Hi Tom,

Any PC (Windows) solution that looks like Sonnettech's QIO? I looked at your website, and it seems the h/w and s/w are only for Macs.

Hello TingSern Wong

I haven't heard anything, but I believe a windows driver would be much easier to make than a Mac Kext. If anyone can do it fast, then Sonnettech are the guys, they got out a Leopard Driver for my old E4P card in just a few weeks that's great service these days.
Hardware Connections via a PCIe contoller, as I understand it would connect to either a Mac or Windows, just differing drivers required.

We will know soon as product hits the shelves I imagine, current windows boxes can use the Very Cheap Amtron front mounted solution and many other even cheaper PCI to PC card variants, most of these are well under $100.

PCIe is the target for most of us, transfer speed is what we are after , the Newer Model Intel Macpro's and some very late windows Mother Boards now use PCIe as well to gain the faster transfer rates.
Also having a Expresscard attachment the Qio will pick up the Lappy users too.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

The "problem" of this QIO solution as I see it - it requires its own PCI-e card. If they can make one that uses a generic eSATA card, that's be great. I don't have any more spare slots in my video editing workstation - but, I do have a 4 port eSATA card - and I can swap external devices on eSATA within seconds. Then I have the eSATA speed (3 Gbits/sec - if they use eSATA 2 or 1.6 Gbits/sec for eSATA 1) that I need to read the P2 cards straight off the cards without having to copy the data into my HDDs.

Hi TingSern Wong

yes i'm in the same boat with my Macpro with slots, as I've been told, I can get the same speed from the Qio's 4 eSATA slots (on the rear panel) as I'm getting on my internal 4 port E4P sonnet card, even portmultiplcation as well (same technology i'm advised)
So in theory it's not a problem, real world tests by some users will confirm that. sonnet guys are great at their designing of products, so they have most likely have foreseen that.

As I see it to date, if this reader does what is claimed it will be a Huge leap ahead for solid state video. Let's wait n see.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

Okie ... we shall see about the real thing when it appears - and provided it has a Windows Vista 64 driver as well ....

Cheers,
TS

Bump-Update,

I'm advised the release of the QIO will be end of July / early August, so not long to wait now.

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

Now only a month away, Lets hope for some pre release real world P2 file transfer times on the QIO reader.
Sonnet - Qio: Professional Universal Media Reader/Writer Plus Four eSATA Ports

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au

I will be happy to see some results run on PC - not on the Mac platform.

Maybe the delay in the Sonnet QIO has been so that it can support SDXC and USB 3.0 upgradeability? I hope it supports both...

Hello barry, I bet the delay has been Snow Leopard, and the fact that to write drivers for so many card variants would have been a mammoth task, no doubt the sonnet team has future proofed the Qio, lets hope anyway, nothing more frustrating than expensive products that become obsolete overnight.
250mb sec that would be very nice to achieve.
Hi TingSern Wong i see on the blurb sheet the OS's supported you should be good to go-
Mac Compatibility
QIO-E34 – MacBook Pro (15" and 17", with ExpressCard/34 slot)
QIO-PCIE – Power Mac G5 with PCIe slots, Mac Pro
Mac OS X Version 10.4+
Snow Leopard tested(5)

Windows Compatibility
QIO-E34 – PC notebook (with ExpressCard/54 or ExpressCard/34 slot)
QIO-PCIE – PC (with PCI Express slot)
Windows Vista
Windows XP SP2

cheers
TomK

Looks like three interesting solutions, Qio, Panasonic PCD35 and Nexto NVS2500. The latter is interesting to me because a laptop isn't needed, although requires an adapter for P2 cards. Great for SxS cards. PCD35 is convenient due to five card slots, but needs and adapter for laptops.

I've got a G4 laptop for PCMCIA slot, but can't view AVC Intra footage due to non-Intel processor. New 13" and 15" MacBookPRO's don't have Express card. Snow Leopard is said by some to be problematic with Duel Adapters. Nexto would seem to avoid computer issues, which is appealing. Thoughts?

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video

Hi Jeff,
PCD35 I believe is limited to it's ability at an off load a single P2 card at say X-mbs, maybe a PCD35 user can correct me if that's wrong, so, if you try and off load 5 cards at the same time it slows the transfer rate to the same X-mbs also.
the Qio info and estat build looks like it may off load direct to two HDD's at Xmbs each , if that's the case it's a huge advantage in speed. lets wait for some bench tests to see if that's correct.
Looks like if you want a MacbookPro you'd be advised to get the "Top of the Range" or a cruddy cheap windows lappy that's a good cheap alternative as barry advises.
the NVS2500 has no P2 slot, and is only 160gig, better to use a pair of HDD's hanging off a windows lappy or MacbookPro, all these variants suit many who have differing budgets constraints.
So, get what you can afford / need to get the job done.

cheers
Tom K

Why not just get a Windows laptop for offloading? You can build a fully functional offloading system for so much less... A Lenovo R400 will set you back about $700, has the PCMCIA slot, an ExpressCard slot, and can play the footage back, and costs about 1/3 as much as the Nexto. You can offload directly to a USB drive that you then remove and plug into your desktop Mac for editing. Or, plug in via gigabit ethernet and use the Lenovo as an actual live card reader for your desktop...

Or, if you want inexpensive, you can get a Lenovo S10E at Radio Shack for $300. Add the Addonics adapter, and for $360 you've got a 160GB battery-powered P2 offloading station. Get a USB gig-E adapter for connecting to the Mac to transfer footage, and you're still up and running for under $400.

As Barry says there are low cost solutions available that also give location card management and build in a safety back-up solution.

I bought a G4 powerbook titanium off e-bay for £200 and this gives me my PCMIA card reader that can then dump to low cost firewire 400 or USB drives, they then sit on the shelf as my guard copy of the rushes and I load to pro res or native on my main drives ready for edit.

If I need a quicker turnaround for smaller jobs then I just use the USB hook up on the camera.

However, it would still be great to have a low cost simple firewire/sata single card reader along the lines of my sandisc firewire 800 CF reader.

Thank you for the good feedback. I just purchased a used Panasonic PCD20 5 card reader with FireWire 800 connectivity. This will work with most computers, but I don't expect I will see the advantage of E series P2 cards higher throughput, since the FireWire 800 would be the limiting factor.

Is it just the PCD35 5 card reader that would allow faster offloads from E series cards? Even with an adapter for Express card slot, this wouldn't help because I'm using a G4, and now the new 13" and 15" MacBook PRO's don't have Express Card slots anyway.

I have been happy with Shotput Pro for ingest and I should be able to use the 5 card reader to offload the cards non-stop for up to three hard drives via a computer.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video