portable storage .. flashtrax ?? user opinions ??

[ozematt]

hello

im looking at purchacing a portabble storage device and was wondering if there are any users of the smartdisc Flashtrax . who could offer some comments on this unit .

__http://www.smartdisk.com/Products/DigitalMultimedia/FlashTrax.asp

ive also looked at the snazio Pocket Cinema and would apreciate some comments

http://www.bytezone.com.au/index_ret...product_id=263



comments apreciated

matt

[quebert]

I'm interested in a similar device too, I don't need 40 gigs,just something witha color screen and maybe 4-10 gigs. would be nice if it had native XD support too.

[BobT]

Check out www.4tress.com



..........Bob

[Freefly]

I personally have heard nothing but good reviews about this. A well known photographer - Andy Rouse - swears by it. I am currently about 90% convinced I need one....

[Freefly]

Today, I put my money where my mouth is...ordered the 40gb version!! With spare battery!

The way I see it, I was going to order a few more 1gb Lexar cards, whereas for a little bit more, I have a picture viewer (great for taking immediate orders!!), video player and MP3 player.....say no more!



Have 2 weddings coming up, and I shall expect to fill one card quickly, and then give it to my assistant to download to the Flashtrax, whilst I fill the second card!!!!

[ozematt]

hey freefly

id love to hear how the unit peforms.

particulary card download speed. (a vosonic vmp3h i tried took 45mins to download 1 ,128mb sd card)

image quality displayed on the screen.

speed at which the images are displayed(some port stor units are slow)

what is the video display like & can u save a dvd on to the unit from your pc and view it when u travel????

its great to hear from users

reguards

matt

ps where is the best price of this unit ???

[Freefly]

No probs, I will have a play when it arrives, and give a run down on this forum!!

For now, check this link out!

http://www.smartdisk.com/Products/Di...aseStudies.asp

I bought from B&H Photovideo after a bit of searching, I have used them quite a bit, very good service! 40gig + spare battery and delivery to Spain = $599.90

[[email protected]]

I have the same unit for 6 months now and I have to admit that I never leave home without it. I works well for me, after each shooting session, I always transfer all image files to the Flashtrak device and it created a very well organized subdirectory to store your photos by a single touch of a button, even though you may have the two same photo's name files, but it will never be duplicated, trust me... If you the microdrive instead of CF, it will draw more power out of the flashtrak, but it's a minor issue, it still performs admirely. It has the 3.5 inches screen that you can review and edit your photo, but it's kinda very low resolution, not as good as the 3.8 incles LCD screen on the Archos AV-340, the Flashtrax also plays MP3 music which you can put several thousand MP3 songs on this unit if you want to entertaint yourself on the long trip and still have room for your photos. It won't play MP4 like the Archos. Besure to check with the Fleshtrax website to upgrade it with the newest firmware version.

I hear a number reports about the lthium ion battery does not perform very well, so having a spare one is a good idea, but I never experience any problem with mine, it odes take more time to charge the battery in contrary to what said in the manual.

Cheers:lol:

[Freefly]

hey freefly id love to hear how the unit peforms. particulary card download speed. (a vosonic vmp3h i tried took 45mins to download 1 ,128mb sd card) image quality displayed on the screen. speed at which the images are displayed(some port stor units are slow) what is the video display like & can u save a dvd on to the unit from your pc and view it when u travel????

Ok, I have had this unit for a few weeks now and this is my opinion!!!

:?:?

Firstly download speed...

I use a lexar 1gb 40x professional card. The other evening I was shooting 8 models at a villa and quickly filled the card. During a break, I simply inserted the card (while the unit was switched OFF!) and pressed copy...15 minutes later it was done! Break over, reformat card and start again...VERY IMPRESSIVE! Not sure of speeds with slower cards though!

Secondly image quality...

Not AMAZING, but totally adequate for most purposes. Need to be in a shady area, as with any of these screens, but good zoom and quality.

Speed of image display depends on filesize, a full file from EOS 10d takes about 3-5 seconds to display on slideshow...smaller files obviously much quicker. I recommend compressing to around 500kb for speedy viewing.

Now the video bit. At first I was disappointed about the video as it would not work..then I went to the flashtrax website and downloaded a funky program (Only a couple of MB!) which converts most video typesinto the required format for the flashtrax. I have played tv episodes of "Little Britain", music videos by queen, and my own personal home videos of our son...all with excellent video quality and exceptional sound, especially with headphones or external speakers...



Needless to say, I am now absolutely chuffed to bits with this bit of kit...great for taking away on long trips etc........:love:

One other thing, if a video doesnt work, run in through Windows movie maker (Supplied with XP) and save as movie file, THEN run through the flashtrax program..and....VOILA!! Just done it with an episode of friends I was having problems with!!

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[NHL]

Freefly wrote:

...VERY IMPRESSIVE! Not sure of speeds with slower cards though!

All flash cards read speeds are independent from their "write" speed. When downloading, the reads are very fast even with slower cards (in fact several magnitudes faster than their write cycles)!

The FlashTrax can also display RAW pictures (a very rare feature among portable storage) provided one uses the RAW+jpeg format while doing the shoot... The zoom function and all work with RAW