More Transcend Nonsense

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Matt Daviss

I believe (Marcus? Craig?) Media Restore issues are to do with the incomplete writing of the 'Table of Contents' files to the card if pulled out before the LED turns from red to green. I've not known this to be fatal, though. Just a slap on the wrist from your camera to give it more time in the future to complete its paperwork.

Usually. However take note.....

I had one Transcend card that tested OK, but if the first clip on the card was fairly short (30 seconds or so) the camera would sometimes pop up with a media restore and would lose the clip when you pressed the button to record the next clip.

Took me quite a few shoots with this card to realise that it wasn't me pressing record too quickly but was a problem with the card.

So basically in most cases if you cause a media restore by being "trigger happy" you should be OK, but if there is a card problem that causes a media restore you may lose the clip. However, as my example proves, you might end up blaming yourself for being trigger happy without realising it was the card at fault.

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by William Griffin

The newer 16 gb Transends will show a "media restore" every now and then...so I just take them out and then re-insert... then the message goes away and they both work.

In my opinion (and speaking from experience) you are taking a huge risk with these cards. They may work fine at the moment but sooner or later you will get bitten on the backside. The media restore messages I had seemed to come about because the cards performance is so marginal that the camera was hitting problems when writing to them.

A good card should never cause a media restore unless through user error. It isn't a normal situation and I strongly recommend you invest in some ATP cards.

How many seconds does it take for your Transcends to clear a red light to a green light?

[Craig Seeman]

I think what's confusing people is the e-films
FAQ - MxR Expresscard Reader
still shows Transcend 16GB and 32GB as PASS.
And their retailers are also show it with Transcend cards
New Magic
and AbelCine, which sells the cards in USA
SxS Cards :: Tape Stock & Media :: Tape Stock & Expendables :: Equipment Sales :: Abel Cine Tech
Show 32GB Transcend under SxS.
and even describes its use in Hoodman adaptor on Product Overview.
Transcend 32GB Class 6 Secure Digital High-Capacity Flash Card :: SxS Cards :: Tape Stock & Media :: Tape Stock & Expendables :: Equipment Sales :: Abel Cine Tech

MxM shows the ATP ProMax cards though
MxM Express
and if you look at their tips section
MxM Express Tips – memory cards
it still shows Transcend but it mentions they are the slowest of 16GB and that they've had reports of issues with 32GB.
Note they recommendations on Sandisk Class 4 cards as well.

I can see why people can get very confused.

[Craig Seeman]

I recommend using ATP ProMax going forward (for the time being) as Marcus suggests.

I'm still using two 32 GB Ultra II Class 2 (yes Class TWO) that I bought in January 2009 and have NEVER had a media restore. Ahhh, they don't make 'em like they used to.

[Dave Morrison]

I'm reaching the end of my rope with my MxR and Transcend (Red Stripe) 16's as well. The original pair or MxR's and 16's worked fine for several months until one of the cards started to be "Unrecognized" by the camera. I sent the "bad" card (after swapping both 16's back and forth between the MxR's) and Transcend sent me a replacement card (also Red Stripe) and it immediately failed to be written to. The EX1 wouldn't even let me format it. I'm so leary of the other one that I'll keep it in my bag but will only pull it out in dire emergencies. Anybody know if the MxR's will write correctly to the ATP cards?

[William Griffin]

Originally Posted by Marcus Durham

In my opinion (and speaking from experience) you are taking a huge risk with these cards. They may work fine at the moment but sooner or later you will get bitten on the backside. The media restore messages I had seemed to come about because the cards performance is so marginal that the camera was hitting problems when writing to them.

A good card should never cause a media restore unless through user error. It isn't a normal situation and I strongly recommend you invest in some ATP cards.

How many seconds does it take for your Transcends to clear a red light to a green light?

Marcus,

I do plan to look into getting at lease 2 ATP Pro Max 16gb cards.....as I am not trusting Transend that much these days.

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

I can see why people can get very confused.

I did speak to E-Films about a month ago pointing out all the issues with the Transcend cards but as far as they are concerned Transcend cards are still fine.

MxM and many other posters on here disagree. It may well be that Australia receives its stock from another factory or perhaps there is still a great deal of older stock floating around. It could even be that it was only one batch of Transcends that were bad.

I know I keep on saying "bad", in actual fact the cards are fine. Its just they aren't working properly with the EX1. I have one of my "bad" Transcends in my stills camera and its just dandy.

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

Anybody know if the MxR's will write correctly to the ATP cards?

Just fine. Only thing to note is that the MxM's appear marginally faster. See my tests here:

Media2u Corporate Video Production Blog

I've been shooting with MxR's and ATP's since September and they work faultlessly.

Now it may well be that 3 months down the line I could be shouting from the rooftops that the ATP's are useless but so far so good.

[Ed Kukla]

I can't seem to find the ATP ProMax cards at any of the linked retailers on the ATP site. (USA)

[William Griffin]

Try this link:

ATP 16GB 150x Class 6 ProMax SDHC Card ATP 16GB ProMAX SDHC 150X Detail Page

HTH

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Ed Kukla

I can't seem to find the ATP ProMax cards at any of the linked retailers on the ATP site. (USA)

MxM have them available from their site. Forum prevent me from posting a link.

[Jonathan Bland]

4 airports later and I'm now back in civilization.

I agree with Thierry. My kit contains only SXS cards and I know and trust them. This was the first time I used these mock-ups that were thrown at me and won't do it again. Sometimes you don't get a second chance..... especially out here.

We picked up this kit inside an certain Asian country that is notorious for watching it citizens closely because we didn't want any extra attention.

[Ed Kukla]

Originally Posted by William Griffin

Try this link:

ATP 16GB 150x Class 6 ProMax SDHC Card ATP 16GB ProMAX SDHC 150X Detail Page

HTH

This is at "My Digital Discount". When I bought transcends, I made sure I bought from a reputable dealer. There were reports of knockoffs. Who the heck is this site? None of the well known dealers are selling this card.

[Leonard Levy]

Are the ATP cards more reliable than the Hoodman?

I think I've seen 2 reports now of failures of Hoodman cards. So much for no failures.

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

Are the ATP cards more reliable than the Hoodman?

I think I've seen 2 reports now of failures of Hoodman cards. So much for no failures.

We simply aren't going to know until there are more of them in the field. But on the face of it they seem to be pretty good.

I'd be interested to see what Hoodman say about their failures. Presumably a company of their standing would take the cards back for analysis.

But remember there will always be failures. And sometimes it isn't the card at fault. It could be the adaptor or user error. Just as I was quick to blame user error for the fault with my Transcends, its just as easy to blame a card for something that was the users fault.

Just some checks and points that I find useful. Others may disagree:

Has the card tested OK?

Has the card exhibited any problems on previous shoots?

Have I formatted the card in the camera and not the computer?

Is the card seated properly in the adaptor?

Is the card properly seated in the camera?

Have I been careful not to press down on the SDHC card when inserting the card into the camera? This is a real risk and why I now recommend people buy the lockable adaptors instead.

Don't fill a card right up. This includes spanning. Use a 32gb card instead if you need more than an hour.

Don't eject or change cards within the adaptors on location.

Red light spells danger. Wait for it to go green and count to five.

When I come to transfer the footage, is the transfer speed erratic across the card? Might indicate a problem worth noting.



That's just a few checkpoints that I use. Not foolproof by any means but hopefully useful.