Bella Catapult enables camcorder-to-iPod recording

Camcorder accessory manufacturer Bella has just announced a new device that will let you toss those MiniDV cassettes straight out of your bag and replace them with your iPod or nearly any other USB 2.0-compliant storage system. The Catapult, as it's known, is a paperback-sized digital encoder that plugs into any standard or HD camcorder with a FireWire port and processes the video as you're recording, eliminating the need to convert your footage later on. Besides saving time and offering access to higher storage capacities, the Catapult also enables your cam with a number of features not available out of the box, such as time-lapse recording, remote trigger capabilities, and both pre- and post-recording ability. Pre-recording is an especially attractive option, as it seems to buffer whatever your CCD is capturing for a preset timeframe, allowing you to essentially "turn back the clock" and preserve events that already happened once you hit the record button. Bella tells us to expect their new product sometime during the second half of the year, for some amount of money less than $300.

[Via T3]

[Duncan Koss @ Apr 27th 2006 1:32PM]

That is actually ridiculously useful. When I think of all the time I've spent finding blank tapes and encoding video... wow.

[Attillia @ Apr 27th 2006 1:33PM]

Its about time!

So by I understand it, this allows you to use your ipod's hard drive to store images and videos directing from your camera to the ipod. Directly. Thats right right? lol

[srw985 @ Apr 27th 2006 1:43PM]

doubt it will let you watch your videos on the 5G video ipod though!

[L @ Apr 27th 2006 1:50PM]

Is an iPod's hard drive really fast enough for this? What kind of data rate do you need for DV, presuming the camcorder is doing some kind of on-the-fly compression?

[Duke @ Apr 27th 2006 1:52PM]

Okay, apart from the fact that iPods already have an atrocious battery life when you hook them up to a memory card or camera accesory (some reports of as little as 45 minutes on a full charge)....

This thing can supposedly record to a USB 2.0 compliant device from any standard or HD camcaroder with a Firewire port??? Which is it? USB, or Firewire??? Is this thing some sort of Firewire to USB adaptor?

And WTF is "pre" and "post" recording? You either record something, or you don't. You hit the record button, and for a "preset timeframe" (however long you decide to hold the button down) your camera captures whatever you put in front of it. Until you hit the record button again. And then it stops recording. It's an amazing feature camcorders have had for quite some time. As for "turning back the clock," um, yeah, that's kind of the whole point of a camcorder isn't it, that whole going back and watching something that's already happened bit. The fact that it does it on a storage device and not a mini DV tape doesn't make this crazy "time machine" thingy very interesting.

Now if they're talking about an interval timer where you set the time to start recording and the length of time to record, then that's something else entirely.

C'mon guys, put down the copy of Paper, and clean up the writing a bit eh?

[Brian @ Apr 27th 2006 1:53PM]

WOW, you can spend an extra 300 bucks to make your iPod do the USB host thing? Color me impressed...

[Duke @ Apr 27th 2006 2:04PM]

Okay, apart from the fact that an iPod has horribly battery life when you hook it up to a memory card or camera accessory (some reports of as little as 45 minutes)...

This thing lets you record to a USB 2.0 compliant storage device from any standard or HD camcorder with a Firewire port? Which is it? USB or Firewire? Is this thing some sort of Firewire to USB adaptor?

And WTF is "pre" and "post" recording? You either re cord something, or you don't? You hit the record button and then for a "preset timeframe" (however long you decide to hold down the record button) your camera captures whatever you put in front of it. Now if this thing has an interval timer where you can set the start time and length of recording, that's something else entirely.

As for it's ability to "turn back the clock," um, yeah, that's kind of the whole point of a camcorder isn't it? Going back and watching something that's already happened.

C'mon guys, let's clean up the writing and make it a little more clear and consise eh?

[Cap'n @ Apr 27th 2006 2:12PM]

AWESOME. I'm buying one.

[Kuroshiro @ Apr 27th 2006 2:13PM]

Up until this point, hard drive recorders for camcorders have been fixed size devices. It's more complex than just an external firewire drive. There's a chip inside that manages the video stream, and converts it into files on the hard drive. These devices cost $800 or more. What these guys have done is abstracted that converter chip away from the hard drive and allow any USB2 based storage to be used. Why did they choose USB2? Presumably because the consumer market is more likely to have USB2 external drives than firewire.

