e-Films Australia releases the e-HDR Hard Disk Recorder
 

e-HDR Hard Disk Recorder

Press News - Immediate Release - 31 July 2009

E-HDR Debuts from E-films

E-films portable Hard Disk Recording system for Sony XDCAM EX series camcorders means hours of non-stop location shooting at an affordable price

Sydney, Australia, 31 July 2009 - E-films is pleased to announce the e-HDR, the latest in a line of cost-effective accessories for Sony XDCAM EX1/EX3 users. The e-HDR allows the user to record directly to an external hard disk and sets a new standard for recording time and affordability. With prices starting from $199.95, the e-HDR is amazing value compared to other storage solutions.

The user inserts the e-HDR ExpressCard into the EX-1 or EX-3 camcorder, connects the Mini-USB cable to the hard disk enclosure – which can accommodate either an HDD or SSD hard disk (not supplied) – supplies power and presses record. The hard disk is powered by either a supplied AC adaptor or a Dolgin Power’s EX-V adapter.

e-HDR components:

* ExpressCard/34 form factor with mini-USB interface (to camera) and mini-USB interface (to hard disk)
* High quality custom “L” shaped mini-USB cable with interference suppression
* Customized enclosure compatible with recommended HDD and SSD hard disks

“High storage capacity is now an affordable reality. The e-HDR unlocks the true value of hard disk recording by allowing up to an amazing 84GB (5hrs+) recording capability at full resolution, 1920x1080 35Mb/s HD” says Ross Herewini, Product Development Manager at e-films.

E-films’ custom-designed HDD enclosure incorporates an eSATA connector for lightning-fast download of data, or direct editing from the drive itself. “We wanted to use off-the-shelf products to keep the cost down, but none of the products we sourced met our performance criteria, so we decided to design our own” says Herewini.

“What excites me about the e-HDR are the problems it solves for EX series professionals. Customers want real solutions that make production easier, and I believe the e-HDR delivers exactly the right combination of price, functionality and performance” says Jeromy Young, E-films Business Development Manager.

Orders are being taken immediately for delivery starting 10 August 2009.

About e-films

E-films began life as a video production house concentrating their efforts on the corporate and event video markets, winning many awards for their innovative video work. Leveraging this intimate knowledge of what video professionals really want, E-films now design, manufacture, and market products targeted at professionals like themselves. Dedicated to providing practical solutions for production professionals at prices that allow even the smallest production units to benefit, E-films identifies issues in digital tapeless workflow and engineers products to solve these problems.

Further product information can be found at E-Films Video Productions

Fantastic... but what about us mere SD mortals who have firewire out (apart from the usual composite etc) on DVCAMs such as a DSR-570?

Ben

Ben,

This is an EX series specific device made to replace SxS cards.

Ross,

Nice looking product and design.

I would like to ask about the testing & reliability of the hard disc setup.

Have any "Media Error" messages come up in any of your testing?

Does formatting happen on the first try without any errors etc...?

Thanks

And what make and model of HD's did you test? Are you going to have a list on your web site?

TIA

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the question.

We haven't experienced any media errors in any of our testing using the tested HDD's and SSD's. That may be more to do with the quality of the drives that we tested with, which were

HDD

Hitachi
Western Digital
Seagate

SSD

Silicon Power
Transcend

But then again the data rates from the camera are not high compared to the rates the HDD and especially SSD's can sustain, so we wouldn't expect there to be many, if any of those kind of problems. But we haven't checked every drive in the market either.

And what we found from the MxR was that some memory was reliable right out of the box, and other memory was not, or didn't work.

With the e-HDR, because we decided to build our own PCB, and our won enclosure, testing it with the EX-Series cameras specifically, we think we are going to be very close from the get go.

Formatting comes up as soon as the enclosure as has the USB to the camera and power attached.

Just as a point of interest, would you be able to over/undercrank using the e-HDR and a SSD drive?

that has been explained already.
adapters using the USB pins of the SxS connector are all subject to the same limitation , whatever storage you can put on.
Currently out of SxS there si no storage using the PCIe signal.
even the external harddisk sold by Sony is USB and has limitation on overcranking

Ross

The picture on your website with it sitting on top of the camera...is that the AC adaptor it's coupled with or some other kind of power supply?

Dave

hey!
what kind of compression does it offer? is it equivalent of the XDR drives or the nano flash? or is it standard 4:2:0?

This is not handling compression. It is simply an alternate data repository for the camera to write to.

Thanks for your reply Ross.

I am at the point that the SDHC setup is not a reliable option for important work as Transcend & Hoodman cards have brought about media errors during shoots for me.

To use another adaptor based product I will need 100% compatability to be able to trust it.

Since writing to hard drives does not come close to the data flow ceiling, do you see them as less prone to error? As the SDHC cards are really pushed to their limits with datarate and fragmentation?

For me, this is the heart of the matter.

Your product is a great step for long event shoots.

Is this a limit of the unit? Can I insert a for example 256GB SSD drive in the unit and have much more recording time?

I think Sony have put a limit on things but I'm not technical. I've read somewhere the file size limit is 84gb or so.

Wouldn't this device have the same limitations as any USB external hard drive for direct recording? I seems no different than my Western Digital My Book in that respect except that it has an Express Card to USB converter.

Also,

Where is the backup if recording to the device fails? The camera will only record to one slot or the other. Will the EX instantly switch to the other slot with a card in it if the device fails?

John