One of the reasons a lot of pro and high-end consumer camcorders still use tape it that the capacity is so high. Those furlongs of magnetic tape add up to substantial storage, and it's tough for hard disks and flash memory to match those numbers — especially in portable gear. That is, until Codex Digital came out with its Portable field recorder.

The Portable (way to bust your ass in the naming department, Codex) is basically a gigantic battery-powered hard disk (a RAID array with interchangeable DiskPacks). About the size of a toaster, it can store a massive amount of data: Each DiskPack holds up to 800 GB of hard-disk space or 512 GB of flash memory. The Portable is meant to store high-quality video, obviously, and an 800-GB Pack gets you about 3 hours of footage at 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (equivalent to the 1080i HDTV format). The material can have resolution as high as the way-beyond-high-def 4,096 x 2,048 format pixels (at 30 frames per second), in case you're shooting anything destined for an Imax screen.

No price info, but Codex says the Portable is coming in late 2007. — Peter Pachal

Codex Portable, via Oh Gizmo!