NEXTO devices

[Dale West]

I have on. It might be one of the first delivered by able cine. There are things I love about it and other things not so much. I bought whole package. 750 gig internal and 750 external drives and all the extras.

Things I like:

1 really fast if you don’t verify. I still use P2 CMS but there is also a preview function that allows you to look at the video on the screen. AVCIntra is not totally supported (the video is not smooth) but I hear that there are firmwarenupdates in the works

2 Fairly easy to use. There are some processes that are not intuitive but once you get used to them then it’s very easy to use

Things I’m not in love with:

1: And this is the biggest issue I have. The external drive is esata p. That is the biggest gripe I have. I bought a g-tech 2tb drive and figured that this was going to be perfect. Wrong. The external drive to be used with the esata has to take it’s power from the esatap port. If you try to power with a power supply it will not work.

2: The device names the file with the date and a sequence number. The first file will end in .000 the next will end in .001 and so on. We normally name the files but found that if we are going to continue to do that we have to wait for all the files are in.

I’ve found a supplier of drive enclosures and you can get drives at compusa, but if Lacie or G-tech made mini esatap drives that would rock

I hope to see the Nexto folks at NAB and talk about the 2525. I hope they are willing to listen to some of my comments. In general it is a very good tool. I was going to purchase the Panasonic unit but my understanding is that it does not make a duplicate copy at the same time

The other thing is I’m still learning how to use it.

I hope that answers some of your questions. If you have more you can contact me off list at. dale@dalewestvideo.tv

Dale West Video
North Miami, FL
305-588-2683
dale@dalewestvideo.tv

[Chris Magid]

Well. They do make esataP to sata cables.

Was planning on using something like that to allow the use of raw internal laptop drives as the external drive with Nexto. Keep them in a sleeve and other protection when they aren’t in use. Pretty cheap too.

What do you mean it renames files? Is it assigning folder names or actually renaming P2 camera files? That would be a little odd. Not exactly a straight copy.

I looked at the panasonic unit too, which requires a SSD for internal use. Large SSDs are over $2,000.00.

Chris Magid
RTVF

chris magid
chris@gortvf,com
Renaissance Television & Film
http://www.gortvf.com

[Dale West]

What I mean about the file name is that the device simply does a date sequence. A file today would be 20110319.000. The next one would end in .001 and so on. What we do if we are shipping the drive to the client is rename them when they are on their drive. You know: interview with so and so. B-roll of such and such. We are lucky enough to have a bunch of cards and with the nexto we find we can rotate the cards with every venue or situation change. The nexto is fast enough so we don’t usually have to worry about card availability. I suppose its just because that’s how I used to label tapes. I have an inverter in my van and we will offload between locations and on the way home or at our video village if we are in the same place all the time. Units like this really help take care of the media management issue we old dogs have had with cards of any style. I also use it for SxS and the compact flash adaptor is really handy if someone is doing DSLR work. I understand that they are making an Alexa version of the Nexto as well.

Restating my dislike is the fact that for the fast copy to an external drive has to be esatap. You can sync using FireWire 800 or USB 2. But direct connect to external HDD has to be with the esatap.

One has to wonder if thunderbolt is going to throw all of this into a spin

Dale West Video
North Miami, FL
305-588-2683
dale@dalewestvideo.tv

[Jeff Regan]

We have the Panasonic MSU10 with a 500Gb drive, not SSD. This is what came with the unit. This is a very simple device to use, but does not deal with any cards other than P2, does not playback clips, does not transfer to two drives at the same time.

It does do data verification, if wanted, but will slow down transfer. Optimally, with an internal SSD, verification off, it will do 4x transfers.

It is good for rental because it is so simple to use, but limited to P2 only, as noted earlier and no playback is unfortunate–just thumbnails.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Chris Magid]

Is the traditional hard drive slid into the unit via the tray?

Panasonic’s marketing materials are not good as they seem to make it look like the only way to use a traditional hard drive is externally. Some materials even say not to use a HDD internally.

Yet on their site they seem to sell trays for HDD.

Very confusing and they just lost a sale because of it.

We would of bought. Went with the Nexto instead. Will report back.

Chris Magid
RTVF

chris magid
chris@gortvf,com
Renaissance Television & Film
http://www.gortvf.com

[Jeff Regan]

Chris, yes, SSD and HDD. It is confusing on Panasonic’s own site. There is a pre-configured SSD model, and an HDD model, as well as an empty model.

It definitely will transfer from a P2 card to an external HDD in Host mode. HDD must be under 2TB.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Jeff Regan]

Just a couple of notes after some testing of the Panasonic MSU10:

I was able to transfer, via P2 E card, a 16 min. AVC-Intra 100 1080/30PN set of clips to the internal drive with data verification off in 3:00, which is 5x real time.

