Hello, is anybody there at Focus?
 

It's gone very quiet on the FS-4 front.

No HD upgrade (despite being sent publicity material via Digital Video Computing (DVC) in UK which says that FS-4 and FS-4Pro now support Hi-Def ).

No standalone battery charger.

No appearance by Matt McEwan (or anyone from Focus) on this Forum for many weeks now, where once Matt was answering queries within 24 hours.

What is going on?

(before anyone says that we've just had an upgrade, take a look at the file date for 1.0.1 - it was generated back on 26th April - it just took a long time to be issued)

Ray Liffen

Hello,

I am still around. It has been trade show season here in the US so I have been on the road a lot since about NAB. I have talked to a number of people from this community and others which has been great good to always meet someone face to face.

Just as an update to where we are at:

HD Firmware: Should be available shortly. MPEG2 HD is certainly a different story altogether when compared to DV. The good news is that we have solved a lot of the issues we were having. I would be interested in hearing from anyone on this community who is editing HDV footage now. The good news with the HD firmware is that it is able to do a clean, drop-out free

Hmm...not sure why the entire message didn't post...here you go...

Hello,

I am still around. It has been trade show season here in the US so I have been on the road a lot since NAB. I have talked to a number of people from this community and others which has been great...good to always meet someone face to face. Will you be at IBC in September Ray?

Just as an update to where we are at:

HD Firmware: Should be available shortly. MPEG2 HD is certainly a different beast compared to DV and has proved to be quite difficult to work with. The good news is that we have solved a lot of the issues we were having. We now have it working well with both the Sony and JVC HDV camcorders. I would be interested in hearing from anyone on this community who is editing HDV footage now. It would be good to hear your experiences.

Long Life Battery: Now shipping. I am told most back orders will be filled by the end of next week. This will take FS-4 record time out to about 180 minutes. It is not much larger or heavier which is good as well.

External Battery Charger: Should be available by the end of the summer.

Fan noise & New Firmware: New firmware was released in June that should help with the fan noise. This is available as a download from the Focus website. As you have pointed out, the software was originally released April 26 for beta, but we always put software through an extensive beta period, hence why it was not released until June.

Anyway, I will try and drop by more often. Jim Olsen, our Focus tech support manager has been monitoring this forum and others and should be able to answer any queries.

Thanks,

Matt

Matt

Thanks for your reply.

To pick up on a couple of points:

1. Long life battery. Did I miss something here? You are now fulfilling orders for an item which doesn't seem to have been offered yet? Yes, I'd be interested in a longer-life battery but where would I find any details about it? For example, does an FS-4 with the new battery still fit in the supplied holster (which I use to attach my FS-4 to various cameras)? The Focus site only lists >BATT-0008-01 Removale Li-Ion Battery Pack (90 minutes)<.

2. External battery charger. Did you pick up on my plea to have it as small and light-weight as possible? This is an accessory that will be travelling in the camera case or the gadgets bag. We don't want chunky IEC plugs and sockets and heavyweight cable like the present charger. This on-the-road unit needs to be treated as if it was going up in the space shuttle where every ounce counts.

Ray Liffen

Hi Ray,

Check with the UK distributor of FireStore, Holdan. I am not sure if they have ordered the long-life battery or not, but it is available. We will be updating our website soon. I guess dvinfo.net people are getting the inside scoop! It will not fit in the standard holster...it is slightly thicker unfortunately.

Details on the charger are not yet available I'm afraid. I'll let you know more soon.

Thanks,

Matt