# Archos AV700 Mobile Digital Video Recorder



## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1818441,00.asp


----------



## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

I'll stick with my 15" laptop for my portable DVR.


----------



## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

My last flight, I decided to keep the laptop in the overhead bin and use my IPAQ with 8 recorded movies, 5 TV shows from Comedy Central, and 4 hours of mp3 music, GPS navigation, games, two books to read, yada, yada... The PDA, three SD 1G memory cards and a pair of full ear sealing headphones. Off the plane, wifi, GPRS internet and cellphone... Don't need the laptop until I get to the hotel room. Geek heaven!


----------



## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I will use my laptop as well if I can keep transferring recordings easily from the DVR to it. I just hate not being able to send the data from the DVR's hard drive to the laptop hard drive quickly as a file instead of having to record to the hard drive from playing back the recording on the DVR.


----------



## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

My laptop is a DVR.


----------



## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Bogy- There is a software called DV Rack from a company Serius Magic. DV Rack converts your laptop to a virtual rack of engineering equipment, scopes and meters etc but part of the software allows you to record a stream from a camcorder via 1394 connection. You add a FW hard drive to the 1394 network for the fastest record speed. Nobody records to a laptop's C drive as that is a surefire way to poor results.

For any who want this sort of DVR on their laptop, check it out. We have it here. Check out the video (You may learn something about how the pros work  )and download a free trial demo.

http://www.seriousmagic.com/dvrack.cfm


----------



## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> Bogy- There is a software called DV Rack from a company Serius Magic. DV Rack converts your laptop to a virtual rack of engineering equipment, scopes and meters etc but part of the software allows you to record a stream from a camcorder via 1394 connection. You add a FW hard drive to the 1394 network for the fastest record speed. Nobody records to a laptop's C drive as that is a surefire way to poor results.
> 
> For any who want this sort of DVR on their laptop, check it out. We have it here. Check out the video (You may learn something about how the pros work  )and download a free trial demo.
> 
> http://www.seriousmagic.com/dvrack.cfm


Thanks for the link to the site. It looks like a very handy program. When I'm not in the middle of moving I will download the trial and try it out.

But also thanks for the idea. I hadn't even thought about using streaming firewire and recording straight to a hard drive, with a full size monitor instead of the little screen. I don't know why I didn't think of it, we used small monitors (not the huge thing he holds in the video) when I was on a project making a professional video in the past. Thanks again.


----------



## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Yeah, I use the small Sony 8"'ers, super fine pitch with integrated WFM and VS. Not $1000 either. They go for $3600 each and I have three! There's just one problem with the DV Rack- It only works on DV and soon will work on HDV. Only my little prosumer and the new HVRZ1u I have will have the 1394 DV output. None of the broadcast rigs have 1394 out. But, you can buy a Miranda SDI to 1394 converter for about $2600.  So much for the life in the- Sony keeps your profits business world of Pro video.


----------



## Bogy (Mar 23, 2002)

Yeah, my Sony Handycam has the 1394 DV output. I have not had time yet, but it will also convert analog to digital. I am going to go through our VHS tapes and see what we want to keep or store on DVD. Also transfer 8mm to digital while I still have that camera around.


----------



## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I recorded the shows from the DVR using my usb external Hauppage hardware and software to an external hard drive.


----------



## JohnGfun (Jan 16, 2004)

Wow...I would like one.


----------



## bhawley (Oct 27, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> Yeah, I use the small Sony 8"'ers, super fine pitch with integrated WFM and VS. Not $1000 either. They go for $3600 each and I have three! There's just one problem with the DV Rack- It only works on DV and soon will work on HDV. Only my little prosumer and the new HVRZ1u I have will have the 1394 DV output. None of the broadcast rigs have 1394 out. But, you can buy a Miranda SDI to 1394 converter for about $2600.  So much for the life in the- Sony keeps your profits business world of Pro video.


