SONY HVR-MRC1K CF Recorder

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by Bill Koehler

Actually, it greatly slows down head movement. Reason? The laptop isn't interweaving blocks of video data around the pre-existing file structure + data of the OS and program application files. Instead it is overwhelmingly laying down sequential blocks of video data in a clean partition whose sole purpose is soaking up that content like a sponge.

Indeed, I feel compelled to ask why on earth you would think this would speed up the rate at which the disk heads have to move around?

...You have not slowed down arm and head movement inside your system drive. You have multiplied the area whereby the geometry of your system hard drive must be mapped and serviced by writes and re-writes. Adding an additional partition on the same hard drive as your system OS and programs reside is like having two or more operating systems running at once. Where did you get the idea your second partition writes were sequential ? Video and audio data writes can only be sequential if they are written to a seperate hard drive, and even then, the writes will only be written sequentially if the video capture program is setup to force video and audio data to the outermost circumferance of the hard drive data plates and then write progressively inward. Several NLE capture programs are written to do just so.

[Michael Simpson]

Originally Posted by Mark Bonnlander

I purchased MRC1K last week from B&H. I will be doing some tests in the next week to see how it matches up with the Sony FX1000. I bought some $70 32GB Qmemory cards to go with it. I balked at paying $225 for the Extreme III cards and they were impossible to find on the internet last week anyway. B&H just sent me a note saying they are in stock, FYI.

I will be traveling to India to film and I needed the ability to shoot HDV continuously for 2-3 hours between tape changes. I determined from the MRC1K manual that I can record indepedent from the tape with the Stop-Record buttons on the unit. What I am still curious about is what happens when you switch CF cards. Does the data store to the cache while the cover is open and then write to the card after it is installed?

If all looks good, I might stop shooting the tapes for backup and just go with the Flash recorder.

I'll publish my results. Thank you everyone for your contributions.

I have an FX1000 and was looking into using the MRC1K but would like to know your experiances.

[Mark Bonnlander]

I am thrilled by the use of the MRC1K. The Qmemory 150X and Ridata 233X discount CF cards worked great in my tests.

The recorder comes with a pamphlet that lists dozens of cameras and their ability to work with the unit and the features that are possible with each unit. I have not seen this pamphlet online which is a shame beacuse so many people want to know will it work with mine?

I recorded independently of the camera record button because I decided to shoot tapeless. The Sync and Follow features with the cam link aren't useful to me beacuse I shoot segments that are longer than 60 minutes, so I just press record on the MRC1K unit and watch the elapsed time on the screen which is a little small and not nearly as nice as watching the LCD.

Changing a card takes about 20 seconds and that information is lost unless I have a DV tape going as well.

The cache feature is great. It gives you a 14 second pre-record buffer. Press record and the previous 14 seconds is also written to memory. Very handy.

My only problem is my camera HDV port is now occupied by the recorder so I was trying to figure out if I can also stream the live feed to ustream. There really isn't a firewire splitter and even if there was one, would I be willing to have a corrupt recording? No!

[Michael Simpson]

I understhand that the Record sync may not be usefull to you but I am interested if they work with the FX1000. Have you atleast tried them?

If not I probably wont purchase the recorder.

Is the FX1000 listed in the pamphlet and what functions does it show for this camera.

Also what about the video quality? Is it as good as the tape?

[Wayne Nakamura]

Originally Posted by Michael Simpson

I understhand that the Record sync may not be usefull to you but I am interested if they work with the FX1000. Have you atleast tried them?

If not I probably wont purchase the recorder.

Is the FX1000 listed in the pamphlet and what functions does it show for this camera.

Also what about the video quality? Is it as good as the tape?

Michael:

If you haven't bought a camera yet and you're really interested in using the MCR1K I'd suggest you think about buying a Z5U. THe integration and control of the MCR1K really make it worth the extra money. IMHO.

cheers

[Michael Simpson]

I agree but unfortunatly I already own a FX1000.

[Michael Simpson]

I though the MRC1K used the iLink to record. Are you saying it uses the HDMI port for recording. If that is the case it should record true 1920x1080 instead of the 1440x1080

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Bill Koehler

It is highly unlikely that these devices will provide the HDV timelapse function you are looking for.

Are you not better of buying a HD small camera with a build-in harddrive and let it run for several hours for timelaps recordings? Most small HD camera's produce a very good image in good light conditions.

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Are you not better of buying a HD small camera with a build-in harddrive and let it run for several hours for timelaps recordings? Most small HD camera's produce a very good image in good light conditions.

...You can also simply run several HDV tapes at a location then injest them into an NLE and either increase speed of clips on timeline, or remove footage and keep one frame every 5 minutes, etc. Either way is going to produce good results, but at the price of wasting tapes and ingest time.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Mark Andrew Job

...You can also simply run several HDV tapes at a location

Yes, but that would be quite a waist of time when you capture and you need to replace tapes every hour, harddrive or tapebased cameras can run much longer without interuption and you can capture much quicker. I am considering such a small tape or harddrive hd cam mainly for there type of recordings, I film quite a lot of events and a client asked if they could have a timelaps recording of them building up everything, but for creative timelaps shots for weddings it's also a good tool.

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Yes, but that would be quite a waist of time when you capture and you need to replace tapes every hour, harddrive or tapebased cameras can run much longer without interuption and you can capture much quicker. I am considering such a small tape or harddrive hd cam mainly for there type of recordings, I film quite a lot of events and a client asked if they could have a timelaps recording of them building up everything, but for creative timelaps shots for weddings it's also a good tool.

...Hey Noa. The lack of a device at an affordable price, which records true timelapse in HD resolution as either an image sequence, or as a video file, is one of the main reasons behind my decision to design and build my own SSDR. Check out my thread, "Our Project to Create a Cost Effective Solid State HD Video Recording Device Begins," for more details.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Mark Andrew Job

Check out my thread, "Our Project to Create a Cost Effective Solid State HD Video Recording Device Begins," for more details.

That discussion goes a little beyond my knowledge of English but it sounds interesting :)
I have put the topic in my favorites, just to follow what's happening the next months and I hope you manage to create what you have in mind. The solution I had with the use of a plain hardisk or tape cam should suffice for me right now as I also can use the camera as a second camera for normal recordings.

[Ken Grohs]

Originally Posted by Mark Bonnlander

The recorder comes with a pamphlet that lists dozens of cameras and their ability to work with the unit and the features that are possible with each unit. I have not seen this pamphlet online which is a shame beacuse so many people want to know will it work with mine?

Here is a listing of compatible cameras and other devices. I think this came from the pamphlet itself, but not sure.

https://www.globalmediapro.com/dp/A0...t/#Compatibles

-Ken