Direct to hard disk options??

[Bruce Yale]

There are only three OEM's competing in this market space today using the "capture in native format" approach. (That is bound to change.) Part of the reason is that this is a very difficult product to support - as well as being a low-volume market. Those that are available all capture in one video format or another and all are looking towards more formats over time. Conversely, video formats are becoming less proprietary and more "open-source, cross-platform" at the same time.

The CitiDisk approach does not effectively capture in the "native video format" of Solitaire. The Shinning Technology philosophy is geared towards capture in .AVI or .MOV, so in affect they are simply providing a generic .AVI format to the Solitaire platform. The trick with MacroSystems products lay in the OS as well as their flavor of 1394, which has proven quite vexing to every OEM except for nNovia whom has the only DVR certified by MacroSystems. Perhaps CitiDisk will soon join that list but as of today nNovia is the sole member.

I tend to wait on giving kudos on products until they are a market reality. Today the list is very short.

And as an aside, nNovia does not "capture in native formats" like every other OEM. We capture in our own proprietary format and output "native video formats" on demand. This is FAR more flexible than being restricted into using the single video format you thought you needed when you originally captured the content don't you think?

[Bankim Jain]

Well Mr.Yale it will be better if your product would have had a variety of industry stadard recording type options like firestore like your on demand (rendering types)

Give it a thought Firestore user chooses his edit format shoot and go to edit w/o any on demand delay...NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK.

Better try a firesore product and then comment.

[Bruce Yale]

Well Mr. Jain, I can assure you that since we are all quite friendly with the Focus Enhancements staff given that they are just down the street from us that we are quite familiar with each others product. Call it mutual respect.

But to answer your indirect question, the QuickCapture platform currently supports the following formats upon output (not input):

.AVI Type 1
.AVI Type 2 Microsoft
.AVI Type 2 Canopus
.AVI Type 2 Matrox
.MOV

…and of course raw .DV as all direct-to-disk recorders do. There are a handful of other formats being finalized as well. This is a "real-time" process, one we refer to as "Edit-Ready", identical in functionality to that of the FireStore platform.

By not having to select prior to capture the video format that you MAY utilize later in post production, we are able to switch between .AVI video formats repeatedly without re-rendering AFTER capture. We feel this is a more flexible approach to the problem.

A bit of history for you:

The nNovia engineers were the principle engineers of both the TiVo and Replay platforms when with Quantum Corporation in the late 90's. As a result we have arguably the most extensive domain knowledge in the DVR business. At the very least, we are FAR from new-comers to this business as you infer.

I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have about our architectural approach or products in general.

[Bankim Jain]

Mr. Yale,

A very explanation to my concerns. I wish if i would have know before buyin my FS3 about your company but its just after six months of my purchase that i have come to know any thing beyong FireStore.

FYI I am using FS3 with my Pany DV200 and with a AB stasis for my PD150 ... I am pretty happy with the direct docking to the ab nount behind the DV200. I get more looks when i shoot in market (And mind it The looks surely count as we get to talk with more people just out of their inquisitiveness. ) We get more business cox of the pro looks we carry in shape of our units. This is just a thought.

Today i find not to many people using the direct to disk facility in India I hope as the awareness increases i would also get to see your units in my land !

- A happy FS3 user !

[Bruce Yale]

Mr. Jain,

We have in fact been very successful distributing our products in India as well as many other sub-Asian countries. If you require personal assistance on any matter you may contact me via email at byale@nnovia.com.

Both Focus Enhancements and nNovia realized early on that the education of this new market niche is paramount to the long-term success of this new product genre. Professionals like Matt McEwen are intrinsic to this endeavor and are an accreditation to the adoption rate of direct-to-disk recording. But it has not been easy. Fortunately quality products like the FireStore platform and the QuickCapture platform go a long way to overcome the barriers to entry in establishing consumer confidence. Still, there is a long way to go before direct-to-disk recording is a defacto standard amongst professional videographers.

[Frank Yap]

Is it nessary to have a tape in the camcorder? I am using a VX2100, how can I set a stream on the firewire without a tape inserted?

[Bruce Yale]

Hi Frank,

The ability to record without a tape in a camcorder is "camcorder-specific". If memory serves me correctly your camera should in fact be able to record without a tape being in the camcorder, but please refer to your camcorder operations manual to be certain.

DV camcorders in general usually send and receive 1394 commands when the camcorder is powered up. They both "listen" and "talk" when buttons are pushed - without tape being present. In some camcorders the "talk" function is disabled when there is no tape in the camcorder and no 1394 commands are issued. In either case a asynchronous video stream is most always issued when recording begins, regardless whether or not the "RECORD" command was issued. Again there are some exceptions, so please refer to your camcorder manual.

In the case whereby no 1394 commands are issued, you must first put your camera in a "PAUSE" state whereby it is ready to begin recording and manually start QuickCapture just prior to pressing the RECORD button on your camcorder. There are of course some methods to initiate camera triggered recording outside of the 1394 RECORD command issued by the camcorder (GPI; RS-232C; TimeCode; etc) but that is another topic for discussion.

I hope this helps clarify this issue a bit.

[Frank Yap]

I've done some test by connecting the VX2100 via firewire to my computer and capture in Prem Pro. I can capture the dv video stream, but when I press the record botton I get a msg "no tape" flashing on the LCD.

So basicaly there is a stream even without a tape. Question now is if I can start-stop the recording with the record botton?
Maybe I have to buy one and find out for myself or just use the record botton on the harddisk itself.

[Bruce Yale]

You have it about right, Frank. The camcorder is issuing a DV stream, but not a AVC 1394 control command to "RECORD" (or STOP) since there is no tape in the magazine. So in a nutshell you must manually begin recording on QuickCapture just prior to initiating the DV stream.

There are a few alternative camera trigger configurations you can conjure together as I said earlier, but none that use a 'phantom' 1394 RECORD command issued by your camcorder.

[Frank Yap]

Thanks Bruce for the quick reply.

[Bruce Yale]

BTW, I hope I did not just pooch you name - Yap!

I just relaized my mistake! Sorry about that!

I'll just edit my response here...."Frank".

I'll get it right next time!

[Frank Yap]

No problem. I am easy going. Actualy you have it right. It's Frank Yap.

[Ken Tanaka]

Your user name is fixed, Frank.

[Frank Yap]

Thanks.