Panasonic Broadcast today announced the availability of its new P2 store drive. The AJ-PCS060 is packed with a 2.5" 60GB hard drive, capable of holding the contents of up to 15 4GB P2 cards. The drive is designed for the quick transfer of data both in the field and the studio. The contents of an entire 4GB P2 card can be transferred to the unit's hard drive in about 4 minutes. The unit can be powered by a battery for field work or by a power adapter in the studio. The AJ-PCS060 will run you about $1,800 and is available now.
The good folks over at TUAW have scooped all the info on the new PowerForce G4 7447A processor upgrade. The new processor runs at 2.0GHZ and features a 512K 1:1 L2 cache and is compatible with the Power Mac G4 Sawtooth, Gigabit Ethernet, Digital Audio, Quicksilver and Quicksilver 2002 model. OS 9.x and anything OS 10.3.5 and beyond can be run with no problem. The processor is available now for $399 and is a great way to improve the performance of your ageing Mac if you are trying to hold off on doing any major upgrading untill the Mactels are released.
Intelix LLC. has released a convenient solution for transmitting HDTV signals over long distances. The unit extends the range of standard cables by converting a standard component video signal into a form that can travel over a Cat-5 cable. The unit can extend distance of the cable up to 1,000 feet and can handle video signals of 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i/p. Intelix also has a similar unit which converts a DVI signal to Cat-5 but is limited to a range of 150 feet.
The JVC GY-HD101E has finally been released and has landed in the hands of a few lucky Australians. Australia looks like it has been lucky enough to get the new camera before it hits the rest of the globe. The first two production models were received by Tempo Pictures a small production company that has put the cameras to immediate use on their new film "Reality Check." So far the cameras have received stellar marks for quality and value from the crew, but others have already begun to question aspects of the camera.
Early reports from some users state they have experienced banding in shots of the sky and remarked that the LCD on the camera is less than ideal. Though with the camera in only a few users hands it's definitely way too early to give the camera any type of positive or negative judgment. Only time and real testing will show the true performance of the camera which is currently the only HDV camera capable of 24p recording.
Romain Guy has come up with a pretty original hack for automatically capturing still pictures with the help of a PowerBook, iSight and Bluetooth. The goal of the project was to use voice commands and a Bluetooth headset to trigger the iSight to automatically snap a picture. The hack uses an AppleScript to complete the process of triggering and storing the pictures and the only major problem the rig has faced so far has been keeping the PowerBook cool. At this point the rig only shoots still photos but because of the use of an iSight this hack could be upgraded to support video capture. The website provides a nice guide to building one of these rigs and if you have some AppleScript experience you may be able to create your own unit capable of video capture.
Evergreen is at it again with their new DN-HDDV8000 "Camcorder." The camera differs from Evergreen's other low cost units by including a Compact Flash slot instead of the usual SD slot. The CF slot opens this camera up to high capacity microdrives, but this is one camera where you probably won't find yourself needing more storage. The camcorder, if you can even call it that will only record video at 11fps at its max resolution of 640 x 480. For the full 30fps you will need to step the resolution down to 320 x 240. Also you will find yourself dropping a boatload of cash on batteries because this camera does not run on a rechargeable battery. For $170 you mine as well skip this "camcorder" and buy yourself a decent digital still camera which will most likely have better video capabilities then the DN-HDDV8000.
The Sony HVR-A1U is the latest in Sony's new line of HDV camcorders. The HVR-A1U is an upgraded version of the Sony HVR-HC1, aimed at professional users. The camera features the same body style and optics system as the HRV-HC1 but adds a much more robust audio system. As you can probably already tell the audio system of the camera attaches to the "Active Interface Shoe" Sony's term for a hot shoe and provides the camera with 2 balanced inputs and phantom power for all your external microphone needs. The camera will cost you about $2,700 and would make a good second or "high risk camera" for the professional user.
