head replacement or firestore?
 

With the recent sleuth of clog warnings on my DVX, despite repeated cleanings by the pana technicians, I've decided I can no longer trust the tape mechanism in my 200Hours old DVX. I was all set on a head replacement but then became more cautious because I read other's disaster story of messed up cameras after such an operation.

Now I'm thinking I should go tapeless to avoid any future potential drop out situations. I've read some old postings of timecode gap with the FS-4, and a general negative cloud surrounding this device. Is that still true today? Were the firestore people able to address major problems thru recent firmware updates? FYI, I don't really make use of timecodes for my wedding projects. I just look at the thumbnails in Vegas (which are organized in chronological order) and pick out clips that looks good to me.

Does anyone here use the firestore for run n' gun wedding videography? How is the reliability? Any recommendations on what I should do?

many thanks
Yang

I've been using one for the past 3 months with no problems what so ever. The first few times I used it I was also running a tape back-up, but as the firestore preformed so well I stopped using tape all together. I've since shot more than 100 hours of footage with the thing about 80 of those hours were completely tape less.
Now I know recording to both tape and hard drive is recommended for both back-up and archiving, but since everything I've been shooting is a controlled environment, I can check it the takes and know what I'm getting. (I've yet to miss anything or have any problems)
You however mentioned Weddings; I would probably want to use both(tape & firestore) in that case, cause you're dealing with a once and done, you miss it you lost it, live event.
At any rate I would recommend the Firestore as it is a piece of equipment that can transcend your camera(s), much like a good tripod or editing system. Once you have one you can use it with most any new camera you mayget down the road. Though depending how far down the road a new camera is, there may not be a need for the firestore either. I'm thinking the next generation of all the major contenders will have some form of a tapeless/solid state recorder built in.

we use 2 firestores for weddings and have had no problems.

Previously we had troubles with battery life and the firewire connection working loose.

replacing the stock battery with a powerall battery has allowed recording of an entire wedding day without worrying about running out of or having to swap batteries.

using the shortest firewire cable possible and monitoring the record light on the fs4 verifies the drive is recording. the connection from camera to fs4 is still the weak link in the chain.

we still record to tape but only as a back up.

Well...
 

I opted to go the firestore option. Repair quote hovered around $600 from a local shop, so I may as well have done the Sony Service at that point... And after working on a documentary with a loaner cam and having to log/capture 5 hours of tape from a week of shooting... I realized how great the FS4Pro would be.
Snagged a 40, 2 batteries, charger and belt clip for $450 on fleabay :)
Thanks for all the inputs! MF
Now I just need to find a way to trick my VX2000 into thinking it has a tape when it doesn't... any suggestions?