Maxell iVDR Xtreme Adapter for P2 offload to new MBP's w/o Express card slot

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The Maxwell iVDR Xtreme Adapter is on BHphoto video for $74.95. It says it


"works in conjunction with the optional iVDR 250GB Field Tough media portable HDD; it enables you to
easily off-load a professional P2 card to the portable HDD - or simply connect it to your PC or Mac via its
high-speed USB 2.0 port or (2) Firewire 800 (IEEE 1394b) interfaces. It features a convenient status LED
indicator, and includes (2) Firewire cables, USB 2.0 cable, and a universal (world-wide) AC power adapter.
For added convenience, its compact, lightweight design easily fits into your pocket.

• High-Speed Transfer Rate Quickly off-load your P2 card to your compatible PC or Mac with its high-speed
USB 2.0 interface at 480Mbps or its Firewire 800 (IEEE-1394b) interface at 800Mbps."

This makes it sound like a convenient way to offload P2 in the field (via the firewire 800 interface) and not
have to worry about the new MBP's lack of an express card/P2 slot. I'm just wondering if anyone has used
this in their workflow because I haven't found a review confirming or denying it yet.
 
It doesn't do what you think. Looking at the maxell-idvr.com site, it appears that all p2 offloading is done by putting the cards in the camera, and then connecting to the drive through USB or firewire. I don't think there's a slot on the adapter.
 
Hey, if there is a slot, that'd be unbelievable -- a $75 FW800 P2 offloader. If anyone can confirm that, please do. It's just that as I read it, and looking at their site and their docs, I don't think that's what it is at all.
 
For those that are interested in the Maxell iVDR check this out. $182.95 for the kit, but the rebate deal ends today, so hop to it. Seems pretty cool for the price. It would be awesome if it had a card slot. Still, it is a lot of rugged field storage for the $$, albeit you need to power it with AC to go straight from the cam. I always have a inverter in my car, so it will work for me.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/633891-REG/Maxell_261288_iVDR_Xtreme_Adapter_250GB.html

Grant
 
Sorry, no dice. This excerpt is from the Videomaker review by John Burkhart:

" The iVDR-X is designed to be field storage for offloading clips shot on Flash-based camcorders. We tested it with a Panasonic P2 card recorded with the AG-HPX170 and an Apple PowerBook G4. The optimal setup for this workflow is to insert the P2 card directly into the laptop, connect the iVDR-X to the computer and offload the data from the P2 onto the iVDR-X cartridge. The transfer results for a full 16GB P2 card to the iVDR are below:

* FireWire 400 - 11:49
* FireWire 800 - 11:21
* USB 2.0 - 27:31"

This IVDR is just basically a ruggedized hard drive solution. Nice but not what we are really looking for as far as P2 card reading ability.

Dan
 
Agreed Dan.

Just looking at the ability to offload direct from the HPX firewire host feature is a decent benefit. You are getting quite a few GB of storage, in a rugged case, without having to lug a laptop, for not very much money. Some of the other flash memory options are much more $$.

In my case, my MBPro doesn't have too much drive space left. A hard day of shooting would fill it, so I am up for packing an extra drive regardless. I am probably not interested in the G4 route.

After doing a little reading about this type of device, it seems there will be more development and speed over time if it lives as a format. Now if they just come up with a P2 card reader to couple to it......

The new sonnet device can host, so this might couple to that also, with the ability to have quick drive swap-outs.

Grant
 
That confirmed what I thought Dan.

What is frustrating is how confusing the product literature is.

Without Burkhart's review, many of us would still be confused.
 
How right you are David. I went round and round on this regarding the P2 slot. I can see if this product were fully developed, it could be pretty cool, and presently is a medium in infancy.

Grant
 
Product update:

I purchased one of these gizmos and am just getting around to using this. The IDVr works pretty well. It does have a couple of quirks, which given the lack of documentation, I figured out by trial and error. When power is available from firewire, or usb, the unit will not power up when the wallwart power supply is plugged in; WEIRD! So the unit defaults to CPU power when available. Of course when using with a cam, you must have external power. The unit is very compact and as advertised, seems very solid and rugged. It mounted to a HPX and then to a Mac no problem. It is really quiet, I had to put my ear on it to see if it was running. I haven't done a speed test yet, but there was nothing sluggish in the file transfer. It isn't flash memory like the nexto, but for $180, for 250 gigs of mil spec storage, it seemed like a good value. It came with 3 cables, 400 and 800 firewire, and a daisychain USB cable...about $35 worth of cables included. You should be able to buy the drive without the adapter, for less bucks, but I haven't seen it listed that way yet.

Grant
 
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