Shortcomings Shooting to MRC-1 with Z7, Z5 & Z1.

Having owned each of these cameras and making the transition from tape to CF card capture a year ago, I soon found the shortcomings and disappointments that came along with the MRC-1 unit.

These cams are limited to 63 min tape loads. OK in most situations except for programs that run longer than an hour with no breaks. Such as a seminar or play. You have to change tape around the 1 hour mark. Problem solved by capturing to CF card with the MRC-1. With a 32GB card I can record 2.5 hours. But not really. Here's why.

First off, at every 4GB/20 min mark the MRC-1 starts a new file. Fortunately no video frames are dropped between the files. However, you lose 1/2 a second of audio at the end of EVERY file. With music playing or talking, you're going to have that NO AUDIO gap for that 1/2 second. Problem solved. Capture to tape at the same time. Not really!

Though the tape will provide a backup image and audio to dub in those 1/2 second audio drops, you're still going to have to switch tape around the 1 hour mark for long programs. Now here's the major problem with that. If the tape runs out or you stop tape record to switch tape, even keeping the MRC-1 independent and still capturing, this will cause the MRC-1 to stop and start again losing up to 8 second of audio and video on the CF card. A major gap in the program. Unacceptable!

Second problem is, if you're shooting with no tape in the camera, you're going to get that constant yellow flashing tape icon telling you there is no tape loaded. Problem solved. Load tape and capture only to the MRC-1.

To really make our Z5 and Z7 a usable choice for any project that will require long takes, such as a wedding or play or seminar, we capture to CF card and use an external audio capture device such as a Zoom. Going this route we can run a continuous take up to 2.5 hours of video and capture audio to a Zoom. Then if we need any audio dubs for missing audio from the MRC-1, we've got it on the Zoom.

The option of going to capturing to external HDD is out of the question. Just unreliable. HDDs will crash.

If I would have know this way ahead of time, I would have moved up to a Sony EX3. The Z1, Z5 and Z7 can go tapeless but will require more editing time and equipment.

Ken Bennett
Video Adventures
Capturing Your Life's Adventures!

Have you, in the time since posting this, found a solution like, perhaps, a software update or download or something that makes it all work properly?
I'm asking because I've been offered a Z1 for a figure I can JUST afford (considerably lower than the cost of, for me, an unaffordable EX1). Now, I only film seminars, talks and other things that go on for 1 or 2 hours but I have to be pretty mobile so the less I carry around, the better.

Thanks but at that price of £1,400 or so, I may as well hold out for a pre-used EX1.
Thanks for repsonding.
Johnny

Correction- make that a 32GB card. Not 64GB.

Ken Bennett
Video Adventures
Capturing Your Life's Adventures!

last month I shot a wedding in Chicago and used a Sony EX3. Two cards installed. Shot all day. No audio issues to worry about. Great camera.

Ken Bennett
Video Adventures
Capturing Your Life's Adventures!

I know that this thread is a bit old...but I just wanted to be sure that you guys knew that importing the files with Sony Recording Unit Utility software will join ALL the files back into one continuous file with no breaks and no audio drops.

I recently shot a live show about 1:15 in length. If you just copy the files to the PC you will get those audio dropouts between the files.

The Sony Recording Unit Software is free to download on Sony's website. Works like a charm.

I also use a small Sony CX130 HD camcorder as a second camera angle during shooting. These files break up the same way and have the audio dropout. These cameras come with a software too that will join the files back together when importing them to the PC. You can download the latest version of this software, but you have to connect your camera to the PC before it will let you download.

------------------------------------------------
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe MB
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB DDR 5
Intel i7 2600k 3.4 Ghz
Corsair HX750 power supply
Two Seagate Barracuda 500g SATA III drives
16 Gig G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Canopus ACEDVio card
Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition case
Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler
Win 7 Pro
VEGAS 8.0
VEGAS 11.0 32 & 64 bit
Sony VX2100
Sony HVR-Z7U
Alesis HD24

The download page from Sony states that Sony Vegas 7.0 and later has the capability of capturing the files directly without having to use the utility software. I haven't even tried that though...I just used the recording unit utility software and it worked perfectly for me. I'll have to do a little experimenting and see how the capture utility in Vegas works for the HD files. I've always used the capture utility in Vegas for capturing DV files from my cameras...but I'm new to HD so I still have a lot to learn.

------------------------------------------------
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe MB
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB DDR 5
Intel i7 2600k 3.4 Ghz
Corsair HX750 power supply
Two Seagate Barracuda 500g SATA III drives
16 Gig G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Canopus ACEDVio card
Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition case
Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler
Win 7 Pro
VEGAS 8.0
VEGAS 11.0 32 & 64 bit
Sony VX2100
Sony HVR-Z7U
Alesis HD24

No go with the software after install. When I connect via firewire, neither of my computers (PC) will even acknowledge the unit plugged in. It just doesn't come up. And I believe way back when I got it only one PC accepted it but after that... nothing. When I plug in any other device, I do get that "ding" and that device comes up. Not the MRC1.

Ken Bennett
Video Adventures
Capturing Your Life's Adventures!

Ken, my mistake. I remembered your post here and thought I'd check out my MRC1 just to make sure. When I turned it on my PC did recognize it. Strange thing is though...when I click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon...it fails to disconnect the MRC1 and gets an error message. I have to just turn off the MRC1. So far I haven't had any problems doing this, but I don't like the fact that it doesn't "dismount" the device.

------------------------------------------------
ASUS P8P67 Deluxe MB
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB DDR 5
Intel i7 2600k 3.4 Ghz
Corsair HX750 power supply
Two Seagate Barracuda 500g SATA III drives
16 Gig G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Canopus ACEDVio card
Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition case
Xigmatek Dark Knight CPU Cooler
Win 7 Pro
VEGAS 8.0
VEGAS 11.0 32 & 64 bit
Sony VX2100
Sony HVR-Z7U
Sony HDR-CX130
Alesis HD24

If you are on a mac you might try disk utility. sometimes i can't mount or unmount a simple usb device but it is seen and can be mounted and unmounted with disk utility.

OSX 10.5.8; MacBookPro4,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.