I am using the Fs-100 with the marshall monitor, when I play back the clips I can only view the clips on the flipout lcd screen and the monitor goes blank.
Is there a way to view the clips from the fs-100 on the monitor?

Thanks Guys.

Hi Darryl,

This is a limitation of the HVX200 camcorder. It is not possible to view files played back from the FS-100 (or any other FireWire device) and view them back on an external monitor utilizing the analog output on the HVX200.

Hope that helps,

Matt

Thanks for the answer , Matt

I keep having a similar problem whenever I shoot long takes using a HVX
200 in the DVCPROHD MODE. After a couple of a minutes of continuous shooting the FS-100 stops recording. Why is it? Thanks for helping

Alexandre

Make sure you have the latest FS-100 firmware (version 2.0.0.04080806). You can check this by looking at the version number in the Setup menu. If you do and you are still having these issues, contact our support group...your unit may be fault. Support can be contacted at: http://www.focusinfo.com/support/contact.asp .

Matt

I was toying around tonight with the Panny SPX800 (the bigger SD P2 cam) and the FS100.

I have it in DVCPRO50/P2 mode and I set the camera to 16x9, DVCPRO50, 24P mode.

I noticed that the FS100 P2 files were imported into Edius (SP 4.03) as 4x3 format. When I'm in a 16x9 timeline, I can fix it by changing the properties of the clip from 4x3 to 16x9 - so I guess it works out, but it costs time.

The same clips on the P2 card are recorded/displayed as 16x9.

If I view both in the Panny P2 viewer, the metadata says the P2 cards are in 16x9 aspect, and the FS100 P2 clips are 4x3. So I've got two identical sets of clips/data - one is recorded correctly in 16x9 format, and the other (FS100's) is in 4x3 for some reason.

It's all a bit confusing and frustrating. Is there anything that I can do in the settings (either FS100 or camera) to make the FS100 recognize/record the aspect correctly?

Thanks.

We will look into this now Shawn.

Thanks for your patience.

Matt

My second FS-100 (First was returned under warrantee for charging problems) and the replacement unit Still will not charge the batteries - the standard or the extended life battery.
I have the external battery charger (damn good thing) and it has kept me going... but this is really a problem when given a short lead time and not being able to double charge both batteries ahead when shooting in remote areas. Matt are you out there, what's up with this..??
Rich Raney

Hi Rich,

Sounds like something is wrong with that unit...sorry about that. As I mentioned in my reply to your email, someone from support will be contacting you shortly (if they haven't already).

Thanks for your patience.

Matt

Matt, I talked with Joe at support. I returned thw unit last night and he's overnighting a new unit back to me... thanks very much for your help and follow-up... love your products..!! Let us know when the version 3 (native format) upgrade is available..!
Rich

Will do Rich.
Matt

Odd request, and yes an expensive scenario - but it may serve as a temporary real-world option if it works.

What if you had a Panny Varicam feeding a Panny 1200 (with HDSDI & Firewire options) or 1400 deck (HDSDI/Firewire included) via HDSDI cable...

Could you plug a focus FS100 into the Panny deck (6 pin firewire), and record that incoming HDSDI stream as an HD .MXF set of files? Would need to confirm if the audio would be passed as well, or if you'd have to feed the audio to the deck externally as well.

I've done something similar in SD, running an switcher into a Sony DV record deck, and putting a Focus SD DTE in the firewire port of that deck - works fine.

I know it's not the most ideal scenario - especially considering that the new 'baby' varicam (900) & the 2/3" HD P2 cam are just coming out. Point is - I'm working with folks that have the Varicams - and soon the decks. We may be looking for an added recording/backup/productivity option on certain ocassions.

So essentially - can you use a $25K deck to cross convert an HDSDI signal to a $2K DTE device (stick the deck in a rack and record it that way in the field). I would assume if it worked, it would only record the stream as 60p - no native 24/30p, flagged frames etc - just 24p over 60p.

Just throwing it out there to see if it's been done, or if it would work in theory, or not at all...

Thanks.

I have not tried this, but you can certainly play back a tape on a 1200A (I have a 1200A) or 1400 and record to FS-100 in MXF P2 format. It probably would be a good question to ask Panasonic...can you input an HD-SDI stream from a Varicam, record to tape and output a DVCPRO HD stream over 1394 simultaneously? Let us know what they say.

Matt

Matt - I did some more experimentation concerning this:

Edius SP 4.10 (latest update) - using a 4x3 timeline, so I'm looking for letterboxing with 16x9 formats.

