Use my new Firestore FS-H200 with my A1 for the first time last night.
 

And I must say, I will never use tape again.

It was wonderful.

Two hours and ten minutes (still had 10 minutes left on the 32GB card). No dropped frames, no 9 second gaps. Copied the whole thing to my mac in 9 minutes (I used Sandisk Extreme card and firewire extreme reader) and it looked beautiful in final cut.

The battery on the FS-H200 seemed to be only half used.

It was so nice not to have to worry about a tape change when the first act ran long.

I might consider another one for my HV20 that I use for wide shots.

I hope Canon's new digital line works this easy.

Hi Howard,

I'm looking at getting one of these and I'm wondering if it captures Hi-Def in 30p. That's what I shoot my events in, and looking at the literature, it doesn't look like it does.

If you happen to know, I was hoping you could tell me.

Thanks!

Only records 1080i 50/60, will not record 1080 24p or 30p.

Sure about that? Just asking because my hvr-dr60 does record canon's progressive mode, the FS-H200 can't be that different how it records?

I thought these devices all recorded whatever signal was coming out of the firewire port. So far, what I get from my XH-A! when recording to my Sony MRC1 unit is whatever the camera puts out through the firewire port. If anybody cares about the MRC (as opposed to the Firestore), I'll can try the varieties of XH-A1 output tomorrow.

Of course I base my statement on the spec sheet.

I'll try it later.
 

Hi Mike,

I'll be out this morning on a errand, but I will give it a try later.
According to the specs:
Recording Modes

HDV Recording Modes
.m2t 720p 24/25/30/50/60
.m2t 1080i 50/60
QuickTime 1080i 50/60
QuickTime 720p 30

DV Recording Modes
AVI Type 1
AVI Type 2 | AVI Type 2 24p
QuickTime | QuickTime 24p
Canopus AVI
Matrox AVI
RawDV

So I will set the camera to 30P and see what it records
Howard

Hi Howard,

Just checking in to see if you did the test. If not, that's cool.

Also, can anyone tell me - Is this unit that makes a new file every "n" minutes or something. I was reading about a unit (can't remember which one because there are so many different types, makes, so on) that automatically makes a new file and there was an issue of dropped frames and audio because of it.

Looking into buying this week and want to make sure of what I'm buying.

Thanks!

Test Done
 

Sorry it took a couple of days for what turned out to be a one minute test. I got real busy.

I set the camera to 30F and set up the FS-H200 as I normally do.
When I pressed record on the FS, it says record for a second, then stops.
I tried several times.

Then I switched back to 60i and pressed record and it worked fine.

So no, the current FS-H200 does not work with 30F.

It does seems to make a new file about ever hour, but with NO dropped frames.

Howard

This is supposed to be coming out in September for under $500...anyone have an opinion on it?
BTW, do I have to know HTML to embed a link here?
DN-60 DV/HDV Solid State CF card recorder

Oh...never mind I see it automatically made a link....cool