I just ordered my H200. B&H dropped the price yesterday to $899 and I bought three Sandisk 32GB cards, because with their promotional rebate of $200 for three identical cards, you'd be stupid not to.

I think it should be easy enough to get the footage into Avid. I'll figure it out.

I'd be surprised if QuickTime files didn't go into Avid, even though Focus says "only FCP." I've found a lot of stuff that they say "only Apple" is not always true. Apple and its partners, whether evident or not, put out a lot of misinformation... I'll check it out and report back.

I'll also report back about how m2t files work within Avid and any problems I have in importing the footage.

Hi,

This app seems to allow you to playback QuickTime HDV clips (amongst others) in QT player without Final Cut Pro loaded on your system.

Calibrated{Q} XD Decode

Not sure if this helps your issue or not.

Matt McEwen
Focus Enhancements, Inc.

Hi,

The M2T files that are recorded by FS-H200 are the same as those recorded by other FS models. These files should import fine into Avid. One advantage you have on FS-H200 (over FS-4HD) is the ability to record using the UDF disk format which gets around the 2GB file size limitation.

Hope that helps,

Matt

Matt,

It doesn't directly answer issues that I have read about on other forums, but it seems most people are having good luck with the firestore. I like it that finally someone has come out with a flash card video recorder. I have been waiting for this for quite a while and kept wondering why no one made one. I am an American documentary filmmaker (living in Belgium) and just didn't like a lot of footage relying on a regular hard drive in the field. Now that B&H dropped the price and with Sandisk's rebates, I can get close to 100 GB with three 32 cards for about the same price as an FS-5 100, which I think is perfect.

My question to you is are you planning an update in the future with the same recording capabilities as the FS-5, mainly recording in MXF format?

This is a great upgrade and the only thing I think could make it PERFECT is MXF HDV 24p format, so that it could go directly into Avid. That is my only wish for a firmware upgrade. Although I see that the FS-5 doesn't have that either, so maybe you can let us in on the reasoning there.

Thanks for trying to address my questions. I should get it next week and I will shoot some test video. If I have any questions or concerns at that point, I guess I can address them to you.

Taylor

Hi Taylor,

Unfortunately, none of our recorders currently support MXF HDV 720p24 or 1080i24F. As you may know, FS-5 does record MXF, but only in 1080i-50/60 and 720p30 modes. But, I will certainly add this to our ever evolving new feature list.

Thanks,

Matt

Hi Matt,
Could you elaborate on the FS-H200 and the JVC HD-110? Does it work (except for the viewfinder info being displayed), does it not work with FCP7 (will it ever?)?
I'd love to go tape and spinning hard-drive free (as long as it's painless!)
Thanks,
Ed

Hi Ed,

FS-H200 will work with the JVC GYHD110 in all DV frame rates with a variety of DTE formats, all HD frame rates in M2T mode (essentially the raw transport stream off the camera) and QuickTime HDV 720p30 or 720p25 (market dependent) mode. The HDV QuickTime files will import into FCP.

If you require QuickTime HDV 720p24, 720p25, 720p30, 720p60 or 720p60 support, our current MR-HD100 and DR-HD100 models support these frame rates (note that 50Hz and 60Hz models are market dependent).

Hope that helps,

Matt

Thanks again Matt,
A little more clarification please.
You say that the FS-H200 will deliver QT 720P30 files right into FCP, but then say if I need
QT 720P30, that the MR-HD100 and DR-HD100 support those frame rates. Does the FS-H200 support QT 720P30, and does FCP7 accept them? Someone previously said the latest version of FCP wouldn't accept QT 720P30. I have FCS3 (with FCP7), and I shoot 720P30. I would like to work directly with QT files in FCP, without having to wrap M2T files in QT first.
Thanks,
Ed

Hi,

Yes, sorry for the confusion. FS-H200, MR-HD100 and DR-HD100 all support 720p30 QT specifically (FS-H200 just does not support other 720p QT frame rates). I am not aware of any issues between our HDV QT files and FCP7. If someone is seeing problems, we would like to know more details.

Thanks,
Matt

That's good news.
I just checked about the FCP thing, and I may have misspoken. Mark said this earlier in this thread:

"I just spoke with Focus Enhancements and the informed me that all of the units they sell that record in Quicktime HD will only work with Apples Finalcut Pro 6.0 due to a new codec in the program."

I interpreted that to mean that it would work with FCP6, but *not* with FCP7. I now think Mark probably meant you need at least v6 for it to work.
Ed

Matt,
I shoot SD using a Sony DSR-570 in PAL. It has a six pin firewire out. My question is...

Would this work with my setup?

Ben

Hi Ed,

QuickTime HDV DTE recordings should work with any version of Final Cut that supports native HDV editing in the frame rate you shot the content in (e.g. 720p30). I cannot remember what version of FCP it was that most of the HDV formats were added, but it was prior to v6.

We get many questions from customers asking why QT HDV recordings will not playback in QT Player when FCP is not loaded on the system. The answer is that the particular HDV codec is loaded on the system when you load FCP and I suspect that is what support is referring to.

Hope that helps.

Matt

Hi Ben,

All our current DTE recorders will record in DV25 mode in a variety of file wrappers including those for Avid, FCP, Adobe, Canopus/GV, Matrox, etc. Just make sure you get a PAL/50Hz version for use in Oz.

Matt

Based on Matt's information, I've pretty much decided to get the FS-H200, but I'd like to hear from Taylor and Mark about your experiences so far. Any tidbits you can post? How's it working out for you both?
Ed

I love mine... I just ordered a spare battery (to go with the extra memory card) I haven't had time to use it with my Canon yet.