DIY-DTD on the cheap
 

I am looking forward to use the Catapult with a 80GB 7200 RPM 2.5
Hitachi HD in an external Case for my DVX100:

Catapult:$300
http://www.bella-usa.com/Catapult.htm

Hitachi HD:$135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822146047

External Enclosure:$33
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817146604

TOTAL COST:$468+Any form of 5V battery system....

Not bad.....if it works...

Cesar.

What kind of 5v battery systems are out there?
 

What 5v battery systems are there that the USB connector from the external enclosure can plug into?

David:
The external Enclosure can use a DC Power...
according to the picture in the manufacturer site:
http://www.macally.com/spec/usb/stor...phr_250cc.html


Or you can use this for $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817298001

this is the manufacturer site:
http://www.heisei.com.tw/products/2_...isk_enclosure/

Cesar.

The battery system itself?
 

Thanks, that's useful to know.

What battery systems are usable for doing a shoot out in the field for the 80GB drive (almost 6 hours of video)?

Thanks God that we have Google....
Do a search in 5V Batteries...There's Plenty out there....

Example 1:
http://www.superwarehouse.com/Socket...9-614/p/620244

Example 2:
http://www.adorama.com/BOY4DC.html

And Then We Have VOLTAGE DIVIDERS...so we can use almost ANY Battery System:
http://www.play-hookey.com/dc_theory...e_divider.html


I only do 3 Hrs of recording per event, so I am looking to use
The 80GB HD at Half capacity....Its better to have space that you dont
need than the inverse.....

Cesar.

It sounds great, Cesar... please let us know if it works ok for you.

J

Have you heard a release date yet ?

No date yet...just waiting for "the second half of 2006"..
as they claim it would be available....
Cesar.

Don't forget this little gem http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817146609 it has a rechargable lithium-ion battery in it... that's an interesting addition to some DIY system.

Cesar,

Looks really good.

The only thing missing is the Catapult if it is in fact all that it promises to be.

I'm a bit skeptical, however, considering all the promises Focus made before the FS-4 came out, not to mention the other makers of D2D devices.

But I guess at some point the manufacturing has to catch up with the products they are manufacturing. We know that the bloody things can work how we want them to, but the question is will they?

Daniel:
You might be right...
I been investigating all this with DTD recording and, besides
having a lot of problems...I came to the conclusion that nothing
compares to tape for long time storage....DVD's and HD aren't very
reliable...so I will stick with the "OLD" tape technology for the time beeing..
Cesar.

I use my laptop to capture direct to disk, via a firewire card.

With the low cost of some laptops today (sub $500) plus the cost of a firewire card (sub $50), you can record directly to a system that has multiple uses and you can view your shots immediately.

Yes I know, sometimes a laptop is not the best thing to carry with you, but it is an alternative.

Is the catapult even needed for a DTD solution? Why cant we just plug our cameras into an externally powered HDD enclosure?

Would it be as simple as unplugging the HDD from your camera and then to your PC and pulling of the files? (as long as its formated properly?)

Or am i missing a step?

There has to be some software that knows what to do with the DV signal and write it to a file. It's not like a drag and drop system. Same reason you have to capture real time with programs like Premiere and Vegas before you can get the footage on your PC.

I guess i didn't think about something having to tell the HDD what to do, i thought the camera would know. Ive been looking at Andromeda, and im pretty impressed so far...