Direct to Disc recorders
- Thread starter clay-walk
- Start date
magicdavek
Well-known member
Re: Direct to Disc recorders
I've read a little about these. They are basically a hard drive designed for direct digital capture. Yes, you hook these up by firewire (or USB 2.0), and either start editing from there, or more likely transfer to your hard drive. Remember, transferring from a camera to your hard drive is very slow because it is real time. A 20 minute video takes 20 minutes to input. With one of these however, it is simply a data transfer from one hard drive to another, which would take a few minutes at most to transfer a 60 minute video.
Incidentally, I read on www.maccentral.com a few months ago that one of the reputable peripherial makers is putting one of these out and it was about half the cost of the Laird. I can't remember which company, but may be a search of the net or search of the maccentral site could find what you want (I think it was $400 to $600 depending on number of gigs, while the Laird was over $1000 last time I checked, which was a few months ago).
I've read a little about these. They are basically a hard drive designed for direct digital capture. Yes, you hook these up by firewire (or USB 2.0), and either start editing from there, or more likely transfer to your hard drive. Remember, transferring from a camera to your hard drive is very slow because it is real time. A 20 minute video takes 20 minutes to input. With one of these however, it is simply a data transfer from one hard drive to another, which would take a few minutes at most to transfer a 60 minute video.
Incidentally, I read on www.maccentral.com a few months ago that one of the reputable peripherial makers is putting one of these out and it was about half the cost of the Laird. I can't remember which company, but may be a search of the net or search of the maccentral site could find what you want (I think it was $400 to $600 depending on number of gigs, while the Laird was over $1000 last time I checked, which was a few months ago).
magicdavek
Well-known member
Re: Direct to Disc recorders
Right now these are a really cool luxury, but I think it is a picture of what is to come.
Right now these are a really cool luxury, but I think it is a picture of what is to come.
clay-walk
Active member
Re: Direct to Disc recorders
I sometimes/often do corporate onsite "candids" pieces where I might shoot up until midnight and have to have a video cut by 7 am.
I eat up a lot of time logging & digitizing. This would save me a quite a bit of time IF it is in a native FCP format.
Clay
I sometimes/often do corporate onsite "candids" pieces where I might shoot up until midnight and have to have a video cut by 7 am.
I eat up a lot of time logging & digitizing. This would save me a quite a bit of time IF it is in a native FCP format.
Clay
magicdavek
Well-known member
Re: Direct to Disc recorders
[quote author=magicdavek link=board=Links;num=1082298821;start=0#1 date=04/18/04 at 11:23:36]Incidentally, I read on www.maccentral.com a few months ago that one of the reputable peripherial makers is putting one of these out and it was about half the cost of the Laird. I can't remember which company, but may be a search of the net or search of the maccentral site could find what you want (I think it was $400 to $600 depending on number of gigs, while the Laird was over $1000 last time I checked, which was a few months ago).[/quote]
Found it! While everything is expensive in the video world, these may be less expensive than the ones you mentioned:
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MTOS&Category_Code=DV
Hope this helps.
[quote author=magicdavek link=board=Links;num=1082298821;start=0#1 date=04/18/04 at 11:23:36]Incidentally, I read on www.maccentral.com a few months ago that one of the reputable peripherial makers is putting one of these out and it was about half the cost of the Laird. I can't remember which company, but may be a search of the net or search of the maccentral site could find what you want (I think it was $400 to $600 depending on number of gigs, while the Laird was over $1000 last time I checked, which was a few months ago).[/quote]
Found it! While everything is expensive in the video world, these may be less expensive than the ones you mentioned:
http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=MTOS&Category_Code=DV
Hope this helps.
magicdavek
Well-known member
Re: Direct to Disc recorders
Oops, I just realized that the link I gave you was for the drives that Jarred reviewed, the MCE Quickstream. I just read the review. Anyway, I was right, this are less expensive than some of the others (and based upon Jarred's review do a fine job).
Oops, I just realized that the link I gave you was for the drives that Jarred reviewed, the MCE Quickstream. I just read the review. Anyway, I was right, this are less expensive than some of the others (and based upon Jarred's review do a fine job).
Barry_Green
Moderator
Re: Direct to Disc recorders
There seem to be two categories of these devices. The cheaper ones, like the CitiDisk and the QuickStream, have no transport controls on the unit itself... meaning, there's no way to play back a clip at all unless you take the drive over to a computer. You can't verify if it's recording (bad firewire cable, anyone?) It'll record the data stream, but you can't rewind/replay the footage off the drive.
The more expensive ones, like the CapDiv, FireStore, and Sony units, include transport controls (play, rewind, etc) and an LCD text screen that let you select files and play them back like a videotape recorder (not on the LCD, it plays back through the firewire onto your camera's screen). You could play back a file in the field, you could delete files in the field, and (most importantly to me) you could use the device to dump data to tape with no hiccups/dropouts caused by a computer glitch or whatever. I have had to print files to tape that were 28 to 90 minutes long, and once out of five times the computer would give a "hiccup" that would result in three or four dropped frames, so I had to babysit the darn thing and watch every frame as it gets put out to tape -- very frustrating, big waste of time. Using one of these firewire drives as a playback mechanism could eliminate all that potential unreliability.
So, yes the CapDiv and Firestore are more expensive, but there are features and reasons why they may be worth more. But if you don't need that capability, the QuickStream and CitiDisk are very nice designs, and comparatively inexpensive.
There seem to be two categories of these devices. The cheaper ones, like the CitiDisk and the QuickStream, have no transport controls on the unit itself... meaning, there's no way to play back a clip at all unless you take the drive over to a computer. You can't verify if it's recording (bad firewire cable, anyone?) It'll record the data stream, but you can't rewind/replay the footage off the drive.
The more expensive ones, like the CapDiv, FireStore, and Sony units, include transport controls (play, rewind, etc) and an LCD text screen that let you select files and play them back like a videotape recorder (not on the LCD, it plays back through the firewire onto your camera's screen). You could play back a file in the field, you could delete files in the field, and (most importantly to me) you could use the device to dump data to tape with no hiccups/dropouts caused by a computer glitch or whatever. I have had to print files to tape that were 28 to 90 minutes long, and once out of five times the computer would give a "hiccup" that would result in three or four dropped frames, so I had to babysit the darn thing and watch every frame as it gets put out to tape -- very frustrating, big waste of time. Using one of these firewire drives as a playback mechanism could eliminate all that potential unreliability.
So, yes the CapDiv and Firestore are more expensive, but there are features and reasons why they may be worth more. But if you don't need that capability, the QuickStream and CitiDisk are very nice designs, and comparatively inexpensive.