As for the "turn back the clock" feature, it's simply a rolling buffer, much like a TiVo. When the camcorder is on, it is constantly sending the image it's getting to the firewire port, so the catapult can just maintain a buffer of what it's received so you get however many seconds of video before you actually hit the record button. Pretty standard feature on existing fixed-storage devices.

[Lee Gibson @ Apr 27th 2006 2:25PM]

"And WTF is "pre" and "post" recording? You either record something, or you don't."

Never used a Tivo, have you?

Just because you're confused, doesn't mean the article was confusing.

[Travis @ Apr 27th 2006 2:26PM]

Pretty funny to bash the authors and then end up double posting! Watch that clicker there big guy!

[JKrahn @ Apr 27th 2006 2:29PM]

Wow guys...way to miss the point of Pre & Post recording. Pre has me the most excited by far...since this thing is capturing the live FW output of the camera, it can precache the footage before you hit record. So if you're taping, say sports, and you press record just as a great play is going on, normally there's a good chance you'd miss the first frames of the actions (not to mention not having any handles for transitions). With pre record, it automatically adds a preset ammount of time to the footage before you started recording. I'm sure this will be a fairly battery intensive feature, but it's great from an editing point of view.

While post recording doesn't excite me as much, I'm sure it will prove useful to someone.

[Omri @ Apr 27th 2006 2:29PM]

No, this hooks up to a USB 2.0 Device (your ipod) and connects to the camera via firewire. The pre recording thing means that the ipod constantly records what you're watching on the camera and saves it in a buffer, you can then chose to save the buffer (however long that is i.e. Tivo or any DVR that records the show) I think they will also need to design a battery pack for the ipod to go with this, because it will definitely not last more than 5 minute connected to this thing.

[jnasato @ Apr 27th 2006 2:37PM]

Duke, the "pre-recording" option allows one to record buffered video for a set time period, along with the recorded video that is done by pressing and re-pressing the Record button.

EXAMPLE: You have your camera on your child ready to record, it says its first word, but you missed recording it! If the camera was on the child the whole time, you can press record after the fact, and the first word will also be recorded, as the video was buffered into RAM (or however they're storing it).

Sounds like a great feature.

[Mike @ Apr 27th 2006 2:37PM]

Duke,
Pre recording means that when you hit the button to start recording, it *already recorded* X seconds/minutes of time PRIOR to hitting the button.

I assume post recording is recording x seconds after stopping the button, which I don't see that much use for.

[james @ Apr 27th 2006 2:41PM]

#4 and #6 you've both missed the point! It seemed obvious to me when I read it that with the "pre" recording option enabled, it will save the video stream starting from 30 seconds or so BEFORE you hit the button. That means it's always recording, like a Tivo - a useful feature when you see something happen that you WISHED you'd recorded.

[Tomas @ Apr 27th 2006 2:42PM]

Forget the iPod. Just make the device with a hard drive.

[Helpful Man @ Apr 27th 2006 2:45PM]

Duke - "This thing lets you record to a USB 2.0 compliant storage device from any standard or HD camcorder with a Firewire port? Which is it? USB or Firewire? Is this thing some sort of Firewire to USB adaptor?"

Chill the fuck out and start reading PLUS thinking.

The *camcorder* is FireWire (DV) and the storage device (iPod, hard disk, whatever) is USB. Their wording made sense to me the first time I read it. If they confused you, I'll admit they should have worded it better, but relax, read it over, and see that it really does make sense.

[doug @ Apr 27th 2006 3:00PM]

#12 it does work with other hard drives. not just an ipod. Not sure that the ipod hard drive is best able to handle DV and HDV footage. I am no expert on this though...it does look interesting....here is the product page for this product:

http://www.bella-usa.com/Catapult.htm

[budak melayu @ Apr 27th 2006 3:13PM]

are there any other products out there already in the market that has this capability too? something below 300.

is it also possible to record(without the dv) using the archos av500 or any other DVR ?

[unclejerry @ Apr 27th 2006 3:24PM]

Anybody notice that Duke has -1 stars after his name? Humm, I wonder why...

[Jimbob @ Apr 27th 2006 3:36PM]

This sounds pretty cool - if your USB device can capture the stream as one of the other posters indicated - data rate might be too high for smaller flash devices.

The reason they don't build the storage into the device is that it allows you to swap storage devices. I see this as very useful when combined with a 2.5" 100GB 7200 RPM hitachi notebook drive in an external enclosure.

