CitiDisk HDV - Now on sale - but nobody is talking about it?

Brian Duke · December 20th, 2005, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shannon Rawls

wow, now that would be BLATENT false advertisment and reason to return 100% of their sold units. They advertise that on the HDV version of their product, says HDV in the specs, and even on the forthcoming DVCPROHD version, it says the HDV version can NOW do it...and it says "NEW".

Mybe the people you spoke with didn't know about the software update....but that would be like COMPAQ claiming they have DVD player on the laptops...and when you get it, it only plays CD-R's.

I have a feeling it will do Q-Play for HDV.

- ShannonRawls.com

I showed them the ad, but I believe there is a disclaimer on HDV with a *. I think its misleading too, but I am not going to argue with them...

Daniel Kohl · December 20th, 2005, 04:38 PM

Brian,

Look at Shannon's first entry at the beginning of this thread, she has the link there. It sure looks like Shining is claiming that the Qplay works with HDV. No "*" to be seen.

I would really be interested to know if the Citidisk has improved since I tried-out the Quickstream and Citidisk two years ago.

Shannon Rawls · December 20th, 2005, 05:20 PM

MISTER Shannon W. Rawls called Shining this morning and spoke with them.

They said the website is wrong. The current release will NOT Qplay. It will in the forthcoming free firmware update.

It will NOT capture timecode either. They are experimenting with this now.
The Firestore will capture timecode and will playback HDV footage on your cameras viewfinder and has removable batteries along with an LCD screen for information. However the firestore is bigger and bulkier, has a loud fan in it, smaller hard drive and costs allot more.

Pick your weapon.

- ShannonRawls.com

Daniel Kohl · December 20th, 2005, 05:33 PM

I don't see where there was any indication in my last post that I assumed that you were a MISSES (which I have to admit I did). But anyway - I hope no harm has been done - all the Shannons I have ever known (1) have been women.

Getting back to the matter - what you say is true about the advantages of the Citidiscs size and lack of noise - but does it really work - and how can a company, to be taken seriously, allow their website to advertise something so wrong, for more than twenty minutes. I'm going to go check the link again in an hour to see if they have corrected it after your telephone call to them, which has brought the error to their attention.

To be honest - I don't trust Shining. There are a few little reasons, which start with misleading advertising and include user guides written in dinglish.

Brian Duke · December 20th, 2005, 05:45 PM

Then the next step is DR-100 which should be out soon. I'll be getting it myself... unless Citidisk actually fix their first, sinc eit is 1/2 price and more GB.

Matthew Fink · December 21st, 2005, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Kohl

I don't see where there was any indication in my last post that I assumed that you were a MISSES (which I have to admit I did). But anyway - I hope no harm has been done - all the Shannons I have ever known (1) have been women.

You said something along the lines in the post SHE made - but no big deal, obviously its a mistake and we are online so its impossible to tell just by a name and if I didnt see his website I wouldn't have known either.

Anyways - about the citidisk...I like it because its smaller and quieter and seems to be heading in the right direction. The firestore to me is just a rip off right now (same reason Shanon stated) - they need to fix their fan, their battery lengths and their recording lengths before I would even consider.

I agree - Shining scares me a little due to their lack of English - but to be honest - to make a great device it doesnt need to be in english - where do you think 99% of our cameras are made? I think if this takes off and they create a device that works well then then they can invest in a translator lol.
Mine should be here today - but again I dont have any HDV cameras so I will be testing just DV - and if it doesnt work up to specs - it goes back and I wait for something better to come along (maybe a firestore).

Oh speaking about english - I got an email from them stating my item has been shipped, it made me laugh a little, and may make me cry later...

"HI , Dear Customer :
Your unit was shipped by UPS Next Day air as you specified today.
Tracking number is ---------------

Best regards
Shining Technology Inc.
Shipping Dept.

P.S. Battery no stock now, allow later release 01/9/2006 (about)"

I hope I get the extended battery soon because thats going to hinder some of my testing.

