Odyssey SSD discussion

[Garrett Low]

Originally Posted by Dave Sperling

My vote is for small and light and less power used, whatever that takes...

Completely with you on this. I'm not looking forward to the next two days of shooting on a power hungry RED. Huge battery suck and we're having to shoot about 2 half days of handheld. My back is in for a workout.

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Garrett Low

That Australian competitor you speak of has gained that reputation with some of the clients I've dealt with. So your example, at least in the market I'm in, actually doesn't support allowing the use of any media.

What's funny is that it's not even a competitor. It does the very basic that the Odyssey does, and if you need just basic functionality, then yes, perhaps it's not for you.

But like Garrett mentioned, I'm seeing a lot of negativity from people...they are trying to run-and-gun with spinning 5,200k drives and then its' the UNIT that's the problem when it drops out, not the fact they were trying to get 500GB of storage for $70.

[Cliff Stephenson]

I'll say something that will seem inflammatory, but is really meant to be practical.

While the idea of paying $800 for a 512GB SSD seems insane at first, it's pretty cheap overall. I was paying $800 just a few years ago for 32GB of SxS storage and those WERE the cheap cards. But what does that price actually pay for? Security. The proprietary cards and the extra price they bring with them are insurance. It's the same reason I paid so much more for real SxS cards and never risked my footage on SD cards and adaptors. Sure, they may work fine, but what about when they don't? Why would anyone want to monkey around with the integrity of THEIR MASTERS just to save a few dollars that would likely be amortized over several shoots anyway? If we're spending thousands upon thousands for our cameras, our lenses, our lights, our monitoring systems... why suddenly get frugal and gamble on the safety of your actual footage. Without the integrity and security of the hard drives to contain the footage, all of your equipment, as well as your talent and time, is useless. And for what? To save $350 on a card when you've already spent $10,000+ on the rest of your gear?

I appreciate that CD have gone to the considerable time and trouble to find SSDs they are willing to certify. It's the insurance and peace of mind I need for my shoots. The footage is the most important thing.

Now if I just knew when I could buy one!!

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Cliff Stephenson

If we're spending thousands upon thousands for our cameras, our lenses, our lights, our monitoring systems... why suddenly get frugal and gamble on the safety of your actual footage.

This is exactly what I don't understand about some people. I will definitely cheap out on some gear, but the basic gear you need to shoot an image and store it properly is something I will never do that on.

A few years ago I was shooting with SD card media and had one in my stable that was a cheaper brand. It worked great up until it physically fell apart. I was able to pull the data off of it, but I would have been in dire straights had I not been able to. That was all I needed to experience, and it's been all high-end SD card media since then.

I'm considering an Odyssey myself, and I find the added cost for the security benefits of the CD drives to be a no-brainer.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Cliff Totten

Obviously this issue is a marketing gamble that CD has decided to make. There is a competing product that comes from an Australian company that goes as far as allowing spinning disk drives in their recorder. (if you decide to take that chance)

I can assure anybody that this Australian company is VERY happy that CD is "forcing" it's high priced (and yes,..excellent quality) drives on their customers. In fact, the very last thing CD's competition wants is for CD to change their policy on this.

.

AFAIK BMD do not recommend or advise anyone to use spinning disks in the HDS 2 - if you do you're taking crazy risks and will almost certainly drop frames.

In fact that unit has a very small and strict list of SSDs that are approved for use. The AJA Ki Pro is the only unit I know that officially supports spinning disks.

Go back and read what Dan Keaton said in his excellent post. If anything this is the opposite of a "gamble" - I'm prepared to take take what Dan said at face value. Also read in anothe post from Dan that they continue to look for other solutions. Thats good. Lets wait and see - I think the bigger concern is they've missed 2 proposed shipping dates

[Dave Sperling]

"AFAIK BMD do not recommend ..."

-- If you take a look at the atomos website, you'll see listed as a key feature of each of their field recorders: "Uses inexpensive 2.5” HDD/SSD media" - I think that's the reference.

On another topic - I did get a chance to play with one of the 7Q's for a while at CineGear Expo in NYC, and was particularly impressed with the screen. (Remember, the Odyssey is listed first as a Monitor, then as a recorder.) Off axis viewing was significantly better than I had expected, and I think it will be the perfect on-board addition for almost any rig. The biggest problem is that it looks so good that the director (and who knows who else) is probably going to want to hang around the camera watching it rather than staying back in video village out of our hair!

[John Mitchell]

Thanks Dave - had no idea ATOMOS was Australian...

Still would not use spinning disks in an on camera recorder - I used to use a DV recorder that had spinning disks but we are talking totally different data rates.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Dave Sperling

On another topic - I did get a chance to play with one of the 7Q's for a while at CineGear Expo in NYC, and was particularly impressed with the screen. (Remember, the Odyssey is listed first as a Monitor, then as a recorder.) Off axis viewing was significantly better than I had expected, and I think it will be the perfect on-board addition for almost any rig. The biggest problem is that it looks so good that the director (and who knows who else) is probably going to want to hang around the camera watching it rather than staying back in video village out of our hair!

Good feedback.. and good to know.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Friends,

I have been traveling extensively recently, thus I have not been able to respond as quickly as I prefer.

In my travels, many industry professionals with high-end cameras, have decided to purchase at least two of our Odyssey's for each camera.

While this, of course, is music to my ears, it also makes sense.

One for the camera operator and one for the focus puller (1st AC).

One company who shoots high-end car commercials wanted even more units for each camera.

Respectfully,