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MillimeterSony HVR-Z7U
May 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By D. W. Leitner
On the road with the innovative new handheld camera.
A Further Appreciation of the Sony HVR-MRC1
As I got to know the iPod-sized Sony HVR-MRC1 better, I really grew to appreciate its function and design. It is plastic and ultra-light but well-built, with a rugged feel. Detaching the MRC1 from the HVR-Z7U camera and snapping it into its cradle is as easy as attaching the camera battery to the rear of the cradle. The cradle’s i.Link port thankfully features a full-size 6-pin connector (FireWire 400).
The MRC1’s menus are limited (a good thing) and very clear. Nothing is buried. Deleting a single clip is straightforward, as is deleting all clips. Deleting all clips takes place almost instantly. Impressive.
The 8GB CompactFlash cards get surprisingly toasty — the MRC1 manual states, “The CompactFlash may become hot just after use. Handle with care.” — but this doesn’t seem to impact the MRC1’s functioning. I remain amazed at the volume of data Sony’s CF cards are able to push around, just as I find it hard to believe that such good-looking HD plays back from a card the size of a large postage stamp.
To import MRC1 clips, I used Sony’s Log & Transfer plug-in for Apple Final Cut Pro (my version is 6.0.3), which installs easily. If you open Log & Transfer in Final Cut and then attach an MRC1, the MRC1’s files appear in the Log & Transfer window automatically. It’s as easy as importing JPEGs into iPhoto from a point-and-shoot.
I particularly appreciated the MRC1’s automatic clip naming. For instance, an actual clip of mine imported as “00_0007_2008-04-04_180112.mov.” At first glance, you might think this is a long and awful name for a file. But this is what the Z7’s automatic clip-naming convention means: camera number is 00, clip number is 7, date is April 4, 2008, and start of recording took place at 6:01 p.m. and 12 seconds (180112 is hour/minute/second). When a long list of such clips appear in a folder, they are automatically arranged in chronological order. Fantastic.
You can download Sony’s Log & Transfer software and find further information on the MRC1’s workflow at www.sony.ca/hdv/HVR-DR60_60i/products/HVR-DR60/soft.html. Once you're there, be sure to check out the PDF called “Streamline Your HDV and DV Editing Workflows With Sony’s File Recording Solutions.” — D.W.L.
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