Daniel Kohl · December 21st, 2005, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Fink

You said something along the lines in the post SHE made - but no big deal, obviously its a mistake and we are online so its impossible to tell just by a name and if I didn't see his website I wouldn't have known either....

Your right, I just looked back - sorry about that Shannon.

Quote:

I hope I get the extended battery soon because thats going to hinder some of my testing.

As far as the extended battery is concerned - if the bloody thing works reliably you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a third party battery that will fit into the plug for the mains power adapter. There have been a few threads with good ideas for this type of set-up in connection with the FS-4.

Matthew Fink · December 22nd, 2005, 10:14 AM

[QUOTE=
As far as the extended battery is concerned - if the bloody thing works reliably you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a third party battery that will fit into the plug for the mains power adapter. There have been a few threads with good ideas for this type of set-up in connection with the FS-4.[/QUOTE]

Good point - Maybe I can find one or make one that will fit better in the under the camera harness type thing I want to make if I like the device - even if I move to a firestore I want to make something that will attach under the camera and also allow a quick release onto that.

Somehow UPS messed up my damn order and my next day air has turned into 3 days - but now it shows on truck for delivery so maybe tonight I can post my first impressions...I will probably start a new thread for that.

Brian Burns · January 27th, 2006, 08:05 PM

Matthew,
Did you find a way to mount the Citidisk under the GL2 or find the alternative battery?

Robert Lane · January 28th, 2006, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Fink

You said something along the lines in the post SHE made - but no big deal, obviously its a mistake and we are online so its impossible to tell just by a name and if I didnt see his website I wouldn't have known either.

Hmm, I always thought Shannon would look good in heels. (^_^)

Steve Nunez · January 31st, 2006, 04:32 PM

Has anyone used one of these CitiDisk units with an FX1 with HDV footage- how well did it all work?

Douglas Spotted Eagle · January 31st, 2006, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Nunez

Has anyone used one of these CitiDisk units with an FX1 with HDV footage- how well did it all work?

I did play with this for about an hour at the 4EverGroup expo, and while it "worked" it also crashed a couple times. I don't know that I'd trust it. I've asked Chris Wang (owner of Shining Technologies) to allow me to review a unit for 3-4 days, and they weren't interested. Apparently they're not really into reviews or something. Anyway, it's an interesting tool, has a kinda clever mount for the Z1, but I didn't see how it would connect to the FX1.
I'd be curious to hear from anyone who's owned one for a few days.

Steve Nunez · February 1st, 2006, 06:26 AM

DSE- thanks for that reply. It's ashame it is plagued with small problems as it seems like a very useful device.
It seems that every direct-to-disk for HDV product has problems of some sort. There doesn't seem to be a rock-solid solution to DTD recording.

I hope the Citidisk people sort out these problems and let you review a unit- if it works as it should- I can't see a review hurting it- it would be positive advertising.

The way I see it- we'll have to wait til the next generation of internal HD HDV camcorders to get this right........time will tell.

Scott Vystrcil · April 27th, 2006, 12:08 PM

Any new news on this thing? Has anyone had any luck getting them to work consistantly?

Lauri Kettunen · April 27th, 2006, 12:25 PM

I've been using CitiDIsk HDV with Canon XL H1 for several weeks. It works fine except two details: the HDV playback to the EVF does not work (DV mode is ok), and the timecode is not stored. Otherwise no problems what so ever. No crashes at all.

I transform the m2t files to avi files with Cineform HDlink and then edit with Premiere Pro (1.5 or) 2.0.

December 20th, 2005, 04:38 PM	#17
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Brian, Look at Shannon's first entry at the beginning of this thread, she has the link there. It sure looks like Shining is claiming that the Qplay works with HDV. No "*" to be seen. I would really be interested to know if the Citidisk has improved since I tried-out the Quickstream and Citidisk two years ago. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

December 20th, 2005, 05:20 PM	#18
Shannon Rawls Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 853	MISTER Shannon W. Rawls called Shining this morning and spoke with them. They said the website is wrong. The current release will NOT Qplay. It will in the forthcoming free firmware update. It will NOT capture timecode either. They are experimenting with this now. The Firestore will capture timecode and will playback HDV footage on your cameras viewfinder and has removable batteries along with an LCD screen for information. However the firestore is bigger and bulkier, has a loud fan in it, smaller hard drive and costs allot more. Pick your weapon. - ShannonRawls.com __________________ Shannon W. Rawls ~ Motion Picture Producer & huge advocate of Digital Acquisition.

