Check out this review on DMN (http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=25508) by D.S.E. about the nNovia A2D, a portable 80gb FireWire hard drive that writes edit-ready files and includes analog input and output. Hooray!

I wanted to extend my thanks to Douglas Spotted Eagle for finding the time in his busy schedule to review the nNovia QuickCapture A2D. I hope you folks find our QuickCapture family of DVR's versatile and easy to use. We at nNovia believe without superior versatility, reliability and ease-of use this genre of products will never be adopted into most videographer's workflow.

Chris has been kind enough to extend an invite to nNovia to participate in your community and help folks better understand what our digital products bring to the industry. I hope I can lend a bit of insight into this exciting new class of products along with the other capable OEM's already represented here.

Will this device work with the DVX100?

Yes Glenn, the QuickCapture family of digital video recorders works with the Panasonic DVX100. In fact we used that camera last year for our booth demos at NAB 2003.

Our proprietary DVR technology, the "Stream Storage Processor" (or "SSP-100") accepts any video signal in its native format and stores it with bit-for-bit accuracy. We do not have any difficulties storing some troublesome digital video formats (such as 16 x 9) or those requiring the tweaking of frame rates found in cameras such as the DVX100.

The reason is this: The architectural approach of the SSP-100 does not entail the user having to "dial in" a video source format - prior to recording. We feel its simply too inflexible. Instead, the QuickCapture DVR's accept any digital video signal in thier native format on input, then after acquisition the user can select which "edit-ready" video format he wants to output to his NLE. The only caveat to this architecture is that the user must select whether he is on a Mac or PC-based platform prior to recording.

In principle, the SSP-100 can accept anything from regular digital signal (timed) such as DV25 to irregular digital signal (un-timed) such as MPEG. In fact, the technology can even be used to support high-bandwidth DV50 applications very few other companies can even contemplate pursuing with their HDD-based DVR solutions. The SSP-100 is extremely versatile and highly reliable. There are a lot of exciting developments on the horizon centered upon our patent pending core technologies.

I guess this was a bit more than you asked for Glenn, but I thought this explanation may help you and others to better understand why QuickCapture is not camcorder limited. In fact, QuickCapture A2D takes this flexibility to an even higher level, allowing videographers to use both digital and analog video sources in the same "edit-ready" fashion of our digital models of QuickCapture. We are pretty pleased with the results thus far.

That was an excellent response, thanks!

You are quite welcome, Glenn.

If you are anyone else has a particular question about the nNovia QuickCapture family of products, or the product genre in general, please do not hesitate to ask and I will do my best to provide a timely response.

We do things quite differently than other manufacturers so I am quite certain you may be surprised by some of the answers. After all we have been building DVR's since our days at Quantum Corporation and the design and development effort of both TiVo and Replay TV architectures. We have learned a thing or two about designing DVR's over the past eight years.

I feel almost embarrassed to ask this question, but I’m new to DV, so what the heck. Can I use the A2D as a means of converting my NLE’s fire wire signal into an analogue signal for my production monitor? Would the A2D be just as convenient as a VTR for this purpose of conversion? Thanks in advance!

Absolutely, Glenn.

nNovia's QuickCapture A2D is an extremely high-quality, bi-directional media converter as well as both a digital, tapeless VTR and a DV/Analogue capture device. In fact, it is the only third party media converter that has passed the rigorous testing parameters (and is recommended) by Hitachi for use with their Broadcast Cameras, which are analog.

Many folks today use QuickCapture A2D to "live-view" DV content on a local analog monitor as they are capturing during DV camcorder shoots. The composite video output is always "hot" during recording, but even when it’s not being used as a capture device it can be used as a desktop, bi-directional media converter or HDD-based digital VTR.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, I'm gonna buy one this summer, for sure! It just doesn't make any sense to buy a tape VTR at this point.

I have another question. Since I wont be capturing Analogue video, wouldn't the regular Quick Capture be good for me?

If you do not require the benefits of the integrated media converter Glenn, I would advise you to look towards QuickCapture rather than QuickCapture A2D.

There are plenty of inexpensive media converters on the market today if you require one latter on.

I am very interested in recording directly to Disk, but I already have plenty of external HD in a box that supports both Firewire and USB 2.0. What alternatives are there to using a PC?

So far the Firestore FS-1 is the only device I have found...

Ben

Well there are really just a few OEMs in the business of direct to disk recording. They are as follows:

nNovia Inc. (www.nnovia.com) - Product: QuickCapture & QuickCapture A2D

Shining Technologies Inc. - (www.shining.com) - Product: CitiDisk

MCE Technologies - (www.mcetech.com) - Product: QuickStream (built on the Shining Technologies PCB)

ADS Technologies - (http://www.adstech.com/products/API_820/intro/API820intro.asp?pid=API820) - Pyro DV Drive (Built on the Shining Technologies PCB)

And of course you are familir with the Focus Enhancement FireStore products.

