Idea for Spec-Comm

G

GaryCT

Member
I was on the waiting list for a dual drive cineporter and since they won't be in production I was wondering if it would be possible to transform that idea into a dual drive firestore equivalent? I would absolutely love being able to download P2 cards in the field onto a battery powered device and have an instant backup and just change drives out and store the hard disks for each project saving money on hard drives for archiving.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't see the reliability issues with archiving on hard disks if they are removed from the drive for storage.

Maybe it's not possible but that would be the cat's meow.

Just an idea, Gary
 
Did you mean P2Store equivalent? If so, I have been saying this. I think the Cineporter still had value in this way. Either in a stripped down p2store like device with much larger storage, or as it was with P2store functionality in addition to being able to record live to it.

Late,r
Jason
 
oops, yes, I meant the P2Store, thanks.

The time saved downloading and backing up at the same time in itself would be a good thing and the removable drives add value that neither the P2Store nor the Firestore has.

--gary
 
Posted something similar on the hardware section a few days ago. I was hoping Spec-Comm would morph the Cineporter into such a device but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Device wish-list
1 - Stand alone off load device similar to the P2Store - (sick of having to carry a laptop around and also needing an assistant to dump footage. I would like to have something that I can have on my side and just dump cards to while still shooting)

2 - Raid 1 mirror drive set-up - that way I can dump to the drives and have a mirrored copy

3 - Hot swappable with 1TB capacity capability

4 - Use industry standard drives

5 - error code checking/transfer checks

6 - No limit on the number of P2 card transfer (P2Store limiting to 15 or 16 transfers)

7 - firewire/USB/e-sata connections to connect to a PC for transfer and editing later.

Barry Green pointed me to the P2 Gear which looks like a great device but expensive. You can hook up an external hard-drive to it which would make it the closest to meeting the above requirements. The only problem I have with that is that its not a single unit and becomes bulky to carry with hard-drives attached. In that respect it would be the same as a having a laptop. But the laptop would be a cheaper, more versatile option
 
Actually, what would be perfect would be a network attached storage enclosure that functions as a P2 Store.

Basically, you'd put in whatever size off-the-shelf hard drive you want via a removable drive caddy that slides out of the device. The enclosure would format the drive, and it would show up as a network share using gigabit ethernet. It would have two or four Cardbus slots in it that you'd use to offload P2 cards onto the drive.

Since it would be a NAS drive, it would be OS independant, and with gigabit ethernet, you'd have enough bandwidth to edit directly from the drive if you want.

I'd pay $1000 for something like that without a hard drive.
 
TwistedLincoln said:
Actually, what would be perfect would be a network attached storage enclosure that functions as a P2 Store.

Basically, you'd put in whatever size off-the-shelf hard drive you want via a removable drive caddy that slides out of the device. The enclosure would format the drive, and it would show up as a network share using gigabit ethernet. It would have two or four Cardbus slots in it that you'd use to offload P2 cards onto the drive.

Since it would be a NAS drive, it would be OS independent, and with gigabit ethernet, you'd have enough bandwidth to edit directly from the drive if you want.

I'd pay $1000 for something like that without a hard drive.
Click to expand...
Not really sure of the benefit of that as most editing bays already have cardbus slots on the PC. What would be the need to have it on the hard-drive enclosure? Maybe I am reading it wrong.

What I was looking for was something more portable and compact. I am shooting a hunting program this weekend and will have to rent a few P2 cards to get through the day. A firestore would have been nice but I don't have access to one and the size would still be to small (100gb). In any case, it got me thinking what a great device a stand-alone offload unit like the P2 Store is. But the size limit of 60gb is to small. My mind went wondering dreaming up a better product.
 
Checkout the Panny AG-HPG10 portable recorder. It is a bit pricey but you get a swiss army knife of P2 functions with small screen, vectorscope and waveform functions. It records and plays back from firewire drives and will drive external monitors too. It is battery operated using Panny Bats.

It is an interesting option, trouble is it costs as much as a good laptop but ids probably more robust for field use.
 
ggrantly said:
Checkout the Panny AG-HPG10 portable recorder. It is a bit pricey but you get a swiss army knife of P2 functions with small screen, vectorscope and waveform functions. It records and plays back from firewire drives and will drive external monitors too. It is battery operated using Panny Bats.

It is an interesting option, trouble is it costs as much as a good laptop but ids probably more robust for field use.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats the P2 Gear I believe. About $4000 for one plus you need an external hard-drive.
 
I'm all for having tons of options and there's no end to the upgrades people would want but that also means much higher cost.
I would be perfectly happy with a red LED telling me it's transferring and a green LED telling me the card has been downloaded/verified/formatted. Nothing more than a USB or Firewire connection—keep it simple, keep it cheap. I think this is what is lacking in the market. As has been noted, there are expensive choices for those who need/want everything in one device. I just want to download the cards and remove the drives when full for a much lower cost than the other alternatives.

--gary
 
I had this idea the other day. How about a mini itx board with a case like the noah3988.
You could use a pci cardbus reader in it(one pci slot available.)
Its size is 202.0 x 97.0 x 273.0mm compared to the
p2 store at 90.0 x 45.0 x 180.5mm.
Looks like it could be battery powered with 12Vdc.
It might be possible to automate windows xp with an automation software...copy a p2 when it is inserted?Is that even possible?
I dont know this is all just extremly hypothetical. Too far fetched maybe....
 
Reinventing the wheel?

Whether you choose a compact barebone (PC Card reader equipped) or a plain laptop, you can always setup a P2 friendly HW device.

Whether you try to automate any kind of file process, P2 file or any kind of file, it is always about scripting (or programming) some convenient tasks to enhance a (your) workflow.

There is nothing new, just customizing a file management process.

However, to make sense, the customized solution must be as convenient as can be an average laptop, everything is built-in (including DC powering), and scripting tools are plenty.
 
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