PDW-F70 is there a cheaper option?
 

I noticed for XDCAM there were a couple of cheaper portable units designed to hook up directly to your NLE. Would these units work for simple file transfer of the XDCAM-HD format?

While i think the workflow is great i just have no need for a dedicated deck in my environment - just something that would read and write the optical disks would do the trick.

John, you'll have to wait a bit longer. The PDW-U1 was just introduced at NAB and isn't shipping just yet. It will also be a read-only unit at first, with a software update to writable coming early 2008. It will have the dual layer drive in it though so it will be able to deal with the 50gb dual layer discs. The interface is USB 2.0 only.

regards,

-gb-

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan...Model?id=78599

I think I was looking at he older unit - this one

PDWD1

It will only output DVCAM in AV/C mode, but does support FAM

That unit doesn't support XDCAM HD. It's SD only.

-gb-

The PDWF30 is cheaper.

It's a player only.

Greg, I get that the PDWD1 is SD only, but when it comes to FAM we're talking files on a disk - provided the disk structure is the same shouldn't you still be able to access them from this deck and transfer them from disk to an NLE? Or am I completely off target with the way these things work? I'm seriously looking at XDCAM-HD as my next acquisition format but I have zero experience with the gear at the moment.

I believe what Sony need is just a reader/writer that sits on an SATA controller and fits in a 5.25 bay on you computer. For the workflow that I anticipate that would be the ideal situation and so much cheaper than a broadcast deck. It wouldn't be right for everyone, but it is all I'd need.

You aren't the first to suggest that idea. As for the files and FAM mode, the problem is the SD drive was developed prior to the HD drive and the directory/file structure is different. Sort of like the difference between Windows NTFS and Apple's HFS. However, Sony has stated that they will maintain backward compatibility as newer XDCAM stuff comes to market.

-gb-

Thanks Greg - exactly the info I was after.

The F30 is a reader, but in FAM mode you can send your edit back to it. So, in a digital environment it's a recorder as well.

haz anyone ever tried f30 as a FAM data transfer mode to read/write data between nle & f30. which can state that being used a a recorder in digi enviornment.

Only Read out yet, next week when done with editing gonna try write. My Sony dealer pointed it out to me, so that's why I bought it. see this thread where someone's stating that he's using it.

And a quote from it's brochure:

"The PDW-F30 is an NLE feeder/viewer type deck, but also offers the capability to record MXF files (in both MPEG HD and DVCAM formats) via its i.LINK (File Access Mode) or Ethernet* interfaces."

http://www.sonybiz.net/res/attachmen...9199084636.pdf

Thanks for that Vince - could be a good compromise if it works.

i guess anyone who owns this machine shud try out quickly & update us !!!

Next week Bankim, I'll update here.