So… those that know me know that I’m a total gear-head.  I try to keep up with technology and gear by subscribing to 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 to pay a pre-market price I can’t refuse - That’s the case with my hard drive-based direct-to-edit recorder from Focus Enhancements, the MR-HD100, meant specifically for JVC’s GY- ProHD line  of cameras.

Now, I own another hard drive HD direct-to-edit recorder that I got just a year ago- 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, and I'll definitely be getting the newest one available in about a month.  At just about $1,000 each, I can't complain too much, eh?

THE TYPICAL PROCESS
Typically, if I’m on a shoot where I’m covering 4-8 hours of footage, I’ll use 4-9 tapes, (more for HDV vs. SD), then I transfer the tape to computer in real-time via firewire, plus the time to change tapes, set up the transfer, etc.  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. Not the greatest process, but far better than the old days of digitizing standard non-digital, or even worse, transferring film, which then MUST be handled by a color expert, as well!

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, then back in the studio, I simply sort and edit.  Sometimes in the field, I don’t even transfer from the drive to the computer; I’ll actually edit directly on the drive, THEN transfer. I’ve loved this unit and it has loved me back, but a few months ago, I got this crazy offer I couldn’t refuse, giving me the opportunity to try the newest drive-based DTE recorder for the ProHD Camera, the MR-HD100. There's now an even newer one available, but I'll get to that later.

THE NEW PROCESS.
If you look at the picture above, 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’d been reading about this for a while, and I was so excited to get it, 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 without transferring - what could be faster?   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 to each clip as “metadata” in an xml document 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 ThinkPad to only 2 purposes, though: Taking notes during shoots, and remote web access; this makes it ideal for this.  My assistant gets it during all shoots, and I NEVER have to sort footage again!  Final Cut will sort by any column I want, so I can sort by location, take number, reel number or whatever I want with just a click of the mouse!

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 of the recorder is that it records 720p or 1080i at 24/30/60 fame rates directly to Quicktime OR mt2 file.  VERY, VERY exciting! 

In the end, these DTE recorders will be replacing tape forever, and are already being built into some cameras.  Focus Enhancements' latest DTE recorder even eliminates the hard drive altogether, recording straight to Compact Flash cards!  Stay tuned for more!