Wafian HR-1 HD-SDI recorder
 

Does anyone know how much the Wafian HR-1 HD-SDI recorder will cost in the UK?

I've noticed you can record the XL-H1's 24F to 10-bit 24p with it, which could make it a good investment for the future. However, it should be pointed that I have absolutely no experience whatsoever using one.

It looks like a great recording device. My only quibble is it doesn't seem to be all that portable/field friendly. I would want my SDI recording device to be more Firestore-like in form otherwise it's a specialty recorder you would most likely use as part of a "video village". That's great for high-end production, but for day-to-day shooting it's probably not all that practical.

And I haven't heard anything along these lines from NAB -
dissapointing. I guess I'll be waiting to get a intel G5/Kona/Raid setup

US, 15000, 18hour 2x500 GB RAID-0

US, 17000, 36hour 4x500 GB RAID-0

Right, at a rough 'guess', that's about:

£9,000.00, 18hour 2x500 GB RAID-0.

£9,500.00, 36hour 4x500 GB RAID-0.

It could be slightly more or less, as I'm not sure what the exchange rate is at the moment. Even though it's a bit outside my range at the moment, it's stil a quite attractive price.

At that price you could build yourself one heck of a PC/Mac-based SDI capture solution, and you'd be more flexible, too. Actually, you could do better for even half the price.

I think ron's exactly right. IF you're going to be in a place that will allow you to hook up the wafian you're probably going to be able to hook up a whole mini edit system to take in the footage.

Food for thought.

The major difference in the home built system is the lack of storage or the lack of a quality 10-bit intermediate format. Think about the cost for 18-36 hours of 1920x1080 10bit using uncompressed, then you can see why the Wafian product is compelling.

I'm a firm believer in a simple elegant solution. While a full-on G5/RAID solution could be built and carted around, I like the Wafian's form factor much more.

Mr. Newman, do you believe the Wafian's form factor to be robust enough to survive a 30-40 day indie shoot?

SheerVideo Pro would losslessly double your capacity for a mere 149 bucks. You can build yourself a 2.2 TB eSATA RAID-0 with adequate write-performance for around USD 2k. Add a dual-core G5, Kona or DeckLink and eSATA cards, some RAM and FCS and off you go. Such a system would be capable of recording approx. 7 hours of losslessly compressed HD. Add more storage as your needs grow. Still much cheaper. Think different ;-)

Yes, it has already been used on several indie projects.

Ron, You aren't thinking Different Enough. :)

Hmm - we're in the XL-H1 forum, a USD 9k cam? I think I'm on target... :-)

I'd rather have a portable unit that could only hold 10 hours. If I have to lug a box around, plus have to have access to electric, I might as well use my PC. The PC means more equipment, but less expensive overall, due to the fact it does a lot more than just capture.