I'm still waiting for the Bella Catapult.

http://www.bella-usa.com/Catapult.htm

I've been wanting a device just like this for years. After remaining very quiet about its release, Bella recently announced that the enginering firm they hired wasn't capable of delivering what they promised, but Bella insists they will eventually bring it to market. In the meantime, I'll continue using my laptop and Scenalyzer or DV Rack.

John

I should have mentioned...we use GL-2's and XL-2s.

The Sony unit should work with those although you will not get all the bells and whistles and I'd have to admit it's probably more than a tad expensive for those cameras although it will hopefully still be working OK if you do upgrade the cameras.

I should mention it's small but one downside for you would be having to buy into Sony batteries and chargers although there's some might cheap Sony workalike batteries around.

Bob.

I'm using Firestore FS4HD's. I'm pretty happy with these units, rely on them and shoot tapeless. Some people using FCP have reported dropouts, but, I've never had that problem. Besides, no one, here, is using FCP, right? ;o)

I'll probably be getting one in the next few months. The Sony unit is my fav after looking around. Some of the others like the Firestore and Laird look and feel like a brick. The Sony unit is much better designed.

Somebody mentioned elsewhere that if you wish to be able to change a tape and continue to record whilst you change to the DTE, then there may only be one option available on the market today that does this.
Focus Enhancement FS-4 PRO

It also provides continuous timecode.

Mind you this is NOT first hand , I'm firmly in my armchair on this recommendation!

I am planning to buy some DTE units in a couple of months - I was waiting until after NAB to see if anyone introduced anything new. I have written Bella Catapult off as vaporware. Those morons would have been better served to wait until they have a product before announcing it. Now their credibility is zero.

I have heard mixed reports about the Sony and Firestore units. In one review (DV magazine) Jan Ozer said that both units failed on him during his tests (but he didn't elaborate). I recall when the Firestore came out that there were reports of complete jobs lost to failures.

I had another thought recently - how about a tablet PC and DV Rack?

I've used my brother's tiny Sony T350 notebook with the standard Vegas capture programs, both the external SD Vidcap and the internal HDV capture utility and it worked great. The tiny Sony notebooks are only slightly more expensive than the HVR-DR60 but, obviously, they aren't nearly as practical. I'm also certain that the T350 doesn't have the horsepower to run DV Rack. Neverthless, it worked.

My brother's T350 is a couple of years old and has now been replaced with the TX series. I'd like to try one of the UX series hand-helds, the included port replicator has an iLink IEEE-1394 port. The UX comes in two models, one with a 40gig hard drive and the other with 32gig of flash memory, both have a gig of RAM. I see no reason that you couldn't install Vegas and have at it. Now that would be cute, an HC7 HD camcoder in one pocket and the editing system in the other.

John

That UX PC looks awfully tempting.

I have used a laptop and Scenalyzer to capture three DV cameras simultaneously.

Steve Mann

[b]"That UX PC looks awfully tempting."[/b}

Yes, doesn't it? Heck, a few years ago, I had to edit a two-camera DV shoot on location in Vegas on a PII-233 notebook with 192meg of RAM. It wasn't very fast, but I got the job done. This little micro PC has a lot more horsepower than that!

I'll start working on my brother to see if I can get him to buy one and let me play with it. :)

John

Steve Mann

I was interested in your statement that you use a laptop and Scenalyzer to capture three DV cameras simultaneously. What kind of laptop do you use? What kind of interface do you use to connect the three cameras? Are the three streams captured together?

Tim Robertson