SDHC substitute for SxS cards

[Alex Raskin]

I understand that Extreme III is faster offloading the data to PC than Ultra II.

(If you have a fast SLR camera, like D90, you can also use Extreme III in it for dual-purpose application.)

Also keep in mind that Cables Unlimited Card Reader IOC-9750 adapter works as well in my tests as Kensington does in Steven's.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Great to hear you will jump onto the XDCAM EX platform as well, Zsolt! I remember times we discussed our old, good V1E's..

I completely agree there is a need to tidy this thread up a bit, and perhaps make it a sticky...

I'm sorry I cannot contribute to it, but I'm waiting for my NanoFlash and will be buying my flash cards to be used with it more than with the EX1. Nevertheless, it's great to know that the promised alternative to those still expensive SxS cards IS finally there; many thanks to people like Steven at al for testing this.

[Alex Raskin]

Hall of Famers: Steven Thomas, Brian Rhodes, Keith Moreau :)

[Zsolt Gordos]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

....I'm waiting for my NanoFlash and will be buying my flash cards to be used with it more than with the EX1.....

Piotr,

apparently your V1E made more money for you than mine for me :) I cannot afford going towards the NanoFlash route, I am totally broken after ordering my EX3 .... sigh

[Zsolt Gordos]

I just have realized that my Sandisk Ultra II 16Gb cards are Class 4

Does it mean they wont work? Funny thing is I cannot find any Class 6 Ultras in any reliable shops. (I never eBay for this kind of products)
Does Ultra come in Class 6 flavor at all or shall I expect only Extreme III to be Class 6

Thanks.

[Steve Shovlar]

The Ultras are class 4 but have been proved to work fine. I am still waiting for delivery of a 32Gb Ultra 11. Paid for and meant to be in stock the last week in september, they are not even in the country yet. ( UK)

£89 for 32Gb!!! A bargain.

[Zsolt Gordos]

Originally Posted by Steve Shovlar

The Ultras are class 4 ....
£89 for 32Gb!!! A bargain.

Steve, exactly! This is why I ask questions. Call me a stingy bastard, but once I start saving I wanna save big :)

[Steven Thomas]

Disregard the classification for the Ultra II cards.

Since the minimum data rate is greater tha 6MB/s (Ultra min. is 15MB/s), SanDisk could of classified them in CLASS 6. Maybe they did this to market their Extreme in CLASS 6, who knows..

Right now, I'd say the right choice is to buy the Ultra II SDHC cards. The new Extreme III 30MB/s offers a slightly better off-load data rate when transferring to your PC. Both of these cards off load at around 20MB/s

My understanding is to access the new Extreme III 30MB/s data rate, additional coding must be written for the controller. SanDisk worked with Nikon to allow the 30MB/s to work with their new D90.

[Steven Thomas]

The Kensington 7-in-1 expresscard media adaptor is currently the number one choice for expresscard adaptor for the EX1 and EX3.

Right now the only confirmed SanDisk Ultra II SDHC cards are the:

4GB Ultra II 15MB/s SDHC card.
16GB Ultra II 15MB/s SDHC card.

[Alister Chapman]

I don't understand why the Ultra II's are only class 4 (4MB/s) when SanDisc rate the cards at 15MB/s.

[Steven Thomas]

I hear you on that Alister. Maybe to protect their Extreme III class 6 cards?

[Ray Bell]

Just bringing this to the top... with Steve Thomas' testing....

The reader/adaptor (~ $40)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=475428&is=REG

The 16GB Ultra II card (~ $74)
SanDisk | 16GB Ultra II Secure Digital (SDHC) | SDSDRH-016GR

The 16GB Ultra III card ( ~ $170 )
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=580125&is=REG

The obvious cost difference for Extreme II vs Extreme III and the fact that
the EX1/EX3 can't benefit from the extra speed of the Extreme III ( maybe a
future firmware upgrade ??? )

But folks that also have still camera setups that benefit from the Extreme III
speed will want to choose perhaps a little differently. ( Nikon D90, Canon 5D MKII )

[Steven Thomas]

Thanks Ray, I really wish I had access to or someone can test the following Expresscard to USB adaptor:

MicroU2E-MV USB 2.0 to USB Mode ExpressCard 34|54 Multi-Voltage Host Adapter, Synchrotech

Test it using the Ultra II 15MB/s SDHC using the Crystal Disk Mark speed test utility.

This may help us understand where's the "bottleneck" for data rate with the Kensington/Ultra II SDHC combo.

Right now, using the Kensington / Ultra II SDHC combo in the EX, our overcrank calculations tell us we can write at no more than 8.3MB/s without an error.

We also know the Crystal Disk Mark utility shows we can write to the Ultra II SDHC card using a basic SDHC to USB reader at a sustained rate of over 15MB/s.

Now, if we use or combo in the above Synchrotech Expresscard to USB adaptor and we are able to measure using Crysal Disk Mark utility a 15MB/s sustained write, we will know that the problem is that the way Sony is writing and reading to the USB 2.0 data line. It's possible they crippled it to cap out at around 8.5 MB/s... Who knows... Or a programming issue?

OR, if the combo in this above Synchrotech expresscard to USB adaptor also caps out at 8.3MB/s, we'll know the problem is with the Kensington limiting the data rate.

I have a feeling the Kensington will fair fine and the problem will be the limitation either set by Sony or messed up by them on data rate write via USB 2.0.
This MAY also explain why their own video drive PHU-60K has memory errors.

BTW Ray, I see that link at B&H they are OUT of stock on the Kensington. LOL... I wonder why ;)

[Zsolt Gordos]

Originally Posted by Steven Thomas

at B&H they are OUT of stock on the Kensington. LOL... I wonder why ;)

There are a few online stores (including big A) where you can find. Interestingly customers rate Kensington lowest among similar products. Apparently not the EX users go shopping there :)

[Steven Thomas]

Originally Posted by Zsolt Gordos

There are a few online stores (including big A) where you can find. Interestingly customers rate Kensington lowest among similar products. Apparently not the EX users go shopping there :)

Yes, I believe it was due to some macs won't go to sleep mode when the card is inserted.
I could care less....