How much will the memory cost?

[Chris Davis]

Any guess as to how much flash memory will cost for the Scarlet 2/3"?

I would want something capable of recording, for example, an hour long presentation without interruption.

Wonder what the people here think the cost would be, per minute or hour.

From what Panisonic and Sony (and RED) are charging for their cards, I'm not so hopeful. $3750 for a camera like this would be a miracle, but I wonder would it would cost with a couple hours of memory.

I know there's the RED-DRIVE for $900, but the RED-RAM is $4500 for just 64 GB.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Jacek Szwarc-Bronikowski]

Strange, because Intel SSD X25-E / 64 GB / 170 MB/s write / SLC drive

costs only few houndred bucks and prices dropping...

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

RED RAM is 128GB not 64. I think we'll see a price adjustment soon or at least I hope so. I would also expect the capacity to increase as well.

32GB CF cards are coming, but we don't know prices yet. I would expect the 32GB CF's to be the most popular media in a few months from now for the new cameras.

They won't be "cheap", but I bet they're under $1K, I don't know how much under $1K.... What I'm hoping for and what they will actually be are probably two different things.

 

[Chris Davis]

RED RAM is 128GB not 64...

Oops, right. Two 64 GB SS laptop drives in RAID 0, for a total of 128 GB. Seems they must have made this before the SS laptop drives got really fast... and relatively cheap.

 

[Jeff Bruno]

Will the amount of data Scarlet writes per second be equivalent to R1? I know the resolution is what matters (i'm looking at 5k on S35) but also they have different REDCODE to them as well. That makes a difference too right?

I'm just trying to get a ballpark of how much footage I could get on a 32GB CF card.

 

[JanneJansson]

Will the amount of data Scarlet writes per second be equivalent to R1? I know the resolution is what matters (i'm looking at 5k on S35) but also they have different REDCODE to them as well. That makes a difference too right?

I'm just trying to get a ballpark of how much footage I could get on a 32GB CF card.

On a 32GB card you get 19min of REDCODE 28.

 

[Jeff Bruno]

Interesting. I'm kind of confused about the number though. Does REDCODE 80 mean you will have smaller file sizes than REDCODE 28? Or higher file sizes?

 

[Jacek Szwarc-Bronikowski]

Intel MLC (Multi-Level Cell) SSD X25-M/160 GB drive is even cheaper (~440$).
RED-RAM in Raid0 configuration should cost about 1k$ for 320 GB drive (!)
(and the speed should be more than enough !

 

[Russ Blaise]

So if one was to buy a Intel MLC SSD X25-M/160 GB drive to work with the Scarlet's, how would you mount it to the camera, what would you need to connect it and how would you power it?

I'm sure after the Scarlet's and Epic's come out, there will be some 3rd party companies that will have setups for this.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The problem is lifespan of many SSD's right now. I have yet to test any MLC based media that doesn't show degradation and eventual errors / faults through continuous use. MLC tech is getting better, but it is not something I would want inside my RED RAM or any other "mission-critical" storage media. I've already burned up a few new OCZ Velocity and Intel X25 SSDs in a portable RAID I've been playing with. Cycle a few hundred TB's and they start wearing down. For single-drive, typical notebook PC use, they're awesome. They're even really good in a RAID-0 for general system use. But for something I have to depend on time and time again in the field, no way.

Currently, SLC media that is fast enough for RED RAM is very expensive. We're still talking $1K+ per SSD unit. Add to that the customized firmware, RAID controller, R&D, fancy machined aluminum enclosure, etc.. I completely understand why the RED RAM introduced at $4500. I do think it's time for a price adjustment, but then again, it depends on how many of the units RED has sold to recover costs, etc.. At $4500 each, the RED RAM is still viewed as a specialty unit by most. I really think a price adjustment is past due. I also would like to think we'll see the capacity double, or even quadruple, in the very near future.

As for upcoming REDCODE formats (REDCODE 80, 250, etc..) we don't know what those numbers mean. We've been told that it's not actual MB/s, but rather a reference to image quality of sorts and that the system would make sense once they tell us how it works.