XL1(s) direct to harddisk recording

[Rob Lohman]

Hi,

I have another question.... Is it possible to record with an XL1(s) camera directly to my computer? (ie without using a DV tape). I have a new laptop which comes with build in firewire support (OHCI compliant) and have lots of gigabytes of free space. I think it would be nice to record directly to my computer. Much easier to catelog my shots. I think this might be possible to start recording (?) on the XL1(s) and then just start your capture program....

However. It would be even more ideal if there exists a program that would "auto" record a stream if I press record. preferabbly auto splicing it in scenes (when record starts again after a pause). The new XL1s support firewire direct record disks and sends REC & REC PAUSE signals (so I have read). So i'm wondering if this can be used on a PC... .I'm a professional programmer and would be able to program this if nothing else exists.... I was wondering if something already exists like this or if these are strange ideas :)

Thanks for any response & help!

Kind regards

[Chris Hurd]

This will be possible with the new Videonics FireStore, available now -- see earlier post, probably on page two -- I'll have a review available as soon as I can get a portable FireWire hard drive.

Not only can you record directly to PC without tape, but you can record at a remote location *without* the computer, as long as you have a portable FireWire hard drive.

By the way I 'll be moving this thread to General DV Discussion shortly, as it applies to all DV camcorders, not just the XL1. Thanks,

[Rob Lohman]

My appologies.. I posted it wrongly indeed... Why i'm talkig about my computer has two reasons.... first that firestore controller is quite expensive (as i've heard), so it would be cheaper to use my already available computer... Plus it would allow to manage my scenes more directly on the fly (although this is not the biggest isue for me at the moment)....

[Chris Hurd]

Hmmm... price of the FireStore is about $1000 USD. Yes it costs a little bit! To do what it does, you would have to be able to convert DV into AVI format on the fly, in real time -- more info about the FireStore on the Videonics website -- if you can do what it does, things will get very interesting!

[Manuel Albarracin]

I am so interested with the firestore too. And at a different occasion I have inquired about this.
Surfing the web I have come across a site which sells it for a little more than $700.00. Mekertec.com
If this product will do what it promises to do then its worth while having it.

Mantral98

I have an XL1s and a Sony VAIO 1.5 ghz Pentium 4. I have recorded directly to the hdd a number of times and it works perfectly. I use the firewire capture software that came with the computer which also lets you control the camera.

I have recorded several medical procedures simultaneously on DV tape and HDD.

I still use tape in the machine for a backup but the direct record works fine. I can see no difference in picture quality between the HDD and the DV tape recordings.

[Rob Lohman]

profchuck,

what capture sofware do you use? how do you
start the recording? Do you do it manually or
does your capture software start when you
set the camera to record? Please elaborate
some more on this. Thank you!

I inadvertently posted this as a new thread. Sorry about the duplication.

I am using the MGI VideoWave III capture software that came with my Sony VAIO computer. It has a direct firewire input/output support function. I have been starting capture manually using the controls in the software screen. I have been editing the files using Adobe Premier 5.1.

When I play the files back into the XL1s I can see no degradation of image or audio quality. The edited files are indistinguishable from the orig. recording.

[Ashley Guy]

I have a review of the FireStore posted on our website at:

www.guygraphics.com/videonics/firestore.html

So far it has been working very nicely with the XL1, GL1 and all the Canopus hardware.