New Gear Report! Direct-to-Edit MR-HD100
So… those that know me know that I’m a total gear-head. I try to keep up with technology and gear by reading roughly 14 different industry trade rags - good thing I’m a speed-reader!
Sometimes, I get these great offers to try a piece of gear, or to upgrade something inexpensively, or a pre-market price I can’t refuse - That’s the case with this new direct-to-edit recorder from JVC, the MR-HD100, meant specifically for JVC’s GY- ProHD line of cameras.
Now, I’ve owned another model HD direct-to-edit recoder for about a year- the DR-HD100, and I’ve absolutely loved the convenience and time-saving aspects of it. It’s been a true life-saver at times.
THE TYPICAL PROCESS
Typically, if I’m on a shoot where I’m covering4-8 hours of footage, I’ll use 4-9 tapes, (more for HD vs. SD), then I transfer the tape to computer in real-time, plus the time to change tapes, set up the transfer, etc. “Digitizing” is really the wrong word for it, since the material is already digital, and I just transfer from the camera in real-time using a firewire cable. Once the footage has been transferred, I spend anywhere from a day to a week taking notes on it, categorizing and organizing each clip so that editing goes faster.
THE TYPICAL DIRECT-TO-EDIT PROCESS
Enter the DTE recorder - My Firestore DR-HD100 has saved me countless hours of transferring, and where I’m using tape at the same time, it’s actually rescued me from tape drop-out issues. I have raved about this little device over the past year. I shoot, thn back in the studio, I simply sort and edit. Sometimes, I don’t even transfer from the drive to the computer; I’ll edit directly on the drive, THEN transfer. I’ve loved this unit, and it has loved me back, but a few weeks ago, I got this crazy offer I couldn’t refuse, giving me the opportunity to try the newest DTE recorder for the ProHD Camera, the MR-HD100.
THE NEW PROCESS.
If you look at the picture, you’ll see a USB dongle sticking up from the recorder. You’ll also see an iPhone with a webpage prominently displaying “ProHD” at the top. What’s this?!?
Well, I’ve been reading about this for a while, and I was so excited to get this, that I could barely contain myself. The hours this would save me would be double those of the DR-HD100!
I shoot, and I edit. What about the sorting and labeling? That’s where the dongle and the iPhone come in! I can create a peer-to-peer network with the DTE recorder, and an assistant can take notes on each clip AS IT’S BEING SHOT! If I’m on my own, I simply take notes after I hit record! This is infitely cool! The notes are attached directly to each clip as “metadata,” and can be read directly by Final Cut Pro, my non-linear editor of choice. A little modification of the template allows me to make data for other editing software, as well.
How is it in practice? Well, after a bit of fiddling around with Windowds networking on my IBM ThinkPad, I got it connected. My Mac connected instantly, and I’m guessing an iPhone would do the same. I decided to dedicate my ThinkPadto only 2 purposes, though: Takeing notes during shoots, and remote web access.
The process is wonderful! Every time I hit “record” on the camera, a new page appears in my webrowser, generated by the DTE. This page allows me to enter things like scene, title, take, etc - just about anything I want. Another very cool aspect is that it records 720p at 24/30/60 fame rates directly to quicktime OR mt2 file. VERY, VERY exciting! Stay tuned for more reviews on this page!