December 20th, 2005, 05:33 PM	#19
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	I don't see where there was any indication in my last post that I assumed that you were a MISSES (which I have to admit I did). But anyway - I hope no harm has been done - all the Shannons I have ever known (1) have been women. Getting back to the matter - what you say is true about the advantages of the Citidiscs size and lack of noise - but does it really work - and how can a company, to be taken seriously, allow their website to advertise something so wrong, for more than twenty minutes. I'm going to go check the link again in an hour to see if they have corrected it after your telephone call to them, which has brought the error to their attention. To be honest - I don't trust Shining. There are a few little reasons, which start with misleading advertising and include user guides written in dinglish. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

January 31st, 2006, 04:32 PM	#26
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	Has anyone used one of these CitiDisk units with an FX1 with HDV footage- how well did it all work? __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

February 1st, 2006, 06:26 AM	#28
Steve Nunez Trustee Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 1,418	DSE- thanks for that reply. It's ashame it is plagued with small problems as it seems like a very useful device. It seems that every direct-to-disk for HDV product has problems of some sort. There doesn't seem to be a rock-solid solution to DTD recording. I hope the Citidisk people sort out these problems and let you review a unit- if it works as it should- I can't see a review hurting it- it would be positive advertising. The way I see it- we'll have to wait til the next generation of internal HD HDV camcorders to get this right........time will tell. __________________ Steve Nunez-New York City www.stevenunez.com

December 20th, 2005, 05:45 PM	#20
Brian Duke Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hollywood, California Posts: 899	Then the next step is DR-100 which should be out soon. I'll be getting it myself... unless Citidisk actually fix their first, sinc eit is 1/2 price and more GB.

December 22nd, 2005, 10:14 AM	#23
Matthew Fink Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: CT Posts: 40	[QUOTE= As far as the extended battery is concerned - if the bloody thing works reliably you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a third party battery that will fit into the plug for the mains power adapter. There have been a few threads with good ideas for this type of set-up in connection with the FS-4.[/QUOTE] Good point - Maybe I can find one or make one that will fit better in the under the camera harness type thing I want to make if I like the device - even if I move to a firestore I want to make something that will attach under the camera and also allow a quick release onto that. Somehow UPS messed up my damn order and my next day air has turned into 3 days - but now it shows on truck for delivery so maybe tonight I can post my first impressions...I will probably start a new thread for that.

January 27th, 2006, 08:05 PM	#24
Brian Burns Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Springfield, VA Posts: 56	Matthew, Did you find a way to mount the Citidisk under the GL2 or find the alternative battery?

April 27th, 2006, 12:08 PM	#29
Scott Vystrcil Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: McKinney, TX Posts: 116	Any new news on this thing? Has anyone had any luck getting them to work consistantly? __________________ Scott A. Vystrcil Equipment - Sony HVR-Z1U--Firestore FS-4 Pro HD (40GB)--Cartoni Focus F101 Editing - Canopus Edius Pro 4, Intel Pentium D 940 (3.2 GHz), 2GB, 74GB SATA 10K, 160GB SATAII, 300GB SATA, nVidia GeForce 6800 (256MB), Dell 20 in widescreen flat panel (2007WFP) http://watersedgefrisco.com http://vystrcil.com

April 27th, 2006, 12:25 PM	#30
Lauri Kettunen Major Player Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Kangasala, Finland Posts: 445	I've been using CitiDIsk HDV with Canon XL H1 for several weeks. It works fine except two details: the HDV playback to the EVF does not work (DV mode is ok), and the timecode is not stored. Otherwise no problems what so ever. No crashes at all. I transform the m2t files to avi files with Cineform HDlink and then edit with Premiere Pro (1.5 or) 2.0.