What About A Separate Forum for The Flash XDR ?

[Mark Job]

Hi Mike, Tommy, and Dan & Obstreperous Chris the Rex:
So much of the general discussion on this forum is specific to the Nano Flash Recorder, that I was wondering if it would be more helpful to have a separate forum area for the Flash XDR users ? Since the name of the forum was changed a few months back, I'm not sure how some of the new Flash XDR users would even know to post their XDR questions in the Nano Flash forum ? It is more logical to yours truly to have a specific area of discussion *under the Convergent Design banner for product specific threads, such as what already exists for the Canon Camera forum-where you have an area for the XL-H series and separate threads for the Canon XH series of camcorders. What do you think ?

[Aaron Newsome]

I think an XDR forum would be really great but I'm afraid Mark and I would be the only ones posting. Also I think the XDR is not being focused on at CD. It's a nanoFlash world now.

[Mark Job]

Hi Aaron:
Yeah. I think you maybe right ? There are a lot of folks who actually have XDR's in the field and are using them, but they don't seem to be posting here. I don't know if this is because they think this is a Nano only forum, or they simply communicate with CD directly ? Has the XDR been officially EOL'd ? I'm sure using my XDR almost every week now, and I look forward to all or any firmware upgrades :-) I suppose my suggestion for a separate XDR forum comes far too late in the product's life cycle.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Aaron and Mark,

We are developing featues for both simultaneously.

All of the features that we have developed for the our products are in both products, except if the hardware does not support it, such as HDMI support.

The problem with a separate forum is that since the new features almost always apply to both products, we would have to maintain two separate, but almost equal discussions.

[Mark Job]

Yeah, good point Dan. The only thing I can see is the possible difficulty someone might have who is new to the XDR and is looking for the XDR forum instead of the Nano Flash forum and not finding it. I suppose if they see a post from Aaron or yours truly in here, then they would know it's OK to post XDR topics in here. If they came by on a day when there are no recent XDR posts visible, then they might not understand you are covering the XDR product as well in this forum. Perhaps a change in the forum's title would make it clear both products are covered here ?

[Chris Hurd]

If someone could write a general-info post about the Flash XDR and include links to relevant Flash XDR discussions that already live here, I would be happy to make that post a "sticky" which will keep it at the top of the Convergent Design forum index, where it can easily be spotted by those who come in here looking for Flash XDR information.

[Mark Job]

Hi Chris:
I am willing to write this. Chris, would you prefer I email you the general Info writeup first, or do you want it made as a regular forum post ?

[Aaron Newsome]

I can't recall any specific updates to the XDR that have been made since I purchased it over a year ago. The XDR has specific hardware that the nano does not, namely the still non-functioning FireWire and RS422 ports. There's also the fact that it has 4 CF slots and not two, lots of possibilities there.

The nano does have at least one feature not present on the XDR, the ability to control the headphone volume out.

Mark, you mentioned that CD may be EOL'ing the XDR. I'm not sure if I'd go that far but it's pretty clear that they are keenly focused on the nano, from sales & marketing all the way throgh product & engineering.

At this point, I fully expect to not ever have working FireWire and RS422 ports since we are the only two people who post here and are vocal about how important this feature is. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and face it Mark, our collective squeak is not very loud.

Even more importantly though, we've already bought our recorders! It's not like we're going to buy another recoder if the implement uncompressed or device control or even something simple like headphone out volume.

It's still the best recorder for what I paid though.

[Mark Job]

Hi Aaron:
I agree there is no other recorder which does what the Flash XDR does in fact actually do, for the price I paid for mine too. (6K$ Can). I sure am willing to send CD a hefty check if they'd just enable uncompressed recording as originally offered as a paid upgrade when the XDR was introduced. Heck I would even be willing to pay a nominal fee just for them to turn on RS-422 and the FW sockets. I see allot of untapped potential in the XDR. The potential for this unit as an HDCAM SR VTR dub deck almost makes me want to cry. With the current maximum data rate enabled by firmware on the fastest CF Card media (280 Mbps), this gets the XDR & Nano Flash into the HDCAM Lite recording setting (220 Mbps). No moaning or complaining intended.

[Aaron Newsome]

I say we pool our funds and offer them a meager collection to get the features we want.

I'm willing to put up;

$1,000 for uncompressed recording
$300 for device control

that's my final offer.

[Mark Job]

Hi Aaron:
I'll match that in a heartbeat ! ;-)

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Mark Job

I am willing to write this. Chris, would you prefer I email you the general Info writeup first, or do you want it made as a regular forum post ?

No need to go through me; all it needs is a blessing from the folks at Convergent Design.

[David Paul]

Hi guys, you may be right that XDR users do not post....we have both XDR's and Nano's...personally I prefer the XDR for most jobs and yes I agree its potential is still yet to be tapped completely...and yes we'll pop our cheque in the mail tomorow for uncompressed...for me the XDR is suited to higher end work..i use it a lot on commercials, 2 x tv drama series and docos....
Maybe a XDR users forum will help us have a voice to be heard by CD for updates/upgrades we want as I suspect the XDR users have different needs/wants to Nano users...as I do, when choosing XDR or Nano for shoots. But basically its either XDR or Nano every week on jobs for me>
and yep I do correspond directly with CD often..generally info is needed immediately and thats what we get from Dan, Tommy , Mike and the CD team..the best service ever.

regards

[Mark Job]

Hi David:
I was wondering if you have any idea how many XDR users are out there like you ? So far, it's mostly been Aaron Newsome & yours truly posting and testing and providing public feedback on this forum about the use of the XDR. I think it's easy to get a false sense of only two or three XDR units out there from reading this forum ! Obviously, this cannot be the case, but to newer users it might be the impression. Since perception *is* reality, it would be good for XDR users to know what kind of success you've had with using your XDR ? I feel as though Aaron and I are always posting in a sort of vacuum, due to the lack of input from other XDR users.

If Aaron or I are experiencing some kind of strange XDR recording or playback behaviour, then we don't know if it's something unique to our unit, or is it a general problem.(??) Now Dan has been pretty good in filling us in about these sort of issues. In other words, it would be good to know if it is a problem in 15 other units, or just one in order to have a better sense of wether a user is experiencing a busted unit, or just a software glitch. (A busted unit would be highly unlikely, I should think in most cases)

I agree with you that XDR users are probably using their units on higher end work. I am doing more digital cinema (Where the question of uncompressed capture comes into play). So far, I have been able to record the independent cinema shooting I've done @ 220 to 280 Mbps, which is a high enough data rate in I-Frame to approach Sony HDCAM SR Lite recording levels of quality. My own camera is a Canon XL H1, so there has been some debate as to wether I would ultimately benefit from using this camera with an uncompressed HD signal or not. (??) I have concluded that since the camera outputs HD-SDI in a full raster uncompressed mode, then the answer might be yes. Then again one could always rent a higher end camera like the SRW 9000, or a Viper, or something else comparable to such a recording capability, should it ever present itself as an option.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Mark,

We have built and sold hundreds of the Flash XDR's.

They are in use quietly around the world.

An example is David Paul, in New Zealand, who has been using them on multiple award winning productions. David has won some very nice awards.