Recording with the Panasonic SPX800, via firewire to the FS100 (latest update from last week), DV mode, 16x9:

Importing the following files recorded from the FS100 maintain 16x9 aspect on the Edius timeline:

Raw DV
P2 DV

Importing the following files recorded from the FS100 come in as 4x3 aspect (even though the camera feeds it 16x9) on the Edius timeline:

AVI Type 2 (what I usually record DV streams as & what I reported above)
Canopus AVI
Quicktime DV

So - some maintain 16x9 in Edius, some go to 4x3. If they go to 4x3, I have to change the properties. I don't know how to do this in a global fashion, so it's kind of a pain.

Not sure what the deal is, or what can be done. I typically stay 4x3 when recording DV, but that day may change soon enough.

* Also - I purchased the smaller version of the bigger 2/3" Panny P2 cam as well - the SPC700. Can I assume that the FS100 will work with it as well if I stick a firewire card in it? It's 4x3/16x9 at 60i. Any confirmed tests or concerns?

Hi Shawn,

The new 2.0.1 release of FS-100 fixes the DVCPRO 50 16:9 issue. The setting in the XML file was incorrect. I think that the DV25 file formats you mention do not currently support 16:9. Have you tried the P2 MXF DV/DVCPRO format?

We have not as yet tested the SPC700 with FS-100. I will check with our Panasonic contact.

Thanks,

Matt

Just wanted to see if you had heard back about the SPC-700? It has arrived and I'd like to stick a firewire card in it if the FS100 looks like it will work.

Thanks.

Hi Shawn,

Sorry for the delay, I am at DVExpo.

My Panasonic contact did say that FS-100 will work with the SPC700. You will be able to record from the cam and also playback and view the clips on the SPC700 LCD. Use these settings once the 1394 card has been added...

To control FS-100 for recording;
SYSTEM SETTING > OPTION MODE > 1394 CONTROL = BOTH

To play back the recorded clips from FS-100;
SYSTEM SETTING > SYSTEM MODE > REC SIGNAL = 1394
Note: this setting will be set to CAM (camera) as default when power cycle.

Matt

Hi,
I have a customer who has accidentaly recorded a travel show (with an FS-100)DVCPROHD in RAW not the P2 setting. He should have recorded in P2 as post is FCP/MAC. Now he is trying to import into Final Cut Pro and the raw clips (of course) not working/importing.
Does anyone know what the simplest solution would be? I don't think this is something that can be converted in quicktime pro, but I'm not sure? (I'm only familiar with RAW DV for standard def as it's an .avi and can be converted in QTpro). Is raw in DVCPRO HD also .avi or
Otherwise is the only other solution to play out to a 1200/1400 deck...record DVCPROHD and then re-capture those clips in FCP?
Obviously he would like to avoid renting a deck.
Thanks for any help. I'm supposed to find an answer for him:-)
Cheers,

Brian

I think I answered this on another forum...but here was my reply...

There is not a stand alone application that will convert FS-100 DVCPRO HD RawDV files to P2 files. I would recommend either dubbing the clips to a P2 card or dubbing to a deck and then ingesting to the NLE.

Hi Matt,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Appreciate it!
I believe we've actually met at NAB...not that you'd remember!
I've passed on the information to my customer.
Regards,


Brian Broz

It looks like this little guy is about to come out and start shipping soon enough:

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=103537&catGroupId=34401&surfModel=AJ-HPX2000

I've been saving a couple of pennies here and there and look forward to its arrival soon.

It looks like the FS100 will be jiving with it, via firwire, much like the HVX200 and/or my SPX800.

Just wondering if there's any thought to the compatibility with the coming capability of the AVC Intra50/Intra100 codec options? Would/could the FS100 work/record the data stream if you're in an Intra50/Intra100 mode on the camera, or will it ever and only record DVCPROHD 100?

Good problems to have - just want to see what may be on the horizon, even if it's a flat-out 'no', or just a 'maybe'.

Any thoughts Matt?

Thanks.

It looks like this little guy is about to come out and start shipping soon enough:

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp...del=AJ-HPX2000

I've been saving a couple of pennies here and there and look forward to its arrival soon.

It looks like the FS100 will be jiving with it, via firwire, much like the HVX200 and/or my SPX800.

Just wondering if there's any thought to the compatibility with the coming capability of the AVC Intra50/Intra100 codec options? Would/could the FS100 work/record the data stream if you're in an Intra50/Intra100 mode on the camera, or will it ever and only record DVCPROHD 100?

Good problems to have - just want to see what may be on the horizon, even if it's a flat-out 'no', or just a 'maybe'.

Any thoughts Matt?

Thanks.

