Awesome news for canon users

[Bryan Gilchrist]

I can't see one of these being $1,000...but then again, we are talking about Sony here...

But then again, I couldn't see it going for $70 either.

[Richard Hunter]

It'd be even nicer if it started and stopped when you pressed Record on the XH-A1. Anyway let's wait and see what price Sony decide to sell it at.

Richard

[Evan C. King]

My bad I meant 700-1000. Personally think 500 would be fair, but like Richard said we're talking about sony, so I raised it. Maybe firestore or someone can reverse engineer it, because the only thing that would improve it would being able to take canon batteries.

Also I tried it with my friend's HD100, so it looks like it works with any flavor of hdv, hdv1 or hdv2.

[Brandon Freeman]

Nice! Okay, I'm sold. Now I just need...sigh...money again... :)

[Bruce Kurz]

Does anyone have an idea when this will be available for the Canon or sold on its own. I am very interested.

Originally Posted by Evan C. King

Alright guys sorry for taking so long to post back but I've been pretty busy this week.

How it works is you go into the A1's menu and choose System Setup -> DV Control -> ON DV(and what looks like a "Z")

Then you press both the red and black record buttons on the MC1 and it'll start recording to the CF card.

And to the person who asked why it's a big deal: It's quiet since it's fanless, you also don't have to worry about it breaking in a fall or something and it's expandable. Being able to pop in as many cheap CF cards s you want is way better than spending 2 grand on a drive you can't upgrade.

Hopefully when it's released separately it retails for between 70-1000, that already is another reason why it's better than buying a bulky expensive firestore.

edit: I'm having problems uploading the photos to dvinfo with both safari and firefox so here's my picasa link for all the pics: http://picasaweb.google.ca/ecking/Co...ashOnCanonXHA1

[Don Palomaki]

Hmmmm. Interesting

Requires 133x high speed CF cards, not any old CF will do.

Considering that many other all digital recorders (with internal A/D and D/A as well, go for $400 give or take (e.g,,MicroTrack).

$700-$1000 sounds like a likely price point considering the price Sony has put on other "Walkman" form factor video recording/playback devices in the past; e.g., the GV-Axxx, GV-Dxxx and GV-HDxxx series toys.

[Michael Liebergot]

Originally Posted by Bruce Kurz

Does anyone have an idea when this will be available for the Canon or sold on its own. I am very interested.

Bruce yo'll never see this made for the Canon specifically as it's made by it's competitor Sony.

However Sony will be selling it separately, but no price or date has beens et as of yet. I talked to a Sony rep this past Tuesday, and I thought that he told me it might be available in May sometime. Again, he didn't know a price.

[Evan C. King]

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

Hmmmm. Interesting

Requires 133x high speed CF cards, not any old CF will do.

Considering that many other all digital recorders (with internal A/D and D/A as well, go for $400 give or take (e.g,,MicroTrack).

$700-$1000 sounds like a likely price point considering the price Sony has put on other "Walkman" form factor video recording/playback devices in the past; e.g., the GV-Axxx, GV-Dxxx and GV-HDxxx series toys.

Yeah 133x but sony says to use 300 is what they suggest, which is probably like an extreme 4.

[Paul Chiappini]

Evan,

Can recording start/stop be controlled on the Canon or do you absolutely have to start/stop on the Sony CF unit?

Also, does anyone know the workflow when using the CF recorded files with Final Cut? Does Sony offer a clip importer like it does with the EX1?

Thanks,
Paul

[Roger Lee]

Hello All,

Help me out here.

I get the impression, from reading threads on this forum, that the perception is that the A-1 tape system is so fragile that a tapeless system is imperative.

Is that true?

If it isn't true, I'm guessing that my A-1 tape system will work well for many hours/days/months or a year or two until something non-linear cheap and reliable is developed for my A-1.

Not true?

Tx

[Pat Reddy]

I would think that the odds are very good that your A1 tape system will work flawlessly for years. I don't think there is any particular reason that it would be considered fragile. Some people will be using their's on a daily basis, which might increase the risk of mechanical failure, but it still would be unlikely that it would happen. That's my take anyway.

Pat

[Richard Hunter]

The A1 tape mechanism seems fine, although some people have reported problmes with it. The 2 reasons I am interested in tapeless are to avoid tape drop-outs and to replace the tape capture stage with file copying which is much faster.

Richard

[David McGiffert]

Me too Richard...that's the good part of this unit.


David

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Roger Lee

I get the impression, from reading threads on this forum, that the perception is that the A-1 tape system is so fragile that a tapeless system is imperative.

Is that true?

No, not true, and what many see as the beauty of this device is that you can have your cake (tapeless workflow benefits) AND eat it (tape backup/archive). It's seen as SUPPLEMENTING tape, not replacing it.

All that's true of such as the Firestore as well, but in principle, a device like this is far more elegant.

[Roger Lee]

Thanks for the replies. The info provided helped to clarify this issue for me.

Take care.