CinePorter™ FAQ

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Sur, I'm aware of the fact the CP doesn't have to be under the camera - and I'm truly appreciative that David and Spec-Comm worked to include many, if not all, of the suggestions from members of this community. I think it's a real treat having manufacturers that embrace groups like ours as they bring things to market.

I'm simply expressing where things are for a lot of folks with the Cineporter and it's price relative to where we are now, and wondering what new developments (in either price or features) might emerge with the eventual release. David has suggested (flip a few pages back) that they are working on adding features to enhance the unit now that the landscape has changed.

If you're happy with the price, great. Regardless of whether or not jobs will pay for MY Cineporter (which they will), I want to be certain it represents the best solution for my needs at the price point. I'm not getting discouraged, being negative, or trying to talk anyone out of the unit. I think it's a really valuable solution. Just trying to get some more information in order to make my purchasing decision against other options now available, to which David has graciously responded.
 
Is space really this big an issue for most folks? I use the 8gb cards with a p2 store and they work great. I was nervous at first with corrupted files but haven't seen any. I've seen one corrupted tape in the 3 features and 8 shorts I've shot and that was because the mechanism broke (plastic flap) but I got that fixed and transferred to a new tape overnight and it only cost me $25).

I've thought about the 16g cards but that kind of storage upgrade kind of scares me. what if there's a corrupted file on the 16g? I'd rather lose an 8g's worth of footage than twice that.

I got to use the FS-100 for a weekend and really didn't dig it. It seemed nice and all but at that price point and given the fact it's kind of a work around device, I wasn't impressed.

I'm curious how many guys or girls on here are shooting docs or weddings where you need as much shooting time as possible. Some folks seem really sensitive on here about the cineporter guys' feelings and all but I kind of think what makes these boards valuable is speaking honestly about products and how we use them. Thanks for reading.
 
I'm still looking forward to the CinePorter.

I'm still looking forward to the CinePorter.

It will provide at least some advantages that are not currently available through either P2 cards, the FS-100, or anything else on the market, i.e. long-form recording through something other than firewire.

My concern is being able to capture and display date and time-of-day, and to have that visible on the completed footage. The best example of that is for legal video, i.e. depositions, though I suspect there are other uses (maybe security or surveillance). (Niche markets, I know, but ones that require the feature).

Per Barry's book, the date and time-of-day are never sent over firewire; they are only available directly to/from P2 cards. That idiosyncracy of the HVX presently makes it undesireable for legal recording. The CinePorter (when it arrives) will be the only product on the market that will address that issue. That feature, coupled with hour-plus recording, will finally make the P2 workflow viable for legal video.
 
CinePorter™ not going to production.

CinePorter™ not going to production.

Hello everyone. With much deliberation we have decided that the market demand for the CinePorter™ has fallen off to the point that it would not be wise to go to production. We are ready for the final revision and production, however, with the announcement of the larger cards and lower prices, there is nothing we can do to lower the price of the CinePorter™ to compete. In fact it would have to be much more expensive as a small volume niche product. The market waits for no one and it just ran away from us!

We pledge to continue our efforts in developing products for the P2 product line. We will be announcing some of them in the near future.

For those holding a CinePorter™ discount coupon, we will accept it on other items we sell with some exceptions. For those without the coupon that are on the Group Buy list we will extend a 5% discount on and order, also with some exceptions. The two discounts are not additive. Please contact us to see if the discounts would apply on the specific products you are interested in.

Best regards,


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

Please visit our new online store at ( http://www.spec-comm.com/store ). New products being added daily!
 
I'm sorry to hear about the cancellation, but if you can't bring the price down, then I agree that you made the right business decision.

Look forward to seeing your new products.
 
This is so disappointing. All that time, energy, research, development, money spent, prototyping, and then the market turned and left you with a less than optimal position. That's depressing.