That's pretty much the entire lineup for DV direct to disk recording.

Hi Ben,

All the FireStore products allow you to use any FireWire disk drive. It is also possible to daisy chain up to four drives at a time for ultra long recordings. Here are the options:

FireStore FS-1: Any FireWire 400 drive.

FireStore FS-3 & DR-DV5000: Internal, removable FSHDD-1 FireWire drive or any FireWire 400 drive.

FireStore FS-2: Internal IDE drive or any FireWire 400 drive.

If you need more info, visit http://www.firestore.com

Hope that helps.

Matt McEwen
Focus Enhancements

This thing so called A2d is no where coming close to FS3 esp with this price of abt $1800 it is a real waste of money ... the thing is to work around your hip and when you connect it to your camera with firewire you will never knwo if any kid or mischievous person
removes the cables from your HIPside toy.

FS3 gets seamless attached to any v, sony, AB mount of any camcorder and makes love comfortably whilst yo shoot without any fear of the cable getting loose or being plugged out. as far as the toys claim of analogue input its again a waste feature cox al the modern day cameras digital ones will give firewire output so why would one like to shoot digital and get an analogue recording.

This unit is a very unprofessional toy in nut shell i would sum it up.

If any one desires buying a professional unit one must compare FS3 features.

- One Happy FS3 user !

Actually Mr. Jain the QuickCapture A2D does in fact utilize the Anton Bauer camera mounts and is simply not comparable to the FS-3 - a fine product in its own right. In fact we demonstrated the QuickCapture platform and the Anton Bauer mounting system to JVC during NAB 2002 - during the Focus Enhancements association with JVC surrounding the FS-3 platform.

QuickCapture A2D is the only portable, professional DVR in the market today that has an integrated media converter. For this reason alone it is simply not in the same product class as the FS-3, which is built upon the strength of removable media. They are quite different products.

Our digital version of the product platform, QuickCapture, is more closely aligned to the FS-3 feature set but lacks the removable media option. It too is can be purchased as camera mountable utilizing the Anton Bauer battery mounts. The MSRP of the 40GB camera mount option for QuickCapture is only $1199 so your view as to the merits of comparable pricing is a bit off target.

There is sound reasoning behind why we are experiencing huge response from the ENG camera makers and news corporations. I'm sure you can draw you own conclusions as to why this may be so.

<<<-- Originally posted by Bruce Yale : If you do not require the benefits of the integrated media converter Glenn, I would advise you to look towards QuickCapture rather than QuickCapture A2D.

There are plenty of inexpensive media converters on the market today if you require one latter on. -->>>

Bruce, I've been meaning to ask you, can the regular Quick Capture (non A2D version) be used as a field VTR?

Yes Glen, QuickCapture (digital) does have extremely robust VTR-emulation capability. In fact, it is arguably the best in the industry due in no small part to the extensive domain knowledge the nNovia engineers have working with the AVC 1394 command set These are the commands for VTR-like devices. These tend to vary greatly between manufacturers!.

If you have any specific questions I would be happy to address them.

Bruce, this VTR/playback option is what I find most interesting about this particular variant of the hard-disk recorder (ProMax DirectDrive/QuickCapture/CapDiv). The ability to play back clips from the drive itself seems absolutely vital, and automatically rules out the ADS/CitiDisk/QuickStream products, as far as I'm concerned.

Here's my question for you: is the playback from the drive absolutely, completely, 110% error-free?

I produce half-hour TV shows, and when it comes time to print the show to tape, I always dread the occasional "hiccup" on my editing system, which will lead to a three-or-four-frame video or audio dropout, which means I have to turn around and start the export all over... there always seems to be something that happens that glitches the half-hour print-to-tape process.

... what I'd like to do is render the final output, all 7 gigabytes of the half-hour show, out to the QuickCapture. Then, use the QuickCapture's VTR playback function to have an absolutely rock-solid reliable output, something that I could start playing and feel comfortable just walking away from, knowing for a fact that it would do its job completely reliably with no possible glitches. I'd want to copy the 7-gigabyte file from my computer onto the QuickCapture drive, and to have the QuickCapture play back this file through its firewire port which I could then record on my DV deck.

Can you assure me that that's the way the nNovia product would work? Can it handle 7-gigabyte files? Does it play back completely glitch-free?

Thanks!

Hi Barry,

To answer your question, yes the playback and VTR functionality of QuickCapture are both most assuredly "rock solid". QuickCapture has been tested and certified by Hitachi; MacroSystems; Matrox; and certification is currently being completed by both Adobe and Apple as well.

Fundamentally, both the diversity and level of compliance to the AVC 1394 command set is really the true measure of VTR-emulation. nNovia has long led the video capture industry in this area as it is our forte having been intrinsically involved in the development of the first 1394 "Firewire" HDD back in our days with Quantum. As I said earlier we do things a bit differently, but I digress.

