Firestore FS3 various questions
 

I have been looking at adding the FS3 to my Canon XL1 and my biggest questions have not been answered from research.

From my understanding so far:

1. FS-3V is the unit I need.
2. Canon MA100/200 is needed
3. Power System (Battery)

Questions are:

How do I mount the unit to the camera?
Does the battery supply power to both camera and drive?
What are all the requirements?

Thanks for your help. Looking at purchase within the month.

Guess I will have to fly by the seat of my pants on this one.

Butch, I'm working on the arrangements for a full review of the FS-3 with XL1S, where we'll touch upon all these questions. It's something I hope to have completed and online within a few weeks. Meanwhile, you might contact Focus directly by telephone and speak to Matt McEwen, I'm sure he'll give you the short answers. Hope this helps,

FWIW...

I've been using an ADS Pyro DV Drive. It's 1/2 the cost and quite simple to use. 30 Gig hard drive with internal rechargeable battery, so I don't have to rely on my XL1s battery. It will record in QT or AVI format. The only drawback is that you have to activate record mode by pressing a button on the drive, rather than the record trigger on the cam. This is actually kind of nice, because, it will capture whatever is streaming over the firewire port, as long as it's recording. I mounted it to my MA100 bracket, it's half the weight of the FS-3 and really inobtrusive.

Hi Butch,

I have been using the FS-3 with my XL1S for quite some time now. I thought I would try to help to make things more clear.

To answer your questions:
>>>>How do I mount the unit to the camera?

- You know how cameras can see a lot of action when shooting in the field, especially in ENG environments and EFP environments which require fast turnaround between setups... I decided to use a DOLGIN brace http://dolgin.net/PowerBrace.htm with my XL1S due to the heavy-duty metal design of Alex Dolgin's brackets.

My first concept was to use the DOLGIN PowerBrace, which works out very well. The following snapshots were taken with my old Pocket PC camera and not my trusty PowerShot - hence the lower resolution. It was the only camera I had on me at the time! But I think you will get the idea. http://noisybrain.com/firestore/donberube_concept1 The entire setup sits comfortably on your shoulder. Also, the DOLGIN PowerBrace is very versatile and will work with a variety of different power systems. I currently use the Anton Bauer GoldMount system to power the FS-3. The FS-3 can also be outfitted with most any other battery power system which you may require including Sony V-mount, NP-1, IDX and also includes a 4-pin male power input which would allow you to use any 12-volt battery with a 4-pin female output. This would also allow you to power the FS-3 from any 12-volt AC-DC power supply such as a Sony AC-500. The FireStore FS-3 does come with an included 12-volt AC-DC power supply.

My second concept was to have a bracket which would be more low-profile and would allow the FS-3 to sit more on top of my shoulder. My lower-profile setup idea was to allow me to quickly pull out my XL1S setup from my KATA quickdraw camera case. I decided to incorporate a DOLGIN Brace Classic with an Anton Bauer QR-XL1-C GoldMount power bracket which is made out of strong metal and easily supports the FS-3 and an Anton Bauer Goldmount battery (this setup can also power both the FS-3 and the XL1S at the same time) The following snapshots were quickly taken in my kitchen! http://noisybrain.com/firestore/donberube_concept2

>>>>Does the battery supply power to both camera and drive?

- Yes, if you set it up that way. You can also still power the XL1S with standard Canon batteries if you want - it is up to you. It's nice to have the option as backup. Alex Dolgin can provide you with a PowerBrace with a detachable "dummy battery" to power the XL1S as shown here http://noisybrain.com/firestore/donb...es/pic0021.htm (taken with my old Pocket PC camera) which clearly illustrates how the PowerBrace can also power your XL1S.

Alex Dolgin is extremely helpful and you can see all of his bracket solutions at http://dolgin.net.

>>>>What are all the requirements?

- The biggest requirement with the newer XL1S is that you set the "DV Control" to OFF in the internal camera menu. With the older XL1 and GL1, you would leave this set to "ON".

The bottom line is that the FireStore interface works extremely well at handling the task of managing your capture files for you - in most any NLE format that you may require. Very robust construction and versatile inputs and outputs. The FS-3 will even allow you to use a separate external firewire drive (other than the included firewire hard drive pod) should you desire to do so. That is a nice feature benefit. With the FireStore FS-3, all you need to do is make sure that the DV out from the camera is connected to the DV input on the FS-3 (via the included FW cable), turn the camera on, turn the FS-3 on, select what format of capture file you desire (very easy to do), set the FS-3 Control Mode switch to External "Synchro Slave" Control and go. The FS-3 does not take you out of your "camera operator zone" as it will Record start/ stop whenever you hit the REC start/ stop button on the camera. It will stay that way for as long as you want, even if you turn off the camera or place it into Standby. The FireStore interface is so well thought out and with the FS-3, it's almost as if you do not even have to read the manual. The LCD display is also very large and bright with a defeatable tally light for additional user comfort. Another big plus with the FS-3 for me is that it also interfaces with the other higher-end DVCams which I use from time to time pretty seamlessly - right where it should be, between the camera and the battery.

