SDHC Brands that work with MxR at DVinfo.net

Michael Palmer · January 10th, 2009, 04:43 PM

I have now tried 3 different SDHC (Class 6) 16 gig brands and I only feel comfortable with one brand so far, Transcend. I first purchased 2 Transcend cards while waiting for the MxR adapters and I had immediate success when formatting the cards for the first time. Over the holidays I recorded family home movies using these Transcend cards and they worked so well I started thinking that the Class 6 was the key to purchasing more cards, no so.

I was recently in Fry's Electronics and found 16 gig Patriot SDHC class 6 cards for under $30 and I purchased 6 thinking they should work. I had found that they would NOT format on the first attempt but they would on the second attempt. I tried both A & B slots in both EX1 and EX3 cameras and found they would only format on the second attempt. I also found that after recording for more than about 30 seconds you will need to wait until the red record light stops before you can continue to record the next clip. If you don't wait for the green light then you will get an error that the media needs to restore and you must remove the card and reinsert then restore the card before you can continue. I was successful recording long clips using 1080 24p record modes. I still haven't tested with 30p or any 720 formats. I think I'm going to return these cards. Oh the Transcend cards only have about a 4 second delay for the red record light to turn green. I think this is how we can determine the card record speeds.

I had ordered 4 more PQI 16 gig (Class 6) SDHC cards online thinking it must not matter what brand but as long as it was the fastest Class 6 rating it should work. These PQI cards would NOT format in the camera at all. I even tried formatting in Disk Utility as FAT-32 and nothing seemed to work in the camera. I will be sending them back.

I haven't needed to use any of these SDHC cards for hire yet and I'm going to test more with the Transcend cards before I take that risk. I know from personal experience the 32 gig Transcend Compact Flash cards work properly with the Convergent Design Flash XDR at 100 Mbps and I'm feeling like this brand is among the better brands on the market. I also found the Transcend fits into the MxR better, without such a tight fit as the Patriot and PQI brands.

Craig Seeman · January 11th, 2009, 11:14 AM

Sandisk Ultra II 32GB (listed as Class 2 cards).
720p24/44 overcrank worked for 2 minutes duration without an error
720p24/45 resulted in media error with 29 seconds duration (which is about 15 seconds)
So it seems the peak sustained data rate is just over 64mbps which would be about 8MB/s write. The card is rated as 9MB/s write and 15MB/s read.

Generally it seems to take a little over 5 seconds for card light to go from red to green after stopping record.

They always fail format on the first attempt and, after removal and reinsertion, always succeed on the second attempt.

I have done many short clip records without issue.
I have done 118 minute continuous record without issue.
I am currently testing an ultra long record of 236 minutes.

Robert C. Fisher · January 11th, 2009, 01:12 PM

A about a month and a half ago I started testing SDHC cards when I got my Delkin adapters. I spend about 5 hours testing on each card, continuous recording, lots of small clips and quick starts and stops. I had been following this list for a few months so I purchased both the Transcend Class 6 16GB and Sandisk Ultra II 16GB cards. I found that both of these cards work equally well in all tests. I also have purchased 3 MxR adapters but my camera is out at the moment and I have a EX-3 coming but it won't be here for a bit. I think these cards will perform as well as or better than the Delkins so I can't wait. Everyone who has tested other cards pretty much has the same experience, the others just don't work. This is due to controller issues in the adapters and read/write speed of the memory. So I would stick with what has been proven to work over the past months of many testing every card out there. Also I have found you definitely get what you pay for, cheap SDHC cards just don't work. Spend the few dollars more for quality cards. This has also been my experience with CF cards in the 9-10 years shooting with DSLRs.

Michael Palmer · January 12th, 2009, 12:57 AM

Good on you Robert, I believe there are more than just a few cards that will work as I think there are only a few manufacturers of these cards to begin with. I know the Patriot cards do in fact work but they are not as fast as the Transcend cards. Also if you need a few extra cards while on the road you just may find one that someone here was tested, or if a client hands you a card you can have an idea of the speed of the card by how long it takes for it to end the recording after you stop the clip. These Patriot cards are plenty good for interviews or even dumping files to for a client. I'm not going to recommend them but I believe it is good to know what works.

