Hi,
I saw an article on the Atomos Ninja HD HDD recorder. It used two Video camera type batteries and one or two hard drives, I can't remember. It look interesting. I have a Sony FX 7 HD camera that shoots 1440 x 1080 compressed HDV video. This device would allow me to record directly from the HDMI port on the camera. I am assuming it bypasses the compression? What do you think of this device and what other similar devices are out there? This device is not out yet. The price is slightly over $1000.00 USD.

John Gerard

There are numerous similar devices.

The Firestore uses a hard-drive but also records in HDV (no tape)

The AJA Ki Pro and Ki Pro Mini bypass the compression and record onto solid state devices in the Apple ProRes format in varying bit rates.

The Convergent Design Nanoflash bypasses the compression and record onto solid state using the Sony XDCam codec at varying bit rates.


Prices of these units range from about $900 - $3000k

There are more high end units available like the Wafian, the Codex, etc, but I don't think they have HDMI input which is really a consumer camera connection.