Samsung has updated its Miniket camcorder and Engadget has all the details. The new version of the camera receives a number of upgrades including a new 4 megapixel 3CCD sensor which is an improvement over the original's 1.3 megapixel CCD's. The camera also receives an upgrade to a 10x optical zoom as well as support for the SD format. The camera also retains its ability to double as a MP3 player but with all the new features expect a price increase over the previous version when the camera is released.
It was only a matter of time, but the CVS one-time use digital camcorder has finally been usably hacked. The camera records up to 20 minutes of low resolution video to an internal flash memory card and can be picked up at your local CVS for $30. The hackers have been tooling away with this camera for a couple months now and have finally come up with a workable system for removing the video from the device at no extra cost. Our friends over at Hack a Day have the whole story as well as all the sources of info you will need for a successful hack.
When the JVC GZ-MC500 was announced back in February it received a lot buzz for being the worlds smallest 3 CCD camcorder. The camera features three 1/4.5-inch 1.33 megapixel CCDs and has the ability to take digital stills in the 5 megapixel range. The camera also skips tape use all together and instead uses a 4GB removable Microdrive which saves the video in an MPEG-2 format. The camera has now been released and the reviews are starting to roll in. Read - dvspot.com Read - camcordrerinfo.com
BareFeats.com has a review of MaxConnect's internal storage kit for the G5. The MaxConnect kit allows for adding up to 7 additional hard drives inside the G5, though you will have to remove the optical drive from the computer or you will be limited to only adding 3 additional drives. The kit includes 2 mounting brackets, one which holds 4 drives in the optical bay and the other which holds 3 drives in the CPU bay. As well as adding a heck of a lot more storage to your G5, the drives have the ability to improve performance substantially with the addition of RAID. Both temperature and noise levels remained stable during the testing and the kit scored well around the board. For those of you looking to avoid the hassle of an external enclosure and instead pack your G5 full of storage this kit should fit the bill.
For those of you who are still shooting on an old-school VHS camcorder or are looking for a simple way to digitize all of you're old analog footage the Pyro A/V Link may be the solution. DTVProfesioanl.com has a review of the Pryo A/V Link which is a piece of hardware that allows for the digitizing of analog video. The front of the box contains an S-Video port, composite video-in, left and right RCA audio inputs and a 4-pin FireWire port. The back of the unit contains the same connections as well as a 6-pin FireWire port and component video inputs/outputs. The unit captures the digitized video at a standard DV NTSC resolution of 720 x 480 at 30 frames per second. The box can also be used without a computer to transfer DV footage onto a analog format such as a VHS tape. The unit lists for $279 but can be found much cheaper if you shop around.
Over the last week we have covered two external storage boxes with G5 inspired designs and Trans International looks to be following the trend with their MiniG series of storage devices. The MiniG systems come in a variety of designs and capacities and are available in one, two or four-drive configurations. The capacities of the enclosures vary in size; from just 300GB on the single-drive to 2TB on the four-drive system with nearly any size you could need in-between. The enclosures feature different connections depending on the model from FireWire 400 and 800 to an SATA connection on the larger drives. Prices are also across the spectrum and vary from $300 to $2,300 depending on capacity.
Right on the heels of the release of G-Tech's new 1TB RAID drive, Other World Computing has released its own G5 inspired enclosure. The Mercury Elite Pro Aluminum Dual RAID packs 1TB of total storage though two 500GB hard drives. The drive also features both firewire 800 and 400, and will look right at home next to your G5. The drive is both Mac and Windows compatible and will run you just under 1k.
Digital Video Editor has a new review up of the Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW. The monitor features a large 24" widescreen as well as a native resolution of 1920x1200. The high resolution of the screen makes it perfect for all of your Hi-def editing needs. The monitor also features a 9 in 1 flash reader and the ability to be rotated 90 degrees for a portrait-orientated display. The review gives the monitor a score of 9.7 out of 10, which is an exceptional mark. The monitor is a great alternative to the more expensive Apple 23" cinema display and even with its cheaper price tag it still gives you the resolution and image quality needed to work with Hi-def footage.
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