Little Things I Want ...

[Mark L. Pederson]

Here's some little things I want -

#1: checkbox to select DEGREES or FRACTIONS for display of shutter selection.

Fractions of seconds drive me and the film guys nuts.
Shutter should always be correctly displayed when in relative, etc.


#2: ability to TURN OFF all displays in the EVF except the record light and frame guides - (but still have them out the PREVIEW). Several big film DPs have commented to me that all the meters and indicators are distracting. "Make my EVF feel like an optical viewfinder option" - sweet to have that mapped to the lower button on the EVF.

#3: Make some OBVIOUS indicator when you are "punched in" with the focus magnifier. The Genesis says "MAG" for "magnification" - but it is small - and people have shot with that on by mistake - and I know this has happened on some Red shoots as well. It needs to be painfully clear that you are punched in - so when you go to record, you don't forget to toggle back.

Here's the BIG things I still want -

#1: Color Look File spec and ability to load MULTIPLE look files into to camera AND alter and save them to camera.

#2: embedded audio & TC in the preview out

#3: Cooke iSeries meta-data

#4: 1:1 pixel for pixel output for focus check

#5: I want to stream REDCODE RAW of the camera to shared storage on big projects. (ideally fibre switched to a Scratch fly-pack with a SR deck) This could be eSata to a RAM BUFFER with ETHERNET OFFLOAD ala the ill-fated CINERAM - or an eSata to Fibre BOB/ADAPTER/BUFFER - Fibre is overkill for data stream - but such a nice thin cable you can run forever ....

oh yeah ... and that pesky ROOT folder per mag that contains all RDC files -

PS - I love our cameras more every day.

[Jan Prochazka]

#5: I want to stream REDCODE RAW of the camera to shared storage on big projects. (ideally fibre switched to a Scratch fly-pack with a SR deck) This could be eSata to a RAM BUFFER with ETHERNET OFFLOAD ala the ill-fated CINERAM - or an eSata to Fibre BOB/ADAPTER/BUFFER - Fibre is overkill for data stream - but such a nice thin cable you can run forever ....


Maybe bring back the RED RAWPORT? I still love the idea of shooting 2K RAW (no codec) @120fps.

And I preffer 10Gb fibre, if I can choose. Please. I already spent some effort into developing that bad-ass-super-duper-fat-stream-catching technology.

[Kevin Halverson]

I like Mark's list, but I would elevate his 4th item:

"#4: 1:1 pixel for pixel output for focus check"

to the top of the list. This is one that I feel is really important!

Kevin

[Steve Freebairn]

Why not use Gigabit ethernet, that would make it way more accessible to tons of users. And that should let you get more than double the current bitrates with plenty of headroom.

[Damien Molineaux]

Good points

See my importance classification below (underlined) :


Here's some little things I want -

little : #1: checkbox to select DEGREES or FRACTIONS for display of shutter selection.

Fractions of seconds drive me and the film guys nuts.
Shutter should always be correctly displayed when in relative, etc.


BIG : #2: ability to TURN OFF all displays in the EVF except the record light and frame guides - (but still have them out the PREVIEW). Several big film DPs have commented to me that all the meters and indicators are distracting. "Make my EVF feel like an optical viewfinder option" - sweet to have that mapped to the lower button on the EVF.

BIG : #3: Make some OBVIOUS indicator when you are "punched in" with the focus magnifier. The Genesis says "MAG" for "magnification" - but it is small - and people have shot with that on by mistake - and I know this has happened on some Red shoots as well. It needs to be painfully clear that you are punched in - so when you go to record, you don't forget to toggle back.

Here's the BIG things I still want -

BIG : #1: Color Look File spec and ability to load MULTIPLE look files into to camera AND alter and save them to camera.

BIG : #2: embedded audio & TC in the preview out

BIG (but not for me right now) : #3: Cooke iSeries meta-data

VERY BIG : #4: 1:1 pixel for pixel output for focus check

seems a little utopic (and not important to me) : #5: I want to stream REDCODE RAW of the camera to shared storage on big projects. (ideally fibre switched to a Scratch fly-pack with a SR deck) This could be eSata to a RAM BUFFER with ETHERNET OFFLOAD ala the ill-fated CINERAM - or an eSata to Fibre BOB/ADAPTER/BUFFER - Fibre is overkill for data stream - but such a nice thin cable you can run forever ....

oh yeah ... and that pesky ROOT folder per mag that contains all RDC files -

PS - I love our cameras more every day.

