It's always good for us customers to have a choice, and for them manufacturers to have competitors, so I thought I'd share with you what I've heard from a reliable source (not to be revealed at the moment).

We'll be witnessing soon the launch of new recording solutions for the EX series. Including a new Expresscard USB adapter that is guaranteed to work with today's 32 GB SDHC cards, a new adapter + SSD drive (or just an SSD case for the end user to use his own drive) + various powering options. And much more, all at a very competitive price!

It's always good for us customers to have a choice, and for them manufacturers to have competitors, so I thought I'd share with you what I've heard from a reliable source (not to be revealed at the moment).

We'll be witnessing soon the launch of new recording solutions for the EX series. Including a new Expresscard USB adapter that is guaranteed to work with today's 32 GB SDHC cards, a new adapter + SSD drive (or just an SSD case for the end user to use his own drive) + various powering options. And much more, all at a very competitive price!

Sounds like you are talking about what e-films has already released.

More or less; those considering similar solutions should definitely wait a while for the new offer to be officially announced.

Thanks for letting us know. Based on past experience I believe we'll see a product of superior quality, at a better price and from a true Australian.

Thanks for letting us know. Based on past experience I believe we'll see a product of superior quality, at a better price and from a true Australian.

Absolutely, Bob. I really cannot say much more at the moment, but it looks like the company in question has learnt a lot from the market place experience, and is preparing a much higher quality solution for all of us (including all of you guys in Australia).

It's always good for us customers to have a choice, and for them manufacturers to have competitors

I agree!

I have heard a whisper suggesting the same thing Piotr and I understand the products will be impressive and at a decent price!

I will look forward to hearing more!

Cheers

Jamie

I agree!

I have heard a whisper suggesting the same thing Piotr and I understand the products will be impressive and at a decent price!

I will look forward to hearing more!

Cheers

Jamie

I don't know if this is what Piotr was referring to or not however MxM Express have released preliminary details here:MxM Express Up and Coming Products (http://mxmexpress.com/?page_id=15)
This does look like a more workable solution, my only gripe would be not using a RA connector coming out of the adaptor card. Hopefully this will be addressed in the production version. I was also at first a bit taken aback by the lack of eSATA connectivity however thinking it through the decision to limit the interface to USB2 does make a lot of sense.
What I do find attractive is having the SSD powered from the camera. More and more I find the less bits and pieces I have hanging off the camera the better. On the other hand now that MxR are offering 32GB cards that will work I'm wondering how attractive is any SSD solution compared to two 32GB cards.

Yes Bob - that's what I meant. Full overcranking capability for the first time!

I don't know if this is what Piotr was referring to or not however MxM Express have released preliminary details here:MxM Express Up and Coming Products (http://mxmexpress.com/?page_id=15)
This does look like a more workable solution, my only gripe would be not using a RA connector coming out of the adaptor card. Hopefully this will be addressed in the production version. I was also at first a bit taken aback by the lack of eSATA connectivity however thinking it through the decision to limit the interface to USB2 does make a lot of sense.
What I do find attractive is having the SSD powered from the camera. More and more I find the less bits and pieces I have hanging off the camera the better. On the other hand now that MxR are offering 32GB cards that will work I'm wondering how attractive is any SSD solution compared to two 32GB cards.

Interesting they are "working" on a device (MxM PC 10) for a desktop computer that will hookup to an internal USB port on the motherboard as well as having (eventually) the capability of USB as well as PCIe (for both MxM or MxR as well as SxS cards). There are already several companies - Siig, Avlab, and Startech that make these devices - see this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/329319-pcie-expresscard-reader-front-bay-pc-mac-desktop.html.

I have installed the Siig device on two desktop workstations and it works fine - the only caveat is you have to manually "scan for hardware changes" in device manager everytime you put in a new card. The devices are all in the $ 50-55 range.

I'm very interested in these new products but i'm a bit concerned about how it's mounted, i'd like to see the hard drive mounted in some sort of robust caddy which can be mounted in between the camera base and tripod plate, that would be nice and neat and tucked out of the way.

Paul.

Paul,
it's not a hard disk, it's all solid state so bumps are not an issue. Aside from that though I agree, the less things hanging off the camera the better.
I did look at making such a mounting for something else a long time ago. Problem was the amount of machining involved makes these kinds of things in small production runs expensive. You still need clearance through the unit for it to attach to the camera and you need the fittings for the tripod release plate to attach to the unit. Also you raise the centre of gravity for the camera.

on the other hand now that MxR are offering 32GB cards that will work I'm wondering how attractive is any SSD solution compared to two 32GB cards.

