Portable drive for the field?

[Dean Harrington]

Originally Posted by Filip Kovcin

i will try with something like this:

http://powerwarehouse.en.alibaba.com...nd_laptop.html


and you an use any drive then. since you will have everytime proper power level, there is no need for some extreme solutions. of course this is just a suggestion, try to find in your area - this one has connection via USB. i do not know how this one will work/react with MBP.


filip kovcin

controllable out-put.
http://www.tekkeon.com/site/products-mypowerall.php

[Craig Seeman]

Powerbook does not have Express slot so you'd need adaptor, go from camera USB, buy Sony's Express to USB reader (needs power).

Install SxS driver.
Sony XDCAM Transfer Tool runs on PPC (unlike Clip Browser) and can run as a separate app without FCP.

You can copy the BPAV folder from card into a named folder you created from finder.

You can use XDCAM Transfer Tool to convert to .mov (although you won't be able to see the video without the codec from FCP 6.0.2).

You can play the .mp4 files in VLC (or one might try to copy the codec from a machine with 6.0.2).

Originally Posted by Jamie Baughman

So I pressed the button on the BH order and I'll have my cam at week's end!

One question. I think I know the answer to this, but just in case I'm wrong here goes: do you have to have the media manager on your computer to pull data off the sys cards?

So, for instance, if you're out in the field, you've shot your two 8gb cards, is it possible to just do a "Data Dump" onto a laptop (without Final Cut and media manager) and transfer this "raw data" later? Or do you have to use media manager to pull off footage?

In short, I've got a junker powerbook that I'd love to through in my pack and dump footage on to...but it doesn't have Final Cut 6 on it...any chance of using this somehow as a temporary holding pen for the footage?

Thanks in advance.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

Powerbook does not have Express slot so you'd need adaptor, go from camera USB, buy Sony's Express to USB reader (needs power)...

Craig forgot to type his first sentence. Here it is:

"Yes you can use the Powerbook, but there are a few things to consider."

Other than that his answer was spot on.

[Jamie Baughman]

Thanks for the replies gents. In advance of the camera getting here, I'll upgrade my os on my powerbook as well as look into getting the USB card reader. That way, I can have the pbook working while I'm shooting. I have the 8gb card that came with the camera, an additional card bought as part of the B&H order and the 3rd from the rebate. So I should be good.

Thanks!

[Michael H. Stevens]

Should you not be using eSATA with a laptop (assuming you have poer source)? I nhave seen aneSATA RAID 0 config in one box looks a good choice.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Michael H. Stevens

Should you not be using eSATA with a laptop (assuming you have poer source)? I nhave seen aneSATA RAID 0 config in one box looks a good choice.

Yes and No. Mostly No.

In most cases there is no advantage to using eSATA in mobile/field use with a laptop. Its true that an array of eSATA drives can get you some impressive performance, but there isn't much you can do on a laptop with that performance.

(Just a terminology note before I get going- firewire protocols have always been defined in relation to their data rate in megabits per second. (Mbps) So, S800 is 800Mbps, S100 is 100Mbps and so on.)

FW S800 is plenty fast for capture of fairly high end codecs like ProRes, DNxHD and Cineform. Right now, the only video applications whose requirements exceed Firewire's S800 bandwidth are uncompressed HD video, and 4:4:4 video.

None of that is relevant for the EX1 at any rate. The best you can get out of the EX1 is uncompressed HD SDI, and capturing ProRes seems to exceed the camera's capabilities in practice.

The other reason I wouldn't use eSATA for field work with a laptop is that I prefer to keep the card slot free for either SxS or P2 (depending on which camera I am using.)

One reason to use eSATA in the field is flexibility. If I am capturing using an AJA ioHD (as an example) then I need to keep the built in firewire bus free. That's when I plop in a Firewire or eSATA card for HD work. Notice that even in this case Firewire remains an option, but you need a card in any case.

I am pretty happy with fast drives in single device enclosures. I do buy eSATA, but its for flexibility, not performance. There is a nice line of Wiebetech enclosures that features USB2, Firewire S400, Firewire S800 and eSATA called Toughtech XE. I like those right now.

http://www.wiebetech.com/products/toughtech.php

Looking to the future, Firewire continues to be the right IT technology for video field use.

The 1394 Trade Association (1394 TA) has announced the coming availability of a few more versions of 1394b, which is the specification that includes Firewire S800.

S1600 devices should be available this spring. S3200 devices should be introduced late this year. S6400 devices should be available in 2009.

Not that when they say "devices" the 1394 TA means chipsets and stuff like that. I figure we'll get an S1600 card and drive encolsures from specialists this summer, and S3200 Macs will be announced by Macworld 2009. We'll probably get S3200 enclosures from specialists spring 2009.

They all use the same 9 pin connector as Firewire S800, called the "beta" connector.

Don't get me started on USB 3.