Laird Telemedia is now shipping its miniature capdiv Direct DV Recorder, which is designed for videography, ENG, EFP, and field acquisition applications. It’s a full turnkey DV capture system, which means that no addition purchases are necessary.
Based on Laird’s hard drive record and playback technology, capdiv offers a Direct DV Recorder pre-formatted internal hard disk drive, which means the system can function as an HDD or as a VTR.
The capdiv sports front-panel controls for record, play and pause functions. When used as a VTR, the capdiv can accept “start” and “stop” record commands automatically from the camera trigger/record button of any DV camcorder. When shooting, capdiv records video as raw DV content into a proprietary file scheme that allows a virtually unlimited number of clips to be appended, according to Laird Technology.
Operating in HDD mode, the capdiv Direct DV Recorder performs an almost instant conversion of raw DV content into an extended AVI format that can be imported into most NLE (nonlinear editing) systems. NLEs configured with Apple’s Final Cut Pro or Avid Xpress DV will recognize the capdiv Direct DV Recorder as an external hard drive, which means that the video content is available right away. Operators can also use the system for archiving purposes, recording to both tape and HDD simultaneously.
The capdiv Direct DV Recorder is available now in 3.3-hour and 4.5-hour configurations for US$1,295 and $1,595. Since it includes a FireWire connection, it works with Mac and Windows systems, as well as a standalone capture device.
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