Top 5 reasons to move up to the new Focus FS-5 DTE

[Gary Bettan]

Videoguys Top 5 reasons to move up to the new Focus FS-5 DTE:

1. File Size no longer Matters! Capture up to 90 minutes of HDV or DV footage as a single file. The FS-5 uses the "Universal Disk Format" (UDF) file system, which is used on optical disks like DVDs and Blu-Ray. Both Windows and Mac computers support UDF, so you don’t have any operating system or platform issues.

2. Silence is golden! The new FS-5 does not have a fan – which gives you Silent Operation! It uses the same hard drives that run your iPod. These drives are much smaller and efficient and do not require cooling. Which is why you can get 3 hours of running time on the included battery.

3. Sleek and trim are in! When you are in the field shooting, the FS-5s smaller footprint and lighter weight are going to make your arms and legs happy. The free universal mounting bracket makes attaching the FS-5 to your professional camera even easier. The scroll wheel makes navigating the menus of the FS-5 faster and easier.

4. Universal Connectivity. The FS-5 connects to your computer via USB2. No special hardware or software drivers are needed. Every current laptop or workstation, Windows or Mac, has a USB2 port so connecting the FS-5 is simple and easy. With USB2 you can transfer files as quickly as with FireWire400. The FS-5 still connects to your DV or HDV camcorder via FireWire.

5. DTE2 – The next generation of Direct To Edit technology. DTE2 is what I call all the new video editing features Focus has put into the FS-5. Metadata allows you to manage and log your footage while you shoot by adding tags. When you bring the files into your video editing software, the metadata tags comes with it. So you can easily find, sort and manage your clips. You can tag media on the fly using the 5 function keys on the FS-5 or via wireless peer-to-peer connection with your laptop or smart device such as the Apple iTouch. FS-5 gives you additional DTE HDV formats - Avid editors get native HDV MXF support & Final Cut Pro editors have Quicktime HDV, and Premiere editors are supported with M2T.

check out out newly updated FS-5 FAQ for even more info http://www.videoguys.com/fs5_faq.html

Gary

[Danny Fye]

At least three Top reasons not to move up to the FS-5

1. The price is way too high! $2,195.00!!! My two FS-4 HD's were aprox $700.00 each.

2. What am I going to do with my two FS-4 HD's? Even if I sold them both for what I paid for them I would still be a good $795.00 short of the price of just one FS-5!

3. The meager new benefits (UDF) of the FS-5 as well as the extremely overpriced hard drive that comes with it are not even in this universe of being close to a good enough reason for me to move up to the FS-5 from my two FS-4 HD's I currently have.

Sorry Gary, You are going to have to do a whole lot better than this to convince me to move up to an FS-5!!!

Danny Fye
www.vidmus.com/scolvs

[Tyge Floyd]

I found this on the FAQ page of your web site:
The FS-5 is not compatible with the Canon XL-H1...

I just bought a XL-H1a.
Is the FS-5 not compatible with my camera?
If not, why?

[Eliot Goshman]

One of the advantages to NOT having one big file recorded is dropouts....if you get one from the drive for any reason it will usually mess up the A/V sync....but only for the file created. On the FS-4 that's just the maximum 9 minute file. On the FS-5 it could screw up an entire hour or more, assuming you shoot a long file continuously.

I'm speaking from experience here.

[Gary Bettan]

Eliot,

I understand your point and it sounds like you have some unfortunate first hand experience with the issue.

Just because the FS-5 can record into one massive file, it doesn't mean you have to. every time you stop and start the cam, you get a new file with any Focs DTE.

Gary

[Eliot Goshman]

Originally Posted by Gary Bettan

Eliot,

I understand your point and it sounds like you have some unfortunate first hand experience with the issue.

Just because the FS-5 can record into one massive file, it doesn't mean you have to. every time you stop and start the cam, you get a new file with any Focs DTE.

Gary

Obviously. But if you shoot a 2 hour religous service, where you can't stop and start the recording, there's quite a bit more safety in several 9 minute files than one long one.

Does the FS-5 give you the option for shorter files? (FAT format instead of UDF?)

By the way, I bought my FS-4 from you, Gary.

[Gary Bettan]

not sure. i know UDF is the default.

I think this is an interesting feature request I'm going to pass to Focus. It would be cool if you could tell FS-5 to automatically break clips at x minutes as a user option.

Gary