New Red Mag Please

[Freya]

I would think they could have the camera detect the card type (firmware vs. media) so the data wouldn't be wiped after reflashing the bios and media could not be recorded to the mag. Maybe they could even have it so you could store multiple bios versions (e.g. beta and release versions) and the camera would ask which you wanted to use when flashing.

See this is feature creep. Not good.
If there needs to be a load of new software written for it then that is a significant cost.
Maybe down the line if it is popular then new features could be added but if there has to be a ton of new features added from the start then it reduces the viability of the thing.

Freya

 

[Freya]

Thats one of the solutions I was including in "something similar": a standard CF enclosed in a REDMAG shell. CF to sata is less than $10 on ebay from china. But still as I said: the SWAT rails start at $75 and even the standard REDmag shell will be (metal alone) not far from that or even more, if it would be sold separately. But who knows! If there's high demand - and the REDmags are being sold a lot methinks - the price could possibly be lowered. If this comes down to $50-100, I'd assume these would be a "pick-up-item" on most everyones next order.

I don't believe that $50 is doable. I mean you are talking $10 to the electronics by your reckoning, at least $15 for the compact flash card itself, that's already half the cost. Then you have to cover the red mag casing, the transaction cost (sales staff etc) all before you start to make a profit. It gets worse if people think it needs to have it's own special support and new features. I would think it wasn't possible at all for less than $100, and at that price RED would probably be more just be looking after their customers than actually running a business. I really think that $200 is the lowest possible price they can make it happen for. Maybe $150 at a push. As you say, if you look at other Red products, $50 isn't going to get you very far and this would be a somewhat sophisticated product.

RED doesn't really make mass production products. It's quite a specialised high end affair. This reduces the economies of scale from the get go.

Freya

 

[Brandon J.F.]

See this is feature creep. Not good.
If there needs to be a load of new software written for it then that is a significant cost.
Maybe down the line if it is popular then new features could be added but if there has to be a ton of new features added from the start then it reduces the viability of the thing.

Freya

It's not feature creep at all. I'm just throwing ideas out there There would have to be a way for them to prevent media from being recorded to the card no matter what. I think much of the functionality needed for this is done or on the way since they have the slower 48gb and faster 512gb cards now. Not wiping the firmware off "firmware cards" after flashing is hardly necessary out the gate and could be phased in later if enough people request it. Being prompted about which firmware to use is also not necessary to make it work and probably the same thing can be accomplished in a different way by storing other firmwares in another folder and the one you want to use in the upgrade folder. When writing software it's always a good idea to have an idea what features you might want to add in the future because otherwise you end up rewriting things all over again to add, what on the surface may seem like, an easy feature. Like I said though... Just throwing out ideas

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Thats one of the solutions I was including in "something similar": a standard CF enclosed in a REDMAG shell. CF to sata is less than $10 on ebay from china.

It would probably be easiest to use a straight SATA SSD since that's what their other cards are (basically). This is the smallest one I could find. 2gb SATA II enterprise SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820250057

 

[Freya]

It would probably be easiest to use a straight SATA SSD since that's what their other cards are (basically). This is the smallest one I could find. 2gb SATA II enterprise SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820250057

Interesting find! Would 2gb be big enough? It would obviously save on having the compact flash electronics in there although it is quite a bit more expensive than a compact flash card sadly.

Freya

 

[Phil Holland]

Just to give you guys a heads up on what I do.

I have a dedicated CF card that has several firmwares on it (both Epic and Scarlet) and have a small USB 3.0 reader I pack in my kit. If it's me, I can just quickly use a laptop to copy over the desired firmware or if it's a larger production I jog over to the DIT and have them do it.

 

[Freya]

It's not feature creep at all. I'm just throwing ideas out there

Fair enough, I guess it depends on whether such ideas become expectations. I'm sure these things could be added down the line if it became popular for sure!

There would have to be a way for them to prevent media from being recorded to the card no matter what. I think much of the functionality needed for this is done or on the way since they have the slower 48gb and faster 512gb cards now. Not wiping the firmware off "firmware cards" after flashing is hardly

Not sure what you mean by that but obviously if it's anything like the red one, it would be recognised as slow media. Not sure what happens with that on the EPIC and Scarlet. Obviously on the red one you are limited to 2k.

It's a good point actually because maybe there is not really support for this situation on the scarlet and epic but then that might make it easier to just set it up to be firmware only if it's recognised as "slow media" so to speak. The Epic and Scarlet don't ever need to record to compact flash cards and suchlike anyway!

necessary out the gate and could be phased in later if enough people request it. Being prompted about which firmware to use is also not necessary to make it work and probably the same thing can be accomplished in a different way by storing other firmwares in another folder and the one you want to use in the upgrade folder. When writing software it's always a good idea to have an idea what features you might want to add in the future because otherwise you end up rewriting things all over again to add, what on the surface may seem like, an easy feature. Like I said though... Just throwing out ideas

I think these are definitely great ideas! I just suspect that implementing all the features for this might be something that may happen down the line. At the moment, Red seem really caught up with the dragon thing which is very understandable as it's key to their future.

In fact I think the whole thing can work if theres demand for it.
Also I can see there being much more demand for this than for huge packs of AA batteries too!

Freya

 

[Freya]

Just to give you guys a heads up on what I do.

I have a dedicated CF card that has several firmwares on it (both Epic and Scarlet) and have a small USB 3.0 reader I pack in my kit. If it's me, I can just quickly use a laptop to copy over the desired firmware or if it's a larger production I jog over to the DIT and have them do it.

I'm guessing you could use a second hand little netbook thing from before the days when ipads and android pads became trendy and do this same thing with just a little device like that?

Freya

 

[Phil Holland]

I'm guessing you could use a second hand little netbook thing from before the days when ipads and android pads became trendy and do this same thing with just a little device like that?

Sure. A tablet or netbook. I always have a laptop with me unless I'm shooting out in the middle of nowhere, but I always test the gear well before I take on a gig like that.

I keep multiple firmwares on the CF to be able to roll back to an official release just in case. I often am using Beta firmware on productions and haven't had an issue doing that. Also if we have multiple cameras that have different firmware on them I will sync them up to using the same version.

You'd be surprised how many Epic's I've seen with ancient firmware on them. Don't know why that happens.

 

[Freya]

You'd be surprised how many Epic's I've seen with ancient firmware on them. Don't know why that happens.

Fear of the unknown!

 

[Brad Webb]

I keep a thumb drive with the last few builds on it, the redmote builds, and the manual. It would be nice to have a 1GB ssd just for this upgrading firmware in a pinch.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Not sure what you mean by that but obviously if it's anything like the red one, it would be recognised as slow media. Not sure what happens with that on the EPIC and Scarlet. Obviously on the red one you are limited to 2k.

As I understand it, the 512gb is detected as a "fast" card and, if not now then at some point, support higher data rates (e.g. less compression) and the 48gb is detected as a "slow" card and has some limitations.

 

[Alex Rawet]

FYI: 9 out of 10 times (if not more) a long-hold of the power button on startup (or selecting "Restore System" from the Maintenance menu) will fix the same problems that a re-install of the firmware will.

Trent, does this reset the current firmware to the default or the firmware back to shipping version?

We only have 512 cards and our Scarlet shipped pre-512 support, so I'm always concerned about flashing out the support for the only media we have!

Thanks