Bob, are you sure you meant MxR in the above statement?

As far as I know, most people have had serious problems with MxR and 32GB SDHC card combos (apart probably from Craig Seeman, who has been lucky enough to get exceptionally high quality, early Sandisk 32GB cards).

On the other hand, MxM have researched the problem thoroughly, and their new adapter version now fully supports 32GB SDHC cards they mention here:

MxM Express Tips – memory cards (http://mxmexpress.com/?page_id=129) (ATP and Transcend in particular).

As to their SSD solution, I find it revolutionary that it fully supports overcranking!

Bob, are you sure you meant MxR in the above statement?

My bad indeed, I meant MxM.

Interesting they are "working" on a device (MxM PC 10) for a desktop computer that will hookup to an internal USB port on the motherboard as well as having (eventually) the capability of USB as well as PCIe (for both MxM or MxR as well as SxS cards). There are already several companies - Siig, Avlab, and Startech that make these devices - see this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/329319-pcie-expresscard-reader-front-bay-pc-mac-desktop.html.

I have installed the Siig device on two desktop workstations and it works fine - the only caveat is you have to manually "scan for hardware changes" in device manager everytime you put in a new card. The devices are all in the $ 50-55 range.

Barry - as I understand it, they are not "working on something that has long been on the market" , as you put it. Having recognized the current BIOSes' limitations in hot-swapping the PCIe interface, they simply are preparing a replacement to Sony's own SxS card reader - only to be put inside a PC, rather than being an external device with its USB cable, power supply etc. They do not mention any PCIe card; both MxM and SxS are intended to be read via USB interface, and both hot-swappable as such.

From this point of view, it's a completely new solution!

Barry - as I understand it, they are not "working on something that has long been on the market" , as you put it. Having recognized the current BIOSes' limitations in hot-swapping the PCIe interface, they simply are preparing a replacement to Sony's own SxS card reader - only to be put inside a PC, rather than being an external device with its USB cable, power supply etc. They do not mention any PCIe card; both MxM and SxS are intended to be read via USB interface, and both hot-swappable as such.

From this point of view, it's a completely new solution!

I read that in a hurry and didn't realize it was a Sony replacement. Anyway - I do love the download time with the other devices as mentioned with the SxS cards.

I might be a little slow on the uptake here but how much storage capacity will the 1.8" SSD drive have? Is it like the current adapter solution where you stick in SDHC cards or does it have a inbuilt storage capacity like a regular portable hard drive?

I might be a little slow on the uptake here but how much storage capacity will the 1.8" SSD drive have? Is it like the current adapter solution where you stick in SDHC cards or does it have a inbuilt storage capacity like a regular portable hard drive?

I don't know what capacity the SSD drive will have. If I recall correctly the camera can only address 64GB anyway so I'd imagine a 1.8" drive will be able to supply as much storage as the camera can address. A SSD (Solid State Disk) is the same functionally as a portable hard drive except it has no moving parts. The basic storage technology is the same as what's used in the SxS, SHDC cards etc. The interface is different and because of the larger size the capacity can be made larger. Also more smarts to manage the memory can be built into an SSD drive than a card.

Thanks Bob.

If thats the case, I mean lean toward having 2 x express card adapters with the 32gig cards and not have anything hanging off the tripod. Im running 2 x 16gigs now and could settle for double!

Cheers

Jamie

afaik, the current camera limit is 84GB.

So, with a 32GB in another slot, you have 116 GB.

So, with a 32GB in another slot, you have 116 GB.

Impressive!

afaik, the current camera limit is 84GB.

So, with a 32GB in another slot, you have 116 GB.

Sounds impressive - just imagine if that combination failed whilst on location, that would be one hell of a screw up.

Maybe I will just stick with the 16gb cards

I read that in a hurry and didn't realize it was a Sony replacement. Anyway - I do love the download time with the other devices as mentioned with the SxS cards.

Yeah, for somebody using large quantities of high capacity SxS cards, the PCIe download speed is tempting and important. However, this device - as I understand it - is addressed to SDHC cards users, who have large number of high capacity SDHC combos, plus probably one or two 8 GB SxS that came with the camera.

With the latter scenario, hot-swappability with prevailing amount of GB's becomes much more important than speed with 1-2 8GB SxS's, plus when the SxS also becomes hot-swappable (albeit slower than with PCIe) - it's a real benefit!