Im sure Ive read somewhere that either in XDCAM browser or in camera.. they was some way to check the life of 1 type SXS cards..?

Thanks

In the Status screen of your XDCAM EX based camera, it should show it as both a percentage and a progress bar. I do not believe Browser can see this data, and even if it did, you might have to pay $200 to view it.

Ok thanks .. will have the camera soon..

In the Status screen of your XDCAM EX based camera, it should show it as both a percentage and a progress bar. I do not believe Browser can see this data, and even if it did, you might have to pay $200 to view it.

Sorry I didn't mean the time left for recording.But the actual life span of the 1 type cards..maybe the camera just gives some sort of warning when a card is nearing the end of its life span..?

It should be on the final status screen called BATTERY/MEDIA. My mistake though as it only shows it as a percentage as "Life: 99%". The progress bar is how much recording time is left.

It looked to me when I had cards in the camera PMW500 that the % was also referring to the recording time left on the card.. not its cycle life ?

According to the manual, it should be in the BATTERY/MEDIA status screen. To get there, you have to press the MENU CANCEL/PRST/ESCAPE switch to the CANCEL/PRST side. This is below the Gain switches.

Jack is correct as far as my knowledge goes. I'm using 5yr life span cards and I have used 2% after one years worth of work or I have 98% life span left on the cards.

Ok thanks to both of you.. getting the camera on the weekend and new cards.. so not something I have to worry about straight away :)

Thanks again

Just for the record, I have one 32 gig card (of the SxS-1 variety, not the Pro variety) and so far we've put about 250 gigs of data through it, and it's coming up as 100% life remaining on our EX1R. So at this rate it'll last a very long time. The only marketed difference between the -1 and the Pro is that the Pro is meant to last for more life cycles.

Frankly I don't know why anyone would use the hard disk recorder or any other method of recording data. (Assuming you're not mixing live).

Richard

My thought is the HDD units are for long trips with no offloading capability. (for instance, backpacking nature photography trips)

Jack, you might be right. But you could also take a netbook with an express card slot and get more functionality. The hard disks don't do slow motion (can't handle the bit rate) and won't let the card door close properly. They only take 120 gig when the SxS cards will already take 64.

A camera with 2 x 64 gig cards installed can record 8 hours of 1080i or 720p footage at highest quality. And you can always just buy more SxS cards. They're only $1200 each... :)

Richard

According to the manual, it should be in the BATTERY/MEDIA status screen. To get there, you have to press the MENU CANCEL/PRST/ESCAPE switch to the CANCEL/PRST side. This is below the Gain switches.

Jack

I bought the camera on the weekend.. and yes you are totally correct .. that status page does seem to show a life of card on %.. thanks..