Cheers,
Damien

[Adrian T.]

I want histograms and the traffic light to be based on RAW data instead of the RGB preview.

Today I shot something where the blue channel clipped - according to the HUD traffic light. When I changed color temperature (this is only meta data) it no longer clipped. But I still didn't know if the RAW data actually clipped or not.

I'm not interested in clipping of the preview picture but I want to prevent clipped RAW data!

[JD Holloway]

I want histograms and the traffic light to be based on RAW data instead of the RGB preview.



Ya, this is HUGE and should be pretty simple to execute I would think.
Recent threads would indicate many other people require this.

[Jens Jakob Thorsen]

"I want histograms and the traffic light to be based on RAW data instead of the RGB preview"
Seems like the biggest issue of all...otherwise we are back to using lightmeters again.

[Chris Gearhart]

#3: Make some OBVIOUS indicator when you are "punched in" with the focus magnifier.

I would love this too. Same thing happened with me--recorded with different FOV than I thought I was getting.

[Brent J. Craig]

I agree with everything in Offhollywood's list. We need all of that.

Although a fiber-optic out might be more difficult to deal with, one of the rental houses I work with told me that the fiber-optic outputs on their HD cameras can go 13 kilometers (8 miles) without the need for amplifiers.

[red1225]

When you are in the focus "punch in" mode, the frame line generator in not visible.

Also you should be able to tell by the focal length of the lens you are on.

[Mark L. Pederson]

When you are in the focus "punch in" mode, the frame line generator in not visible.

Also you should be able to tell by the focal length of the lens you are on.
I know - but that, in my opinion, (and in the opinion of the two highest profile camera operators on the east coast) is not good enough.

[Shawn Nelson]

* Power save feature (put the camera to sleep and not off)

* Multiple projects on the same disk. Please!! I want 4k, 3k and 2k on the same CF card of RedDrive and in whatever frame rate I want. The fact this wasn't always the case is a shame.

[Brent J. Craig]

I know - but that, in my opinion, (and in the opinion of the two highest profile camera operators on the east coast) is not good enough.

I think if you are so unaware of the lens you have chosen that you can't tell when you are looking at a frame twice as tight, not to mention all the missing frame lines and data, perhaps you should rethink your career choice. Or at least pay attention and earn that paycheck.

[Sean Michael Johnston]

* Power save feature (put the camera to sleep and not off)

Yeah, sleep mode and/or quick power up.

[Obin Olson]

Don't even have my cam yet but I agree on all points made..

[Jan Prochazka]

Why not use Gigabit ethernet, that would make it way more accessible to tons of users. And that should let you get more than double the current bitrates with plenty of headroom.

Because ordinary Gigabit has max throughput around 80MB/s and 4K@24fps RAW (bayer, not CODE) is 328MB/s.
10Gb equipment will be readily available soon...

[I Bloom]

Here's some little things I want -

#1: checkbox to select DEGREES or FRACTIONS for display of shutter selection.

Fractions of seconds drive me and the film guys nuts.
Shutter should always be correctly displayed when in relative, etc.


Been thinking about this, I was advocating degees. But then I realized how great the shutter speed is for setting your meter. Most light meters just do FPS at 180 degrees or straight shutter speeds. Shutter angles get complex. So I think we need both up on the display.



#3: Make some OBVIOUS indicator when you are "punched in" with the focus magnifier. The Genesis says "MAG" for "magnification" - but it is small - and people have shot with that on by mistake - and I know this has happened on some Red shoots as well. It needs to be painfully clear that you are punched in - so when you go to record, you don't forget to toggle back.

We need the picture in picture ala HVX200...why...because it allows the operator to see the borders of the frame and hold their composition. Once you get the supergrip this is going to start being super important.



#4: 1:1 pixel for pixel output for focus check

Interesting, people have been asking about this for ever yo. But here's the rub, theirs no true debayering in camera currently AFAIK. So it's a one to one preview on Bayer-RAW. Kind of problematic I'd imagine.


oh yeah ... and that pesky ROOT folder per mag that contains all RDC files
Amen. Good work on the volume name though.

IBloom

[Mark L. Pederson]

I think if you are so unaware of the lens you have chosen that you can't tell when you are looking at a frame twice as tight, not to mention all the missing frame lines and data, perhaps you should rethink your career choice. Or at least pay attention and earn that paycheck.

