Finally a Stand Alone Recorder for MiniDV/DVCAM/D8/DVCPRO/HDV

[dellsam34]

The long waited stand alone Firewire/iLink recorder has finally metalized that hopefully puts an end to the IEEE 1394 hardware, software and compatibility problems.

The main board : https://www.crowdsupply.com/computer-equipment-group/firehat

An assembled final product: https://equip-1.c-e.group/firehat

Github page: https://github.com/computerequipmentgroup/equip-1

[VWestlife]

I must be out of the loop because I have no clue what the HAT in "FireWire interface HAT" stands for. Nowhere do they explain it.

It would be better if they described it in less circuit design jargon and in more approachable terminology.

[dellsam34]

The firewire hat is the DV interface that collects DV data, The other part is sort of the computer part that stores the data, it can be a Raspberry Pi or other single-board computers, You don't have to do it yourself, The second link above is for an assembled and programmed ready to go device, The only problem is that there is no units available in stock due to chip shortage.

The closest I can find to this is the legacy Sony HVR-MRC1, The down side is, it is based on flash card that is limited to 4GB being FAT32, It also requires a special Sony battery although it can be powered via firewire if the playback camcorder or deck has a 6 pin FW port, Plus it is too expensive as it is still wanted by the tape-less camcorder community.

While posting I found another device:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/612325-REG/Focus_Enhancements_ASYF_1390_01LF_FS...DTE.html/specs

[VWestlife]

It took me way too long to find out that in the context of the Raspberry Pi, HAT stands for "Hardware Attached on Top"... which sounds like a backronym to me.

[dellsam34]

I think it's a term used by the camcorder community, Although this entire project was designed around the need to ditch the tape, Thanks to the firewire two-way protocol that can work in either direction, So you can capture a tape with it and control the camcorder as well.

I take the FS-4HD above link back, It only has firewire output, so the only way to get the footage out of it is to connect it to the computer via firewire, which kind defeats the purpose of avoiding firewire on a computer.

[aramkolt]

Pretty sure there were several Firewire Standard Definition DV and HDV to SSD/CF/HDD capture devices back in the day which you can still find used. Datavideo even made a few. This project mostly just seems like a shrunk PCI card that goes into a compact PC as opposed to a full size one.

[dellsam34]

Yes, Unfortunately all legacy DV/HDV recorders are based of off FAT32 disk system, which limits the file size to chunks of few minutes each, It adds unnecessary steps to the workflow.

[Alwyn]

I take the FS-4HD above link back

You can edit the post to remove the text.

[aramkolt]

Yes, Unfortunately all legacy DV/HDV recorders are based of off FAT32 disk system, which limits the file size to chunks of few minutes each, It adds unnecessary steps to the workflow.

Not quite all. Certain Datavideo units can use NTFS without a practical file size limits.

[dvd3500]

Can I use this with my ADVC 300 ?
Would I need drivers? (I am so clueless... the last PC I built was in 2006 and my knowledge stopped there...)

[VWestlife]

Can I use this with my ADVC 300 ?
Would I need drivers? (I am so clueless... the last PC I built was in 2006 and my knowledge stopped there...)

A PC from 2006 is still just as fine for capturing DV as it was back then.

[dellsam34]

Yes, Unfortunately all legacy DV/HDV recorders are based of off FAT32 disk system, which limits the file size to chunks of few minutes each, It adds unnecessary steps to the workflow.

Not quite all. Certain Datavideo units can use NTFS without a practical file size limits.

Those are usually in the desktop category not in the portable category, If you know a particular handheld Datavideo recorder that uses NTFS please share it.

[dellsam34]

Can I use this with my ADVC 300 ?

Yes it can work with any firewire device that spits DV/HDV or even DVCPRO, But they have supply issues, so it is not possible to order one currently.

Note: If you are using your ADVC-300 for capturing analog tapes you can ditch it and get a DataVideo recorder, They made nice Analog/DV/HDV recorders that can capture analog tapes from composite/S-Video/Component into DV on an internal hard drive, Not sure which ones are NTFS and which ones are FAT32. But you have to modify it to be able to slide in and out the HDD, otherwise you would still need a computer with firewire to dump the content, With all the hardware available nowadays it is very easy to convert one of these to SSD 2.5".

[ocal5]

Thanks for sharing.

To be able to use an actual / easy to find / supported product is good news.

[aramkolt]

One I'm thinking of is the DN-400 - I wouldn't call it handheld, but certainly a standalone device that doesn't require a computer to dump the files onto the drive, but it uses full size 2.5 inch hard drives or SSDs and can do its own internal formatting.

From there, you just connect an inexpensive SATA to USB3 adapter to the easily removable drive module and pull the data off.

[dellsam34]

I ended up getting the Datavideo DN-200, It was $75 plus shipping so I couldn't pass it up, It only measures 34x100x200mm, It can be set in both disc formats during first setup, FAT32 or NTFS. It does DV, HDV and DVCPro 25 according to the spec online, There is only one annoying limitation, The video format has to be set prior to recording and cannot be changed again and recorded to the same HDD without erasing it entirely, Not sure why Datavideo did this but I can live with that, I will be adding a swappable HDD slot somehow, so when I want to transfer a tape with a different format I'll just stick a new HDD/SSD, I got few of them in the 500GB-1TB range.

I will try to get the new device posted in the first post when it becomes available, But I'm not holding my breath for it.

[aramkolt]

Has been a long time since I got the DN-400 out, but I think on that one you can change formats (HDV vs DV) without erasing the drive, but you do have to set it what type of content it is recording before you record, though my guess is DV is going to be the vast majority of what anyone captures these days, so I don't anticipate needing to swap often.

[dellsam34]

I've discovered that Datavideo DN-60 is also FAT32/NTFS selectable with a CF card slot and it is indeed a handheld device that can run on AA batteries, However it is too expensive and has the same file change limitation as the DN-200.

[dvd3500]

Thanks for the info.... does DataVideo do NTSC and PAL?

[aramkolt]

I believe all of the "DN" line support NTSC and PAL - Even for the ones that only do FAT32 (and have the 4GB file limit that all such devices have), they do have an official software tool that can join the ~4GB files after capture, or I'm guessing FFMPEG can do that as well. The DN-400 has the most IO on it including S-Video and Component, but there was some reason I avoided it back when I was looking to obtain a variety of capture solutions and compare them. I was just looking and my 600 only has composite video in, but not that it really matters if you're just using it to capture an "already DV" stream from a DV device.

I'm seeing on ebay that most of the removable SATA drive module units are missing their drive modules (these would be the 400/500/600, possibly others) - The way I'd get around that if I were looking for one would be to use a SATA extension cable and just velcro a naked 2.5" SSD the drive to the side or top, avoiding the need for the module housing altogether. You could probably 3D print a module as well, but the tolerances are pretty tight on the originals to get the SATA socket to align just right.

[dellsam34]

That's my goal, Make a slot with 3D printer trim, The tolerances are not the problem, I don't think I can find a space for such mod, I don't want to put anything external. I'll see when I get it.