2TB Memory Cards - 120MB/s Transfer Rates

[Daymon Hoffman]

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20040805A4013.html

Now this looks interesting. Can you say "solid state Hi Def Camcorder" ? With transfer rates like these and storage like these... thats gotta be perfect has it not? :)

[Ken Tanaka]

I saw that today, too, Daymon. This boggles my mind. If it does have high transfer rates it could indeed lead to a new frontier in tapeless video recording. Fascinating.

[Michael Ansbro]

I didn't realize Taiwan and RED China loved each other so much.
I also think its nice that the REDs think they can put their own MPEG4 decoder on the DVD players (since they make them), so we won't get raped by our own US media warlords.
Good riddance to tape.

[Daymon Hoffman]

I'm a bit torn though. I want the great things solidstate storage will bring (how much cheaper/simpler SHOULD a camcorder be with no tape mechanism!! yeehaa!) but at the same time they are both capture-to and store-aswell devices the good ol' tapes. i guess the answer lies with Blu-Ray perhaps. Either way... i'd prefer solidstate even given this dilemma. All that space and technicality saved by getting rid of a damn tape mechanism just has a huge appeal itself without even thinking about teh time saved in captureing to hard drives at as-fast-as-your-drives-can-copy speeds :D

[Michael Ansbro]

Long as we're on the subject, where is that Pana DV50 cardcam AJ-SPX800.
I see it advertised, but of course B&H doesn't carry anything above DV25.
I'm sure this is not a conspiracy or anything.

I really think it makes more sense to be hot swapping the video cards into a portable computer and editing (dumping the bad takes) in the field.
I know that some documentarians like to take a thousand hours of video, then spend a year agonizing over the junk.
For that, you need tape.
I hope they enjoy it.

[Daymon Hoffman]

Michael,

I was also thinking that as well. The same positives digital cameras brought. Delete the, ahem, bad shots asap. *G*

[Ken Tanaka]

While we ponder the possibilities of such a project-on-a-stamp medium, consider what you would be willing to / what you expect to spend for such luxury. $1,000? $1,500? $2,000?

[Daymon Hoffman]

Ken,

yes thats what i was having a stab at when i emphasized "should" in a previous post. What do you readers think when it comes to cost and r&d and manufacturing etc. Tape Mechanisms and Tapes Vurses a Lump of Silocone with some copper connections and a Bay for it to seat? Sure R&D / testing etc may take a lot of $$$$... but i'm in the fabrication industry and the savings would seem to be far greater. So it should be cheaper by a country mile and then some!

Sadly i think we'll cop a bit of the ol' "its new... its cool... lets make it expensive" routine. :/

[Ken Tanaka]

Further research and closer inspection of the announcement indicates that the 2-TByte claim is actually misleading. The ?card design could theoretically accommodate such a capacity. But so could Sony's Memory Stick. It's unlikely that such capacities will be offered any time soon.

The theoretical bandwidth spec is the more practical attraction of the announcement. But what communication platform will be sufficiently prevalent to make even this practical any time soon?

[Harrison Murchison]

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Further research and closer inspection of the announcement indicates that the 2-TByte claim is actually misleading. The ?card design could theoretically accommodate such a capacity. But so could Sony's Memory Stick. It's unlikely that such capacities will be offered any time soon.

The theoretical bandwidth spec is the more practical attraction of the announcement. But what communication platform will be sufficiently prevalent to make even this practical any time soon? -->>>

Ken you've hit the head of the nail. This doesn't even qualify as a paper launch.

The bandwidth is nice but they're selling people on 2TB as if the first version of the card is going to hit that amount. Reality is they will probably start at 512MB and work their way up. Frankly I grow tired of press release like this. There's no mention of costs or manufacturer support which leads me to believe it's all theoretical.

In 2 years we'll all laugh at how Intel had stated LCOS 60" TVs could be $2000. Yeah and they could be $4000 also. The tech industry is filled with far too much hype. Remember FMD and how that was supposed to revolutionize optical recording. They never really worked the bugs out to take off.

We need products with deliverable timeframes.

[Daymon Hoffman]

Well said Mr Murchison,

I feel exactly the same. Your example was one fo the ones i was sour on as well and still have it in my mind... those elusive clear FMD discs!! There are so many more i have seen when sit back and remember them. So many "revolutionary" news releases of items that just seem to disapear and never happen, it does indeed piss me off. Thats why i like Canon... they say "hey we got this" untill its 2 weeks from being in a shop :D

[Greg Boston]

Of course, you guys know the correct terminology for this sort of thing is 'vaporware'. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of announcements that did just that...they vaporized, never to be heard of again.

I do think we will probably moving away from tape altogether within the next decade.

regards,