Why are the Firestore devices so expensive? $1800 for 100gb? Its just a 100gb HD with a firewire connection, an external interface, and a chip that gives it the needed logic to be a recorder... isn't that right? I see DVR units for home theatre with bigger HDDs + DVD burners and all that for cheaper... an 80gb Ipod is cheaper...

what gives for the huge price tag?

And then there's the CinePorter, which looks great and better than the Firestore devices... but with an even bigger price tag, and also it doesn't work with any camera with firewire. Yet, that just doubled the price for the 320gb version ($3500)... still way steep.

I want to get the HVX-200 and shoot 1080p. P2 cards are too expensive and not a good solution for me. I definetly want to go the Hard Drive route, but I'm not sure what to do if that is the only portable HDD recorder...?

Are there any good alternatives to this? Is there a way to build your own? I mean... a 300gb HDD is only about $100... why can't there be a 300gb recorder for $400 or something. Would an iPod work with hacked firmware?

A laptop loaded up with DV Rack (http://www.seriousmagic.com/products/dvrack/index.cfm) could easily be had for the same price, and provide much more functionality. The major impediment is portability, though. Firestore et al provide an almost transparent replacement/ supplement to tape-based transport.

Like with anything else, until competitors begin to build similar units for less $ (and more people buy them), the prices will remain high.

HTH,
Brian

The hardware has to be designed, and the units don't hit the economies of scale that consumer products would have.