Is your old iPod lying around gathering dust after you just HAD to go out and buy the video iPod? Are you cringing at the thought of capturing hours upon hours of DV or (lucky you) HDV footage? Worry no more! Bella Corporation has announced what they call “the world’s first device to allow capture of video footage from DV or HDV video cameras directly to iPods or virtually any USB drive.” I haven’t heard of any other devices like this so they deserve the title as far as I know.
Bella Corporation’s “Catapult” is a small, battery powered device that takes a FireWire connection from virtually any camcorder and stores the footage onto USB 2.0 drives. A handy dandy carrying case is included that has space for an iPod or a 2.5″ USB drive, which effectively become DTE (direct-to-edit) devices. Yes, you can use your old, worn-out iPod to store footage!
You can set the Catapult to record when triggered or in time-lapse mode. Pre- and post-record options are also available. These are things you just can’t do with standard DV or HDV tape. The Catapult even allows remote triggering via a remote switch or motion detector.
The ONLY thing I’m concerned about is whether or not the Catapult will power the USB 2.0 hard drives you connect. I’m assuming it does, but this also means that it’s sort of redundant to use external hard drives that have to be AC powered. But who cares, this is one sweet little device. It will be available later this year for under $300.
[ via FresHDV ]
Bella Catapult Turns iPods Into DTE Devices…
Video editing accessories company Bella Corporation recently announced the Catapult, “the world’s first device to allow capture of video footage from DV or HDV video cameras directly to iPods or virtually any USB drive, and begin editing immediately…
What ever happened to this device? I’d still love to get my hands on one but the second half of 2006 has come and gone and not a word.