CF Card Questions

[rlara]

I just ordered a PDR100. It should arrive sometime next week. I pulled down the manual and have a few questions.

CF Cards
*Does anybody know if the Sandisk Extreme III series of CF cards will work?

*Chase Cam lists CF card rates in the manual as XMbit/SEC. Sandisk lists their rates as xxMB/s. Not sure if they both mean the same or Chase Cam means MegaBits/Sec and Sandisk measures theirs as MegaBytes/Sec

* Sandisk also makes the Extreme IV which can R/W at a rate of up to 40 MB/s. if the device can use UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access). Would this card be overkill?

*I will probably record at the highest quality. Does it make since to get cards over 4GB since the FAT32 filing system will only allow 4BM size files?

[tristancliffe]

1. I think so

2. Don't know, but if one is a factor of 1000 (or 1024) out then you'd be right.

3. Don't know.

4. If you can justify the cost of more space then yes. Each video might be limited to 4GB, but you can then fit on more than one video without having to worry. My race meetings usually give just over an hour of track time, which means with 4BG I have to copy the videos to my laptop between sessions to avoid running out of space.

[RandallNoll]

Robert,

Extreme III cards will work. We sell these as "premium" cards. Our "standard" cards are slower yet still work fine.

Anything over "110x" or so SHOULD be fine. I say should because not all cards are equal. The ones we sell we've tested.

The Extreme IV would probably be overkill.

We limit file size to 4GB because most folks use Windows which is limited to 4GB I believe. A larger card would be useful if you want to record a longer amount of time. The PDR will stop the file at 4GB and then automatically start a new one.

Hope this helps!

[RandyChase]

We have some customers using the Extreme IV because of the extended stated temperature range from Sandisk, otherwise it is overkill.

[Tomcat56]

Thats answered one of my questions!..I've gone overkill with the Extreme IV so as to avoid any problems...However!

Why does the PDR come up saying "Card Too Slow" when recording and during playback?

Also, After I installed everything into the car and connected all devices (Camera, Ext Mic, Ext Power Supply) It recorded for 15 minutes before stopping the recording and saying "Video Breaker Tripped" I read on another post this may happen if you don't connect everything before turning on the PDR, but why after 15 minetes?

I have now reformated the CF Card (The Posh, Overkill One!;)) and doublechecked every lead to ensure no loose connections and will try again this week.

Any idea's welcome!!!

[RandallNoll]

Video Breaker Tripped usually means the signal from the camera was interrupted. Turning the PDR off and back on should reset it.

Not sure why you're getting the slow card message. I'd try another card and see if it still happens. If so, it might be worth us looking at the PDR.

Thanks.

[Tomcat56]

Tried the PDR again yesterday having reformatted the CF Card on my PC and rewired the run to the camera to ensure no strain on connectors to prevent any more possible interruptions.

Everything worked fine this time!

Thanks for your advice, I learned alot from reading through the Chasecam forum and it answered other issues like why NiCad batteries only last 5 minutes!!!

Thanks again.