Hi Shawn,

We have started looking at the AVC Intra format. Right now there is no concrete plans and we have not used the camera yet. So, at this point, I cannot really comment on this until we know more. Sorry.

Matt

Good question. I am also expecting this camera...

I will be leaving in Mid-February to Kenya, and I am planning on bringing my HVX to shoot some footage on some of the work I'll be doing there. I'm thinking of purchasing the FS-100 before I go, to make the run and gun process more fluid than using P2's. I just want any advice about what accessories to buy, and whether the Firestore would be able to function properly in extreme temperates in the 100's. In addition, the client is very interested in shooting with the Overcrank feature. Will the update be out before the 14 of feb? and I heard there is a possible work around w/ shooting 60p and somehow importing it into FCP at 24fps, is there any truth to that?

Hi,

FS-100 is designed to be operated in conditions up to 35 degrees C. You may have to investigate some additional cooling options (fans?) in order to use in higher temperatures. There is a white paper on the Focus support site that details FCP workflow and covers over/under crank operation... http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/FocusFCPPaper.pdf

Hope that helps,

Matt

Of course it's Sunday and my brand new FS-100 has stopped working.
The manual says to call Focus if you get the no hdd detected warning.
Is there a way to get the hdd back?

Either something came loose inside or the hard drive possibly died. It's an easy fix, but if you open it up, Focus won't cover it under warranty, so you'll probably have to send it in. What size hard drive are you using? Do you have video on there that you need to get off?

Hi Kit,

No, no footage on it thankfully. The funny thing is that it's only a day or so
old and I was just running FCP tests. I had just recorded 2 tests, and everything was fine. I followed the instructions meticulously, and made
sure I did not deviate from anything. Then when I hooked it back up to the
HVX, powered it up, I had nothing. No HDD found. Of course I leave at 6:00
am tomorrow morning supposedly with the Fs-100. Any other ideas? Thanks!

Sorry, you asked what hard drive size. It's 100gb.

Ouch. Honestly, I really don't have an answer for you unless you got the drive locally. A new hard drive can be had for $100 - $150 from compusa or circuit city, etc, if you're in a situation where you must have it. But again, Focus will void the warranty. That's a bummer though. Sometimes there are defects in hard drives, I suspect that is the problem as there is not really many things that will give you the HDD error.

Now, if it something where you put the 100Gb drive in yourself, most people have found that they put the cable on upside down, giving them this error. But other than that, not much more info to give other than to send it in to Focus or return it to your dealer for being defective.

Try doing a format. I know it says not detected, but if you right-click over to utilities and select format, it made just do that.

Joe

Thanks, but that did not work either. B+H has instructed me to send it back to them. They were very helpful. I'm getting a brand new one from them.
I managed to rent one last minute for my job, so thankfully I'm covered.
Thanks for all the help!

I managed to get through my shoot with a rented FS-100. I received my
replacement FS-100 the morning of my first shoot day at the location. I used the rental FS-100 all of morning and then switched to the new
one after lunch. So far so good.

That's great, John. Unfortunately, those hard drives are so mass produced that every now and again they will die after a short time. We've had good luck with ours, but it does happen. I'm glad you got everything worked out.

The weirdness continues! I have been importing all of my FS-100 clips intomy MacBook Pro to FCP 5.1.4 but every once in a while I get a "Spanned Clip" that shows a clip thumbnail, but lacks In and Out points. These "Spanned Clips" do not play back in FCP. On my G5 Tower, running FCP 5.0.4 I can also see the thimbnails but WITH In and Out points,but 5.0.4 cannot import the clips at all. If I check the .mxf files that correspond to the missing clips, they are
all "fat" files that seem to be the right size for their running time.

I'm considering the FS-100 and have a question about it... With the Panasonic P2 card-based cameras, shots that span across two cards can be recombined (spanned) in Final Cut, but Avid continues to have problems with these files. I do most of my work on Adrenaline, but any spanned clips need to be processed in Final Cut, then exported into Avid as a Quicktime. Needless to say, this is a huge hassle on several levels (time code, for example, is lost when the file is exported as a Quicktime).

When the FS-100 is used for very long shots, I assume the shot is segmented into files that meet the 2GB FAT file limit. Since these would be similar to spanned clips, does anyone know if these files reliably load into Adrenaline?

Also, what are the options to mount the unit on the new HPX2000? Will it fit in a wireless box? Is there a mount that will screw into a thread on top of the camera or onto a Noga arm? There isn't any information on Focus's website (that I could find, anyway) about the mounting options for the FS100.

Thanks!

I recently received my v3 upgrade for the FS100. In testing with the HVX200 I was surprised to find that to record in pN on the FS100, you still need to be in 'non-native' mode on the camera. Therefore, you can get extended run-times on the FS100, but the camera will eat up P2 cards faster if you record to both (which I do).

