Heavyweight DVR Repair - DataVideo DN-300

On the lookout for a tapeless recording solution for my HDV cameras I spotted this old DataVideo DN-300 going cheap on eBay.  It was described as having a faulty hard drive so I assumed I would be able to open it up, replace the drive and get the recorder working again.

However when I received it I realised that the DN-300 features a removable hard drive.  Not something that was mentioned in any of the reviews.  So the hard drive wasn’t faulty, it was completely missing.  Along with the caddy/enclosure needed to mount it.

Of course DataVideo no longer have spares for this model in stock, and also they used a completely different drive enclosure in the DN-400 and newer models.

It was the change in caddy that gave me a clue how to find a solution.  The hard drive slot in the DN-300 is really well built, and it seemed unlikely that DataVideo would develop a proprietary removable hard drive for this model then ditch it for the next… so the hard drive caddy had to be an off the shelf product.

A bit of Google searching and I was able to find the OEM version of the drive housing.  It’s a StarTech 2.5 SSD/HDD rack with hot swap removable rack.  These drives are also out of production, but I was able to find some for sale on Amazon US.  Keeping my fingers crossed, I ordered one.

The package arrived in the mail a couple of weeks later and sure enough, the hard drive enclosure is a perfect fit for the DataVideo unit.  All I needed to do was throw in a spare HDD and it was good to go.

The DN-300 recognised the disk, prompted me to format it and then it the recorder was ready for action.  I’ve tested it with HDV and Analogue connections and it works a great.  The only downside is the lack of built-in screen on the DN-300 so you really do have to assume it’s recording the correct input (or run the device with and external monitor).

I’m really happy that this purchase worked out so well, it’s added some serious horsepower to my vintage camera editing station, and it should give some much needed tapeless recording options for some of my cameras with more temperamental tape drives.

In the meantime I will need to stock up on BNC adaptors.  I could only find one in my parts box.

If anything can… DVCam

 Despite having a load of MiniDV and DVCam camcorders I was tempted by this Sony DSR-PD1 going cheap on eBay.

Released in 1997 the PD1 is the smallest DVCam camera ever made, it’s a palmcorder barely wider than the tape drive mechanism inside it, with flip out screen and compact lens.  

The PD1 is the professional partner to the Sony DCR-PC7 consumer model and is almost identical apart from the dark grey paint finish and the DVCam logo.

This one is fully working and aside from a few bubbles in the paint it’s in good condition.  These cameras use a Series-F battery which is wider and flatter than the later NP-F550 style and was only used for a small number of cameras.  Luckily the battery for this one still holds a decent charge because replacements are not easy to find.

This photo shows how large the PC7/PD1 is compared to the slightly newer DCR-PC9e from 2001.  The PC9e also uses the much more common FM series batteries.

So that’s another camera added to the collection.  Once the weather clears up I will be heading out to grab some DVCam footage with it and trying out the low light performance.

Slice like a Ninja…

 One of the main problems with older DSLR cameras is the highly compressed shooting format. 

For example my Canon 550d records H264 with a bit rate of around 45mbps which gives a good quality image but such high compression gives very little room for adjustment in post.

My Sony a5100 offers a slightly higher bit rate with its XAVC format offering 50mbps but shooting in that format for prolonged periods does tend to overheat the camera.

Modern cameras like the BMPCC record in Apple ProRes or DNG RAW for the best quality, but obviously they also cost a lot more.

This is where the Atomos Ninja comes in.  First released in 2012 the Ninja is a portable lcd monitor and hard drive recorder which records an HDMI input as ProRes up to 147mbps.

When first released the Ninja cost over £900 and was pitched at professionals looking to add tapeless recording to HDV cameras.

Ten years later the Atomos range has gone through a lot of changes and five versions of the Ninja adding a lot more functionality and recording options.  The original version of the Ninja can be found very cheaply on eBay.  

I picked this one up very cheaply and it came complete with original carry case and a selection of hard drives and ssd drives.

The recorder itself is very compact, measuring 4.5 x3.5 inches, and it is small enough to mount directly on top of the camera using a monitor swivel foot.

The system uses standard 2.5inch hard drives or SSD’s which are mounted in plastic caddies and slotted into the left side of the device.  Footage is downloaded using the usb hard drive dock provided.

Power for the recorder comes from standard Sony NP batteries, with two battery slots on the back of the recorder allowing for hot swap during recording which gives potentially unlimited recording times on location.

Control is via touch screen controls and the menus and buttons are very clear and easy to use.  The touch screen itself is not overly sensitive so it needs a good ‘press’ and hold on the screen in order to activate the buttons.  It’s not possible to accidentally brush against the screen and stop recording.

The screen is very bright, much brighter than the standard screen on a DSLR and it’s very easy to view even in bright daylight conditions.

If you use spinning hard drives rather than SSD then the recorder does give a very slight gyroscope effect that makes handheld operation a little strange.

The recorder requires a clean HDMI signal to work, so you will need to make sure your camera either includes clean HDMI out or can run Magic Lantern to obtain a clean signal.

The ProRes recording format gives larger file sizes than the H264 on my Canon with a 250gb hard drive storing about 3 hours of footage at the highest ProRes 422 quality.  However the jump in quality is really impressive when viewed against the in-camera recording.  

ProRes gives a lot more flexibility for post processing.  The footage can be pushed further in brightness without showing as much grain as the standard XAVC recordings on the Sony and for the Canon the footage is a huge improvement.  The original Canon H264 footage shows a lot of compression, especially in shadow areas but the ProRes 422 HQ files are almost noise free by comparison.

So if you are looking for a budget recording option that gives professional quality footage even from a budget camera, then the original Atomos Ninja is definitely worth trying out.