Looking for a clam shell
 

Couldn't find one from the sponsors. Anyone know another place online that sells them?

Check with Cases Plus -- www.casesplus.com -- they have a number of hardshells to choose from. The best in the business; I know them well. See some reviews on the Watchdog.

If anyone had the chocie between a clam shell and a LCD monitor for their XL1...which would you chose?

Im think more along the lines of a clam shell so that I can play and watch my footage without using the camera and wearing out the heads.

Sorry, my ignorance I guess, by "clam shell" I thought you meant a hard storage case for the camera.

oh cmon, somebody should know what a clam shell monitor is.

Oh well, I'll probably just get the Nebtek monitor and just watch tape playback from the camera deck

uhhhh...what's a clamshell monitor again?

I thought he meant a clam shell case as well, which was something I was going to ask about.

Still, looks like I got my answer anyway www.casesplus.com

Thanks Chris!

PS. As far as monitors go, I've never heard the term "clam shell" used like that before.

I would guess the unit in question is the Sony GV-D900 (which I see has been replaced by the D1000). This is a unit that opens up like a clam shell (aha!) with the monitor above the hinge and a DV deck on the bottom.

dvcamguy--I guess it would depend on how you were planning to use an LCD monitor. If it were to be mounted on top of the camera, then the clamshell would be way too bulky, of course. If you are OK with having to carry around the clamshell and deal with the cable (maybe a slick little bracket built onto your tripod to support it?), then the deck would work fine. I guess it would also depend on whether you were planning to do a lot of playback on location. You could also use a firewire cable and record a simultaneous backup copy of the footage with this setup, or even record additional audio tracks this way.

I have seen clamshells used as NLE recorders, the nice thing is that you have that monitor there to help cue up stuff. I think from a tape transport level, the motors are certainly stronger and more durable than those in the camera, but not as good as those in "studio" decks like the Sony DSR series.

Back history on clamshells (groan--here he goes): the first ones were in the 8mm format, came out about twelve years ago. They had snap-on tuner units and a 4" screen. Eventually they were replaced with Hi-8 units, and other snap-on modules were introduced including camera heads and time lapse controllers for surveillance use. There are a few models of DV and DVCAM clamshells currently available, as well as versions without the screen. These units have been used by Steadicam operators for years; we mount them on the bottom of the rigs to allow us to record the image from the tap on the film camera so we can check our work. Various factions are working feverishly as we speak to replace these with hard-drive recorders, technology marches on!