I'm assuming that this is a Panasonic issue, only allowing a 24/30p (over 60) stream out of the firewire port, by which your unit strips out the extra info?

The ideal scenario would be to record 720 24/30 pN on both the P2 cards and on the FS100 - eating the same amount of data.

Just wondering if this is the way it is and will be, or if Panny can make changes, etc. It would be great for the HVX, but I'm more concerned about using it with the bigger HPX2000, which is supposed to have pN firmware around 3rd quarter.

Thanks,
Shawn

Yesterday I shot some aerial footage from a helicopter ... my first using the HVX and FS100. Most of the clips are not useable and I don't think it was a camera problem. I was shooting 720p30 with the FS100 set to record Native Quicktime. Before the flight I did a short test record to make sure we had a firewire connection ... and did. During the flight, the record/pause seemed to work in the viewfinder, yet the footage looks like it was recorded randomly. The other issue is that on several clips a portion of the clip repeats itself numerous times. Like something was set on loop mode, although that was not the case. Very Strange. Could a intermittent firewire connection cause this?

I've use the fs-100 on several projects, always a bit nervous about the results, but it's worked out. My main gripe, albeit small, has been that you can't see fs100 timecode throught the camera's monitor out. This issue though, makes me very nervous about it's reliability, particularly in adverse situations. Any insight out there as to the cause of this?

ric

Don't all the FireStores have the ability to record to tape and HD simultaneously? If so, use it. This is a perfect example of why hard drives aren't in every camera right now. If I had one I'd always back up to tape, just in case.

My leaning would be towards communications radiofrequency interference or maybe some electromagnetic interference from the helicopter's own electrical power system.

I seem to recall reading in some notes on the Kenlabs gyros that the turbine powered helicopters, more certainly the larger ones, have electrical power which is AC and at a frequency of 400Hz. My recollection is somewhat vague about the voltages.

Whichever, if the Firestore is no better shielded against radiofrequency interference than modern videocameras, then the intrusion of radiofrequency interference might be more a case of certainty to the point of guarantee that something stray and unwanted is going to be running around in the camera and Firestore circuits, possibly interactively between both.

The length of a firewire cable might be a bit long to make a good VHF quarter wavelength antenna but coils wound in it by a cameraman to keep it short and from snagging on things might help it to unintentionally become part of a tuned circuit.

Don't take too much notice of my comments as in this case, my little bit of unqualified knowledge might be more dangerous than valid.

You can't record to both HD and tape at the same time. The HVX only records DV to tape. As for the electrical interference, I suspect that was the issue. Was hoping though that other experiences confirmed that.
ric

RF interference has been previously reported on dvinfo as a likely suspect in spontaneous violent set-offs of the optical steady shot.

I had an FX1 on record, locked off on a tripod, stop and rewind its tape from 1/3rd in. I think a mobile phone may have set it off at a live gig which was being recorded as the rewind coincided with a check visit to the camera and a mobile phone was being carried.

There is also an urban myth about clowns going to gigs with universal remotes programmed for different camera types to mess up people bootlegging shows or just for simple mischief, so RF breakthough might not have been the culprit.

I've just purchased a FS-100 Firestore. I was really excited about the product, but I've never been able to get it to work! Once I was able to view some footage which I had shot with it on my LCD screen, but I can't figure out how to open it once I have downloaded it to my computer. The clips are blank, sometimes with audio--maddening.

So, the particulars. I'm shooting with a Panasonic HVX200, and I will edit with Adobe Premiere Pro--I think that in that alone, I will be having some problems.

Okay, so, lots of problems. Any help appreciated so much!

Thanks,

Neil

http://www.focusenhancements.com/support/faq_topics.asp#answers

Try this link Neil to ensure you are using correctly - click on FS100 if it is not already up. YOu may have to transcode your QT files for APPro - I've only use PP2 when forced to and then never for your workflow.

Hey, thanks, John--

I'll try it out and get back to you!

I just acquired the HPX2000 and the FS100 has worked very well with it - all frame rates (so far anyway).

I've been looking forward to their new AVCIntra board & firmware to allow recording to that format. I plan to continue using my Grass Valley/Canopus SP system, which is reported to support the Intra option in version 4.5.

Any chance/word that the FS100 will be able to record the Intra codec (50-100Mb options)?

Thanks.

The data rate would be way to high for any single drive. Typical data rate of hdv is 3.2 mb/sec.
So unless you build a raid and have a uncompressed capture card forget about it 1

Doug

can't find much on this subject so I guess its not ready !