IEBA Review: Datavideo DN-60 Solid State CF Card Recorder

When it comes to camcorders, most everything is moving to flash media.

There are, however, an incredible amount of HDV and other tape-based HD camcorders out there, still working hard and producing great images. How do you get these camcorders up to speed with the new flash-media workflow? With an external recorder.

Thus far, the need for external devices to record HD footage has primarily been served by Focus Enhancements’ FireStore line. However, there has been growth in the segment recently and Datavideo has entered the fray with a unique design and price point under $500. Does the Datavideo DN-60 Solid State CF Card Recorder give the more expensive recorders a run for their money? Let’s find out.

Canon XF300 on the way for review. Questions? Tests? [UPDATE] It’s here.

Canon says that the Canon XF300 Professional Camcorder is on it’s way to me for test & review. This camera features 50Mbps MPEG-2 4:2:2 recording to Compact Flash (CF) Cards. This high data rate should push aside all issue with compression, even though it does use the older MPEG-2 codec as opposed to the newer MPEG-4 / H.264 / AVCHD codec that a lot of newer camcorders and cameras use. The advantage to MPEG-2 is that, with a lot less compression, today’s even faster computer should handle it with ease, as opposed to the much more difficult time today’s systems have with AVCHD footage.

Preview: NEXTO DI’s NVS2500 portable media storage.

The big buzz surrounding the NVS2500 is all about three features built into this diminutive, battery operated media storage device:

• the fast SxS transfer to internal hard drive
• the ability to play back professional codecs like XDCAM EX
• the eSATA slot for fast transfer to a computer

I’ve performed some preliminary tests and have some numbers to report.

P2 is the MOST SECURE…

It really bothers me when corporate marketing drones get so caught up in their own chest-thumping that they fail to recognize the hypocrisy of the stuff spewing out of their mouths.

For example, this is a quote by a Panny rep on a video mailing list:

P2 is reusable thousands of times
and is the must secure form of digital storage on the planet.

The Sounds of Inevatibility.

Agent Smith said:

“You hear that Mr. Anderson?
That— is the sound of inevitability…
It is the sound of your death…”

As I was unable to attend NAB in person, I read the same news as everyone else and there are clearly a few trends that it pays to notice because they will have a dramatic affect on production in the future. Whether or not you want to go this route, the sounds of inevitability are becoming louder.

Incredible Sony Z7 information!

You may just want to learn French to really understand (correctly) all the information on this site. I’ve included a little bit of it here, and did my best to straighten out the rough automated translation– but all of this is just one section, of FOUR.

So without further hesitation, here’s the Sony HVR-Z7 as you’ve not yet seen it (in English):

Sony HVR-Z7U / S270 lens issue?

Marshall Levy, who wrote our compact flash test results, is finding issues with the lenses that adorn the latest HDV camcorders from Sony- the HVR-Z7U and the HVR-S270. He’s found focusing issues, lens wobble and says the issue was confirmed by Sony.

Do you have one of the new camcorders?
Try out the tests he suggests to help determine if this is an isolated incident or a more widespread issue.

CompactFlash Media Test Results.

We’ve worked with an early adopter of the Sony HVR-Z7U to test 10 different compact flash cards currently available. The test results of Marshall Levy, of Maverick Productions, will answer the following questions: Do you need to spend the extra money to get the absolutely fastest media available? What does the extra money actually buy? What kind of errors will we have by starting and stopping recording to compact flash over 100 times?
These are the questions we answer right now.

In the Tech-STORE… CF Extreme IV!

We’re working on a comparison review of various Compact Flash technologies for video, now that consumer media can now be used for recording the HDV production standard format (AVCHD doesn’t count, yet).

Sandisk made a serious jump by pushing throughput from 20 MBps to 40MBps with their new Extreme IV cards. For anyone taking delivery of Sony’s new HDV camcorders, click over to the Tech-STORE – to our new MEDIA- page and snap up the latest version of wicked-fast media!

Sony Z7U shipping. Here’s the Manual.

Sony’s new HDV camcorders, promised for February, are indeed shipping and arriving in people’s hands. This is excellent news as these new camcorders elevate HDV and give us HDV-quality video on readily available and cheap compact flash cards.

One of the best ways to find out about every nook and cranny of these camcorders is to actually RTFM. Well, I’ve got that for you… plus a recap of all seven of the camcorder’s on-screen menus…. and more!