How about the HD100 having a tapeless option incorporating JVC's excellent encoder for 720p60 and 1080i digital 4:2:2 output to an Iomega REV drive placed where the tape drive is normally housed? JVC had a similar setup on one camera at NAB, without the REV drive.

Grass Valley/Iomega recently teamed up to release Grass Valley's Turbo IDDR, which incorporates an Iomega REV drive. REV drives are emerging into the TV/video marketplace. Can the REV drive handle HDV data rates? Yes. The data rate can be up to 200 Mbits/sec, which could simultaneously read and write DV25, DV50, or HDV. The maximum transfer rate is 25 MB/sec. The 35 gig REV discs could store between 45-60 minutes of HDV. The REV system is reportedly much more portable and durable than existing HDD options. The discs are durable, and apparently could provide a good tapeless workflow when inexpensive REV drives for NLE systems are released. REV drives are available with Firewire, USB, SCSI, SATA, and ATAPI connections.

Drive price: $400 (USD)

Media price: $60 single, $200 4-pack (USD)

I have no connection with Iomega or JVC, but I can connect the dots on a logical alliance.

Hello JVC! Partner up with Iomega like Grass Valley has - make a REV-capable HD100 option.

The REV drive/media looks pretty interesting as a replacement for tape:

http://www.iomega.com/na/products/family-save.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=16006169&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=63191

Would people want to see the drive integrated into the camera so you just pop REV disks in and out of the camera? Or would people want to see the HD100's Firewire port switchable so you could connect directly to a portable REV drive as a separate unit (or connect to a much larger capacity drive if you were in a studio, or upgrade the drive as better storage technology becomes available)?

It'd be the best functionality if the HD100 had both the built in REV drive and the ability to hook up to any external drive through the Firewire. But if I could only choose one I'm thinking it might be better just to have the Firewire out even though that does mean the drive would have to be tethered and Iomega would have to be convinced to make a portable drive.

In either case it'd be nice if the HD100 had controls along the lines of what the Firestore FS-4 pro offers. I'd particularly be interested in:

- a buffer that can be set to include X seconds of data
prior to when you hit the "record" button similar to the
Firestore's retro cache/disk.
- time lapse settings

-- Don

[QUOTE=Steve Gibby]How about the HD100 having a tapeless option incorporating JVC's excellent encoder for 720p60 and 1080i digital 4:2:2 output to an Iomega REV drive placed where the tape drive is normally housed? JVC had a similar setup on one camera at NAB, without the REV drive. >>>

It would have to be a compressed signal as 720P is over a gigabit
per second bandwidth wise.

Also, the uncompressed model JVC was 'floating' at NAB had the tape
transport removed and the encoder took all the room from what I could
tell.