Onboard digital video recorders for film and video production

Gear

ZephyrCan I fly my Alexa or RED on a Zephyr?389

Master SeriesIs a used Master Series rig worth buying as a first big rig?191

BFDHow do I power my BFD receiver from my camera or sled?186

VoltCan I retrofit a Volt onto my existing sled or gimbal?168

ArtemisHow do I power my camera and accessories from an Artemis sled?166

MDRWhere can I mount my Preston MDR on my rig?143

ModulusIs there a Modulus option for HD wireless video?141

G-70Will my G-70 fit my vest, gimbal or sled?126

FI+ZCan I control iris and zoom wirelessly, not just focus?60

HU3Where can I get my HU3 repaired, refurbished or repainted?60

CineLiveHow do I pack and case my CineLive rig for transport?54

G-70XHow does the G-70X compare to Pro Titan, Xarm and other arms?46

Trinity 2Is Trinity 2 SUP 3.0 firmware safe to install or buggy?46

Ultra VestWhich vest should I choose for my body size, comfort and operator type?39

2004Video Assist and Video Accessories forum

22 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.

Several hard disk-based recorders designed for video assist on film sets became available around 2004, including models like the Clipmaker, Sting, Wavemaker, and Fast Forward Video Mini DVR Pro.
The Clipmaker recorder could be mounted between battery and sled or used as a video assist recorder, featured easy hard drive replacement, and allowed playback, slow motion, and still frame capture directly from the unit.
Hard disk recorders required stable 12-volt power supplies and could not operate reliably on 13.2-volt systems.
MPEG-2 compression formats used by some recorders could create file compatibility issues with common home editing software that only supported AVI format.
Recording capacity on compact flash cards varied significantly by quality setting, ranging from 8 minutes at high quality to 40 minutes at low resolution per 2GB card.
Hard drive-based storage cost approximately $75 per hour of recording at highest resolution using 40GB 2.5-inch drives, while compact flash cards cost around $2250 per hour at high quality due to their higher price per gigabyte.
General Purpose Interface (GPI) inputs on some recorders allowed automatic triggering to start recording when the camera began recording.
Fast Forward Video Mini DVR Pro pricing dropped from an initial $3495 list price to $2295 within approximately one year.

The discussion predates modern technology and describes 2004-era equipment with inherent limitations of that period.
Claims about picture quality comparisons are subjective observations rather than objective measurements.
Build quality concerns were mentioned for at least one model but not systematically tested.
Service and support availability varied by region and distributor, making some equipment difficult to obtain in certain markets.
No definitive performance comparison between competing models was completed during the discussion.