Has anyone heard how much the CF Recording Unit is going to cost on it's own? And will it work with camera's such as the FX1?

This looks like a great way to go tapeless without investing in all new cameras.

Has anyone heard how much the CF Recording Unit is going to cost on it's own? And will it work with camera's such as the FX1?

This looks like a great way to go tapeless without investing in all new cameras.

A device like the HDV DR-60 works with any HDV camera with a Firewire output. It won't let you go tapeless though unless your camera has a mode which permits recording to an external device without recording to tape. What you will be able to do is record to both tape and the external device at the same time, which to me negates most of the advantage of such a device.

The new compact flash recorder would be the same if it used the same firewire connection that the HD-DR60 uses, but rumor has it that it uses a new proprietary connection that is only on the new cameras

Most cameras I'm aware of allow tapeless recording out of the firewire port.
Two companies are working on a solid state CF card recorder
1-Convergent Design, HD-SDI input, est. $5k
2-Cineform, using the cineform codec for compression, HDMI input, touchscreen, est, $2k

What you will be able to do is record to both tape and the external device at the same time, which to me negates most of the advantage of such a device.
I disagree. To me the beauty of this approach is exactly that it does allow parallel recording to tape and solid state. I'd envisage the solid state version being the one used to download and do most work on, whilst the tape version is a backup/archive.

Whilst tapeless working has always had potential merit, it's having in the past to actively backup and archive that has put some people off - this approach saves that effort. Couple that with the cheapness of CF and I think solid state has suddenly become viable for a lot more people.

I'm really surprised someone like Firestore or Citidisk haven't come out with a CF unit that works off of the Firewire port in the same way as existing hard drive units do. Just plain old HDV onto the CF cards. I would LOVE to have something like that for my XHA1.

I don't know if Sony will sell the unit separately but it does come with a docking station that uses L batteries and seems to work as a normal iLink unit so it should record from any camcorder or deck too. I would be interested for my FX1 too.
Ron Evans

I spoke with Sony ay DVExpo West and they said that yes, it would be sold separately, and that it should be ok to use on other cams. We shall see....

I spoke with Sony ay DVExpo West and they said that yes, it would be sold separately, and that it should be ok to use on other cams. We shall see....

Well that is interesting news. Now I wonder what Sony is going to charge for this...

I spoke with Sony ay DVExpo West and they said that yes, it would be sold separately, and that it should be ok to use on other cams. We shall see....

Steve...did Sony give you any idea of the price and when it would be made available?

No, unfortunately they did not.
As a group they were more up on the EX1 and did not seem overly familiar with the cam's cf recording unit. One of three was more knowledgeable than the other two, and he said that yes it should work fine on like a Z1/V1, but had no real idea about price and availability, although several people there were asking about it in that context.

If the Cf recorder will work with the Z1 and V1, I wonder if it will also work with a Canon, JVC or Panasonic? I have an XM1 that has suffered tape transport problems (been back to Canon several times but still doesn't work). A CF drive reading DV from the firewire output might be just the thing...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/07/pretec-intros-16gb-24gb-48gb-compactflash-cards/

when these CF card are available it should be very handy no more changing tape

"..........the outfit unveiled a 16GB, 24GB and 48GB CompactFlash card, with the 2GB - 24GB iterations available in 333x flavors (50MB/sec) and the 1GB - 48GB models available in 233x (35MB/sec). "
Damon, I opened that link half expecting to find them to be too slow for pro video, but even the top of the Sandisk range aren't quite 50MBs (400Mbs)! That's nearly 2/3 the spec of P2.

looks like the future all consumer and pro video camcorder
will be going tapeless

things do look bright, as the memory cards getting bigger faster and cheaper
this is what all of us been dreaming about all these year, look like its coming true

and tape most likely will be only good for backing up projets and archive

Hows this for a deal:

http://flashmemory-store.stores.yahoo.net/32gb-qmemory-compact-flash-cf-card.html