[John Broadhead]

Not sure if you solved your capture goals yet but just wanted to share that we just came out with the EDIROL VC-50HD ($3795 List) that could fit the bill.
https://www.edirol.com/vc50hd
It’s a portable, battery-powered SDI to 1394 video field converter.

It provides bi-directional conversion between SD/HD-SDI to/from DV, HDV as well as 35Mbps and 50Mbps MPEG-2 TS (basically XDCAM HD). The unit also supports lower bit rates including 8Mbps as well as 2, 9 and 12Mbps when using with SD sources.

So you’ll be able to use the VC-50HD stand-alone with your PC/Mac to capture from SDI sources using OnLocation, Scopebox or even Quicktime Pro (Mac). Or if you want super portable – connect to one of the EDIROL F-1 Video Field Recorders (https://www.edirol.com/f1).

Essentially the VC-50HD was created to help SDI cameras to get the same or better results than the camera can get through firewire.
Perhaps as a backup or even as a primary capture mechanism.

As well for those cameras that don’t have any recording ability… SDI camera heads used in all sorts of applications – like the Iconix Video etc..( https://www.iconixvideo.com/).

If you want something that can also do scaling, frame rate conversion and other adjustments, check out the EDIROL VC-300HD Multi-format Video Convertor (https://www.edirol.com/vc300hd).

Hope that helps,
John Broadhead
Roland Systems Group