Michael Palmer

Michael Palmer · January 15th, 2009, 01:24 AM

Just a note as I found my Sony SxS USB reader doesn't read the MxR/SDHC card. Has anyone ever made this work?

Jay Gladwell · January 16th, 2009, 06:50 AM

No, and I doubt anyone will. These are, internally, two entirely different types of media.

Ryan Mitchell · January 16th, 2009, 02:53 PM

Just to throw in a couple more data points here, I have both a SanDisk Ultra II 16G and 32G, both listed as Class 2 cards and as of now only a single MxR adapter (second one in the mail).

The 16G works fine recording 720p60/30 and 720p60/24 for at least the few minutes that I've tested it. The 32G, however, fails as the previous poster mentioned inside of 5-10 seconds of real time for me.

If I order any more SanDisk cards, I'll probably get the 16G so I don't have to worry about whether it'll fail with S&Q recording.

Craig Seeman · January 16th, 2009, 03:42 PM

I just recorded a major "Town Hall" event close to three hours on 2 Sandisk Ultra 32GB (class 2) non stop recording. No problems at all. Used MxR adaptors.

Ryan Mitchell · January 17th, 2009, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

I just recorded a major "Town Hall" event close to three hours on 2 Sandisk Ultra 32GB (class 2) non stop recording. No problems at all. Used MxR adaptors.

That's great to hear. That means we'll have to be careful of S&Q recording on the 32G (and perhaps on the 16G with extended periods of recording) but otherwise it's a rock-solid recipient of two hours of 35Mb/s video. Great!

Thanks for the additional data point.

Paul Kendal · January 17th, 2009, 04:52 AM

Has any tried these cards yet?

Panasonic 32GB
Panasonic | 32GB Secure Digital (SDHC) Memory Card

Delkin Devices 32GB
Delkin Devices | 32GB eFilm Secure Digital | DDSDPRO1-32GB | B&H

The Panasonic is supposed to be the fastest 32GB card available right now.
The Delkin has a pretty good price.

Michael Palmer · January 17th, 2009, 02:14 PM

On the Transcend FAQ I found this.
What is the difference between SLC (Single Level Cell) and MLC (Multi Level Cell)?
There are two different technologies in manufacturing flash memory, SLC (Single Level Cell) and MLC (Multi Level Cell). SLC memory cards stores one bit in each cell, leading to faster transfer speeds, lower power consumption and higher cell endurance. The disadvantage of Single-Level Cell is the manufacturing cost. MLC memory cards stores two bits of information per cell. MLC cards achieve slower transfer speeds, higher power consumption and lower cell endurance because of storing more bits per cell than SLC. The advantages of MLC cards are the lower manufacturing costs.

I can understand why better cards cost more money however I didn't find out what technology was used for the Transcend or the Sandisk cards.
I'm guessing if you look at the specs of the voltage then the lower the requirements the better the card.

http://www.transcendusa.com/Support/FAQ/FAQpics/9.jpg

Find Answers

Craig Seeman · January 17th, 2009, 02:50 PM

This link from Sandisk KB might bel helpful since it lists the different modes and how they limit speeds. It might give a clue why the cards can't overcrank to their maximum rated speed.
Answer - Extreme IV and Extreme III CompactFlash read/write speeds and UDMA information

Paul Inglis · January 19th, 2009, 12:19 PM

I have a four FujiFilm SDHC 16GB Class 4 Cards that I've used with my Panasonic Camcorder. I am waiting for my MxR Adaptors to arrive so I can test these cards out! Has anyone tried these ones at all? They were quite a bit cheaper when I originally purchased them!

Docea Marius · January 25th, 2009, 11:56 AM

I have 4 MxR adapter with Transcend SDHC 16GB cals 6, works perfectly

Michael Palmer · January 27th, 2009, 09:04 AM

Craig,
This link you provided tells even more of the story. I wonder if these cameras will ever get UDMA.

