Now if only Sony would give us a 2X speed DVCAM deck life would be sweet, Panasonic managed it with DVCPRO 25.
I know all this is exciting for anyone with FX heavy projects but the biggest bottleneck in our workflow is capturing from tape.
Bob.
I don't shoot the stuff. I've suggested this to the client but he has around 4 cameras running for a whole day. The cost of enough Firestore type gizmoes gets pretty high in this scenario. We do have a copy of DV Rack but again enough copies and enough laptops etc gets pretty expensive. Also there's the ease of use factor. The last thing they want is to carry too many gadgets around the football fields.
Of course that's just on the video side, not much we can do about all the 1/4" audio tape we're working on at the moment. At least with that stuff you get the satisfaction of seeing the reels go round and round and round and... quite relaxing really.
I was going to suggest direct to disc as well but you're right, it's pricy.
As a perk, though, some of the disc recorders will buffer the camera output a little so it can actually record several seconds before you pull the trigger. That might interest you're clients.
For audio, we're using a direct to CD recorder (Marantz). It's pretty quick to import audio but I don't know if I'd recomend it. It doesn't seem foolproof.
One issue for audio is to have timecode embedded in it. That might make it easier to restore a project a year later. Not sure how to deal with that.
You're in luck. The X2 CPUs will be out by then ;-) In fact, I'd think by then they might even come down to a more reasonable price to compete with Intel's offering.