Has anyone ever used this memory card? It has a built in mini-USB-2 connector right on the card, so you don't even need a card reader.

Here's a web site with a picture:

Expandore - Offer Wise S2 Express Card For Sony PMW-EX1/PMW-EX1R/PMW EX3/PMW-350/PMW-EX30 (http://www.expandore.com/product/add/WISE/S2_Express.htm)

Has anyone ever used this memory card? It has a built in mini-USB-2 connector right on the card, so you don't even need a card reader.

Here's a web site with a picture:

Expandore - Offer Wise S2 Express Card For Sony PMW-EX1/PMW-EX1R/PMW EX3/PMW-350/PMW-EX30 (http://www.expandore.com/product/add/WISE/S2_Express.htm)

Do we know what's inside it in terms of the memory spec and manufacturer? The USB interface suggests it may only be working at USB speeds internally.

It also worries me that the website refers to "Mack" when it presumably means "Mac". A simple typo, but as a Mac owner it puts a seed of doubt in my mind.

Then there's the price. 489 dollars which is near enough 300 UK Pounds. Factor in import duty and we're then talking the same price as a SxS-1 card (currently £366).

For that money you might as well go down the Sony route.

Marcus, I too looked at the price comparison and questioned its value. I took a stroll over to B&H only to discover that Sony has discontinued its 64GB SxS-1 card. Not sure what that's about.

Then in further reflection, I was reminded of an Engadget News item a couple of weeks ago about a Singapore USB Flash Drive claiming huge storage at an economical price. It turned out the Flash drive had only a fraction of the advertised storage with some inovative firmware to loop/fake a continuous transfer of data into oblivion. So I am very skeptical about such devices coming from Asia these days. World Economics is not all that great and conseqently there are all manner of knock-off items on the market. Until I see an independent review of these cards, I for one will stay away from such off-shore items.

AFAIK Sony have not discontinued the 64Gb SxS-1 card. It is more likely just to be on temporary hold due to shortages following the earthquake.

Thanks Alister, that makes sense. I am close to purchasing the PMW-500 and wanted the 64GB cards, I'll wait for them to become available, hopefully without too much delay.

I recently got a 64GB SxS-1 card, and there was certainly no indication that they had been discontinued -- but it took a while since it was on back order. My recommendation would be to place an order through a company you trust - that doesn't charge your credit card until it ships. But call around first - there may be places that have them in stock.
If anything, perhaps the slower SxS-G1 cards have been discontinued, since they have been replaced by the faster 1200 Mbps SxS-G1A cards. (Yes, my new card is a Sony SBS-64G1A)

At NAB 2011, we, 16x9 Inc., became the US distributors for the WISE SxS cards. You can find more info here: 16x9 Inc. :: Products > Wise (http://16x9inc.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_list&c=232)

Looked at the link, but saw no useful information about actual transfer speed, or whether in an expresscard slot it will provide offload speeds of 800-1200 Mbps, or just usb2 data rates. Did I miss something, or is the information intentionally vague?

The info. is not intentioally vague; we still need to work on adding more spec's. I'll make sure to follow up with more info.

In the meantime, if someone would like to run an independent test/evaluatin for the group, and post results here, let me know and I'll set it up.