SXS v SDHC memory card options [Sony PMW-EX1]

[Rafael Amador]

Hi Frank,
The SDHC cards works. Just be careful when choosing the cards and the adaptor.
Just type SDHC in the search window and you will find the most updated info.
Best,
rafael

http://www.nagavideo.com

[Craig Seeman]

From what I’m hearing ATP ProMax cards with MxM adaptor is the most reliable way to go right now.

What seems to happen is that over time the SDHC card makers change the manufacturing process so that cards might work for a time and then newer cards of the same type may be unreliable.

At one time Sandisk Ultra 2 were the most reliable and then later it was Transcend. Currently it seems to be ATP ProMax.

MxM seems to sell ATP ProMax
MxR seems to sell Transcend
Hoodman sells their own RAW cards (expensive IMHO).
It seems all their adaptors come from the same manufacturer.
They’ve all tested the SDHC cards they sell extensively and I assumer recently.

Many of the SDHC cards certainly can be bought from other sources. Key is that source should be known reliable (some counterfeits). One should test thoroughly before use and be able to return if they fail your tests.

My tests:
Put one card in each slot and record straight through without stopping. You should never get a Media Restore error.
Record many shorter clips, deleting some periodically.
Do overcrank records starting at 24/40fps for several minutes. Then go up one frame and do it again. I find 44fps a good threshold. You should be able to record at 24/44fps for many minutes without error. Do not use the cards for overcrank though. This is just a test to see the card’s data rate overhead.
Remember ALWAYS wait until the light goes green again from starting record after stopping. That is user error as the card MUST have time to write the TOC after recording and SDHC is a bit slower than SxS.

[Tim Kolb]

I use the MxM adapters…I haven’t seen any issues I can attribute to the adapters. I think I did jump the red light at one point and corrupted some data.

The classes these things are labeled with seem to have little to do with anything the way these companies use the ratings.

The idea is to look at what media is being recommended as the adapter manufacturers do some pretty extensive testing.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Frank Steffenhagen]

First of all many thanks to all who responded, that helped a lot!

Craig or anybody else who wants to chime in,

Regarding getting such (MxM) SDHC memory into FCS3 from an external
USB card-reader on a Mac Pro, I’m setting up a system with the choice
between Leopard and Snow Leopard.
Given the current problems with OS 10.6 regarding thumbnail error, FCP’s
log & transfer window, Sony’s XDCAM EX clipbrowser software I try to find
out the best way of importing MxM card media into FCP 7.
What OS would you use at present – and what workflow do you consider to
be the most pain free to re-wrap to .mov files?

Thanks again for your previous post. Cheerio

Frank

[Craig Seeman]

It’s not a bad idea to stick with Leopard if you can but if you’re dealing with lots of software that’s already been updated and want to take advantage of Snow Leopard, there are workarounds.

Mac Pro 10.6.1
ClipBrowser 2.5.1 works fine
Using Sandisk multi card reader (obviously no Express slot on desktop)
Sony Log & Transfer plugin works great in FCP7 on Snow Leopard. Calibrated Software allows use of MP4 directly too.
It’s only XDCAM Transfer that’s out to lunch with the thumbnail cache issue.
It seems PDW-U1 is broken too (but I don’t have one) if you also deal with XDCAM Discs.

[Frank Steffenhagen]

I decided to go for the ATP ProMax 150X SDHC 32GB Class 6 and MxM
Expresscard – it actually comes out of an EX1. I’m going with their
USB Express34/54 card-reader.
As far as I understood you Snow Leopard could actually work…

What did you mean with Calibrated Software allows use of MP4 directly
too?

[Craig Seeman]

Calibrated Software as an XDCAM EX MP4 import plugin for Final Cut Pro. You can import the MP4 file directly averting the need to re-wrap to MOV. It’s an $80 plugin.

https://www.calibratedsoftware.com/MP4EXImport_Mac.asp

[Frank Steffenhagen]

Thanks Craig!

[Emma Greave]

HI Frank

Just wanted to know how you are getting on with the MXM adaptor, card reader and ATP Pro card? I have just got a Sony EX1, am struggling to with the cost of SxS cards and am thinking of buying exactly the same bits.

Do you have to use 2 MXM express cards or can you shoot with an MXM card in one slot and SXS in another?
I read somewhere that to shoot in slow mo you need to shoot on the SXS card and then somehow transfer it over to an SDHC card…have you come across this?

Thanks

Emma

[Craig Seeman]

Old thread.

I’ve heard that MxM and ATP ProMax cards are very reliable. SDHC cards have had limited slow ability so it’s been recommended to use SxS for that.

Personally I recommend two MxM (I use two MxR) since there might be risk of an issue when the file spans two cards.

I’m hearing though that the new EX1r with the latest MxM and some Class 10 cards can actually record slow mo to the slowest speed of the camera. Sony has in fact announced their own SDHC adaptor which should be available around late March but MxM, MxR, Hoodman are likely just as reliable and probably less expensive.