My main camera is the XL@, but I wanted to use the GL1 to transfer tapes to the FS4. I tried but got a distorted looking clip, with tiling and balck bars across the lcd. I then playe dthe clip back from the fs4,and got the same thing.
Anyone using the FS4 with the GL1?
Thanks
Bruce S. Yarock

Sounds like you need to run a cleaning tape through your GL1. Maybe your XL1 too just to be safe. Also, why are you putting the tape footage into your FS4? I thought the point was to directly record to the FS4 itself. ~_^

Jack,
I'll try the cleaning tape, but I don't think that's the problem. I haven't had any problems with the GL1 by itself, only when I tried to use it with the FS4.
The tape question- I have lots of footge that I've already shot aon tape, and it's a lot quicker to tranfer it to the fs4 and then to the PC, rather than capture in real time .
thanks
Bruce S. Yarock

Will the GL1 play back 24p recordings?

I have lots of footge that I've already shot aon tape, and it's a lot quicker to tranfer it to the fs4 and then to the PC, rather than capture in real time .
thanks
Bruce S. Yarock

This sounds very strange. Transferring to the FS-4 should take just as long as capturing to a computer.

Do you mean it is easier to hit record on the FS-4 than starting your capture software and then hitting record on that?

The FS-4 can only capture from tape in real time, just like capture software.

Please clarify how you intend or are attempting to capture to the FS-4 in faster than real time.

Daniel,

The difference is that using the FS4, you can let the tape run and hit record every time you want to split it into separate clips without stopping the recording. Also, it's lightning fast transferring the clips from the FS4 to the computer, as opposed to capturing in real time.

Thanks for the post.

Bruce Yarock

Hi Bruce,

I don't want to take this thread too far off it's original topic. But I would like to make one last comment about your workflow using the FS-4 as a capture/transfer medium for tapes.

There are a few DV capture programs out there that recognize time/date breaks on the taped material. These programs (like FCP3 and up), make it possible to capture an entire tape in one run through, and then divide the clip into portions based on the date/time breaks. I just want to suggest this as a possibly more time effective method for capturing longer tape sessions, than what I think you are suggesting with the FS-4.

I'm probably not picturing how you work properly, but it sounds to me like you are sitting next to the FS-4 while it is capturing, in order to make clip breaks on the fly.

daniel,
You are probably right.I haven't done much transfering, and will most likely just capture some of the older tapes.One thing I did today, for example,is that I had some footage of a political commercial we did which was on Fox news and Msnbc. We recorded the two shows on the cable dvr( digital video recorder), and then ran thr cable box into my XL2. right after, I recorded the footage to the fs4.Took the fs4 and dumped it to the pc...6 gigs in 5 minutes.
Hopefully, I'll be able to use it more for real shooting and dumping to the pc.
thanks for your ideas.
Bruce S.Yarock

Stephan,
the GL1 will playback anything shot on the xl2. The problem I had was between the GL1 and the FS4.
Bruce S. Yarock

Bruce,

I'm not familiar with the GL1 specifically, but there shouldn't be any possibility for a conflict between the FS-4 and the GL1. There is no reason for them to "communicate", so there shouldn't be any direct incompatibility. The FS-4 is acting like a simple (dumb) recorder, in the application you have described. I would guess that there might be an issue with either the GL1's DV out or the FS-4's FW in. Have you tried to do a tape to tape transfer via the i-link on the GL1? Does your FS-4 record well from the XL-2, or other DV cameras?

Daniel,
I've never had any trouble with the GL1, either capturing via firwwire, or playback of any tape. When I hooked it up to the fs4, evrything went berserk. The image in the GL1 lcd,both while capturing and in playback, was 'tiling" and had black bars across the screen. Then, even crazier, when I dissconected it from the FS4 and played the same tape back, the gl1 was still freaking out! I shut down the camera, took the tape out,put it back in, and powered it up. At that point, it played fine...
Someone suggested using a cleaning tape on the GL1. One thing for sure was that I was using the wrong file type for Premiere (used avi 1...premiere needs avi 2), but I can't se how that would cause the problem.
Bruce S. yarock

It sounds to me like something might be wacky with the GL1's i-link port.

In order to rule out that it has something to do with the FS-4, see what happens when you connect another device to the GL1's i-link, like the XL-2.

Try playing footage from the XL-2 and recording it on your GL1 via i-link. If that works without a problem, then there could indeed be an issue with the FS-4 together with the GL1.

I'll try that.I did speak to Amanda in custmer service at focus, and she said that the GL2 definately works, but that she had heard that there were issues with the GL1.
Bruce S. Yarock

Hi Bruce,

I don't know of any specific problem with the GL1...especially for what you are trying to do. I have used a GL1 and FS-4 in a live camera situation and all was OK, although I have not tried it using tape playback. I would check the FireWire interface between the two devices is working properly.

I'll have our lab check it out with our GL1 shortly.

Hope that helps,

Matt

...they just checked it and it worked fine.

Is the 4-pin FireWire port on the GL1 seem OK (the 4-pin connector can be damaged quite easily in my experience)? Can you capture to an NLE from the camcorder? Does the FS-4 work OK with the XL2? Try connecting the GL1 and FS-4 and if it does not communicate, trying unplugging and replugging the FireWire cable. Does your unit have the latest firmware (1.0.1)? You can get it at the Focus support site.

Thanks,

Matt

Matt,
Thanks for the reply. I really like the FS4, and appreciate the time I'll save, but I think that the one I got last week is defective. It's got the most frustrating problem...an intermittant one. here's the chronology.
1- The day I got it, I tried it with the XL2, and all functions seemed to work.(record in local, slave, record from tape, and transfer to PC).
2- Tried it with the GL1 and had the problems mentioned in my previous post.
3-Tried to capture from tape on the XL2, and it wouldn't work right away.Eventually, after several trys, it captured.
4-I had a shoot yesterday, and I was in slave mode, everything working. About 45 minutes into the first tape, the FS4 stopped. I thought it might be battery, so I shut down the cam, changed battery and tape. I powered up, and couldn't get the FS4 to run, either in slave, or local( thank God for tape,LOL). After the shoot, i treid capturing the stuff from tape 2 back to the fs4...No luck.
4-Took it home and tried everything again. Now it would record in both slave and local, but wouldn't record from tape (many trys). Also, I noticed dark vertical lines on the lcd ( which seem to be a less pronounced this am).
5- I then tried all functions on the GL1, sveral times, and everything worked.
I then switched back to the xl2, and shooting worked, but again, not capturing from tape. I thought it might be a firewire pronlem i vcr mode with the XL2, so I copied from the vcr on the xl2 to the gl1, and that worked fine.
6-Then, incredibly, I tried the xl2 once more (I'm stubborn) and it captured from tape...
I was on the phone with Kevin from tech support, but we got cut off( and it was almost 5pm), so I figured I'd have to wait till Monday.
Can you possibly authorize a repalcement for me? I've had it less than a week, and would hate to have to send a "new" defective unit back for repair, etc.I'll gladly pay the fedex charges both ways.
Looking forward to using the fs4 on all my projrcts.
Thanks
Bruce S. Yarock
P.S. If you want, you can email me at yarock at aol dot com.