Thank you very much for going through the effort, involving our community, trying to identify and bring to market a product that (at the time) we really wanted and needed. I agree that with the aggressive move to 32GB cards and cheaper cards, what was once a no-brainer now seems like it's not as necessary... had you been able to bring this product to market a year ago you probably would have cleaned up. It didn't work out, but I really appreciated how you guys listened to the users and adapted to make it what we wanted. I guess it just took too long, and the market moved out from under you...

... but on the other hand, I'm encouraged to hear that you may be planning other products. Very much looking forward to those announcements!
 
How about a iPOD sized FW capture device with a right angle FW 4 Pin plug that actually secures to the cam.

All for $495.00 for 120 GB/s?

Seriously, great effort and a tough call.

Best wishes
 
Damn, so sad. Well, thanks for the effort and for listening to everyone... maybe too much to the point that delays were added and possibly contributed to the demise of the cp's release.

Thanks again. I for one am grateful for the upstanding way in which you guys deal with your customers. It's very rare these days.... I still would have liked the chance to play with a cineporter....

Take care,
Jason
 
I still love my Cineporter shirt and will wear it with pride. I saw this coming after NAB when I got to play with the CP. This is the prob with tech, in a year a product can go from revolutionary to obsolete.

I do have an idea though... with the R&D you have done already, you could potentially create something MUCH cheaper, essentially and adapter that would go from P2 to Express card or PCMCIA and then have a plug-in for FCP/Premiere or a simple program for capture. This would allow custom frame rates, etc. that you cannot do over firewire. You could turn any laptop into a cineporter...



ash =o)
 
I have to hand it to Spec-Comm: they really did have their customer's best interests in mind here.

Think about it: how much heat did they take from these forums alone from everyone who kept complaining about the release date being pushed back?

They could have easily released a poorly tested, not-ready-for-prime-time Cineporter and they would have made money hand over fist anyway. Instead, they decided to wait until they could provide the quality product that they promised. They even delayed longer so they could implement user-suggested features.

The fact that a company would both listen to its potential customers and turn their backs on some quick profit in order to focus on creating the best product possible is really something that should be recognized.

I bought my last HVX from Spec-Comm due to this attitude, and would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat.
 
AshG said:
I still love my Cineporter shirt and will wear it with pride.
Click to expand...
I suggest treating it with utmost care, as it will go up in value big time - they do not make them anymore :-)
 
Hello everyone. Thank you for your understanding and consoling comments. It was very painful to end this project. We promise to keep everyone involved on the next one and appreciate everyone's suggestions. We read all of them! Our goal is to not let the R&D go to waste.

We also appreciate everyone's support. Just because the CinePorter is not going to production, doesn't mean we're going away. We are still here to support you, as always, with advice and great prices and service.

Alex is right, no more T-shirts! We have a few left, If anybody wants one. :)

Thank you again for your support,

David
 
I really hope you do not let the R&D go to waiste.
The principle of hdd control from the p2 port is still much better than firewire storage.
With Tb drives only $400, you can still capture a market a p2 card could not ever touch, and thats vast amounts of storage on a single drive.
Your concept was a no brainer to all of us and has been suggested since 2005 as a p2 alternate solution. I hope you can bring out something simple, like a P2 - HDD adapter. Something like that allows users to have dozens of portable HDD in there gig bag and just swap them out like a p2.
 
To David and Andrew, thanks for everything.

At the end of the day, you still have a hell of a company with great customer support and prices. Best of luck with your future ideas....

Not to throw out some ideas, but....*cough* bigger volume p2store like product *cough*

I still have my Cineporter T-Shirt!

-Ryan
 
Thank you all for your efforts. I too have been caught in this web, I look forward to your next venture. "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up"
 
=Prodigy= said:
Not to throw out some ideas, but....*cough* bigger volume p2store like product *cough*
Click to expand...

A bigger volume P2 store would be great. Something that allows P2 dumps without a PC and allows for off the shelf hard-drive hot-swapping and Raid.
 
dissapointing to hear but thanks for all the effort... I know its a long shot but any chance you will be selling any of the R&D models? I would be interested... send me a PM.
 
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