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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

on the field storage

Lenny Manfred

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i am going to be shooting documentary style with the red, hand held, and i am trying to figure out a best way.

i have one drive, and a second one in order, plus about 6 8gig cards. i was thinking of canceling the order for the second drive, maybe even selling the current one, and ordering 3 or 4 16 gig cards instead. the reason is two fold. save weight, and i don't really trust the drive shooting handheld running about.

i would love to hear your opinions, plus i am looking to find out if someone is making some kind of a storage device where i could directly download the cards without the need of a computer. something with maybe 500gig capacity (less is ok, but more is preferable), battery operated, portable, and yes, not crazy expensive. something similar to what might be available for panasonic p2 cards. am i dreaming? (i think i saw it somewhere, but maybe it was a dream)

also, do you think i am being realistic here? is it bad to let go of these drives? i just never trusted them, cables and all, so i always preferred the cards when possible. my camera is updated for the 16gig cards, by the way.
 
I know there are at least two companies working on backup solutions that should be well suited to Red users. Both would work without the need of a laptop. One would mirror to two drives at once, The other would copy to a single drive on board while allowing you to connect a second external drive for redundant backup. It also has a built in lcd screen which allows you to view the copied files. Both can verify that the information has been transferred properly.

The first example was in the works. It was explained to me at the FCPUG meeting.
The second single drive was shown to me first by Carl Mrozek From TV Technology in the press area. He frequently writes about tapeless storage. Later that evening at the Reduser party I was approached by Larry Seong, CEO, President of Nexto Di inc. The Korean company behind the product. He displayed the newer prototype that includes a slightly larger LCD display. It accepts a number of cards, including CF, and has outputs that include FW 400 and 800. This unit is very small. Not much larger than a standard hard drive.

Later that night at the raffle, I was lucky enough to win a 1Tb Maxx Digital Edit Vault. I am hoping that a combination like this, might solve my backup problems in a reliable and elegant way.

Nexto Di has offered to send me a unit to test. Should they follow through, I will pass on the results here on the forum.

Like all of the early difficulties with the Red (Lack of affordable lenses, ease of workflow, on set storage). There are many companies working to solve them.

Stay tuned.
 
thanks for that, Frank. by the way, do you think i should go the 16gig card route and give up on the drives? i don't trust the drives with on the go hand held shooting, and the new cards can do everything the drive can in terms of speed, right? so if i had enough cards, it would be a better solution, no??
 
Don't forget you might need the RED drive for it's speed:

REDCODE™36 2K 2:1
RED 16GB CF - 100 fps
RED-DRIVE - 120 fps

REDCODE™36 2K 16:9
RED 16GB CF - 75 fps
RED-DRIVE - 100 fps

REDCODE™36 3K 2:1
RED 16GB CF - 30 fps
RED-DRIVE - 50 fps

REDCODE™36 3K 16:9
RED 16GB CF - 30 fps
RED-DRIVE - 50 fps

REDCODE™36 4K 2:1
RED 16GB CF - 30 fps
RED-DRIVE - 30 fps

REDCODE™36 4K HD
RED 16GB CF - 25 fps
RED-DRIVE - 30 fps

Joost

NB: Nexto works like a charm, it's fast and secure!
 
Hi Lenny,
I´m using the Nexto 2700 extreme with a 320Gb HD. Works very well. It´s a bargain and you can buy it without a HD and mount the one you need.
You will need the extern battery adapter too. The battery in the Nexto copies only about 3 x 16GB cards.
Cheers,
Marc
 
Don't trust Red drives for hand held get as many 16GB cards as possible. Seeing as your shooting a documentary the footage is not expected to look max print quality and will most likely be broadcast on HDTV at most.

The difference between RC36 and RC28 on HD broadcast is barley if at all noticeable certainly not on SD broadcast so no need to sweat it between them.

Nexto looks good but I would not trust anything less than a 3 stage check of the R3Ds. Every body works differently I have to visually check all recorded footage, checksum files and directory structure/size. Get enough cards for a day and a half, at the end of each day shooting check their backups before formatting them.
 
thank you all.

how long do i get from the 16g cards in 28 vs 36, shooting 24p?

i was under the impression that the 16g cards where as fast as the drive, i was wrong. they are faster than the 8g, but not as fast as the drive for slow mo?

also, nobody talks about the red ram drive, is that just a waste of money??
 
nobody talks about the red ram drive, is that just a waste of money??

I don't know about a waste of money but they will cost you a boat load of it.

The 16 gig cards sound like your best bet. If your doc includes scheduled (tripod) interviews. The Red drive would work well. Otherwise have a bunch of 16s or a good DIT

Best of luck
 
Talk with ET and the experiences their users have had using their shock mount with the RED drive. I've been extremely impressed with how well that thing does to isolate the drive from shocks.

p
 
just on an iphone.
go check out the nextodi 2700

nextodi.com


perfect for your needs. self powered sata disk enclosure. slam a 500GB sata2 disk in it

search these forums as we posted months back about this

it's great for field wrangling
w
 
one thing to consider too, though it would still need a laptop.
calculate the 16GB CF cards against 1 RED RAM.
personally I think it is a bit too pricey, but still, it equals 9 16GB CFs in price and about 7 or so in space. but you can shoot a whole day and save the hassle of swapping etc.
 
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