The only issue I can think of is powering all the devices - i.e. if you had access to AC power, this would be sweet, but if you are mobile not too good. You need battery power for the camera, firewire thingy and the storage device. Even if the USB port on the firewire thingy provides power (they would need a couple USB ports to power hard drives), its still gonna drive the hell out of a battery.

FYI - Article was very understandable if you understand the tech they are talking about. If not, maybe this is not the website for you???

[macstibs @ Apr 27th 2006 3:48PM]

I had dreamed of this day... but thought it would be in 2004. Better late than never! I don't know how they get around the battery life or write speed issues, but it sounds good if it works.

[Ken @ Apr 27th 2006 4:41PM]

DV streams at 3.5MB/sec I think, so USB 2.0 drives would be able to handle that (obviously, or there'd be no product). Battery is the remaining concern in my mind.

Here's a thought though, if they made it capable of using any firewire based camera, you could hook up an iSight (or equivalent camera) to it and have a very small lens unit with this thing and your drive hooked to your belt and one less independently powered device in the chain. That would be sweet.

[Jeff J @ Apr 27th 2006 5:09PM]

Re: Pre and Post

Let me explain using a scenario... You're at your sister's wedding and you're dad asks you to hold his video camera while he runs to the restroom. He says, "If they cut the cake, record it." You spot some hot thing walking across the dance floor and before you know it the knife is halfway through the first piece. You hit record and let out a sigh of relief because the camera has been "recording" for several seconds before you hit the button and will not stop until a few seconds after you hit it again (in case your sister sneezes cake on her new groom).

Pre and post recording is a videographer's saving grace.

[Joe Smith @ Apr 27th 2006 5:11PM]

i hope this coupled with fujitsu's 1.3 PB disk array http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/24/fujitsu-announces-eternus8000-model-2100-1-3pb-array/ is enough for my home movies!

[wmcbrine @ Apr 27th 2006 5:11PM]

I don't think it stores DV. Notice this part: "...processes the video as you're recording, eliminating the need to convert your footage later on." What does that mean? I'm thinking it means MPEG-2 or -4. Which IMHO is a misfeature, unless it can be turned off.

[Leo @ Apr 27th 2006 5:12PM]

Of course, if this thing has its own battery, it could simply power the hard drive as it transfers. Remember, this is designed for any USB mass storage device. Just because it shows an ipod doesn't mean you'd want to use it with an ipod. If you used one of those 2.5inch to USB hard drive adapters with batteries (normally for dumping photos off memory cards) then you could get a few hours off this thing, and if it provides power while you record, even longer.

The idea with an isight camera could work. It probably uses the camcorder similar to remote capture software on a PC/mac.

Leo

[Leo @ Apr 27th 2006 5:14PM]

#20 - the only issue is that the camera must (obviously) be pointing at the cake for the seconds beforehand, so in essence its only saving you the few seconds before you could react by pressing record...

[d3 @ Apr 27th 2006 5:43PM]

This is a pretty good idea. Its like a firestore but it detaches the storage device from the capture device, so you aren't locked in to a set size and if you know you are going to shoot a lot, you can just pack another drive instead of another expensive firestore.

Battery life is obviously an issue, but if you can find some ac, then you can probably plug an adaptor into this and then it powers the storage device.

[Raymond Wolfe @ Apr 27th 2006 5:49PM]

I 'd rather just record something on my camcorder and transfer it to my iPod later.

[StonerJiPi @ Apr 27th 2006 6:02PM]

Hmm iSight compatibiliy would be nice...

[Civuck @ Apr 27th 2006 8:06PM]

So basically this:

http://www.mcetech.com/quickstreamdv/index.html

and this:

http://www.shining.com/products/totalsolution/citidisk_hdv/

and this:

http://www.focusinfo.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=3

But you supply your own USB storage device. I wonder if you can specify the file format to record to as you can with the others.

[x23 @ Apr 27th 2006 8:45PM]

"28. I 'd rather just record something on my camcorder and transfer it to my iPod later." ... and everything said by "Duke".



you. like many others. are missing the point entirely. you can't watch what you are recording on the ipod. you are simply using it for storage of the DV stream.

do you realize how much time is saved by being able to go back to the studio to edit your footage without having to import it in *real-time*? instead you just plug the drive into your computer and you can get right to editing. no real-time importing just a quick data copy to a production drive. and the cool thing? you keep a tape in the camera and you get a real-time backup being made at the same time. (minus the pre-/post- ... obviously.)

this isn't really a consumer device. it's a device for people who actually know how useful it is. ENG folks. small town commercial producers. professional videographers. it was announced at the NAB show... National Association of *Broadcasters* ... not National Association of Dumbasses Who Just Don't Get It.

