
 
David,
I am sure you are 100% aware of it, but you certainly have a tough race against the Firestore FS100. The specs and price of your product are centainly better. Firestore has a good track record of reliability, the support of Panasonic, and are supposed to start selling their product in a couple of weeks.
I hope you are able to bring a reliable product to market quickly, before everybody has bought FS100.
Good luck to you.
 
Thanks so much. I Know it would be easy to get caught up in this "race." The whole mission statement for the CinePorter™ is this: "To sell more P2 Gear". We already have hundreds of standing orders for P2 gear from the Broadcast Community, which is our primary market, hinging on CinePorter™ release, with many more pending. These clients will be purchasing the P2 gear from us, thus supporting us and the CinePorter™ solution. If some in the film community, simply can't wait, we'll be selling the FireStore as well as other competitive products.

In the end, our goal is to have a "bulletproof" product. If it takes a little longer than some would like or if it's delayed, well, it is what it is. We won't rush it just for the sake of keeping up. There is always going to be a market for the CinePorter™ AND the FireStore.

Thank you for your support,

David Linetsky
President
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Drive
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
davidl@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com

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Reserve today, and receive FREE Shipping and a FREE cleaning for your new camera.
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David:

Give us a product that's worth the wait and we will wait. I look forward to seeing the final product attached to my HVX!
 
David,
Good to know you have hundreds of orders. I think all HVX200 users would like to have two good/excellent/reliable options. I am glad you will only release the product when it is 100% reliable.
Cheers.
 
It's strange that people think there is such a close race between the cineporter and the Firestore. The only thing the Firestore has going for it is that it will be out sooner. Too bad it can't record any of the native recording modes that really make the HVX such a great camera! The cineporter, from my understanding, will for all purposes, be just a huge P2 card.

Thanks Spec-comm for taking the time to release it without any bugs, so people like me won't be mad after we buy 2 of them, and a year later you come out with a superior "B" version.
 
dglasgal said:
Thanks Spec-comm for taking the time to release it without any bugs, so people like me won't be mad after we buy 2 of them, and a year later you come out with a superior "B" version.
Click to expand...

I agree....but still.......
get it out already!:love4:
 
I have a question: will the Cineporter be compatible with other p2 cameras like the Panasonic SDX-800?
 
Yes, The CinePorter™ was originally designed to work with the SPX800 and the support for the HVX had to added later. We are also working with Anton/Bauer to have it mount between the camera and the battery. A V-Mount option plate will also be available.

David
 
Hello David,

I've been studying the posts and digesting all that you and others have had to say and offer. Having done my research into the three sort of competing products, I really do feel that the CinePorter has a much clearer focus on what is needed to enhance the P2 experience and sell more product. We've recently purchased two cameras for an upcoming feature documentary we're shooting in May/June and have really struggled with the P2 card costs and clumsiness. I am a film editor by trade but executive produce these things as it's my company and my money and reputation. We are needing to have a solution to record to by mid-May and will probably purchase a FS100 for the present project, but I am anxious to see your product at NAB. I am especially interested in the interfacing to editing systems as the reason we went with this format is to hopefully not have to deal with tape other than stock footage and delivery masters. Using the P2 cards and dumping into the edit systems at this point is a bit archaic for us. There is a beta of a product I've been working with called P2 Genie that makes it a bit easier, but the naming nomenclature and file structure is cumbersome at best. I would think for Final Cut, if there is an efficient method of wrapping the CinePorter files in QuickTime and keeping the file navigation heirachy to a minimum is most desirable. Reel numbering and it's association with the shoot media is very important to an editor and so far we've been nothing but frustrated with the P2 files and it's edit ease. For instance, if it's a multicam shoot, Camera 2 Reel 3 would be called 23 or Camera A Reel 9 would be A9. Having this ability with tape to pre-label the tape, shoot it, hand it over to edit for digitizing and being able to look at the reel number in post gives you many clues as to who shot it, when it was shot and easily find it later. Because almost all the networks we deliver to demand "original" masters to be delivered with the edited master, we are facing a new challenge with archiving the "tapeless" media to tape and it all has to be traceable back to the original file, and a simple "1" or "2" labeled files on a hard drive filled with hundreds and maybe thousands of these files and it obvious the problems. I wouldn't hope that thinking about any of this would delay delivery of the first units, but for companies like ours, this is a big problem. I'd think even a piece of software could solve this but if the file isn't labeled correctly to begin with, expecting a PA or edit assistant to keep it organized is too much to hope for.

All the best,

Don Wilson
AmericanaMediaInc.com
 
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Very real world information and assesment. I agree manufacturers (spelling?) should keep this in mind as it seems doing so would prevent a much wanted firmware upgrade from customers.
 
Hello, I have read the whole thread so i hope this question isn't answered back there somewhere.

Will the cineporter be compatible with other cameras other than the HVX I'd love to have one of these under a DVX. Because it does have a firewire port on it, right.

I just about wet my pants when I read "hot swapable batteries". I did read that right?

With 3 to 4 hrs on a battery that will also power my camera. . . Count me in.
 
The CinePorter is not designed to work with firewire, it's designed to work with the P2 card slot. So it should be compatible with any P2 camcorder, but obviously not a DVX because the DVX doesn't have a P2 card slot.

The DVX can work with the FireStore FS-4 and nNovia QuickCapture.
 
Right, but niether of those will take the battery that runs my camera. Seems like it would expand the market for the cineporter if it could record any video signal.

Plus the Andromeda mod for the DVX is USB2.0 output which I think the cineporter has also. How sweet would that be??
 
Hi Don,

Thank you for taking the time to write such a long and detailed post. It deserves a good answer. I'm out of town right now and I'm going to cover all the things you talked about when I get back.

Chris,

Barry is correct. The CinePorter is a P2 only product. The Firestore is a good solution for the DVX, even though it doesn't use the same batteries. And you are correct on the Hot-Swappable Batteries on the CinePorter. We are working on an Anton/Bauer solution as well.

David
 
Forgive me, I know from reading the rest of the thread you sell the firestore. But it does have a number of short commings which your HDR solution addresses. I hope this is not the first time someone has suggested that a you might look at a more universal application.

Not to take anything away from what you have done to this point. You have an amazing product that fills a need beautifully. I am not trying to poke holes in your ballon. I just wish I could use it.
 
Hey Chris,

We thank you very much for your suggestion and it hasn't been the first time that we have received suggestions similar to yours. As others can tell you, we welcome suggestions. We've received many idea's already on our suggestion form on-line and have implemented many of them.
CinePorter is field upgradeable and we will be adding other features in the future. The functionality that your asking for isn't out of the question, it's just outside of the main purpose of the CinePorter at this time.

Best regards and thank you for your support,

David
 
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