DV Info Net - SONY HVR-MRC1K CF Recorder

Ok, so I have had a little time with this recorder and I haven't had the opportunity to put it through a real world test as of yet. But I got a good handle on what it can and can't do.

WHATS IN THE BOX?
The unit comes complete with recording unit and docking station along with a firewire cable and mounting hardware for any camera with a cold shoe. A manual is included on CD as well as a second CD including all software needed to connect the device to your editing system. There isn't an external AC adaptor or battery included with this unit. These items are available as an accessory.

DURABILITY / BUILD / FORM FACTOR
I was very surprised at the size of the unit. With docking station and battery attached it was still very manageable and didn't give me any worries about attaching it to the camera. The Z1U has a mounting point on top of the built in microphone. The unit attaches directly without any shoe mounts. The screw on the mounting hardware is standard size so you could in effect mount it on any hardware available for your camera. The unit seems to be very durable and built well. It is plastic, however, all the crucial areas are covered and hidden from the elements. The CF card is located under a door on the side of the unit. Firewire is connected to the docking station as well as the mounting hardware. So in my filming situations (very hard) it seems that is will hold up very well. The only setback on the unit are the small control buttons on the device itself. The LCD screen is rather smallish. I'm still young enough that I don't think it will bother me, but I could see it being a problem for those people who have trouble seeing.

BATTERY / USE LIFE / ETC
This device uses the Sony InfoLITHIUM batteries NP-F570 through NP-F970. According to the manual you will get many hours of continuous use from the smallest batteries. Since I own (5) Z1U's and have never used the batteries that came with the cameras, this will give me an opportunity and a reason to use those batteries. According to the manual with the NP-F570 you would get 380 minutes of record time. From my limited use the device is not a power drain on the batteries. It seems that with only two of the small batteries you would get a full days worth of shooting without recharging.

OPERATION
The device is very simple to operate. It comes out of the box ready to go. Plug and go. I literally put a CF card in the recorder, formatted it and away I went. I even tried a card that wasn't formatted and it worked flawlessly without affecting the material already on the card. The file structure is simple. If you are recording in DV you get an IDX file and an AVI file. If you are recording in HDV you get an IDX file and a M2T file. Simple enough. One interesting side note and a little concerning. You cannot record from the camera to the unit using camera control without a tape. Or at least I haven't found the way to do it yet. You can however record without a tape in the unit by pressing the record buttons on the unit. Not a big deal, however, I can see why I would want to use the camera controls in the field, much easier to hit record on the camera instead of pressing the two very small record buttons on the unit. I have figured out how to press the two buttons with one thumb, but it would still be easier using the camera.

The cache recording feature I can tell I will use a ton. This allows you to store footage in memory (about 10-14 seconds) and records that footage to the CF card when the record button is pressed. This function will allow you to not miss any part of the recording because of the Z1U's slow record startup time on tape. I have found that at times that when recording to tape it just sometimes doesn't start fast enough.

In my situation with multiple cameras you can set the camera number in the menu system. This will allow you know which camera recorded what. The camera number is also recorded onto the the file itself, making it easy to visualize the camera and take you may need. 00_0002_2008-11-25_234240.m2t is the file naming situation given - camera number, clip number, date stamp, time recorded 00:00:00:00, extension.

You must use very fast compact flash cards to avoid frame drops. The minimum is 133X, I would recommend using the fastest you can afford. The minimum card size is 2GB / 9min. With a 16GB card you can get 72min of footage, either DV or HDV. I tested with a 2GB card as my 16GB cards are on the way. I can only think that you could use larger cards, however, the manual does not talk about the use of larger cards.

TRANSFERRING / USING FILES
You have two options for transferring the files to your computer. Number 1 is to connect the device to the computer and operate it in computer mode. This works pretty quick as it is firewire. Option 2 is to remove your CF card and transfer via a transfer device of some kind. Also pretty quick if you use a firewire device. USB / USB 2.0 was very slow for my taste. When transferring via an external device you must transfer the files as they are. ALL files or FCP will have an issue and may not import correctly. When using the unit itself it all works seamlessly in the background. In FCP you will use the Log and Transfer window along with the Sony FCP plugin. It will rewrap the file into a quicktime file and drop it into your project. The files are copied to your scratch disc as quicktime files. So in essence there is no need to keep the M2T files. However, I found this to be clunky and not needed for most situations. I like the idea of importing directly into FCP, however, in my environment I need to just get the files off and deal with them later. So I tried just moving the files from the card to the place I wanted to store them. Worked fine. Then I used ClipWrap to rewrap the files into a quicktime file. More steps, but actually faster in my life as I can be shooting to another card while one is working without much issue. Also, you maintain a backup copy of the M2T. The quality of quicktime file and M2T file seem to be identical.

The sony device uses the firewire port to determine the format. For example if you are down converting via firewire, the device will automatically select the proper format. You can record HDV on tape and downconvert to DV to the MRC1K and all of this is handled on the camera. You can force the unit to record in a certain format, however, I haven't seen why I would want that yet.

CONCLUSION
The Sony HVR-MRC1K is a very robust system allowing camera operators to use CF in a stable environment. It would be nice to have quicktime support in the unit so it becomes a truly drag and drop system, but it is really close now. It works as advertised and would be a good purchase for those wanting to get away from tape. Once I have it in a real world environment I will post back some findings. But for now it was a great purchase for my use.