New nano/XDR Firmware Posted

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Ronan,

Thank you for the confirmation of the problem.

The Settings.TXT file is intended for us to use as a diagnostic tool, so we can see exactly how the nanoFlash or Flash XDR is setup. This allows us to duplicate the exact conditions for any troubleshooting in our lab.

When creating this file, we recommend using a freshly formatted card, then after the file is saved, we recommend reformatting the card.

(I do not know why this is the way it is, we may be able to correct this later.)

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Dear Dan,

Please forgive me if this comment is a little OT, but as you might remember, I also have had problems with nanoFlash recognizing the card that had anything written to it other than what formatting in the nano does.

To be more specific, I was hoping to speed up my uploads using an CF/expresscard adapter. That proved impossible, even though in the official Manual, you state:

Compact Flash Readers
1. Lexar FW-800
2. Delkin
3. PCI Express CF Readers


Perhaps now CD will look deeper into it, and get rid of incompatibility between the nano-written information (FAT, etc.) and what a computer OS might choose to write on the card the moment it's inserted?

I'd be very happy if I could use my CF/expresscard adapter, as at the moment, I'm limited to the USB speed of the CF reader supplied with my nanoFlash... And I purchased the expresscard adapter specifically for nano-recorded clips transferring to my computerm, basing on your official documentation on the compatible devices!


I am aware this is a long shot, but still... :)

Piotr

[Mark Job]

Originally Posted by Mike Schell

New nanoFlash (Vr 1.5.31) / Flash XDR (1.5.25) beta firmware was posted this afternoon.
• Jam sync repaired with 1080p24 input.

Best-

....Hi Mike. Wow ! This is indeed a HUGE update ! Thank you and Tommy & the team at CD for all the hard work you've put into the latest public beta. I have a question regarding the Jam Sync 24p. Does this fix also cover the Canon 24 F (23.98 frame removal mode) ??

[Rafael Amador]

Originally Posted by Mike Schell

Hi Adam-

We are planning to add user defined profiles in the near future. This PC/MAC program will allow users to define all operational values (bit-rate, crank rate, audio, etc) and to lock-out any selection from menu changes (on the nano/XDR). You can define up to 8 profiles and upload to the nano/XDR via a file on the Compact Flash card. You can also define a default profile that loads on power-up.

Best-

Mike,
This idea is brilliant.
Changing setting in the camera and after in the NANO is often a complication.
To have few presets in the nano would be great.
Rafael

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Mark,

Thank you for the kind words.

Yes, this is a big update.

I thought we fixed all reported problems with jam sync with 24p.

Could you test your Canon 24F (23.98 frame removal mode) to see if it works for you.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Piotr,

As far as I know, some are using the Sonnet ExpressCard 34 CompactFlash card readers.

Yes, we expect Mac's to write to our CompactFlash cards when the card is inserted.

We do not like it, but there is not much we can do about it, but attempt to work around it.

Could you please send me a private email with the details of your tests with our latest release, using your ExpressCard 34 card reader?

Please include lots of detail so we can investigate the problem.

[Olof Ekbergh]

I use several eFilm Express Card 34 CF adapter (the older white ones) on several Macs and they work great. I have never had a problem with the NanoFlash or any other CF device.

I use 10.6.2 on a couple MBP 2009's.

The shots below show the invisible files my macs put on the cards. They don't seem to cause any problems for me. I do reformat cards in the NF every time after transferring. Am I just lucky?

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Olof,

I wouldn't say you are "just lucky", as most expresscard CF readers should work; I'd say it was me who was NOT lucky buying mine :)

Dan,

Thanks again for your helpfulness; of course I'll write an email to you with all details - in the meantime, here is the thread where we had discussed it already:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/converge...dapter-cf.html

Cheers

Piotr

[Gints Klimanis]

Now that's a firmware update !! Loop Record and Multi-Channel audio !

For Loop Record, I'd like to use it as an extension of the PreBuffer Record with a user-defined file length in seconds. For wildlife videos, I usually need an additional 15-30 seconds of video before I hit the record button. I suppose this could be implemented as a "ping-pong" record to two different files with an incrementing file name, deleting the first when two have completed. Pressing the Record button on your source camera or the Nanoflash would stop the recording. I recall Dan Keaton's comments on the restrictions of file creation at the higher bitrates.

[Trell Mitchell]

Great firmware updates CD!
Will there be a Date and Time stamp Burn-In feature added soon?

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Trell,

I am sorry, but we do not have the ability to add Date and Time code burn-in to the image area.

The Date and time code are assoicated with the file, but not as a burned-in image.

[George Griswold]

I looked up those files and found an article quoted here with link under that:

.Trashes, .fseventsd, and .Spotlight-V100

Merely plugging a removable drive into a mac (when it has write access) makes OS/X think it can take the liberty to write a lot of hidden garbage onto that disk. If you want to stop this from happening, you have to put some special files on that disk before you plug it in.

To stop OS/X from doing Spotlight indexing, you need a file called .metadata_never_index in the root directory of the removable drive.

To stop OS/X from making a .Trashes directory, you need to make your own file that *isn’t* a directory and call it .Trashes

To keep it from doing logging of filesystem events on the drive, you need to make a directory called .fseventsd and inside that folder put a single file named no_log

The contents of these files don’t matter, so you can make them empty files using touch. Even better, you could make it a text file with a link to this post, so that you (or someone else) wandering across the files will know what they’re for.

Apple’s choice to do this is incredibly self-serving and shameful. At bare minimum, hidden files and features like these should be off by default for any non-mac-only filesystem formats. They should only be enabled when the user has been made aware of them.
----------end quote----------------
from: .Trashes, .fseventsd, and .Spotlight-V100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So we are not alone here and this article if correct suggests some ways to prevent some card add-ons. I hate to be the first one that suggests adding these blocking files to the format routine in a future firmware release. I will look into this more, maybe there is a way to prevent these unwanted card writes.

------------------------------------

Originally Posted by Olof Ekbergh

I use several eFilm Express Card 34 CF adapter (the older white ones) on several Macs and they work great. I have never had a problem with the NanoFlash or any other CF device.

I use 10.6.2 on a couple MBP 2009's.

The shots below show the invisible files my macs put on the cards. They don't seem to cause any problems for me. I do reformat cards in the NF every time after transferring. Am I just lucky?

[George Griswold]

Should we bump this topic to a new thread since it does not pertain to the firmware release?

Also it may be problems if these hidden files are not written? They are designed for system stability at first glance, but I leave that for greater computer minds.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear George,

Thank you for providing this very valuable information.

At first glance, it certainly seems reasonable for us to add these files when we format the CompactFlash card.

In the meantime, we recommend:

Before using a CompactFlash card for the first time, format it in the nanoFlashs or Flash XDR. We made the format process very fast so this is really painless. It just takes us about 2.5 seconds per card to perform the format.

Record your files.

Upload your files to one, preferably more than one, other storage system, such as a Nexto or laptop or other computer system.

Reformat the card, in the nanoFlash or Flash XDR, prior to using the card again. (I prefer doing this at the start of the shooting day.)

These days, with 64 GB cards being relatively economical, it certainly is feasible to have a full days worth of cards available on hand.

We are having great results with the Delkin 64 GB card. While this card is currently limited to 220 Mbps speed at this time, we hope to increase this card's performance to 280 Mbps in the future. (This is not a guarranty, just one of our goals and this is in our plan.)