Now that the firmware has arrived ...
 

... I found the auto cache function in the assignables section of the menu and I assigned PICTURE CACHE to one of the assignable buttons, turned it on and nothing.

Am I missing something?

Also, the front pot is still not working when assigned to a one of the rear inputs.

If you turned on picture cache, you should see the tally light in the VF illuminated green. This is your indicator that cache function is recording.

I went in and deleted some individual clips off the discs that I didn't need. That is so awesome to be able to reclaim recording space like that! BTW, it does not go back and re-number the clips so it works just like a digital camera would. You'll have a numbering gap on the disc.

Still can't get the additional essence marks to work. Sony folks seemed surprised when I told them it was showing the extra essence marks in the menu like the SD cameras have.

-gb-

You must be in an HD mode for the picture cache to work.

I missed the CACHE RECORD TIME in the SPECIAL EFFECTS menu and it was set to one second.

Are you saying that your reflexes are slower than one second? (grin)

Just kidding!

-gb-

Note also that the timecode should also go into free-run in cache mode (well, it does on the SD version anyway).

Glad that the new firmware is being well received. Brilliant that clips can now be randomly deleted (and individually write protected).

This is one thing that I love about the XDCAM system. I don't know of any other camera type that has had so many cool extra features added to it as time goes on. You can bet your bottom Dollar that they are working on future revisions that are even cooler too. They haven't dissapointed me yet.

Hey Simon, can you advise on how your SD camera lays down the other essence marks. I would think that audio limiter, gain change, wb, etc. would get recorded automatically as each event occurred during recording operations. I know there is a menu item for enabling Shotmark 1 and Shotmark 2 (which I have on BTW), but nothing about the others.

Any advice would be appreciated.

-gb-

Yes, audio limiter, and the other automatic essense markers get written automatically.

If you go over the audio limit for example on the SD cameras "EM" flashes in the viewfinder to tell you that an essence marker has been written.

Have you checked the downloaded Zip that contained the firmware? Mine contained a new manual for the camera that included descriptions of all the new firmware features.

I do have the new manual and was reading through it last week when I got the software update.

So I take it you finally got yours updated?

-gb-

Unfortunately I have only managed to update the AT (which should strictly be done first...)

Waiting to hear back from a few people though.

Just to add to this. Although you can select random clips to delete, they don't actually get deleted off the disc, otherwise it could become fragmented. Basically you are deleting clips so you can stay organized, but you do not create space on the disc by deleting random clips. Basically if you had filled a disc and then deleted 98% of the clips, you would still have no extra space to record onto.

Interesting. I had wondered about the fragmentation problem. In a way this is good because it means things can be kept organised, and I would expect those files can be recovered in some way?

Really annoying not being able to get this thing installed yet!

It's also confirmed by Sony that even if you protect the clips, they can still be deleted or the disc formatted in the basic black and white menu. This is why Sony America has not officially made the new firmware available as it has some final QC issues that are being looked into.

Also confirmed that the HD cameras do not yet support recording the additional essence marks even though they show up in the Essence Mark menu with the new firmware.

-gb-

Interesting Greg. Many thanks. I had been waiting to see if Sony US would release it onto their site. Now we know why they haven't.

Quite a reversal really! Sony US released all of the previous firmwares onto their site while the Sony Europe one has usually refrained from doing so because of the risks involved in upgrading.

I have to amend this. Got an email from Sony today saying the issue was showing up in an alpha version of the firmware update. The final version removed this bug....whew...that's a relief.

-gb-

Not via end-user (new firmware provides lock/unlock function to protect against this) - However, in a worse case scenario Sony can recover files from a professional disc providing it has been deleted but not rewritten over as a paid service.

Well Nigel, I have to disagree with this. I remembered your post here as I was deleting some clips off a disc that had 3 minutes left. After deleting those clips (out of the middle and randomly), it now shows having 5 to 10 minutes of record time available. I can't answer for how the disc may or may not become fragmented, but it does indeed appear to free up the space which is what I wanted anyway. To me it's useless to delete the clips from view just to help with organization. I want to recover disc space, and it appears to do just that.

-gb-

I concur Greg. I have just tried deleting a lot of clips off one of my discs. It was 35 mins left when I loaded it up. And now it is reading 60 minutes free after the deletion (these clips were also from the middle of the disc like your Greg.)

The disc continues to perform operations after each clip delete, so perhaps it is defragging as it goes along? If it doesn't defrag then it is also conceivable that it may use the internal cache in order to be able to park the laser at different points of the disc structure to avoid problems.

In addition to the above, I have just run a continuous record on the disc I tested to see whether the time left reading was false in some way. I can now confirm after having left it recording the space on the disc is definitely freed up for more recording time.

