What will happen if I start recording and leave? When the card is full, will it stop recording, or will it overwrite the early contents?

I am asking because I like to record the Sony Vegas webinars, but I will not be home next Wednesday when the next one will be online. I normally just hook up the HDMI output of my video card to my nano, while I watch it with my DVI monitor hooked up to the other video port of my video card and with my headphones hooked up to the nano.

But this time, I have to leave home about 15 minutes before the webinar starts and will be gone for several hours. I would like to just start recording right before I leave and hope the nano will just stop recording when my 30 GB card becomes full. My firmware is version 1.1.154, the same my nano came with.

Please do not tell me to upgrade my firmware, just tell me whether I can do what I hope I can.

Thanks,

Adam

Dear Adam,

No, the nanoFlash will not overwrite you files, it will stop when your CompactFlash cards are full.

However, if you have Loop Recording on, it will overwrite the oldest files when both cards are full.

This is for recording earthquakes.

Thanks, Dan. That’s good to know. There is no loop recording option in my version of the nano, that is why I was asking (was not sure of the default in the older nanos).

Argh! I have it all recorded, but I cannot get those files to play. This has never happened to me before!

VLC does not play them, Sony Vegas does not play them! They will start playing, then stop. Sometimes they show the video, at most times they just show a blank white screen and no sound. Vegas actually crashed when I tried to play the files!

This happens regardless of whether I tried to play the originals on the memory card or the copies on my hard drive (no problem copying them, by the way).

When examined with a binary viewer, the files seem to have a header and a footer, but otherwise consist mostly of zeros.

Thankfully, I managed to rearrange my schedule and saw the webinar. As always, I was recording it while watching it. I had the nano connected to the HDMI output of my computer. I watched everything on the monitor connected to the DVI output of my video card. I listened to the sound with my headphones plugged into the nano, so I know for a fact at least the sound was getting through the HDMI.

So why did the nano just write a bunch of zeros to the MXF files?

The only times I ever use the nano is to record the audio and video output of my computer. It has always worked before.

Hmmm... There still seems to be hope.

I placed the card back into the nano and pressed the Play button. I could hear the sound through my head phones. I do not have a monitor handy to check the video, but if the audio plays fine on the nano and nothing on two separate computers, it looks like the USB card reader that came with the nano (and which was never really reliable) must be at fault. It is the only CF reader I own, unfortunately.

Judging from no reply in several hours, I am assuming everybody who is so prompt to reply must be in Amsterdam or on its way to whatever expo is there (the guy who gave the webinar said he was leaving for Amsterdam as soon as the webinar is finished, so I am assuming something big is going on there and CD must be there as well).

So, it looks like I have to order a new card reader from somewhere else to figure out whether that is the problem, as I am hoping it is. I am looking at Kingston’s USB 3.0 Media Reader Computer Memory FCR-HS3 (http://www.webamici.net/book/B005ES0YYA) or at Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader LRW300URBNA (http://www.webamici.net/book/B0050C9ZMC), which is a shot in the dark for me, but I do not know what else to do...

Anybody know which of the two card readers is better?

Dear Adam,

I am sorry for the delay in responding.

I was just swamped today and did not get to this forum.

We normally do not have problems with our CompactFlash card readers.

Please send me a private email and we will get you a new card reader.

Based on our testing, the card reader that we provide is the fastest that we could find, by a wide margin.

Thanks, Dan. I sent you the email.

Dear Adam,

I have replied to your email.