January 10th, 2009, 04:43 PM	#1
Michael Palmer Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lakewood, Ca Posts: 65	SDHC Brands that work with MxR I have now tried 3 different SDHC (Class 6) 16 gig brands and I only feel comfortable with one brand so far, Transcend. I first purchased 2 Transcend cards while waiting for the MxR adapters and I had immediate success when formatting the cards for the first time. Over the holidays I recorded family home movies using these Transcend cards and they worked so well I started thinking that the Class 6 was the key to purchasing more cards, no so. I was recently in Fry's Electronics and found 16 gig Patriot SDHC class 6 cards for under $30 and I purchased 6 thinking they should work. I had found that they would NOT format on the first attempt but they would on the second attempt. I tried both A & B slots in both EX1 and EX3 cameras and found they would only format on the second attempt. I also found that after recording for more than about 30 seconds you will need to wait until the red record light stops before you can continue to record the next clip. If you don't wait for the green light then you will get an error that the media needs to restore and you must remove the card and reinsert then restore the card before you can continue. I was successful recording long clips using 1080 24p record modes. I still haven't tested with 30p or any 720 formats. I think I'm going to return these cards. Oh the Transcend cards only have about a 4 second delay for the red record light to turn green. I think this is how we can determine the card record speeds. I had ordered 4 more PQI 16 gig (Class 6) SDHC cards online thinking it must not matter what brand but as long as it was the fastest Class 6 rating it should work. These PQI cards would NOT format in the camera at all. I even tried formatting in Disk Utility as FAT-32 and nothing seemed to work in the camera. I will be sending them back. I haven't needed to use any of these SDHC cards for hire yet and I'm going to test more with the Transcend cards before I take that risk. I know from personal experience the 32 gig Transcend Compact Flash cards work properly with the Convergent Design Flash XDR at 100 Mbps and I'm feeling like this brand is among the better brands on the market. I also found the Transcend fits into the MxR better, without such a tight fit as the Patriot and PQI brands.

January 11th, 2009, 01:12 PM	#3
Robert C. Fisher Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 55	A about a month and a half ago I started testing SDHC cards when I got my Delkin adapters. I spend about 5 hours testing on each card, continuous recording, lots of small clips and quick starts and stops. I had been following this list for a few months so I purchased both the Transcend Class 6 16GB and Sandisk Ultra II 16GB cards. I found that both of these cards work equally well in all tests. I also have purchased 3 MxR adapters but my camera is out at the moment and I have a EX-3 coming but it won't be here for a bit. I think these cards will perform as well as or better than the Delkins so I can't wait. Everyone who has tested other cards pretty much has the same experience, the others just don't work. This is due to controller issues in the adapters and read/write speed of the memory. So I would stick with what has been proven to work over the past months of many testing every card out there. Also I have found you definitely get what you pay for, cheap SDHC cards just don't work. Spend the few dollars more for quality cards. This has also been my experience with CF cards in the 9-10 years shooting with DSLRs. __________________ Robert C. Fisher VR Photography/Cinematography

January 15th, 2009, 01:24 AM	#5
Michael Palmer Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lakewood, Ca Posts: 65	Sony SxS-USB Reader won't work with MxR/SDHC Just a note as I found my Sony SxS USB reader doesn't read the MxR/SDHC card. Has anyone ever made this work?

January 17th, 2009, 04:52 AM	#10
Paul Kendal Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Asheville, North Carolina Posts: 89	Has any tried these cards yet? Panasonic 32GB Panasonic \| 32GB Secure Digital (SDHC) Memory Card Delkin Devices 32GB Delkin Devices \| 32GB eFilm Secure Digital \| DDSDPRO1-32GB \| B&H The Panasonic is supposed to be the fastest 32GB card available right now. The Delkin has a pretty good price. __________________ Canon HV20 \| Sony FX1 \| Canon XH-A1 \| Sony XDCam EX1 \| 8 Core Mac with FCP and lots of Hard Drives

