DVD record solution?? (SONY DVDirect)

[newshooter12 0]

Ran into this on sony's site... figured it may be of interest to some of you.
DVDirect on sonystyle.com under computers -> CD/DVD burners -> DVDirect
matt

[CTSkydiver 0]

According to the specs, there's no firewire.

[pcalandra 0]

It's pretty stupid when you think about it isn't it? I don't know what's going on with Sony lately, you'd think they hired a bunch of design engineers from Panasonic or JVC or something

I was seriously considering that before I read the spec sheet myself. I've opted for the RDVX500 myself, it a really nice combo unit. I just wish it had a hard drive. However now that I've gone out a bought one, I'm sure they will introduce that model next week

Pat

[ChangoLanzao 0]

What's the advantage of a firewire port on a DVR really? Unless you're going to do non-linear editing, you don't really need the timecodes that DV format provides. All that you can really do with a DVR unit is burn to a DVD anyway. As far as I can tell, the only real advantage to the firewire port is that it allows you to control the DV camcorder from the DVR unit - big deal I purchased my Lite-On IT 5045 unit a couple of months ago and thought that the fireware port was a cool thing, but as it turns out, it doesn't really have any discernible effect on the quality of the video that ends up on the DVD anyway. Am I missing something?

*

[newshooter12 0]

here i was thinking that this... "Compatible wtih i.LINK/FireWire through DV input" meant it had firewire. they must be getting designers from JVC

[newshooter12 0]

Quote

Unless you're going to do non-linear editing

that's basically what i was hoping for... to edit on my laptop & output realtime to a burner without having to do all the encoding that it normally takes. you're right you really don't need the timecode, but it does come in handy. the other side is that i hate to have a DV camera that cost a lot dumped down through analog cables then back to a digital format on a DVD. to me that isn't truely digital or lossless & i wouldn't want to market myself to a customer by telling them it's digital when you're running composite cables.
matt

[ChangoLanzao 0]

Quote

Quote

Unless you're going to do non-linear editing

that's basically what i was hoping for... to edit on my laptop & output realtime to a burner without having to do all the encoding that it normally takes. you're right you really don't need the timecode, but it does come in handy. the other side is that i hate to have a DV camera that cost a lot dumped down through analog cables then back to a digital format on a DVD. to me that isn't truely digital or lossless & i wouldn't want to market myself to a customer by telling them it's digital when you're running composite cables.
matt

The problem is that you really can't use the DVR to do non-linear editing and the firewire port on the DVR's that have one can only be used to connect a DV camcorder to the DVR. I don't think you'd be able to connect your laptop directly to the DVR (I know that doesn't work with my Lite-On IT 5045 unit). So, if you're going to do non-linear editing on your laptop anyway, the DVR will not save you any time.

*

[newshooter12 0]

ah... but AVID (& i believe premiere) has a feature that outputs a stream of video for preview that can be viewed on any firewire video device so long as the input is set to i-link. or you can use the "Digital Cut" feature to output the timeline/segment/program to tape or other DV device. I've done it a bunch. the wildcard as you said is the recorder.
matt

[pcalandra 0]

I believe you are correct Matt. As a matter of fact I think all the current crop of non-linear editing packages support real time video/audio out of the firewire port from the timeline whether they callit a digital cut or something else. That's why real time recording/encoding is important, at least to me.

Pat

[ChangoLanzao 0]

Quote

I believe you are correct Matt. As a matter of fact I think all the current crop of non-linear editing packages support real time video/audio out of the firewire port from the timeline whether they callit a digital cut or something else. That's why real time recording/encoding is important, at least to me.

Pat

I use Premiere and that's exactly what I do; however, my DVR can only communicate with a DV camcorder through the DVR's firewire port. In order to record from Premiere "directly" to the DVR I have to run the iLink cable from the computer to the DV camcorder and use the RCA output of the camcorder to the DVR. I assumed that all DVR's with a firewire port have this limitation, and thus the presence of the firewire port doesn't facilitate this kind of editing. Am I wrong? Does your DVR accept firewire input from your computer? If so, which brand is it? I want one! ;-)

Edit: I see that you are using the RDVX500. Does it record directly from your computer's iLink output??

*

[pcalandra 0]

If I am sending DV25 video out of my firewire port, yes it does. If on the other hand I'm trying to send something that is not video I would suspect not. I think you are confusing a DVD burner with a video DVD recorder. A standard computer type DVD burner will not accept DV25 video, it can only take data, as in MPEG2 or AVI or whatever file format you are working with. In that case you have to encode your files before they can be recorded on your DVD burner, thats what takes time and that varies b the fiel format, compression ratio, your computer, the DVD burner, etc. etc.

[ChangoLanzao 0]

Quote

If I am sending DV25 video out of my firewire port, yes it does. If on the other hand I'm trying to send something that is not video I would suspect not. I think you are confusing a DVD burner with a video DVD recorder. A standard computer type DVD burner will not accept DV25 video, it can only take data, as in MPEG2 or AVI or whatever file format you are working with. In that case you have to encode your files before they can be recorded on your DVD burner, thats what takes time and that varies b the fiel format, compression ratio, your computer, the DVD burner, etc. etc.

I don't think I'm confused My Video DVD Recorder, a Lite-On IT LVW 5045 DOES NOT accept *anything* but a DV Camcorder connected to it's firewire input. So you're saying that the DVRX500 *does* accept video from your computer through the firewire input? That's cool.

Edit: Sony's page describing the VRDVC10 DVDirect burner does say that "DVDirect can even be connected to a computer via Hi-Speed USB for high speed DVD burning and other cool things." I wonder what that means, exactly?

*

[newshooter12 0]

IMHO opinion Pat has it nailed with the difference between Data & Video. Some devices MAY need the/a data stream to recognize the video, but i've already tested the output of premeire to my camera & a couple devices at work. I'm going to have to catch up with Pat & see what he's got going this weekend.
matt