I just picked up a used one on Ebay for $535 (including shipping).

Heck of a lot to pay for a CF reader/writer with some buttons and a LCD, but still a lot better than the $940 list price or the $820 B&H price. I haven't ordered from eBay for quite some time due to some horror stories from friends, but I'm hoping this works out O.K.

The unit arrived today. Although not in the original packaging, it seems probable that it has never been used. I'm guessing that the seller picked up a few of these in Asia and removed them from the boxes for easier packing and perhaps less scrutiny from U.S. Customs. The HVR-MRC1K was listed as "used" probably to avoid any warranty issues regarding a gray-market product. But it came in perfect condition with all parts and the seller was extremely responsive.

At any rate, I have been playing with it all day on my Z5 and couldn't be more pleased. It is so well integrated with the Z5 and makes workflow soooooo much easier, Sony really should have bundled it with the Z5 like they did for the Z7. Sony probably wanted to target a lower price point, which was good for them in my case since the Z5 was at the very top limit of my budget.

My only regret is that I didn't get the HVR-MRC1K sooner.

Thanks for the report Bill. As I narrow down a long-term camera strategy it is good to know the unit works well, as I may venture down the road of the Z5 or Z7.

I just picked up a used one on Ebay for $535 (including shipping).

Heck of a lot to pay for a CF reader/writer with some buttons and a LCD, but still a lot better than the $940 list price or the $820 B&H price. I haven't ordered from eBay for quite some time due to some horror stories from friends, but I'm hoping this works out O.K.

Hope it all works out & you don't have any gray market night mares. In my opinion the CF recorder is a little pricey, but a great deal for what you get. Take a look at any of the drives people put onto a HVX, none of those are cheap either and personally I will always take removable media over a hard drive.

Thanks, Zack. It is only Day 2 of my HVR-MRC1 adventures, but I would find it very hard to go back to tape only. I'm certainly in the tiny minority here who use Adobe Premiere Pro, but importing HDV tape has been a PITA for me. Now, I just pop the CF card into a card reader and it is instantly available to Premiere Pro. No need to copy anything anywhere (and I have the tape backup). I can preview directly from the card, set my IN/OUT points, and drag them to the timeline. No rendering. So far I've been using relatively small HD clips (<5 min), but all of these actions seem to be almost instantaneous. The fact that I'm using UDMA (300x) cards on a Firewire 800 reader may be a factor.

Bill, did you know about the file size limit? If you record anything over about 20 minutes, the file will be split up into 20 minute clips. You can us the free Sony utility when you're downloading to stitch the clips together.

I did a comparision and recorded 60 minutes on tape and the same on the CF card.

The Card split the 60 minutes into 3 files. If you load these files in individually and place them on the timeline, over the 60 minute tape, you'll find (in my test anyway) that there is a 4-6 frame gap at the beginning of clips 2 and 3.

If you use the Sony utility, it joins all the clips together and they are all in sync, with no gaps between clips.

Just thought I'd mention it if you didn't already know. The utility should be on the CD which came with the recorder, or search on t'internet.

Peter

Bill, did you know about the file size limit? If you record anything over about 20 minutes, the file will be split up into 20 minute clips. You can us the free Sony utility when you're downloading to stitch the clips together.

I did a comparision and recorded 60 minutes on tape and the same on the CF card.

The Card split the 60 minutes into 3 files. If you load these files in individually and place them on the timeline, over the 60 minute tape, you'll find (in my test anyway) that there is a 4-6 frame gap at the beginning of clips 2 and 3.

If you use the Sony utility, it joins all the clips together and they are all in sync, with no gaps between clips.

Just thought I'd mention it if you didn't already know. The utility should be on the CD which came with the recorder, or search on t'internet.

Peter

This is only valid for PC, on a recent Mac I logged and transferred a completely full 16 gb card (72 minutes in one clip) and it went on the timeline as one clip without any problem.

Here are the results of test I just ran to fill the card:

- 8GB CF card 300x UDMA
- formatted on HVR-MRC1 as FAT32
- 37 minutes of 30P HDV footage
- 2 clips: 3.97GB and 3.61GB
- On Apple Mac Pro: time to copy the two clips (7.58GB) from CF card to hard disk using FireWire 800 reader: 3 minutes 8 seconds
- Time for Premiere Pro 4.10 to add these clips to project: 4 seconds
- After dragging both clips to timeline, was not able to detect any lost frames at join point.

Luc, I am curious about you getting a single clip. How exactly did you format the card?

