Topic: 7XX External DVDRAM Drive Announced

[mmedley.]

Nifty lil' drive if I may say so myself. Wonder how long it will take for a patcher to show up with one of these. 

http://www.sounddevices.com/products/acc/xldvdram.htm

[Craig T]

you could use it to give the band a copy right after the show.  how much $$$?

[terrapinj]

shit thats actualy not bad at all, at $220

[thegreatgumbino]

shit thats actualy not bad at all, at $220

It really doesn't seem like that bad a deal for the money    That's slick as hell.

[mmedley.]

I like it more as a master dump drive for when I am on the road (and to burn copies for other 7XX owners if you happened to have been c-linked ). I'd never do on-the-fly recording with it. Anything over 24/48 its says it won't keep up the data throughput anyways.

Just remember it will prolly cause your battery life to cut in half too using it in a non-AC environment.

[wbrisette]

OK before everybody gets excited about this, here are a few things to remember.

1) This is DVD-RAM, not DVD-R, or DVD+R
So, why DVD-RAM? SD was getting killed by post production houses who preferred DVD-RAM, it's much more reliable and it has been the standard that Zaxcom started when the DEVA II started the whole portable digital hard-drive recording phase in Hollywood.

2) 5x is still slow. If you record a 60 minute show, plan on spending about 15-20 minutes mirroring the show to disc.

3) DVD-RAM while an awesome recording format is not universal. There are a ton of DVD drives that cannot read DVD-RAM. If you give a DVD-RAM disc to a band, I'll give you maybe 10% chance they have a drive that can read it.

3) Media for DVD-RAM can be used multiple times and is much more stable and reliable than DVD-R media, but DVD-RAM media cost about between $3-6 per disc. Probably not something you want to give away to bands (who probably can't read it anyhow).

This option was designed for on-location sound mixers because the Deva IV and Deva V have an option of having a DVD-RAM drive integrated into the unit, and the Aanton Cantar has a built-in CD/DVD/DVD-RAM drive, this dictated that SD needed to do something to help sound mixers off-load their dailies more quickly than dumping to a computer, then to a disc for post.

It's a great idea, but when you figure that you're getting a $98 drive in a portable case, it does seem a bit expensive. There are cheaper options out there if SD has designed their firmware to allow you to mirror to a third-party DVD-RAM drive.

Wayne

[fozzy]

Jon posted on their forum that the main reason they are offering this particular drive is so they can provide sources to people that may have trouble finding a compatibile drive/case in thier respective countries.  They don't want to be in the optical media business.  They a very candid about the partiular drive and chassis they are using.

[mmedley.]

1) This is DVD-RAM, not DVD-R, or DVD+R
So, why DVD-RAM? SD was getting killed by post production houses who preferred DVD-RAM, it's much more reliable and it has been the standard that Zaxcom started when the DEVA II started the whole portable digital hard-drive recording phase in Hollywood.

Not what I got from reading the specs...

"Multiple DVD formats for reading and writing, including 5X DVD-RAM"

...and reading the manual it seems FAT32 and the like are used as well. It most certainly supports +R, -R, CD-R, -RW, -DL, etc.

[wbrisette]

  They don't want to be in the optical media business.  They a very candid about the partiular drive and chassis they are using.

It is amazing. People think the whole plug-and-play thing is easy to do. Zaxcom has struggled with certain drives because the whole FW standard is pretty loose on certain things, so not every drive has worked. Looks like the folks at SD have been experiencing the same thing.

It is a nice option for mixers, I just don't see people here on this board getting a whole lot of mileage out of one though. For the most part a majority of the people here would have zero use for a DVD-RAM disc (when I continue to see posts like what is the best mic/amp/etc., then they stick the $300 price tag on their post, I roll my eyes)... we're just not the board this puppy was designed or intended for.

Wayne

[fozzy]

1) This is DVD-RAM, not DVD-R, or DVD+R
So, why DVD-RAM? SD was getting killed by post production houses who preferred DVD-RAM, it's much more reliable and it has been the standard that Zaxcom started when the DEVA II started the whole portable digital hard-drive recording phase in Hollywood.

Not what I got from reading the specs...

"Multiple DVD formats for reading and writing, including 5X DVD-RAM"

...and reading the manual it seems FAT32 and the like are used as well. It most certainly supports +R, -R, CD-R, -RW, -DL, etc.

I think the drive itself will handle multiple formats when hooked into a PC but as far as recording or copying directly from the 722 I think it is limited to DVD-RAM for the time being.

[wbrisette]

...and reading the manual it seems FAT32 and the like are used as well. It most certainly supports +R, -R, CD-R, -RW, -DL, etc.

Be careful here. Yes, the drive probably will support these formats, most DVD-RAM drives are combo drives and 90% of them are made by Panasonic/Matshita. However, DVD-RAM uses block technology which is important because it gives you the ability to write to a disc is spurts unlike the DVD-R technology which uses packets. Because of the nature of on-location recording, most mixers have found DVD-R and CD-R technology worthless, they want the ability to mirror while recording. This simply can't be done with standard DVD and CD packet writing. This is why DVD-RAM is used much more often in these situations. Now, if you're simply wanting to dump a finished show, then yes, you can use DVD-R or CD (if small enough), but then you're waiting for the disc to finish and close and so you're waiting about 20 minutes per disc. That's not what most mixers want to do at the end of a shoot.

This is a great product, just not for the taper market.

Wayne

[ghellquist]

Remember:

Not for the taper market!
Not for the taper market!!
Not for the taper market!!

One more point, the 7xx will not supply power on the firewire when run on its internal battery. It only supplies power when run from external power.

The 7xx boxes are very good, just know the limitations.

Gunnar