"Is the playback from the drive absolutely, completely, 110% error-free?" ...

Yes, we have yet to experience any performance issues surrounding playback of raw DV utilizing the QuickCapture platform.

With regards to your questions about your specific application, let me address this as I understand your workflow (and please correct me if I am wrong!) ...

"I'd want to copy the 7-gigabyte file from my computer onto the QuickCapture drive, and to have the QuickCapture play back this file through its firewire port which I could then record on my DV deck."

As I understand this statement, you are capturing raw video content and editing it on your computer-based NLE. Then you edit this footage to your satisfaction and output it to file in raw DV and then record it to tape with your DV deck.

If this assessment is true, then QuickCapture would essentially replace the role the DV deck occupies. You would be streaming your edited raw DV content to QuickCapture from your computer. Then you would be using QuickCapture to organize your content using our BIN system, placing your seven GB clip(s) in one of 99 BINs, and playing it back accordingly.

If I have this scenario painted correctly, then you should have no problems whatsoever. If I do not have your workflow right, let me know so I can re-direct my comments!

Not exactly.

What I'd do is edit it into a 30-minute long program, and then render out a DV .AVI file, preferably rendering it directly to the QuickCapture (using the QuickCapture as an external firewire hard disk).

Once the file is on the QuickCapture, I'd like to use the QuickCapture menu system to play the file, streaming the file out the firewire port, which I would then be dubbing on DV tape.

The goal is to get the 1/2-hour content out to tape, with *no* hiccups, no frame burps, no audio dropouts, etc.

Is that workflow possible with your drive?

QuickCapture is a acquisition device and as such it acquires content in raw DV format. As I posted elsewhere on this forum, we have a proprietary file system that allows us to change between various "edit-ready" .AVI formats on output.

What you are proposing to do is to utilize QuickCapture as a "dumb storage" device, sending pre-formatted video content (.AVI) as a FAT32-based file to a non-FAT32 file system in real-time. While what you are proposing can be done, you will be faced with one limitation: you can not record additional content as long as the FAT32 file is on QuickCapture.

The reason is simple. Our file system would not 'recognize' a FAT32 file on QuickCapture as a valid nNovia data file and write over the content once you begin to acquire additional video content. But as long as you are simply taking this workflow one project at a time and not using QuickCapture as an acquisition device, then yes QuickCapture will playback the content and operate in the manner you have described.

I hope I conveyed this 'issue' properly. You are really proposing to use QuickCapture exactly backward from what it was designed to do: outputting 'edit-ready' files. You on the other hand are asking to input rendered video content and that was not what QuickCapture was designed to do - but it should work nonetheless as long as you do not attempt to record while the content is on QuickCapture.

Interesting. I definitely want to use it as a capture device, but if it has the ability to play back seamlessly as well, that's very interesting indeed.

So, let me make sure I understand what you're saying: I could go out and capture 20 gigs (or so) worth of clips. Then plug it into the edit computer and use it as a firewire drive, importing clips from the drive, without needing to "capture", and without needing to copy the clips off the drive, just able to instantly access them using the QuickCapture as an external drive. Put those clips directly on the timeline (I'm using Vegas 5.0). Edit, come up with a final version. Then render that final version out to the QuickCapture (again, treating it as an external firewire hard disk) as a FAT32 file. Then use the QuickCapture to play that file, seamlessly, no hiccups, no glitches, no dropouts, no faults, and have my DV deck capture the playback, so that I have a perfect copy on tape.

The only limitation is, from the moment the FAT32 file gets copied to the drive until the moment that FAT32 file gets deleted, the drive cannot be disconnected and then used as a capture device. But as soon as the FAT32 file is deleted, the QuickCapture is "back in business", usable for its primary intended mission.

Do I have that right? If so, I know what my next purchase will be!

Pretty close, Barry. I would suggest using your local storage drive connected to your NLE to edit from (source), rather than using QuickCapture. Remember once you convert the media to the desired output format on QuickCapture (in this case .AVI-Type 2 Microsoft), you can then "Drag & Drop" the file to local storage for faster than real-time transfers (around 5x usually).

Working in this manner allows you to save the captured, raw video content if so desired. When you are finished editing, you can move the finished video content back to QuickCapture and playback as the need arises. Just don't capture again or the edited content will be over-written.

I hope this better describes your intended workflow!

Dear Bruce,
Just wondering what the main difference is between the two. Is it just the analogue to digital converter function of the a2d that is different?
Also can the hard drives be changed in the future if needed ?thanks

Is there a difference if the trade show price is the same?

Hi Paul,

The most important difference at the moment is that the FS-4 is not yet available. So there is no way to really compare the two products. Not many if anyone here has posted there experiences with the Nnovia (other than product testers). There are technical differences, but if you visit the web pages from these two product manufacturers you will be able to make a general comparison for yourself. If you have specific questions regarding some of the technical references, you will find some answers in this forum I'm sure.

good luck,