If you have any additional questions on my XL1S/ FS-3 setup, this may help to clarify how I use the FireStore DTE technology http://noisybrain.com/firestore/woods_hole_FS3_ad.pdf

You can also contact the very friendly Support team at Focus Enhancements via the following link: http://www.focusinfo.com/contact.html or you can contact Matt McEwan's tech team at Focus Enhancements at Phone: (408) 866-8300, Fax: (408) 866-4859.

Please do let us know if you have any other questions and do let us know how you make out.

Best regards,

- don

So Don, why are you not using DV Control? I thought that this
was the key concept between such systems. That when you
hit the record button on the XL1 the FS starts recording. To
my knowledge this is only possible with DV Control? Or am I
missing something??

Don, thanks many for your input on this it looks like you really spent some time with this in the field. I will take to heart your advice and as soon as I get the budget approval I will let you know what my results are from a newbie standpoint.

This is a great help.

Rob,

Don is correct. The current way to use FireStore (FS-1 and FS-3) with an XL1s (or XL1) is to have a tape in the camcorder and then set FireStore into Slave mode. On XL1s, ensure that DV Control Mode is set to OFF.

FireStore does not use the DV Control protocol that exists in XL1s to control record/record stop from the camcorder. We use a slightly different method which enables FireStore to be controlled from any DV camcorder, not just those that feature a DV Control Mode. The end result is basically the same...pressing the Record trigger on your camcorder starts FireStore recording and a second press stops FireStore recording (as it pauses the tape transport as well). A new press of the Record trigger will start FireStore recording again - this time on a new file to disk. You end up with a tape you can archive and an identical disk copy with separate files created from every start/stop which you can begin editing with immediately.

Hope that answers some queries.

Best regards,

Matt McEwen
Focus Enhancements

I thought I would list the different options available for mounting FS-3 directly to Canon XL1 or XL1s camcorders. The three main mount methods currently available are from Anton/Bauer, IDX and Dolgin.

1. ANTON BAUER SOLUTION - you will need:

- Canon MA-100 or MA-200 (The MA-200 is MUCH better in terms of sturdiness).

- Anton Bauer QR-XL1c. - This device includes a power converter which converts 12V to 7.2V so that you can run the FS-3 and XL1 off one AB battery. It features a dummy battery mount (similar to the Canon power supply) and mounts directly to the MA-100/-200.

- a longer 6-4 pin FireWire cable (we will have in stock in about 2 weeks to suit this setup).

For more info, visit:
http://www.antonbauer.com/

2. IDX SOLUTION - you will need:

- Canon MA-100 or MA-200 (The MA-200 is MUCH better in terms of sturdiness).

- IDX A-E2XL1. - This device includes a power converter which converts 12V to 7.2V so that you can run the FS-3 and XL1 off one IDX battery. It features a dummy battery mount (similar to the Canon power supply) and mounts directly to the MA-100/-200.

- IDX Endura battery

- a longer 6-4 pin FireWire cable (we will have in stock in about 2 weeks to suit this setup).

For more info, visit:
http://www.idx.tv/

3. DOLGIN / ANTON BAUER SOLUTION - you will need:

- Dolgin Power Brace. This device includes a power converter which converts 12V to 7.2V so that you can run the FS-3 and XL1 off one AB battery. It features a dummy battery mount.

- Anton Bauer battery

- a longer 6-4 pin FireWire cable (the longer cable we are getting is not long enough for this solution so a longer 6-4 pin is required).

For more info, visit:
http://www.dolgin.net/

Hope this helps.
Matt

Thanks for all the help. I just got off the phone with my vendor and expect the unit to be in by the middle of next week. I have a 5 day shoot in South Texas just after that and will write a newbie review of how it works.

Hi Butch,

Which bracket will you be using?

Would love to know,

- don

Using the Anton Bauer. Not because of anything special but the supplier had the batteries in stock so I picked that one.

Ordered the unit on last Thursday and it arrived yesterday. Unpacked and got everything put together but my camera is packed away ready to ship to Texas so I will not be able to shoot anything with it until I get there.

