Hello Listers,
Some of you may be aware of the iDVR hard drive system from Maxell. They have a rugged milspec combo FW800-USB HDD for field use. The system uses a adapter with slide in drive modules. When the iDVR came out, there was confusion that it was a P2 card reader; NOT. But it is a pretty slick setup that has promise. Now some of the promise is fulfilled.
First, they now have battery power for the iDVR, so it becomes an untethered field download option for camera to disc dumps without a CPU. No card reader, but still handy.
Now the bigger news, they have linked up with Citidisk and made a direct to drive HDD recorder. It uses the same HDD modules with a new smart adapter. It encodes to mov or avi as it records. You can also review your clips on cam. Shoot 250 or 500 gigs per drive, remove the ruggedized milspec hard drive from the adapter and hand it to whomever, footage ready to edit. Put the next HDD in the adapter and continue shooting. Maxell says 90 minutes per battery charge, so there would be some PITA factor with additional batteries on longer shoots.
Now this may not be as reliable as P2, but for long form where you can't or don't want to wrangle P2, it is an interesting option. Although it is based on the metaphor of a Firestore, this stuff looks pretty tough. The iDVR I purchased seems pretty robust compared to anything Firestore and has more options with the removable drive.
The VC-102 adapter is hitting the market now at $850 and a 250gig drive is about $150.
http://www.maxell-usa.com/getpdf.aspx?id=299
Best Regards,
Grant
Some of you may be aware of the iDVR hard drive system from Maxell. They have a rugged milspec combo FW800-USB HDD for field use. The system uses a adapter with slide in drive modules. When the iDVR came out, there was confusion that it was a P2 card reader; NOT. But it is a pretty slick setup that has promise. Now some of the promise is fulfilled.
First, they now have battery power for the iDVR, so it becomes an untethered field download option for camera to disc dumps without a CPU. No card reader, but still handy.
Now the bigger news, they have linked up with Citidisk and made a direct to drive HDD recorder. It uses the same HDD modules with a new smart adapter. It encodes to mov or avi as it records. You can also review your clips on cam. Shoot 250 or 500 gigs per drive, remove the ruggedized milspec hard drive from the adapter and hand it to whomever, footage ready to edit. Put the next HDD in the adapter and continue shooting. Maxell says 90 minutes per battery charge, so there would be some PITA factor with additional batteries on longer shoots.
Now this may not be as reliable as P2, but for long form where you can't or don't want to wrangle P2, it is an interesting option. Although it is based on the metaphor of a Firestore, this stuff looks pretty tough. The iDVR I purchased seems pretty robust compared to anything Firestore and has more options with the removable drive.
The VC-102 adapter is hitting the market now at $850 and a 250gig drive is about $150.
http://www.maxell-usa.com/getpdf.aspx?id=299
Best Regards,
Grant