January 17th, 2009, 02:14 PM	#11
Michael Palmer Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lakewood, Ca Posts: 65	What is the difference between SLC (Single Level Cell) and MLC (Multi Level Cell)? On the Transcend FAQ I found this. What is the difference between SLC (Single Level Cell) and MLC (Multi Level Cell)? There are two different technologies in manufacturing flash memory, SLC (Single Level Cell) and MLC (Multi Level Cell). SLC memory cards stores one bit in each cell, leading to faster transfer speeds, lower power consumption and higher cell endurance. The disadvantage of Single-Level Cell is the manufacturing cost. MLC memory cards stores two bits of information per cell. MLC cards achieve slower transfer speeds, higher power consumption and lower cell endurance because of storing more bits per cell than SLC. The advantages of MLC cards are the lower manufacturing costs. I can understand why better cards cost more money however I didn't find out what technology was used for the Transcend or the Sandisk cards. I'm guessing if you look at the specs of the voltage then the lower the requirements the better the card. http://www.transcendusa.com/Support/FAQ/FAQpics/9.jpg Find Answers

January 11th, 2009, 11:14 AM	#2
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	Sandisk Ultra II 32GB (listed as Class 2 cards). 720p24/44 overcrank worked for 2 minutes duration without an error 720p24/45 resulted in media error with 29 seconds duration (which is about 15 seconds) So it seems the peak sustained data rate is just over 64mbps which would be about 8MB/s write. The card is rated as 9MB/s write and 15MB/s read. Generally it seems to take a little over 5 seconds for card light to go from red to green after stopping record. They always fail format on the first attempt and, after removal and reinsertion, always succeed on the second attempt. I have done many short clip records without issue. I have done 118 minute continuous record without issue. I am currently testing an ultra long record of 236 minutes.

January 12th, 2009, 12:57 AM	#4
Michael Palmer Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lakewood, Ca Posts: 65	Good on you Robert, I believe there are more than just a few cards that will work as I think there are only a few manufacturers of these cards to begin with. I know the Patriot cards do in fact work but they are not as fast as the Transcend cards. Also if you need a few extra cards while on the road you just may find one that someone here was tested, or if a client hands you a card you can have an idea of the speed of the card by how long it takes for it to end the recording after you stop the clip. These Patriot cards are plenty good for interviews or even dumping files to for a client. I'm not going to recommend them but I believe it is good to know what works. Michael Palmer

January 16th, 2009, 06:50 AM	#6
Jay Gladwell Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,244	No, and I doubt anyone will. These are, internally, two entirely different types of media.

January 16th, 2009, 02:53 PM	#7
Ryan Mitchell Regular Crew Join Date: May 2008 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 120	Just to throw in a couple more data points here, I have both a SanDisk Ultra II 16G and 32G, both listed as Class 2 cards and as of now only a single MxR adapter (second one in the mail). The 16G works fine recording 720p60/30 and 720p60/24 for at least the few minutes that I've tested it. The 32G, however, fails as the previous poster mentioned inside of 5-10 seconds of real time for me. If I order any more SanDisk cards, I'll probably get the 16G so I don't have to worry about whether it'll fail with S&Q recording.

January 16th, 2009, 03:42 PM	#8
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	I just recorded a major "Town Hall" event close to three hours on 2 Sandisk Ultra 32GB (class 2) non stop recording. No problems at all. Used MxR adaptors.

January 17th, 2009, 02:50 PM	#12
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	This link from Sandisk KB might bel helpful since it lists the different modes and how they limit speeds. It might give a clue why the cards can't overcrank to their maximum rated speed. Answer - Extreme IV and Extreme III CompactFlash read/write speeds and UDMA information

January 19th, 2009, 12:19 PM	#13
Paul Inglis Major Player Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: British Isles Posts: 415	I have a four FujiFilm SDHC 16GB Class 4 Cards that I've used with my Panasonic Camcorder. I am waiting for my MxR Adaptors to arrive so I can test these cards out! Has anyone tried these ones at all? They were quite a bit cheaper when I originally purchased them!

January 25th, 2009, 11:56 AM	#14
Docea Marius Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Romania Posts: 175	I have 4 MxR adapter with Transcend SDHC 16GB cals 6, works perfectly

January 27th, 2009, 09:04 AM	#15
Michael Palmer Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Lakewood, Ca Posts: 65	Craig, This link you provided tells even more of the story. I wonder if these cameras will ever get UDMA.