EventDV by Anthony Burokas

When it comes to camcorders, most everything is moving to flash media.

There are, however, an incredible amount of HDV and other tape-based HD camcorders out there, still working hard and producing great images. How do you get these camcorders up to speed with the new flash-media workflow? With an external recorder.

Thus far, the need for external devices to record HD footage has primarily been served by Focus Enhancements’ FireStore line. However, there has been growth in the segment recently and Datavideo has entered the fray with a unique design and price point under $500. Does the Datavideo DN-60 Solid State CF Card Recorder give the more expensive recorders a run for their money? Let’s find out.

Design
When you look at on-camera flash media recorders, there are really only two kinds: those made by the manufacturer to integrate with the camera, such as Sony’s HVR-MRC1 CF recorder, and third-party recorders that are designed to accept a standard cable and video format, and record it to the media inside. All the recorders vary in design dramatically, and the Datavideo DN-60 is no different.

Front and center, sticking out like a nose, is the main controller knob that enables users to access almost all the device’s functions. A sliding door below that gives easy access to the compact flash card. Compact flash may seem like an interesting choice for a dedicated media recorder such as this. SD cards (SDHC, SDXC) seem to be the prevalent flash media of choice these days, and the data rate of HDV doesn’t tax the throughput of either card format. But compact flash has a few advantages, specifically when you start using larger cards. Foremost among these is the data rate with which you can read the card. read more...