- - -

"18. are there any other products out there already in the market that has this capability too? something below 300. "

no. several for quite a bit more though. saying you want one without the DV says you also do not quite get the target market for this device either.

- - -

"15. Forget the iPod. Just make the device with a hard drive."

you can't swap a new hard drive in the field. having it able to use any USB storage device makes this device expandable. being able to pack a couple USB 100GB laptop drives in a bag in case one fills up is a nice option to have. the larger Firestore has fixed internal drives (40GB or 80GB) if that is what you are looking for. http://www.focusinfo.com/solutions/catalog.asp?id=3 ... granted it has a display unlike this device... it also happens to cost twice as much.

[alwieds @ Apr 27th 2006 9:28PM]

"The Catapult, as its known, is an paperback-sized digital encoder that plugs into any standard or HD"

Right! I'm totally going to give a crap about this article, considering it was written by a FREAKING MORON. If you rely on spellcheck, _you cannot spell_.

Goddamn idiots are everywhere nowadays. Somebody hurry up and nuke this damn planet.

[Ryan Gardner @ Apr 27th 2006 9:41PM]

The company "Focus" has been making boxes like this for at least three of four years. They use Firewire hard drives, and you could use an iPod with those a long long time ago.

The battery life of the iPod is horrible - but if this thing acts as a Firewire controller, it can also have its own independent battery to charge/power the iPod.

The number of idiots here who don't get the concept of a 15 or 30 second cache that gets constantly overwritten - and only saved to a file if you hit the "record" button amazes me. ("Wtf is pre..?" - please, get a brain)

[Wry Cooter @ Apr 27th 2006 11:32PM]

I thought it provided some sort of battery backup (or at least, allowed charging of the iPod as its being used.

Regarding the advantage of going direct to a firewire disk- I think firewire can support a fatter (therefore Faster) data stream than a DV camcorder playing back in real time streams. Plus, you already have the data on a work disk, and do not have to play it back from tape later, into your DV editing, be it iMovie or whatever. Cuts a lot of time from an already often tedious process.

[Fred Thompson @ Apr 28th 2006 5:17AM]

WTF?!?! DV is about 13G for an hour of source. A miniDV tape costs about $2 through the 'net.

Just where does one get the 13G ipod for $2. Oops, less than $2 because you have to recover the cost of this device.

This is junk.

[Zeek @ Oct 24th 2007 11:43AM]

What is your time worth? For those of us who do event videography this is huge! If I shoot 6 hours of video to tape I need to spend 6 hours loading that to my computer. This device would allow me to drag and drop it. Also as your video heads get worn or dirty you will have dropouts - since this allows you to record to disc, you are bypassing the heads and the problems they have.

[Arochone @ Apr 28th 2006 6:42AM]

@ #37

Well, I got a 15G iPod for $15, so it's not that bad...and you can get a 200G HDD for under $100...even better. But can you play music off a miniDV tape? No. Can you view videos on a miniDV tape? no. Can you program a miniDV tape? no. Can you use a miniDV tape for anything other than video storage? not really, no.
A LOT of people already have ipods or external HDDs just laying around...and nothing is a heck of a lot cheaper than $2. Besides, what if you wanna record more than an hour? Then you gotta lose time as you swap tapes. But with this you could get a 400GB HDD and record a sold...30.7 hours with no lost time.

[Tito @ Apr 28th 2006 8:28AM]

People will have to learn that even if the product doesn't meet their own personal selfish interests, it doesn't make it a piece of junk. If the product was designed, there is probably a market for it. If not, well stop acting as if you're a shareholder.

This holds also to all the wars of Mac vs Microsoft. Use whatever you prefer and get a life already.

[Civuck @ Apr 28th 2006 9:46AM]

For those needing Xmas gift ideas for me...

I now want the new Seagate 750GB Hard Drive, the RED 11 Megapixel video camera and this Bella Catapult for Christmas.

[Jason @ Apr 28th 2006 12:41PM]

An intriguing product. 1 question, 1 comment.

