G35 flip and storage solution for HVX

H

hopalongmedia

Member
I'm not sure if this is going to work or if it's been thought of yet, but I think I'm going to use one of these guys with my HVX.

http://www.shoparchos.com/product.aspx?sku=2724202&culture=fr-FR

It's a little DVR/ 100gb harddrive from Archos.

I figure I can route the HVX signal into it and use it as an external on cam LCD.
This way I can flip it and deal with the G35 (cinemek.com) lens adapter conundrum. (the G35 turns your image upside down but lets you use 35mm lenses.)
Sure the resolution is low, but I can still use the built in LCD or viewfinder with focus assist, even upside down.

In addition, when my p2s fill up, I plug the USB2 port and transfer my files. The device is supposed to be "smart" like a pocket PC.

To Clarify: I'm not sugesting recording to this guy, just using one of the video inputs to use it as a monitor. Then transfering files off of the p2 to it.

I guess the video monitoring latency would probably be the big question.

Oh, this thig also records PCM audio as wave files, and you can stick your demo reel on it and hand it to folks you meet. Kicks the video iPoop (er Pod) in my humble opinion.
 
I've got one of those. Been flying a lot, and you can only read the on-plane magazine so many times before that gets old. And there's no snakes on the planes until August 18, 2006, so it's been boring, so I got the Archos. I loaded the entire Hollywood Camera Work DVD series on it; a few more cross-country flights and I'll actually have watched 'em all! :)

Haven't thought about the monitor thing -- that's an interesting idea. I've used it to record DVDs before, so I know it can take video input and even record... so it certainly should be usable as a sort of monitor. But you'd need the travel kit; the video input that it comes with is tied to a docking station. The travel kit gives it a direct s-video or composite input.

One thing that's really cool about the Archos (don't know if the ipod does this or not): you can program your TV schedule into Yahoo, and the Archos can sync with it. So you set up a program on Yahoo, and the Archos will use this little remote transmitter to control a VCR and change channels and automatically record the programs you want, like a little Tivo kind of thing. Seems neat.

As for using the Archos to offload P2's: close, but no cigar. Well, maybe a candy cigarette, but not an actual cigar. I've tried it, and it's oh-so-close but not really usable. Reason is, the Archos file system only lets you copy over one file at a time. If it let you copy over a full directory, I'd call it a nearly-cuban cigar. But it doesn't, it's a file at a time. Which means for each clip you'd have to ideally copy over four individual files (for the icon, the audio, the XML, and the video). The P2 card's MXF file system stores each element in its own directory, so to get the elements off, you'd have to do four copy operations. Per video clip. Not practical.

If Archos updates their file system so that it allows copying of entire directories instead of just single files, it'd be mostly usable.

There's still a problem, in that through USB the HVX shows up as TWO hard disks: one for P2 card slot 1, one for slot 2. But USB-to-go only sees one. So if you want to offload both slots, you'd need to swap cards.

Now, if somebody invents a firewire-to-usb2 cable that could work with the Archos, then you'd really have something great. As it is, I'd say get the Archos as what it's meant for (a huge-screen video ipod alternative) but don't get it specifically for the HVX yet, as it's not all that practical as an HVX offloading tool.
 
But a Great Find...
Y'all we're getting close.
It feels like by February/March when many of us actually begin to get our hands on the camera, there will be a lot more options
for Monitors/Storage etc.

...I am hoping that the new intel iBooks will be smaller and lighter and work along these lines...(& direct recording)
Cheers,
j
 
thanks Barry for bringing the real world into the equation.

Another thought, I think Archos has a unit that runs on Linux. I'm not sure which one it is, but transfering directories in Unis is a pretty simple command. Their site is kind of confusing. Probably translated from chinese.
 
The one I have is the AV500 100gb. If you find out that that one can do it, please let me know how -- that would be just such an excellent surprise!
 
HOLD THE PHONE.

Hold the phone.

On a lark, I went on the Archos website and found out that they have updated the firmware, in fact they've updated it several times since I bought mine; I was running version 1.1, they're on version 1.3 now.

And what little nicety did they add? COPYING FOLDERS.

Yes, it now does EXACTLY what I was hoping it would! The Archos AV500 can work in self-powered USB host mode to copy the complete contents of a P2 card! It's a battery-powered 100gb hard disk that can be used as a field monitor (still a little sketchy on that one, but I have a test I'm going to run) and as a battery-powered offloading device for P2 cards! (oh, and it's also a 100gb MP3 player and MP4/DIVX/WMV9 video player, sort of like a video ipod with a huge screen).

I have just become EXTRAORDINARILY PLEASED with this Archos! I have it offloading a card right now, as I type. Yes it takes a while, I'd say probably six minutes for a 4gb card, but -- so? It's a battery-powered host-mode 100gb offloading device, for $600!

In fact, I think I'll start a new thread so people won't miss this...

EDIT: After more thorough testing, it looks like it takes in excess of 68 minutes to offload a 4gb card. So, not very practical at all.
 
Don't know -- I only have XP here, don't have a Mac to try it with.

See the other thread -- I started a thread to talk about the Archos. Turns out to be not nearly as practical as I thought it was going to be.
 
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