This mistake has happened with the Genesis and it has happened with the Red for the same reason. So, you can say "pay attention and earn that paycheck" - OR you can make it a bit harder to make that mistake on the camera - and then the operators FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE with the camera. These guys get fired for a single mistake. And if you want more, high profile folks to shoot RED, then you want them to feel comfortable.

[Mark L. Pederson]

Interesting, people have been asking about this for ever yo. But here's the rub, theirs no true debayering in camera currently AFAIK. So it's a one to one preview on Bayer-RAW. Kind of problematic I'd imagine.
IBloom
I never thought of that.
Now I feel really stupid.
I know why you were making $100 an hour when you were 17 years old! When I was 17 ... well ... that's another story ...

[I Bloom]

I never thought of that.
Now I feel really stupid.
I know why you were making $100 an hour when you were 17 years old! When I was 17 ... well ... that's another story ...

Glowsticks had their day. (So did .coms)

IBloom

[Mark L. Pederson]

* Multiple projects on the same disk. Please!! I want 4k, 3k and 2k on the same CF card of RedDrive and in whatever frame rate I want. The fact this wasn't always the case is a shame.

you mean multiple formats and framerates on the same drive/CF right?

when was the last time you tried?? - I SWEAR I just did 4K, 3K, and 2K in the same project to the same RedDrive in Build 14 - I'll check when I get into the shop tomorrow -

[Dylan Reeve]

My understanding on the multi-project thing is that to switch frame mode, there needs to be a new magazine profile created. As there is no subfolders currently that means only one profile can exist per storage device.

If your motion about the subfolders on the cards were taken up, then I imagine multiple formats would be possible on a single card/drive.

Of course, this could be me getting only half the story (again)

[I Bloom]

My understanding on the multi-project thing is that to switch frame mode, there needs to be a new magazine profile created. As there is no subfolders currently that means only one profile can exist per storage device.

If your motion about the subfolders on the cards were taken up, then I imagine multiple formats would be possible on a single card/drive.

Of course, this could be me getting only half the story (again)

CF has the limitation, Red Drive does not. That's my understanding.

IBloom

[Kenn Michael]

* Multiple projects on the same disk. Please!! I want 4k, 3k and 2k on the same CF card of RedDrive and in whatever frame rate I want. The fact this wasn't always the case is a shame.

You can record 4K, 3K and 2K in all the vari-speed framerates to the same drive... AS LONG as the project frame-rate is the same - ie, all playing back at 23.98 or 25 or 29.97.

[red1225]

I know - but that, in my opinion, (and in the opinion of the two highest profile camera operators on the east coast) is not good enough.


This was mentioned only as an observation and a way to determine when you are in "zoom in" mode...not a solution. It was put out there to help.

On a side note...no response to my personal email to you?

[red1225]

I think if you are so unaware of the lens you have chosen that you can't tell when you are looking at a frame twice as tight, not to mention all the missing frame lines and data, perhaps you should rethink your career choice. Or at least pay attention and earn that paycheck.

Thanks bro...kinda my thought too. A good operator/dp should get fired if they can't tell they are an extra 25-35 mills tighter than the focal length designated for the shot.

[sander kamp]

I never thought of that.
Now I feel really stupid.
I know why you were making $100 an hour when you were 17 years old! When I was 17 ... well ... that's another story ...

I am pretty sure real-time de-bayering was at one point planned way back in the days with RedCode RGB. You know, when there was this big matrix on the RED website with all these format options including scaled and windowed ones. But then there was also talk about getting 1080p out of HDSDI which at the moment is not possible anymore so maybe something has changed in the camera's hardware.

Anyway, I don't recall any word from Graeme that 1:1 pixel mapping is out of the question so let's keep asking until we get an official word.

[I Bloom]

I am pretty sure real-time de-bayering was at one point planned way back in the days with RedCode RGB. You know, when there was this big matrix on the RED website with all these format options including scaled and windowed ones. But then there was also talk about getting 1080p out of HDSDI which at the moment is not possible anymore so maybe something has changed in the camera's hardware.

Anyway, I don't recall any word from Graeme that 1:1 pixel mapping is out of the question so let's keep asking until we get an official word.

I agree.
It might just be we can just zoom on the green channel 1:1 for example.