Same clips with data verification on took 8:30, or a bit slower than 2x real time, similar to MacBook Pro with ShotPut Pro, data verification on using PCD20 via FW800 to two FW800 ext. HDD.

Using the internal 500Gb HDD removed from the MSU10 with dual USB cables into MacBook Pro took 6:35 with the same footage.

Tried to use the MSU10 in host mode with eSata drive, but didn’t work.

Tried to use MSU 10 in hose mode with same drive via USB, device not recognized. This is most likely due to Mac OS formatting. Have to try a PC formatted drive next.

Jeff Regan
Shooting Star Video
http://www.ssv.com

[Chris Magid]

Thanks for the info.

I’ll test my arriving Nexto and pass on numbers.

Chris Magid
RTVF

chris magid
chris@gortvf,com
Renaissance Television & Film
http://www.gortvf.com

[Joseph Kim]

Hi, Chris

The NVS-2525 comes with ‘base package’ and ‘Plus 1 Pack’.

Base Package:
Main unit, Firewire/USB/Car charger cables,AC adapter, AA Battery Holder, Manual

Plus 1 Pack: External HDD(750GB), ESATAp cable, CF Adapter, External Battery Charger & cable, Leather Holing case(for HDD), Carring bag

The internal rechargeable battery can be recharged by AC adapter, car adapter, interfaces cable (Firewire800 /USB2), AA battery pack or external battery pack.

The internal hard disk is 750GB (SATA, 7200rpm) and you will be void manufacturer warranty if you disassemble the device. You should always consult your supplier or country distributor for a warranty repair.

The plus 1 Pack bundled with an external eSATAp (powered eSATA) HDD (750GB), so you won’t need to buy additional external hard drive separately. If you want to purchase another drive, then I recommended you to look at Seagate goFlex PRO 7200rpm (Model STAD750100). Since Seagate use an unusual shape of cable, you should also purchase an upgrade cable, eSATAp (powered eSATA, Model STAE103).

Hope this information helps.

Joseph K
Nexto DI UK
https://www.nextodiuk.com

[Joseph Kim]

Hi, Dale

Thanks for your post.
There are few things I would like to mention.

(1) eSATA vs Powered eSATA:
eSATA port designed to be used with faster speed but it has a limitation that only carry data, but not power. This is standard specification of eSATA.
NVS-2525 supports eSATAp host (powered eSATA or power-over eSATA). eSATAp is designed for portable hard drive with full advantage of speed and carry power in a single cable.

If you connect your gtech 2tb hard drive with computer, you would also need two cables attached (one for data & the other one for power, maybe via USB) or one cable attached to gtech and plug-in ac adapter to power

So, this is not a limitation of Nexto device.

NVS-2525 bundled with an external eSATAp hard drive (750GB), so you can start make two identical copies straightway. If you want to get 2nd drive, you can buy delock enclouser (model id: 42465 ) and a SATA (2.5″/SATA/7200rpm) hard disk. or you can buy Seagate GoFlex Pro 7200rpm (model STAD750100) and a GoFlex upgraded powered cable (model: STAE103).

(2) Nexto device doesn’t change names of original video files.
After successful copies, you will see FOLDER names that is form of “20110405”(date of video taken) and followed by “.” (dot) then 000 (sequence no). If you have several cards that shot on same day, then 2nd card will be 20110405.001 then 20110405.002 and so on.

Inside that folder, you will see all original files and these are exactly same names of SxS or P2 card’s contents.

Nexto NVS can also generate “INDEX.htm” file after each successful backup, so you can identify each backup by opening “INDEX.htm” under the root directory later on, in the edit room. It displays (single frame) clip view with meta data. This is very useful for editor.

You can either activate “AUTO GENERATION INDEX” function on or off under MENU.

(3) Advantages of purchasing NVS-2525 for P2/P2E users
– Portable and Rugged design (154 x 91 x 33 mm, 430g)
– Make two identical copies simultaneously (MCopy)
– Copy (80Mb/s), Verify (86Mb/s), Mcopy (76Mb/s)
i.e. a 32GB P2E card in ‘minutes’ ‘seconds’: 7’24” to copy / 7’24” to verification / 7’01” to make two identical copies onto internal and external.
– Versatile Power management; internal battery can be rechargeable by ac adapter, AA battery holder (4x AAs), external Li-poly battery pack, car charger or interface cables(FW800, USB2).
– offloading from various cards, SxS, SxS-1, P2, P2E, CF
– Cost effective

NextoDI, Inc will be at NAB 2011, Booth # C11723. Come to see us!

NextoDI, Inc NAB site

Thank you and hope this information helps.

Joseph

Nexto DI UK
https://www.nexodiuk.com