The ?: For those who might use this, how does it compare with the newer hard-drive based DV cameras? Do those offer interchangeable drives or only 1 built-in that needs to be downloaded before more can be recorded? Is this device mainly a way of preserving one's investment in a MiniDV based camera while still capturing the obvious benefits of storing on a hard drive?

The comment: As to the pre- thing, I just bought a Casio EX-Z850 digital camera, and it's video function offers a similar feature, past movie mode I think it's called. While in that mode, pressing record begins your video with the 5 seconds before you pressed record. I compare this to the videos I used to take, where I might spend 45 seconds recording while trying to coax my 2-year old into showing off her new halloween costume. That makes for a pretty long video to watch later. With this, you point the camera and start coaxing, when the desired result comes, you start recording. Later the in-laws watch it and think you must just be the most influential Dad in the world, cause it only ever takes you 3 or 4 seconds of video till the kiddo is smiling and spinning 'round.

[Mike S @ Apr 29th 2006 1:53AM]

I doubt it does full DV. DV and HDV have a data stream about 25Mbit. I suppose if you had a fast enough USB 2.0 HDD you could do it. I have a couple new resonably fast USB 2.0 (port powered) external drives and they can only manage a 20Mbit stream.

If it Does DV uncompressed, I want the first one off the assembly line. Shine the iPod, just have a couple cheap USB 2.0 drives. I think the iPod is just used because everything asociated with the iPod seems cooler. I'd do it if I were marketing something. Heck Toyota is selling some car and bragging how it interfaces with an iPod.

Now... If this thing does full DV uncompressed AND could take an analog NTSC signal. OH MAN! Yeah, I would buy two. It would be great for doing POV shots using small cameras with remote control but local storage so you don't have the high bandwidth & reliability requirements for your radio link.

But alas, my guess is (since they ain't say'n) is that it does MPEG 2 or 4 compression. Of course with HDV, I have to start getting used to that at some point anyway. But pros aren't going to want to give up image quality and consumers aren't going to understand what purpose this serves.

I missed NAB this year. Did they have this on display? Does anyone know first hand what format it stores in?

Thanks,

--Mike

[jaxun @ Apr 29th 2006 11:34PM]

It seems to me like this will fit neatly into that niche for the prosumer who doesn't want to plunk down another $500 - $800 for a hard drive equipped DVcam when they already have a perfectly good firewire-equipped camera already.

These will be the same folks who appreciate the advantage of the hard drive in the newer cameras in terms of time saved capturing the video (which can be dicey with a marginal tape or drive mechanism in the camera).

I have to think that if the drives in the newer cameras are sufficient for capturing data from the CCD directly, the drive in my Archos Gmini 120 should do. Ideally, there will be some way for this box to recognize and use NTFS so it's not neccesary to navigate multiple FAT32 partitions on a larger drive.

In any case, I am eagerly awaiting some reviews, because if it works as advertised, I will definitely be picking one up.

[Neil Goodwill @ Jun 18th 2006 8:09PM]

I was always led to believe that USB2 could not handle sustained DV transfer rates at full resolution (720x576 PAL 25fps), hence the use of firewire which does it very well. It seems strange to convert something from firewire to USB only to have it converted back to firewire at the edit stage.

[Neil Goodwill @ Aug 1st 2006 9:48AM]

Does anyone know if it is on sale yet, or where the full spec for it is?
I have emailed Bella, but they never reply! Not a good way to market a new product.
I suppose there is no reason why the captured DV files should change in any way because firewire and USB are just methods of streaming. I am going to try an experiment to capture to my laptop using firewire, but choosing an external USB hd as the save destination. I will let you know how I get on.

[Neil Goodwill @ Aug 1st 2006 12:17PM]

My experiment worked perfectly. No dropped frames whatsoever on capture. The playback was crap on the USB connection, but I always use firewire when editing anyway. There is no reason why the Catapult shouldn't be absolutely brilliant as long as it captures at 720x576 (PAL) 25fps.

[Neil Goodwill @ Nov 26th 2006 8:22PM]

No one is replying to anything on this site, and Bella do not reply, so I have the belief that the Catapult is not going to happen. Therefore I am going to continue my own DV capture device project.

[joe.fannta @ Jan 26th 2008 2:23PM]

pls I wanna buy this device but I couldn't find it,is there anybody who has more informations?