We use 3 DSR-390 Sonys in our studio and capture to FCP via Firewire. What
do you think of the HDV cam? We are looking at it and the new JVC for field work. Serious also has a great chromakey app. but it does not take QTime
files.


----------



## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

The HVRZ1U is nice but with DVCAM out, I believe it is a tad softer than my DXC637. Could be the lens since I use broadcast glass and the 637 sports 850 lines from the camera. While the Z1U is supposed to have 1440 out of the camera, the lens may not permit that resolution. I do not support the belief that recording to a lessor tape format like DVCAM (550 lines in bandwidth) is an all time equalizer. Having higher res at the front end always seems to show up in better image, even on VHS tape. In the case of the cameras, I feel the broadcast glass on my analog camera helps keep the resolution clean vs. the prosumer glass of the Z1U. 
At any rate, the new breed of HDTV prosumer camcorders and even the consumer Fx1 will give us a great new tool to use. For me, it was a decision to buy another "broadcast" camera for my DVCAM field kit or go with a Prosumer HDV / DVCAM to allow us to immediately start returning on investment while growing into the HDTV industry. To date I have paid for about 30% of the investment using the Z1U on shoots that have specifically required it's use as a 3rd camera. BTW- I record to PD184's in a DSR-11 in the field with the Z1U. We resolved the problem in these prosumer camcorders of not being able to sync up to our broadcast rigs with a device from Germany. It converts the Z1U's Lanc output to LTC so our broadcast rigs can slave. If you ever get into doing this sort of thing, I believe I'm the only one in the world who has actually accomplished this with the Z1U. What a time saving it is to have the three cameras all in sync for the edit! In case you're wondering, I don't think it is possible to sync multiple Z1U's My process only works to slave the broadcast format cameras to the Z1U making it the master clock in the 3 cam shoot.

Regarding the JVC and the new Panasonic. (I'm sure you've been looking at them as well.) It appears that these two are catering to the 24P camp. That is, to those who want to do film production with video cameras. 24P is the ideal way and the JVC does this far better than the Sony even though Jody, who shoots for ABC and CBS Jag, Medium etc, claims that the Z1U worked well mixing to film at 24P. I think the JVC's 24p is indicated when your primary distribution will be film. If you are shooting for TV 30fps then stick with the Sony. BTW- from what I saw none of these will sync to other cameras either. The advantage of the JVC is interchangeable glass but is compromised in the video end and does not support DVCAM, only miniDV. Bottom line, only big bucks resolves all these integration issues.

PS- I have the Serious chroma keyer ( Ultra S) too. I just shot a show a week ago on blue and green screen we will be using the virtual sets with it. It will be my first run with Ultra S, the keyer. I've done lots of CK work and have a large green screen and a 9'x9' blue screen for field work. Been just using the CK in Vegas which is pretty good, fast and real time but I'm looking forward to the vector keyer technology with virtual sets.

Good luck with your decision on the HVR cams. Let me know [email protected] if you need any details on the 3 camera syncing process.


----------



## bhawley (Oct 27, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> The HVRZ1U is nice but with DVCAM out, I believe it is a tad softer than my DXC637. Could be the lens since I use broadcast glass


 Thanks for the great info, Don


----------



## n8dagr8 (Aug 14, 2004)

Don.....what do you use to get movies to the SD card? 

Also, have you noticed that soft resetting the 6315 moves the wireless, power, and phonebook icons around at the bottom?


----------



## CoriBright (May 30, 2002)

I usually use DVD2PocketPC to reencode my stuff. Then use a card reader to transfer as the USB direct connection usually drops at some point and I get mad. Card reader works every time. I've got http://www.sandisk.com/retail/im-8in1.asp because it's USB2.0 attached to my desktop. My notebook has an 8 in 1 built in.

Plays nicely (if a bit small) in a Viewsonic V37. Battery life is excellent. Does the WMAs fine too but it doesn't like MP3s so I have to reencode them.


----------