[Mark Mannschreck]

Thanks bro...kinda my thought too. A good operator/dp should get fired if they can't tell they are an extra 25-35 mills tighter than the focal length designated for the shot.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen just about everybody do this. Of course, not between a 25mm and a 50mm but between a 25mm and a 35mm for instance. You call a lens... the AC mounts it and punches in for focus before you get back to your monitor - maybe your talking to the director for a second... It's not the operator's job to notice. It happens - especially if the camera is on a dolly. No reason NOT to have an indicator.

[Gian Joon]

I like Mark's list, but I would elevate his 4th item:

"#4: 1:1 pixel for pixel output for focus check"

to the top of the list. This is one that I feel is really important!

Kevin

I will second that.

PS: There are currently three threads talking about 1:1 pixel for pixel, so it has to be important.

[Mark L. Pederson]

I can't tell you how many times I've seen just about everybody do this. Of course, not between a 25mm and a 50mm but between a 25mm and a 35mm for instance. You call a lens... the AC mounts it and punches in for focus before you get back to your monitor - maybe your talking to the director for a second... It's not the operator's job to notice. It happens - especially if the camera is on a dolly. No reason NOT to have an indicator.

AMEN.

[Mark L. Pederson]

On a side note...no response to my personal email to you?
found it - check your email.

[Stephen Webb]

#1: checkbox to select DEGREES or FRACTIONS for display of shutter selection.

Fractions of seconds drive me and the film guys nuts.
Shutter should always be correctly displayed when in relative, etc.


I asked for this 18 months ago and was told "yeah, no problem".

Apparently they decided against in the end.

[Mark L. Pederson]

I asked for this 18 months ago and was told "yeah, no problem".

Apparently they decided against in the end.
I am under the impression they will do it - they just have their priorities - I find sometimes the most effective thing to do is just keep the pressure on - keep asking 'till they say "it's not going to happen".

I have an email I wrote over a year ago asking Stuart for 1:1 pixel output for focus - I'll keep asking every so often until I'm told "it's not going to happen" - nobody from Red has said that yet.

[Jarred Land]

I asked for this 18 months ago and was told "yeah, no problem".

Apparently they decided against in the end.

1:1 zoom is on the list.. but there are a few things that take higher priorities ( like multiple monitors out, etc ) that you guys have asked for.

dont worry Stephen.. we are far from the end...




* Multiple projects on the same disk. Please!! I want 4k, 3k and 2k on the same CF card of RedDrive and in whatever frame rate I want. The fact this wasn't always the case is a shame.

if we give you this will you promise to be happy forever and send me flowers everyday ?

heh heh heh.. Shawn you can already shoot multiple resolutions on the same mag.. as long as the time base stays the same, you can shoot 2k, 3k, 4k and whatever framerate (via varispeed) you want. I think we opened that up in build 10.

[Mark L. Pederson]

1:1 zoom is on the list..

See! THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! Now I can go to bed all warm and fuzzy inside.

[Jannard]

#1: checkbox to select DEGREES or FRACTIONS for display of shutter selection.

Fractions of seconds drive me and the film guys nuts.
Shutter should always be correctly displayed when in relative, etc.
PS - I love our cameras more every day.

Technically, there is no such thing as 180 degree shutter... since there is no shutter. It is really 1/48th second. But we'll give you the translation just because we like you and you are doing such great work with the camera. :-)

Jim

[Shawn Nelson]

if we give you this will you promise to be happy forever and send me flowers everyday ?

heh heh heh.. Shawn you can already shoot multiple resolutions on the same mag.. as long as the time base stays the same, you can shoot 2k, 3k, 4k and whatever framerate (via varispeed) you want. I think we opened that up in build 10.


(note to self, send Jarred MORE flowers...)

Alrighty! I tried to do this the first couple of builds then stopped trying. I read someone else on the boards complain they got their new Reddrive (build 12 right?) and had to reformat to go from 2k to 4k but didn't try it myself. Glad to hear this is fixed!

[Jarred Land]

go give it a go Shawn and let me know how it works for ya.. it was kinda a pain in the ass back in the day when you had to swap mags all the time.

[Jannard]

(note to self, send Jarred MORE flowers...)

Alrighty! I tried to do this the first couple of builds then stopped trying. I read someone else on the boards complain they got their new Reddrive (build 12 right?) and had to reformat to go from 2k to 4k but didn't try it myself. Glad to hear this is fixed!

