Record directly to a portable hard drive???

F

flurbik

New member
I am looking for a process for recording directly to a portable HDD. Is there a software app to set up a discreet stand alone HDD so that just plugging in to the HVX 1394 firewire 800 port will allow direct recording without having a computer. I know there are several packaged options but their size and capacity are way behind the curve.
:dankk2:
 
Yeh, that is what I thought. I was just hoping someone had come up with a special app to pre-load on a drive that would handle that. Thanks for the response.
 
The Firestore is supposedlly capapble of being upgraded to 500gb...although the only place I've heard that amount quoted is from http://www.HDrevolutionstore.com

I believe their upgrade kit switched the Firestore from IDE to SATA, and makes the drives removable....500gb is the largest drive available in the physical size the firestore uses, but really really soon 1tb drives in that physical size will be out....so it might be possible to have a very compact, high storage, HD recording device.
 
do be aware that you need to:

1. Buy a firestore fs-100
2. Buy the HDRevolution
3. Install it into the firestore
4. Buy hard drives

It can get expensive...but in the long run you'll have LONG record times and probably a cheaper solution then P2 cards.....it isn't as shock resistant as P2 though...unless you buy SSD's(Solid State Disk).
 
it isn't as shock resistant as P2 though...unless you buy SSD's(Solid State Disk)
Click to expand...
even then, you still have to contend with the firewire cable as the weakest physical link in the process. and then there is the noise of the firestore itself...

im not dogging firestores. i like them, use them and they have never let me down. but it isnt the best choice for all situations...

unless you are shooting training seminars or something like that, where you need to roll non-stop for more than 90 min or so. 2 e-series P2 cards will be the cheapest and most fool-proof way to go.
 
I found the FS H200 using solid state. I'm steering to that but still researching. As far as the excessive time aspect of a HDD, I agree that that may become a concern in post but if the application can keep the 2GB clip restraint in place while keeping a native capture then I can keep control over the content.
 
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Also I found a PCMCIA (P2) card mechanical plug to the HVX P2 slot. It converts the data to a e-SATA protocol then pushes to an attached drive. I can't find the link again, moved on forgetting to bookmark. Ring a bell with anybody??
 
flurbik said:
Also I found a PCMCIA (P2) card mechanical plug to the HVX P2 slot. It converts the data to a e-SATA protocol then pushes to an attached drive. I can't find the link again, moved on forgetting to bookmark. Ring a bell with anybody??
Click to expand...

I sure havn't heard of such a device.....if you find a link please share....something tells me you were somewhat mistaken about this product though, because it would have spread like wildfire through the boards already.
 
There are hundreds of PCMCIA (P2) card to e-SATA cards, but I doubt that the HVX will recognize them.
There got to be some sort of extra (code/hardware/handshake andwhatnot) on the adapter that talks the HVX into believing it sees a real P2 card.

Is it really that much harder to do with a P2 Card than with the ExpressCard?
It works on the Sony Ex 1 and 3.

Frank
 
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Postmaster said:
There are hundreds of PCMCIA (P2) card to e-SATA cards, but I doubt that the HVX will recognize them.
There got to be some sort of extra (code/hardware/handshake andwhatnot) on the adapter that talks the HVX into believing it sees a real P2 card.

Is it really that much harder to do with a P2 Card than with the ExpressCard?
It works on the Sony Ex 1 and 3.

Frank
Click to expand...

I know someone was working on hacking the HVX firmware, and this is the best bet.....I believe someone mentioned that it runs a very small version of Linux...all about tricking a few bits, having a driver in the OS for a couple e-sata pcmcia cards, and off you go.....I wish I knew more about such things, as I'd tackle the project in a second.
 
Postmaster said:
Is it really that much harder to do with a P2 Card than with the ExpressCard?
Click to expand...
Yes, for several reasons:

1) ExpressCard supports two interfaces, USB and PCI-Express. The adapters to the drives are using USB.

2) SxS cards are (apparently) simply a storage medium, a plain-jane flash card. P2 cards are microcomputers that the camera communicates with; when Spec-Comm was trying to engineer a P2-compatible system they found that the P2 card receives and interprets and processes something like 42 different instructions from the camera.

An SxS card is a flash card. A P2 card is a microcomputer with a whole lot of flash memory in it. That diffrence makes a world of difference when it comes to things like cheap USB adapters, etc.
 
Well I glad I found and joined. I am impressed with the communication and civility that is shown to all levels of knowledge. I always find that if you dig deep enough you will find answers. There are several other industries that use P2 cards. In the aviation industry they use the cards to update data bases and they have commercially available R/W programs for standard laptop PCMCIA card slots. After all P2 = PCMCIA. And it true that the P2 is a HDD in and of its self, so what is needed is access to the handshake code as well as the OS on the P2 drive. I'm off to the races.... hope to be back soon. But I won't do anything illegal.
 
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