In reality, we have 2 options for recording with the XDR at this time. They are 1080i 60 at 50 or 100 Mbps. With testing, I've found that 720 is not a stable format. C-D is working on the 720 issue, while other formats are due in the future.

The Quick Time format will be nice, but it is not working at this point. Any format that doesn't playback thru the XDR is non-working as far as I'm concerned. However, the glimmer of hope I saw with this update was the simple menu system that allowed me to actually change the date.

OK, so we have 2 options to choose from and I can live with that fact for the time being. However, what is desperately needed is a menu system. To use the XDR in the field we need to be able to choose clips to playback for a dozen very important production reasons and not have to sit thru everything that's been shot.

When shooting ENG or EFP, we do not usually have time to load clips into a reader to check shots. Sometimes we need to check a shot while standing on the side of a mountain waist deep in snow. You're not always going to be packing your laptop around I can guarantee it. You'll be lucky to have a LCD HD monitor with you.

I commend C-D for the work they are doing, but to really have a recorder that's field usable we need a menu system and the ability to select shots to review.


Cheers,
Scott

Might I suggest the menu structure of the iPod? It's dead simple, text based, requires 4-5 buttons, and is very familiar to most people in this game.

And this is coming from a non-Apple guy...

The current firmware release, 0.0.117 is an interim release that allows users of the Flash XDR to create Quicktime files so that they can test these files in their specific workflow.

In order to allow users to test the Quicktime files as soon as possible, this firmware was released before the code to play back the Quicktime files, in the box, was ready.

The engineers are working to be able to playback these files from within the Flash XDR. We do not expect much of a delay before this is possible.

We agree that it is very important to playback the Quicktime files from within the Flash XDR. For production purposes, the tried and proven option of recording, using the original functionality, is still available. This is the recommended option for any production recording at this time.

More menus will also be coming soon also.

We fully agree that providing an easy to use menu system is very important. Frankly, this is the key for us to provide more functionality, such as the ability to select the proper clip for playback, and to enable the mic level audio inputs, as well as most other options.

We agree with everyone's comments. In a day or so, we will release firmware to enable 1080psf and audio control (microphone levels, embedded vs analog input selection, etc).

Next on the menu (no pun intended) is displaying a list of files on the CF card and allowing users to play back (or loop) on one clip or a group of clips.

Yes, iPod is a good model for menu development, I'll grab one from our interns and review the structure again.