We are sneaking all kinds of things into these new builds...

Jim

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Technically, there is no such thing as 180 degree shutter... since there is no shutter. It is really 1/48th second. But we'll give you the translation just because we like you and you are doing such great work with the camera. :-)

Jim

But it's not for a "Oh I feel like I'm working on a film camera" warm fuzzy nostalgic feeling. It is how you express what you're looking at.

If I tell you 1/100th of a second shutter you think "Sharp" "Punchy" "A Bit Jittery". But you don't have enough information to actually make that determination. What if then I followed up and said... and 50fps. Now it's a "standard" shutter speed.

If I told you "90 degree shutter" or "Quarter shutter" then you know instantly what the picture looks like with a single piece of information.

Shutter "speed" actually means little to nothing about how the image is going to look unless you know what framerate the shot is going to be at.

Now it could be said that "degrees" is nostalgic. But I think everybody understand the unit circle by this point in time so it's just a good way to express 0-100%: 0, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120.... Is nice because you get 1/3rd without going into funky infinite decimal values: .333333333

This all becomes infinitely more important with speed ramps of course where you might be shooting at 32.45 fps. "Ok... so I need my shutter at 1/64.9th of a second... heck it's even annoying with 23.98 fps.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I agree.
It might just be we can just zoom on the green channel 1:1 for example.

That wouldn't get you any close than you are right now.

The green channel is only 2k. You can do a 2x zoom in RGB right now.

I'm sure they'll get 1:1 sorted out. It's only a 1k part of the image. Even if the "zoomed" mode only updated 15 times a second it would feel interactive. And with the FPGAs chillin' off in the corner not encoding wavelets I imagine it's infinitely simpler than adding 1080p while simultaneously recording. (Assuming of course that the file encoders can be repurposed on the fly.)

[Jason Wingrove]

#3 is still like that? months ago that was a real bugbear too. with any film camera you can instantly tell if the magnifier is in, (you have a bloody big crosshair for a start!)But on the red its so easy to accidentally shoot like that as well or walk away from the camera for a moment, walk back to scratch your head wondering who swapped your 75mm for a 135mm as the resolution is SO good even blown up 2x in focus check mode that you have no idea your still in mag mode so put me down for a fix for #3

[Brent J. Craig]

You call a lens... the AC mounts it and punches in for focus before you get back to your monitor...

THAT is a very good point.

As ACs, we have to establish our Red Routines just as we have with other cameras. For a Red focus check, I open up the lens as much as I can and still see an image, hit the camera zoom button, hit the monitor zoom button, focus, unzoom both camera and monitor, restore the stop, then mark the focus dial. If you get into the routine of doing this the same way every time, the monitor will never be left zoomed because a good AC would never ignore part of their routine. By leaving my main goal (placing a focus mark on the dial) to the very end, I ensure that the other steps are followed in sequence.

Leaving the viewing system in a non-ready-to-shoot state is really the fault of the camera assistant. We'll learn.

[I Bloom]

(Assuming of course that the file encoders can be repurposed on the fly.)

Pretty sure they can't be. It takes a good amount of time to load new wiring into an FPGA.

I meant that getting a good debayer off just the green channel is simpler in comparison to the entire RGB. Many algorithms start with the green channel and then use it as a model for the other two.
The end goal is just to have any image that can help you accurately judge focus by eye.

IBloom

[Casey Green]

Technically, there is no such thing as 180 degree shutter... since there is no shutter. It is really 1/48th second. But we'll give you the translation just because we like you and you are doing such great work with the camera. :-)
Jim


True, but technically speaking, we don't record onto "Mags" either.

A agree with offhollywood that this is something that is very important for on-set workflow purposes and not just a request for nostalgia's sake. We have had several instances already when trying to quickly figure out framerates and exposure where this would have been very useful.

Also, I second the other items on the list. Especially the punch in notification and metadata contact functionality.

And, as I have mentioned in another thread, the ability to customize the USER Buttons and A, B, C buttons on the Camera from a list of many many options.

[Isaac Babcock]

low power standby mode is on our list, dont worry. Unfortunately its not at the top, so you wont see it in build 15... but its on our list....

if we give you this will you promise to be happy forever and send me flowers everyday ?

