"Tape-based systems would not be practical for us at all. Tape can get too brittle in the extreme cold and clog up the heads. The more moving parts you have, the more problems you can run into. The XDCAM system gives us no problems related to the weather or the conditions."

This is not your daddy's camcorder we're talking about. Diskless means shooters can look at scenes without fast forward or rewinding. All the video is data--randomly accessible, just like data on your hard drive. While the camera records, it's producing the HD video that will be assembled for use on the History Channel plus a lower resolution proxy file. If you've ever tried sending video over the Internet, you'll immediately understand the utility of the proxy video with much smaller files for reviewing.

I didn't expect Sony to cough this up, but camera breakdowns are part of the harsh Arctic environment. The producer's blog admits, "Given the risks and dangers of this job, this has been hazardous for the cameras, and we've lost more than a few of them in our quest to get the most intense footage. Some of the best shots you'll see this season were from cameras that don't exist anymore."

That's not a dig on the camera. I'm not sure anything, or anyone, should be asked to produce under those conditions.