Ok clever people can you help me Q1

[Simon Gee]

I have now settled into using my HD7 and got some great results from it. We are next year going on an expedition, and these cameras have great image quality to size/weight ratio. However:
Every so often we will want to pull off the hard drive contents to liberate space. On the trip the most we can hope for is power, but carrying a laptop or JVC share station is not viable (weight). However I was wondering if:
1. I can USB straight into a small portable drive
2. Swap the JVC hard drive
3. Record to SD...as far as i can determine HD7 will record to 8Gb cards that are class 6 SDHC...any idea the what 8Gb equates to at 1440cbr
4. Any other ideas?
Any experience suggestions?
Q2 to follow

[Graham Hickling]

I can tell you that 1 hour of standard 1080i HDV footage = 8.6GB, if that's of any help...

[John Hong]

Originally Posted by Graham Hickling

I can tell you that 1 hour of standard 1080i HDV footage = 8.6GB, if that's of any help...

I thought 1 hour of HDV was the same as DV...13GB ???

[Simon Gee]

Cheers
I think i have found the ideal solution for expedition use
Its an OTG (on the go drive)
http://www.card-media.co.uk/mmp25+divx+player.htm
It uses 2.5" ATA drives and these can be swapped in the filed it can also be posered off 4 x AA batteries
So this means we can off load the HD7 hard drive without need for a PC or come to that exterenal power.
Carrying a couple of sapre laptop drives means we can carry 600Gb of storage in a the space = the camera
Have ordered on with 160Gb drive (120GBpounds) will keep you posted on experience
S

[Bruno Donnet]

Originally Posted by Simon Gee

1. I can USB straight into a small portable drive

Yes, an USB disk with the OTG function can be a solution (as you report it in your last post), BUT you need to check the max size of a file stored on the HD7 (that point, I don't know). Why? Because the FAT/FAT32 format is used on the cheap USB disk with OTG and if the HD7 creates file larger than 4GB, you will not be able to transfer it on a USB disk format in FAT or FAT32; that presumes to record without interruption during around 20 minutes (in 1440CBR) to break this limit, so maybe, in the real life, it's a false problem. But maybe you want to use the same hard-drive unit for other stuffs (edited videos, ISO image of DVDs (4.7GB or 8.5GB), etc...)
To avoid any doubt, a USB disk like the Dvico U-2000C (the C version, not the Lite one) can be formated in NTFS and so, can manage files larger than 4GB.
But, in everycase, I advice you to make a test before to buy.

Last remark: on the actual market, there's no USB disk (except maybe 1 or 2 Professional models at many $$$$$) that can work on battery; you need an external power adaptor and an available 110V (or 230V) plug! It's possible to adapt to the USB disk an external battery block (4x or 8xAA, rechargeable or not), but pay attention to the power consumption of the USB disk: the AA batteries will last quickly --I mean, before to unload all the HD7 HDD--...

Originally Posted by Simon Gee

2. Swap the JVC hard drive

Not possible on the field.

Originally Posted by Simon Gee

3. Record to SD...as far as i can determine HD7 will record to 8Gb cards that are class 6 SDHC...any idea the what 8Gb equates to at 1440cbr

The HD7 only offers the possibility to record on the SD card in its lowest HD quality (so, only in 1440 VBR low rate, not the 1440 CBR middle rate compatible with HDV, and not in the highest rate 1920 VBR).
The 1440 VBR mode is around 8.6GB/hour.
The 1440 CBR mode is, like HDV, around 13GB/hour; quite the same for the 1920 VBR mode.
If the fact to use only the lowest HD quality is not a problem, it can be a solution to have some SDHC cards in case your disk becomes full on the field (you keep the OTG USB disk at home or at the hotel if your are in travel, and have a set of SD cards on the field, just in case of --it's better to film the last minutes in HD low rate than to not be able to film at all--).

Originally Posted by Simon Gee

4. Any other ideas?

JVC, Samsung, Sony now propose to download the content of the HDD camcorders into a separate DVD burner unit: the idea is the same than with a OTG USB disk, but the limited capacity of a DVD (4.7 or 8.5GB) is a real drawback. Could be more interessant the day when a Bluray or HD-DVD burner unit will come on the market...

[Steve Mullen]

[QUOTE=Simon Gee;780005Have ordered on with 160Gb drive (120GBpounds) will keep you posted on experience
S[/QUOTE]

Keep us informed because the description of this product is not written well. It seems designed to record via a USB cable from a USB card reader. Does the HD7 harddisk behave exactly like a card plugged into a card reader?

It is likely to be very different than using the HD7's built-in archive software. This software is designed to drive a DVD burner via a JVC USB cable. It would be nice to drive a USB drive using the HD7's software since it does incremental updates. Why not try it with a standard USB harddrive. Then you would not need OTG.

"The MMP25 finally has the USB On The Go OTG Support which allows to copy without the need of a computer all files from a memory card (ie Microdrive) via a USB card reader to plug direct in the MMP25. All files are copied to the dedicated folder named 'cards'."

[Simon Gee]

Thanks for the points guys. You are right Steve the description on the website is hardly inspiring however it was a tech sales guy who directed me to it and is pretty certain it will wdo the job and do it from a battery pack. Best still he said i can try it and if doent work I can send it back. Steve I tried a standard USB but it needs an operating system to know what it is/where it is.

Overall I am looking for a 'go lite go far' kit that will give me the best/near broadcast quality output for expeditions. I am looking at a beachtek box to manage sound (as per my other thread). Once all is up an working i will post my expedition kit list and mods.

Thanks again.