CitiDISK HDV first impressions

[Andrew J Hall]

I emailed the site that makes these to suggest they contribute to the thread. They emailed back:

HI Andrew,
thanks for passing the information about CitiDISK HDV discussion. ....We are going to support both HDV/DV and DV only models with the $100.00 difference for both 80G & 100G hdd models. ....One of the reason that we did not release CItiDISK HDV yet due to many other HDV editing software are still in beta testing.

Andrew

[Daniel Kohl]

I noticed that Shining is advertising that their Citidisk can record HDV.

Unfortunatly, their web site doesn't really make a very trustworthy impression, with it's mumbo-jumboish explination of features, and the use of dinglish.

http://www.shining.com/

I wonder what language the original product description was written in.

[Shannon Rawls]

Does anyone know if either of these will work with Canon XL-H1?

Specifically:
1. all modes (24f/30f/60)
2. accurate timecode that is also on the minidv tape

Anybody?

- ShannonRawls.com

[Shannon Rawls]

called them today.

Yes, it supports ALL modes of the XL-H1 HDV & DV formats

NO TIMECODE

NO HDV PLAYBACK IN CAMERA (yet)

[Matthew Fink]

Hey Everyone,

The citidisk 100gb HDV model came today and I got a chance to play with it a little...needless to say I need to exchange it - i'll get into that in a minute.

From everything I read about this thing I was expecting it to come in crappy packaging, look like crap, etc...surprising the device is very nice and feels solid and strong. It is not at all noisy, does not get hot, weighs next to nothing and is overall tiny - so small I could mount it on my GL2s handle and still have room for my items including a wireless reciever on my shoe mount. I am still going to try to make a bottom mount for it.

The instructions were actually relatively easy to follow and not as bad as I thought they would be.

I charged the unit up and got ready for some testing - first thing you need to do - there is a little tiny switch in the back that you need to flip with a pin or pencil tip which tells it the internal battery is on. I do not know if you power off the unit if you need to switch that switch off everytime to tell it to turn the battery off or what, I dont think so - I think its meant for saving the battery when you arent using it for a long time, but I will have to look up that info - anway - I switched it to on and then the switch broke right off - first reason for an exchange.

Connecting it to my GL2 was simple and I started manually recording. I recorded random things only for a few seconds and used the Qplay button to play them back - worked great, but my qplay button sticks a little - doesnt effect the unit but another reason for an exchane (all the other buttons work no problem).

Next I wanted to test controlling the recording with my camera - for whatever reason I cannot get this to work. I have tried a few different things but nothing is working - I decided it was time to maybe flash the devices chip.

I went to the website, dled the stuff I needed and it claims it worked however I cannot see a hardware version in my program, so maybe the flash job or file was botched....

Anyway - it still records manually fine. Test 2 was recording an hour of footage then editing some of it.

I think due to the flash problem, it created a problem with my files I captured. I filmed for an hour straight so that would mean approximately 6-7 small files because of the fat32 limitation. I copied these files down to a local drive and imported them into premiere pro.

First thing I did was grab some random clips and put them together to form a small sequence and used some effects from my matrox rtx100 to see how that went...all that worked great, no problem....then I noticed an issue...

The first clip in the series I captured on the citidisk was fine - proper time code and worked perfectly...all the rest however showed bogus times - they ranged from 20 minutes to 45 minutes - and I only recorded for a total of an hour! All those clips with the messed up time code work - however when you get passed 9 or 10 minutes they freeze. I edited them down and put them in order and they do flow seamlesly but there is no way in hell I am doing that for an entire long straight shoot.

I honestly believe its due to a botched flash upgrade, or maybe I just need a new upgrade. I emailed the company for an RMA so I can test a new unit out so we will see what they say about my issues (maybe I did something wrong).

My overall impression;

Pros;
Price
HD Space
HDV
Size of unit

Cons;
Well my unit arrived damaged and the file issue I am having - but maybe its just a bum unit.

I will definitely give them another go around because I am impressed that it even did what it did so far lol.

Let me know if you have any questions!

-Matt

[Shannon Rawls]

AWESOME REPORT!

I'd like to see a report in HDV mode.

- ShannonRawls.com

[Daniel Kohl]

Thanks Matthew for keeping us posted.

Hope to hear from you again when you get the next unit.

[Matthew Fink]

Well,

I still have the old unit just because they are closed until next week and they told me to hold on to it and play around with it if I wanted and send it back next week.

Anyways - I have recorded several hours of video and the thing works pretty damn well - but it still does the thing with the clips when you shoot continuously for more than about 9 minutes where the first 2gb clip works perfectly, but then the next one is 2gb in size but it shows its 18 minutes long, but the first 9 minutes or so only work, then the next clip in the series is the same, but now 27 minutes in length and it keeps going up. If I edit the dead air out of each clip it synchs up with the previous clip perfectly and seamlessly so it sort of works. The Tech support is not sure what the issue is, possibly firmware - same thing about the camera record button triggering the hard drives record button.

I am happy to report that the Tech Support has been good to deal with. They have returned my multiple emails to them in a timely fashion and seem to care about getting this device right - so thats a good sign.

I probably wont have my new device for a few weeks because I will send mine back next week - then I am off to california and vegas for a week so it will hopefully be in my hands for when I return.

I will keep you all posted - but I still think this device has some great potential if they can smooth out the little bugs - so far I am still impressed.

-Matt

[Ed Liew]

hi matthew,
not sure whether this would be of any help. the last time i was given a chance to try one of the citidisk harddisk recorder, i remember that you need to have a tape load in the camera to be able to trigger the unit from the camera itself. the tape and the harddisk will roll together. does not serve the word on "going tapeless". just my observation.

[Matthew Fink]

Originally Posted by Ed Liew

hi matthew,
not sure whether this would be of any help. the last time i was given a chance to try one of the citidisk harddisk recorder, i remember that you need to have a tape load in the camera to be able to trigger the unit from the camera itself. the tape and the harddisk will roll together. does not serve the word on "going tapeless". just my observation.

Thanks for the advice - I have tried that...I actually truly believe its a bad device I have, so they are sending me a new one when I send this one back (tomorrow).

When recording as RAW DV it worked PERFECTLY! but now the drive does not work at all...so between the other recording issues, etc, I think its just messed up. When I get the new one and have time to test it I will report back.

-Matt