FS-4 Pro HD--Any fix for HDV time code issue?? Matt?

[John Richard]

Originally Posted by Matt McEwen

Hi,

There is some known issues with TC and Canopus. The biggest problem we have had with our HDV support is that the individual camcorder manufacturers choose to put the recorded timecode into different areas within the MPEG transport stream. The NLE manufacturers also look in different areas for the TC. The reason you do not see these issues when capturing from camcorder (off tape) to the NLE is that the TC is basically restriped on capture (the correct TC value coming from AV/C communication between the camcorder and NLE). We are looking at what we can change to fix this.

One other issue with using HDV camcorders is that when you are recording to tape and disk simultaneously and triggering from the camcorder, there is always a small glitch in the beginning of the recording on FireStore or whatever is connected to the 1394 output (up to 2 seconds). This is caused by the codec on the camera re-syncing itself. The only HDV camera that gets around this issue is the GY-HD100/101 rev (A). On this model, you can set the priority for the codec to the tape or the 1394 output (FireStore). So, in your example Shawn, this may be why you were seeing glitches in the FireStore recordings in that every time you triggered the tape recorder, you can have a glitch in the FireStore recording of up to 2 seconds…Canopus may be tripping up on this.

Hope this explains a few things. I'll keep you posted as to our progress.

Matt

Matt - it's been a couple of months or better since this known problem was being worked on. Now that the QT support has been finished, are we getting close to resolving the above issue? Lot's of Firestores sitting collecting dust.

[Scott Vystrcil]

Originally Posted by John Richard

Lot's of Firestores sitting collecting dust.

Mine being one of them. It would be great to use it again with something else besides SD.

[Matt McEwen]

No new update at this point. I will post to this forum when I have more information.

Matt

[Steve Nunez]

Matt, is it safe to assume the FS-4 Pro HD works with HDV using FCP 5.1? Any known issues?
(Sony FX1)

Thank you, and your support to the members here is outstanding, thanks again.

[Matt McEwen]

Yes, it works fine in 1080i 50/60 (as well as 720p/30) as long as you have the 2.0 upgrade (which added QuickTime HDV support).

Matt

[Jerry Gordon]

Matt, will the FS-4 record anything the A1 of H1 from Canon shoots?

Will it capture HD and SD?

Is this a better solution than minidv tape and if so why?

I saw another thread you replied to about a prob with something to do with 720/x or something....has that been remedied?

THe problem discussed in this thread about the timecode and so forth, will that be a problem with the Canon XL series, A1 or H1? If so, do you have a better solution?

If I go on vacation with one, and fill it up in a couple days, how hard is it to transfer it to a Laptop hdd in HD for storage and how would it do it?

Last question, when I get home, would I have to transfer back to the FS-4 to put on my desktop for editing or straight from laptop to desktop?

thanks
Jerry.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Jerry Gordon

Matt, will the FS-4 record anything the A1 of H1 from Canon shoots? Will it capture HD and SD?

Yes and yes.

Is this a better solution than minidv tape and if so why?

It is better than tape for two reasons; first it overcomes the limitations of tape in that it can record several hours in one stretch as opposed to 80 minutes maximum on tape; and second, since it creates an edit-ready file, it completely bypasses the lengthy and tedious video capture process that tape requires in order to get it into your editing computer.

If I go on vacation with one, and fill it up in a couple days, how hard is it to transfer it to a Laptop hdd in HD for storage and how would it do it?

It's simply a data transfer by FireWire.

Last question, when I get home, would I have to transfer back to the FS-4 to put on my desktop for editing or straight from laptop to desktop?

Same answer... it's simply a data transfer by FireWire.

[Jerry Gordon]

Thanks Chris, you don't know how great that makes me feel. I am so glad that it is just a firewire transfer and not a big deal of making it stream or whatever to the laptop. I have an extra HDD for my laptop that I got for when I go on trips for still photography, so this should work nicely with the A1 and my laptop.

Sounds like that will be put on my to get list, even if I end up with an SD camcorder. THanks so much.

Jerry

[Matt McEwen]

Jerry,

If it is an FS-4, -4HD, -4Pro or -4Pro HD, make sure you have the 1.1 or 2.0 (QuickTime HDV support) software loaded on the unit to use with the new Canons. The FS-C ships standard with support for these cams.

Matt

[Jerry Gordon]

Originally Posted by Matt McEwen

Jerry,

If it is an FS-4, -4HD, -4Pro or -4Pro HD, make sure you have the 1.1 or 2.0 (QuickTime HDV support) software loaded on the unit to use with the new Canons. The FS-C ships standard with support for these cams.

Matt

Thanks Matt....canon recommended the FS-4....
But would like to check outthe FS-C after your recommendation. Does the software you mention come with it or do I need to aqcuire it elsewhere?

Is that also the software I need to transfer a full hdd in the FS component to a laptop while on vacation? or what would be needed? thanks..t

[Matt McEwen]

Like I mentioned, the FS-C does have support for the XL-H1, A1 and G1 as standard. You just needed the software update I mentioned to add support for the FS-4 family.

If I understand your other question correctly, you do not need any software to transfer clips from FS to a laptop as long as your computer has an OHCI compliant FireWire card/port. When FS is connected to a computer, it is just a standard FireWire drive.

Hope that helps,

Matt

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

...it overcomes the limitations of tape in that it can record several hours in one stretch as opposed to 80 minutes maximum on tape; and second, since it creates an edit-ready file, it completely bypasses the lengthy and tedious video capture process that tape requires in order to get it into your editing computer.

Just to keep things in perspective, you only get long recording times with a Firestore if you buy a special long-life battery, and for the FS-4 that doesn't fit in the on-camera mount offered for that unit. On my FS-4 I get about 75 minutes or so before the standard battery conks out, so not much advantage there compared to shooting tape. And as far as capture is concerned, you'll probably still transfer the data files from your Firestore to your computer at some point, which can take a while for anything more than a few minutes of video. Add in the time required to make a secure backup and total data management time for a DTE is similar to the time required to capture from tape, but you do get more flexibility about when you can start editing.

For me the biggest benefit of a DTE recorder is the security of having a backup recording source, and that's saved me a couple of times now when I had issues with tape recordings. But knowing that there may be a problem recording HDV and editing in Edius puts me in a bind for using my FS-4 for anything but DV, so I guess I'm not really getting what I wanted in terms of backup capability either. Sigh.

Could we put together a comprehensive list of what the FS-4 can and can't do with various cameras and editing programs and post that somewhere as a sticky note? Does anyone have a workaround for converting FS-4 HDV files to a format Edius Pro 4 can read?

[Gary Bettan]

just a heads up. Focus now offers a High Capacity mount that can handle the bigger battery.

Those with a mounting kit can just order the hi cap cradle from Focus
http://www.focusinfo.com/webstore/catalog.asp?type=29

Gary

[Scott Vystrcil]

Matt...any update on a possible update to fix the issue with the Z1U?

[Jerry Gordon]

Originally Posted by Matt McEwen

Like I mentioned, the FS-C does have support for the XL-H1, A1 and G1 as standard. You just needed the software update I mentioned to add support for the FS-4 family.

If I understand your other question correctly, you do not need any software to transfer clips from FS to a laptop as long as your computer has an OHCI compliant FireWire card/port. When FS is connected to a computer, it is just a standard FireWire drive.

Hope that helps,

Matt

Hi Matt and thanks....I am looking at prob the HD pro(larger hdd). You understood me properly.

But on the first part the software update...is that something I get from you guys or someone else? Do you guys have those updates, and is there any type of software installed already on it? thanks
Jerry