Panasonic AG-UX90NTSC UX Series Tech Brief Dual Slot SD Card Recording

Two-Slot Recording Options on the AG-UX90 and AG-UX180

°e new AG-UX90 and AG-UX180 camcorders record onto standard SDXC memory cards,

and they feature two card slots.

In this paper I will explore the various ways the cameras

can use those two card slots and the applicability of using those recording options to various

shooting scenarios.

Commodity Media And Recording Formats

°e AG-UX90 and AG-UX180 were designed to be not only inexpensive to

buy, but also inexpensive to operate.

°e use of reasonable file sizes and stan-

dardized recording formats onto standardized, commodity SDXC memory

cards opens up options that would not have been possible or as practical on

different recording media.

For general use, the camera records onto one card at a time.

In this situation, it can record ap-

proximately two hours of high-definition footage, or one hour of Ultra High Def (UHD) foot-

age, on a 64GB SDXC card (and four hours of HD, or two hours of UHD, on a 128GB card,

etc).

Traditionally the camera operator would then eject that memory card and give it to the

editor (for in-house post production) or directly to the client (in a shooter-for-hire scenario).

Additionally, aſter recording is finished, the camera can also copy clips from one memory card

to another, giving the operator the opportunity to create a trimmed-down card with only se-

lected clips on it.

Or, the camera can power and control an external USB hard drive and copy

all the clips (or only selected clips) from the memory card onto that hard disk.

However, the presence of the second card slot opens up opportunities to accomplish more

while recording, or to reduce or eliminate footage copying, or to ensure footage integrity and

redundancy.

Relay Recording For Extended Recording Time

°ere are times and events where the camera operator will

need to roll the camera for lengthy periods of time, and record

uninterrupted.

While the standard recording times on the AG-

UX90 and AG-UX180 are already very generous, they can be

effectively extended by using both memory card slots together

in a process called “Relay Recording.”

In Relay Recording,

the camera records as normally onto one of its memory cards and, when that card is full, it

switches to the other memory card, continuing recording seamlessly, without skipping a beat

(or dropping a frame, or suffering any sort of audio dropout or any other negative side effect).

Needless to say, this can be a lifesaver for any shooter who finds themselves covering live

events, breaking news, or other scenarios where there is no convenient opportunity to stop

recording and swap memory cards.

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