I noticed that also, Simon. A lot of ker-chunking sounds as each clip is being deleted. I'm just happy that it does give the disc space back!

And the 'Case for XDCAM' just keeps getting better. ;-)

-gb-

I have to admit, I had figured clip delete was waiting on implementation of the picture cache...

...as it would stand to reason the only way for the device to cope with fragmentation is to use the cache as the head is seeking.

Glad to hear somebody confirmed it works!

This is great news. I don't understand how though as I had it straight from 2 top Sony tech guys in the UK so I had no reason to actually test it out for myself. I'll be trying it tomorrow on F350 with latest firmware. If it is true I'll be calling my Sony guys for an explanation.

I know Simon is on an SD XDCAM model, Greg, are you on F350/330 or an SD model?

As you say Greg, The Case for XDCAM just keeps on getting better!!

What? Doesn't anyone read signatures any more? (grin)

I'm on the F350.

-gb-

Duuuhhhhh ;)

Just done a test on F350 with latest firmware. I recorded a bunch of 3 to 5 minute clips until the disc said 30-25 minutes remaining. I then deleted several of the clips from the middle section of the disc by going in and deleting one at a time. Then when I'd deleted a bunch of clips the time was freed up and read 45-40 minutes remaining.

So it would appear that you can delete random clips from anywhere on the disc and the space is freed up for you to record over again.

Nice!!!

What, you didn't believe us? (hehe)

Now you need to have a conversation with your Sony UK guys.

-gb-

That I will be doing. I was told by the two most knowledgeable XDCAM HD guys at Sony UK. I can only assume they misunderstood the Japanese translation of this firmware update. But I will find out for sure soon.

I also really liked the fact that when you delete a random clip it shows the first, last and two mid frames of the clip so you can be absolutely sure it is the clip you want to delete.

That is very handy. Have you also figured out the shortcut for deleting without calling up the clip menu? Just select a thumbnail, then press SHIFT & RESET(on the LCD) at the same time.

-gb-

Nice shortcut Greg. This F350 is going back to Sony tomorrow; only had it on 2 weeks loan :(

I'll definately be getting one of my own come January 2007 though that's for sure.

That's a cool shortcut but quite risky too...

Thierry.

Not really, you still have to confirm that you want to delete the clip. This shortcut only saves you from invoking the clip menu, then selecting the clip delete menu choice. You'll still see the same beginning, middle, end frame screen for confirmation.

-gb-

Update via Sony UK guys. Okay, I have it straight now. Here is a cut/paste from my (modified) feature:

With XDCAM HD it is possible to delete the last recorded clip, random clips, or all the clips on the disc. All these clip-delete methods will of course free up extra space on the disc for you to then record on again. To delete the last recorded clip you must do it as soon as possible because once you power down the camera you will lose the chance to delete the last clip. If you know the last clip was a bad take, delete it there and then. However, you can delete the last clip later on by using the random-clip-delete feature. It is also possible to delete randomly selected clips from the disc by highlighting the clip you want to delete and using the pull-down menu to delete it. To prevent fragmentation occurring on the disc, any clips under 30-seconds duration won't actually be deleted. What happens in this instance is you delete the clip in the usual way and it won't be there anymore. However, the media will remain on the disc hence it won't free up the space on the disc. The disc management system works this way to prevent lots of tiny empty spaces occurring across the disc, which could lead to fragmentation. So it is best to leave these shorter clips on the disc to prevent fragmentation. Having said that, if you were to also delete a neighboring clip that would bring the total duration to 31-seconds or more, then the space is freed up on the disc for you to record on again. For example if the first clip you deleted was just 9 seconds long, then you deleted a neighboring clip of 22-seconds (31 in total) it could combine that space and free it up again.

You can also delete all clips on the disc at the same time, and if you simply re-format the disc any tiny clip under 30-seconds will be completely wiped during the re-format process hence putting your disc back to the state it was when you bought it brand new.

Empty gaps rarely appear on a disc and even if they do it is not a problem as the XDCAM's Disc Management System keeps a 'Look-Up' file allocation table; a very sophisticated one at that. This system doesn't actually de-fragment in the same was a computer hard drive would i.e. moving the files around on the hard disc to keep them together. Instead the XDCAM system maps out files and keeps a record of them in its tables. In my opinion this is less destructive and a lot safer for your precious video files as it doesn't potentially damage the disc like a computer hard drive de-fragmentation process can. Sony have implemented this superb system to absolutely 100% assure that fragmentation is never an issue and your clips are always safe, even if you erase and record a thousand times on the same disc, fragmentation will simply never occur.