The information Matt gave was dead on. I went with the MA100 for cost only, did not need the extra two XLR ports and felt I could handle the extra weight ok. As a newbie found that the Anton Bauer adapter will power the camera as well or if I need the extra battery life for the drive I can run the cam with my own batteries. The larger batteries should be good for all I can shoot while in the field though.

The unit was easy to setup and put together and can't wait to get a chance to see the results.

Also, One of my XL1s is in the shop so the camera shop loaned me a DVX100 to use while on the shoot. I will not use the 24P though because all my stuff is for broadcast.

I will try and post my newbie results when I get back.

So far I'm smiling though.

Just back from Texas.

The shoot was incredible. We do an outdoor Fishing and Hunting show for statewide network television and the area was incredible for getting outstanding video.

Not sold enough on the DVX100 to buy one. Seems the settings are a little too extreme for my taste, either too hot or too cold and the adjustments were not as easy to "figure out" as the salesman said it would be. Small is great but lens throw with 10X zoom was very inadequite for the situation. That is only a newbies view though, I'm sure the camera does a fantastic job in the hands of an experienced professional. Loved the size and flip out monitor though.

Firestore FS-3AB was everything advertised. Setup was fairly simple. Hookup to the XL1 was easy enough. Recording was a breeze and file handling was flawless. In a nutshell this peice of equipment saved me over 20 hours of time just on one project alone, well worth the money, way to go Firestore. From my perspective I would highly recommend one of these to anyone that shoots a great deal of video and needs a fast economic turnaround to edit.

Only drawback I had with the unit was weight. Tracking through the brush in Texas is much different with cactus and prickly pear bushes everywhere. I have not put it to the scale yet but estimate that it adds about 10lbs to the carry weight and that means alot when you are walking several miles a day chasing deer. At over 6' and 230lbs in fairly good condition the weight was did not cancel out the benefits of having the unit.

Overall, I would say the only downs to the unit in my situation was weight and it takes more than a few seconds to power up in a fast action situation but not bad at all in my view. Thanks again for all the help getting setup with it, I'm still smiling.

Butch,

Thanks for posting your experiences.

Just to clarify, the official weight of FS-3AB with a 40GB drive is 2.6lbs. I also checked with Anton/Bauer and their 90wH Dionic model is 1.7lbs.

I am not sure of your setup though Butch and you may have had additional cables, mounts etc.

Matt

FS3 + Sony DSR 250P + Matrox RTX 100 Extreme
 

hello there,

im using the dsr 250p and the matrox card rtx100 extreme with adobe premiere 6.5. im going to plan to buy a fs3. now my questions: are there any known issues or problems with fs3 and the dsr 250 or fs3 and the matrox card? im using ntfs harddrives im my editing system but fs 3 accept only fat 32. maybe a problem? matrox doesnt recommend to use firewire hd for editing. is it possible to drag and drop the videofiles from fs3 to my hd in my computer (fat 32 doesnt accept large videofiles so they are split at every 9 minute or so) and could i then use the splitted files as one large file on my editing system or get i a lot of small files?
i hope someone could answer my questions

thanks a lot

murat

Hello Murat,

I have heard no issues with the DSR-250P and FS-3 - nor should there be any. We have a demo DSR-250 (NTSC) we use with FS-3 all the time and it works fine.

I have not used the Matrox RTX.100, but have used FS-3 with the RT2500 and DigiSuite successfully. One caution note is to use a separate FireWire card on your system as it is not possible to connect the FS-3 drive to the FireWire port on the Matrox card.

It shouldn't matter what format your computer's disk drive is as long as you are running Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP. Each of these drives will recognize the FS-3 drive as an external FireWire drive and you can either stream direct from the drive to the timeline or copy the files to the computer's hard drive.

FS-3 does split the files up into 9 minute, 13 second clips while recording, but automatically starts a new file when the end is reached so no frames are lost. All clips can be pieced together in the timeline easily and with no dropped frames between files. Each start and stop of a recording is also saved as a single, manageable file.

Hope this helps.

Matt McEwen

thank you matt for the info.

your talking about one single managable file. for example i have made a videoshoot about 1 hour. with this single managable file i get the whole shoot in one videostream (one hour length) or must i still import all single video streams (9 min) to get the one hour shoot to the timeline in premiere?

btw: what about index marking? if i set an index its on tape but will it be on the fs3 too?

thank you

murat

Hi Murat,

A one hour segment created on FireStore will be made up of about six 9 minute, 13 second (2GB) files. These files are created automatically at time intervals on FireStore and no frames are lost between files. When you edit, all the 2GB segments will be available to you NLE and named sequentially. To get them into a timeline, highlight all six segments in the NLE bin and then drag them as a group into the timeline. As they are named sequentially, they will automatically drop in order into the timeline. They will also play seamlessly as a single one hour clip. So, even though the one hour segment is broken up into smaller files, there is very little steps involved to use the entire segment in the timeline. Hope I have explained it better.

