Still a critic but... at DVinfo.net

David Schmerin · December 5th, 2008, 12:18 AM

Having been one of your most vocal critics around here, this is for you Mike and Dan...

Had a chance to rent an XDR unit from Inertia Unlimited for use on an aerial HDCAM shoot. First off they are a stand up bunch and I would not hesitate to rent from them again. In fact, Jeff Silverman, the owner was here in town and I was able to return the unit in person. We had dinner, talked a while, and bored the heck out of my wife I am sure, but darn if she is not a good sport and loves to see me have a good time.

Really I wanted to try out the box and opportunity presented itself so we said what the heck. If the XDR failed to perform, no big deal, we still have the tape masters.

We filmed with an F-900, took the HD-SDI out signal from the Sony to the Flash XDR unit. The operation of the XDR unit itself was relatively smooth and intuitive though we did have to check the manual to determine how to format the flash cards. The XDR unit easily saw our 1080/24p signal and recorded the 100mbs signal to QT with out any problems. The files produced dropped easily into FCP. And, the video is as has been stated, near lossless.

Beyond that, I should say that we used the XDR unit in a very limited way compared to the unit's overall operating specs and also primarily as a toy. Our goal was simply to have the XDR video as a backup to tape and see how the video really looked. The XDR unit worked very well for our needs. This is not to say we did not see or have issues with the unit but for what we needed, right here right now, nothing that would not keep me from calling use of the unit a success.

One thing I will say is that I found the 3.7G file size limit a bit odd and at first I thought this limitation detrimental to the editor. However further review does show this file size limitation to be of a benefit to the archivist who has to get these digital files stored to DL-DVDs. In the grander picture a fair trade off.

I look forward to seeing the looooooooonnnnnnnnng awaited .mxf format.

Again, my thanks to Jeff Silverman at Inertia Unlimited for the rental of the XDR unit.

David Schmerin
Speaking for the minority of 1
Royalty Free HD Stock Footage And Video

Dan Keaton · December 5th, 2008, 10:26 AM

Dear David,

Thank you for Posting.

We are happy that you got to meet Jeff and the Flash XDR in person.

Mike Schell · December 5th, 2008, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Schmerin

I look forward to seeing the looooooooonnnnnnnnng awaited .mxf format.

Again, my thanks to Jeff Silverman at Inertia Unlimited for the rental of the XDR unit.

David Schmerin
Speaking for the minority of 1
Royalty Free HD Stock Footage And Video

Hi David-
Thanks for the feedback. I was very impressed with Jeff Silverman the first day he came to our office, about 1 year ago, with his $80K Vision Research camera (which he does not check as luggage). Inertia Research is a great company; we hope to do a lot more business with them in 2009.

I just spoke to our software developer, Brent, who is currently working on the MXF code. He hopes to complete a release before the holiday season and commented that MXF will be easier than Quicktime to develop. We have copies of Vegas and Avid in house for testing and hope to get Edius and Premiere next week.

December 5th, 2008, 12:18 AM	#1
David Schmerin Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 96	Still a critic but... Having been one of your most vocal critics around here, this is for you Mike and Dan... Had a chance to rent an XDR unit from Inertia Unlimited for use on an aerial HDCAM shoot. First off they are a stand up bunch and I would not hesitate to rent from them again. In fact, Jeff Silverman, the owner was here in town and I was able to return the unit in person. We had dinner, talked a while, and bored the heck out of my wife I am sure, but darn if she is not a good sport and loves to see me have a good time. Really I wanted to try out the box and opportunity presented itself so we said what the heck. If the XDR failed to perform, no big deal, we still have the tape masters. We filmed with an F-900, took the HD-SDI out signal from the Sony to the Flash XDR unit. The operation of the XDR unit itself was relatively smooth and intuitive though we did have to check the manual to determine how to format the flash cards. The XDR unit easily saw our 1080/24p signal and recorded the 100mbs signal to QT with out any problems. The files produced dropped easily into FCP. And, the video is as has been stated, near lossless. Beyond that, I should say that we used the XDR unit in a very limited way compared to the unit's overall operating specs and also primarily as a toy. Our goal was simply to have the XDR video as a backup to tape and see how the video really looked. The XDR unit worked very well for our needs. This is not to say we did not see or have issues with the unit but for what we needed, right here right now, nothing that would not keep me from calling use of the unit a success. One thing I will say is that I found the 3.7G file size limit a bit odd and at first I thought this limitation detrimental to the editor. However further review does show this file size limitation to be of a benefit to the archivist who has to get these digital files stored to DL-DVDs. In the grander picture a fair trade off. I look forward to seeing the looooooooonnnnnnnnng awaited .mxf format. Again, my thanks to Jeff Silverman at Inertia Unlimited for the rental of the XDR unit. David Schmerin Speaking for the minority of 1 Royalty Free HD Stock Footage And Video

December 5th, 2008, 10:26 AM	#2
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear David, Thank you for Posting. We are happy that you got to meet Jeff and the Flash XDR in person. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia