Comments

farss wrote on 1/23/2008, 12:54 AM
I've used the DR60 with no problem with it or Vegas. It is expensive for what it is I guess. It's also has very fiddly switches and difficult to read screen. It does work better with the V1 than the Z1 as the V1 was designed to work with it so you get status info in the viewfinder.

Bob.
DJPadre wrote on 1/23/2008, 1:59 AM
I wont touch an FS-4 if my life depends on it...
JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/23/2008, 7:17 AM
> I wont touch an FS-4 if my life depends on it...

I also read that the FireStores are fine for DV but steer clear for HDV. There are lots and lots of feedback from customer who claim they do not work for HDV. Horror stories about hours of footage being corrupt. (ouch!)

I just purchased the Sony HVR-DR60 and I love it! I use it with my Z1U and it's working fine. The V1 works without a tape but the Z1 does not, so unless you also use a tape you can't have it automatically track the record button because the Z1 won't let you record without a tape in the transport. This is a limitation of the Z1 not the DR60. It would be great if Sony issues a firmware update for the Z1 to integrate better with the DR60 but I guess they'd rather have you buy a V1. ;-)

I can highly recommend the HVR-DR60. It comes with everything you need to mount it on the camera and uses the same batteries as the Z1. The small NP-F570 that came with your Z1 will power it well beyond it's 4.5 hr recording capacity. So if you bought a larger capacity battery like the NP-F970 for your Z1 (like I assume most of us did) you now have a use for the original battery beyond just another backup.

~jr
Independence Films wrote on 1/23/2008, 10:24 AM
Thanks for the input!

What files are generated by the harddrive?
I'm wondering about a cheat that might enable native 24p shooting such as adjusting the cameras shutter speed and then storing the data as a full-rez 1920x1080 .avi for example. Possible?
What are my option here?

Cheers,
-Ross
John_Cline wrote on 1/23/2008, 12:53 PM
Neither the V1 nor the Z1 can output 1920x1080 via the Firewire port. The only way to get full 1920x1080 is to use the HDMI output from a camera like the V1 or the HD-SDI port on something like the Sony EX1. There were some guys in Brazil that were working on a portable hard drive solution that had HDMI input, but I haven't heard anything about that in a while. I don't know of any affordable, portable drives that acccept HD-SDI.
Independence Films wrote on 1/23/2008, 3:01 PM
hmmm... but I *would* be able to save a .m2t and create the 1920x1080 .avi files in Vegas?

(pardon my ignorance!)
John_Cline wrote on 1/23/2008, 4:57 PM
Yes, HDV .M2T files are 1440x1080 with a Pixel Aspect Rartio (PAR) of 1.333. While they are 1440x1080, they display at 1920x1080. You can render to a 1920x1080 .AVI using a variety of codecs.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/23/2008, 8:36 PM
> What files are generated by the harddrive?

Since it is recording via the firewire output of your camera, the hard drive is creating the same files as you would had you captured from tape. That would be M2T for HDV and AVI for DV/DVCAM. In essence you are just capturing "live" so that you don't have to later. Technically it's not really a capture but rather a bit-for-bit file transfer. You have the option of using a tape as backup.

~jr
Pachanga wrote on 1/23/2008, 8:39 PM
Just curious ... can you display your DR60 contents on a hi def TV via the HDMI port on the V1U ? Have tried with no success, but the component works.
Independence Films wrote on 1/23/2008, 10:42 PM
Thank you all, this has been very helpful!

I just wanted more info before pulling the trigger on a $2k/per camera upgrade. Now I have some idea of what I'm in for at least.

Cheers!
JohnnyRoy wrote on 1/24/2008, 4:23 AM
> Just curious ... can you display your DR60 contents on a hi def TV via the HDMI port on the V1U ?

I don't have a V1U so I can't say. I'm using it with my Z1U. The recorder plays back out the firewire (as you would expect) so anything the camera passes thru the firewire on playback should work. Check you manual for your cameras capabilities.

~jr
Guy S. wrote on 1/24/2008, 4:38 PM
I've used FS-4 for DV and now use a Sony DR-60 for HDV.

FS-4: has always worked well in terms of capturing, but is cumbersome with poor ergonimics.

DR-60: great on-camera usability with V1U (I ONLY use the HD with this camera), but has some issues:

Reliability -- sometimes gives error message on startup, requiring multiple tries before it starts up and operates correctly. The problem is getting worse, so I will likely need to have it serviced.

Workflow --
1. It breaks each shot into two files; the first file is 1/2 sec long & the second file contains the rest of the shot (Vegas will automatically stitch the two files together on import); according to Sony, this may be an issue w/my drive.

2. Each shot is placed in a separate folder, and Vegas maintains this structure when importing.

3. Vegas offers no facility for batch renaming files on import.

My normal work flow:
1. Import files
2. Move files from individual folders into a single folder
3. Rename files