Jarred - OK, so I manipulated your quote, shame on me... but I WILL send you flowers and be almost happy forever when the "low power standby mode" comes around! I know, this issue has been groused around over and over as to whether or not it is necessary and why don't some of us quit whining... but for wildlife shooting it's a must! I hope it makes your list sooner than later. But thank you for addressing it, I've been waiting 6 months for someone at RED to comment on it...thank you!

what the hell would you want with flowers from me anyways??? ahh well, I'll send them when the snow melts, there's only 6 feet here... :)

[Rocco Schult]

I want histograms and the traffic light to be based on RAW data instead of the RGB preview. ... I'm not interested in clipping of the preview picture but I want to prevent clipped RAW data!

And thats my No.1 priority. Whoever cares.


Why not use Gigabit ethernet, that would make it way more accessible to tons of users. And that should let you get more than double the current bitrates with plenty of headroom.


Because ordinary Gigabit has max throughput around 80MB/s and 4K@24fps RAW (bayer, not CODE) is 328MB/s.
10Gb equipment will be readily available soon...

My experience is with usual hardware you likely max out between 40 and 50 MB/sec. over standard TCP/IP. For other purposes and speeds you have to alter the protocol. Should still be enough for Redcode though.
And I am not so sure about 10GigE so fast. If its like with the Flash-Rams, then I am not so excited. Lets stick to 1GigE - already built in to every standard laptop. Perfect. And RAW over fibre for the fearnoughts.


..Although a fiber-optic out might be more difficult to deal with, one of the rental houses I work with told me that the fiber-optic outputs on their HD cameras can go 13 kilometers (8 miles) without the need for amplifiers.

Still try figure out the use of it... :sorcerer:


* Power save feature (put the camera to sleep and not off)...

You'd still have to carefully prep your shoot, but be good for so many uses. Wonder if theres something missing in the camera to accomplish this. Never heard a comment on it.


..Of course, not between a 25mm and a 50mm but between a 25mm and a 35mm for instance. You call a lens... the AC mounts it and punches in for focus before you get back to your monitor - maybe your talking to the director for a second... It's not the operator's job to notice. It happens - especially if the camera is on a dolly. No reason NOT to have an indicator.

Everybody was right on that before, but there are too many things that can happen. Lets keep such things out of possibility as good as RED can.

[Mark L. Pederson]

Oh yeah .... I want this too -

Camera has an "enable write protect option" - if you don't select it - camera does what it does now -

If you DO enable the feature - the camera writes a flag to the "digital.magazine.profile" like ...

<Param name="MEDIA.DIGMAG.WRITE_PROTECT" type="text" value="locked" />

The camera will NOT allow a reformat if the value = "locked"

And then a parameter for CLONE - this would allow third party software and devices to WRITE BACK A VALUE after the media has been clones - so, you could tell you software, (AND IN A DREAM WORLD - THE CAMERA) for example, NOT to "unlock" the drive unless it has been cloned 2 times for example -

Something like this -

<Param name="MEDIA.DIGMAG.CLONED" type="text" value="0" />

then after two copies have been made - it would look like this -

<Param name="MEDIA.DIGMAG.CLONED" type="text" value="2" />

Super easy for third parties to lock and unlock the drives if they wanted to in software apps -

[ChristopherKenworthy]

I couldn't agree more on the ROOT folder. Isn't this bothering anybody else? Without the root folder, my Digital Media Supervisor is required to be 100 percent accurate all day long, selecting each folder and checksumming it across without ever missing a thing. On a long, hard day, I can imagine shots will get lost. If there was one Root Folder, his job is suddenly ten times easier. And we take the human error factor right out.

[Dylan Reeve]

Oh yeah .... I want this too -

Camera has an "enable write protect option" - if you don't select it - camera does what it does now[...]

I agree with what Mark says... This sort of thing would be excellent.

[Brent J. Craig]

And then a parameter for CLONE - this would allow third party software and devices to WRITE BACK A VALUE after the media has been clones - so, you could tell you software, (AND IN A DREAM WORLD - THE CAMERA) for example, NOT to "unlock" the drive unless it has been cloned 2 times for example -

These are great ideas. Is this one of the intended uses of the digital magazine profile file? It seems so obvious (and elegant)

[Visceral_IvaN]

I second your motion offhollywood. All useful ideas.

[Mark L. Pederson]

These are great ideas. Is this one of the intended uses of the digital magazine profile file? It seems so obvious (and elegant)

Yes. Exactly.