Bill

For fun, I timed copying the 2 clips from different devices to my hard disk:

USB 2.0 slot: 12 min 53 seconds.
HVR-MRC1 i.Link cradle connected to FireWire 800 port: 3 min 50 seconds
FireWire 800 CF card reader: 3 min 8 seconds

Not real rigorous since other tasks running at the same time would affect performance.

Bill

Here are the results of test I just ran to fill the card:


Luc, I am curious about you getting a single clip. How exactly did you format the card?

Bill

I think this has to do with the FCP plugin.
I also get it imported as one seamless file. But when I look on the card itself it are 3 seperate files. The Sony Utility which came with the MRC-1k for the Mac is the only thing I had installed, then I do a Log and Transfer.
When I clipwrap it, it will be 3 seperate files tho.

Luc, I am curious about you getting a single clip. How exactly did you format the card?

Bill

Well, Bill, I always format my cards in the MRC-1 and I never installed the software that came with it. I did install the Sony plug-in for FCP though. Works flawlessly as 1 big file, even if it's more than an hour long. Next time I'll check how the original looks like on the card.

I never installed the software that came with it. I did install the Sony plug-in for FCP though.

The MRC1 only formats in FAT32 which only supports files up to 4GB. I tried formatting the card on my Mac as a Mac OS Extended drive and, as expected, the MRC1 did not recognize it.

The utility software that comes with the unit is only for Windows. It seems clear that the plug-in for FCP makes the multiple files transparent. Since I don't use FCP, I have to combine the two files in Premiere Pro which takes all of one second.

I'm still loving this little device. I take back what I said in the original post about it being just a CF card reader/writer. I hooked it up with the included iLink dock/battery to my little HDV consumer camcorder (Sony HDR-HC7) via firewire and it worked perfectly to record to CF while both filming or playback.

Tapeless workflow is definitely the way to go.

For Mac-users, the FCP-plugin is needed anyway to be able to use the 'log & transfer' feature. For Final Cut Express, there is no such plug-in and those who want to work tapeles have to use Clipwrap to 'wrap' the m2t files into something that FCE recognises.

I also find this unit a little marvel, that speeds up the workflow dramatically: no camera to connect, no lengthy capturing,... beautiful.

Let me ask you guys - how will the recorder work with FX1000 via iLink? Will the camera control the data flow? Do I have to press record on both camera and recorder, or it's all integrated?

k, just go one for my fx1000. You only have to press record on the camera and the mrc1 will start up at the same time. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Bill, will you please tell me the name of the seller of your unit? I would like to go on ebay and find them to buy a unit. Are you still happy with your unit?

Bill, will you please tell me the name of the seller of your unit? I would like to go on ebay and find them to buy a unit. Are you still happy with your unit?

eBay My World - acepro1 (http://myworld.ebay.com/acepro1/)

They don't seem to be auctioning any right now, but I'd think they could get more if you communicate directly.

Yes, I could not be happier with the unit. My original plan was to record simultaneously to CF card for workflow and tape for archival - I would swap out the tape at the same time the card filled up even though there was still plenty of time remaining on the tape just for convenience. But I've gotten a little lazy lately and have been mostly recording without tape.

In terms of improving my workflow, I work a lot in Adobe After Effects which can directly import the M2T clips from the card. I still use Adobe Premier Pro for creating rough cuts, but am now importing directly more and more into After Effects.

Thanks a lot Bill, I'll drop them a line.

k, just go one for my fx1000. You only have to press record on the camera and the mrc1 will start up at the same time. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Ron, are you sure about this? You've used it and it does this successfully? I only ask because there are other posts (like http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-hvr-mrc1k-cf-card-recorder/238174-hvr-mrc1-fx1000.html in the MRC forum, where this thread should probably be) from users who say it doesn't work like this with the FX1000; only the Z5 does. If you've done this can you let us know how you've got it set to do this?

^
Well you do have to have it in follow mode, and with cam link set. When I press record on the cam, the mrc starts recording too. You can also just press record on the mrc if you don't want to record to tape simultaniously.


oh yeah, I havent done any thorough testing, but there may be delay in when the mrc starts recording versus when the tape starts(hence the term "follow" mode, but that doenst concern me since I'm not planning to sync to tape.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-hvr-mrc1k-cf-card-recorder/238174-hvr-mrc1-fx1000.html[/url] in the MRC forum, where this thread should probably be)

Adam,

Sorry, I had no idea that a separate forum for the MRC1 existed. Please move this thread over there if you can. Thanks.

Bill

Hey Jeff, were you able to get the recorder from the same ebay seller?

thx