As far as index marking is concerned, FS-3 does not recognize these markers. But, we do have a different way of working. The fact is that when you are recording to FireStore, you are essentially capturing your footage to disk. Therefore, you can create your own index at any time on FireStore by simply just pressing the REC button during a record session. This will immediately start a new clip on disk without dropping any frames. So you can create individual clips on disk as if you were marking in and out points when capturing. You can also mark these clips into a "Keeper" folder on disk so that when you get back to the edit suite, you only import the clips you marked as keepers. All the other clips are also there, they are just in a different folder. This feature will be enhanced in an upcoming software release due out soon...stay tuned!

Keep in mind that FS-3 is field upgradable so that as new FireStore software versions are released, they can be downloaded into units in the field by the customer.

Matt McEwen

Firestore is the best thing since sliced bread for me.

I have shot several projects using it now and am 100% sold. I have cut my production time each week by over 4 hours just by using this device.

If you can imagine a weekly production that takes 8-12 hours for post production and cutting that by 1/4 to 1/2 it is worth every penny.

I've done some reading/research and can't seem to find an answer to: Can you dump from the FS straight to a standalone firewire compatible hard disk in the field? In situations where you shoot beyond the capacity of the unit, I'd like to download quickly to another device. I realize a laptop will work but mine only has a 20 gig drive so that won't do it. Thanks in advance for answers.

Hi Rob,

The nice thing with FS-3 is that it has removable disk drives...once you fill one up, you simply remove the drive and replace it with another. The internal drive slot is designed around the FireStore FSHDD-1 FireWire drive (available in 40GB - 3 hr. or 80GB - 6 hr.). It is also possible to use any FireWire drive and connect it to the "HDD I/O" port on the side of FS-3. In this situation, once the internal drive is full, FS-3 automatically begins recording to any external FireWire drives connected. You can daisy chain up to 4 drives from the external port allowing you to achieve extremely long record times.

Hope this helps.
Matt McEwen

Hi Rob,

You could always attach your second FireWire drive to the FireWire port on your laptop, then attach the FireStore hard drive pod to the FireWire "Loop Through" of that second drive - this would allow you to download your captured footage to that second FireWire drive through your laptop. One thing though is that if it is a PC laptop, it will have a 4-pin FireWire port which does not supply power to external devices. You would have to use a special cable which takes power from the USB port to power the hard drive. I have a MacAlly PHR-250cc FireWire drive enclosure which came with this cable adaptor. I formatted the drive with the FS-3 for FAT-32 which allows the drive to operate with both a Mac and a PC. When I use the drive with my PC laptop, I use that USB power cable to power the drive and it works fine. I'm very happy with the MacAlly enclosure as it only cost $59 and it included a FireWire 6-pin to 6-pin cable, a USB 2.0 cable and the USB powe4r adaptor cable, plus a nice vinyl case. Great deal and very small http://www.macally.com/spec/firewire.../phr250cc.html

- don

FS3 Record indicator
 

I recently used the FS3 on a JVC DR-DV5000 while working for a production company freelance.

I'm impressed-

Especially because I had to edit the material as well. I don't really want to go back to tape, after using the FS3.

My preferred camera however - Is my own "old" XL1 - it has seen a lot of action, but is still going relatively strong.

That's a lie ... My XL1 is showing signs of age, and after having it overhauled last year by Canon I have had two tapes in the last four months with strange signal disturbances. The same ones I had before I sent it in to Canon. Before I have my XL1 looked at again, I've decided to turn it into a hard drive camera. I have none of the type of disturbances I've encountered with tape when I capture directly to my computer using B-TV, or FCP.

One thing that would interest me before I get into investing in this expensive upgrade: is does the FS3 indicate that it is recording through the XL1 viewfinder like it does with the JVC. Or is the only indication of recording - the red LED on the firestore itself?

A question for Matt McEwen or anyone who has been using the FS3 in the field.

Thanks

Daniel Kohl

Hi Daniel,

The integration between the JVC GY-DV5000 and the FireStore DR-DV5000 disk recorder is unique and the only solution at the moment that has the REC indicator in the viewfinder as well as time on disk remaining and disk recorder status. We worked with JVC to create this integration and it took some work on JVC's behalf for the record indicator to appear in the viewfinder which is a great feature.

JVC added a 52-pin connector on the rear of the GY-DV5000 camcorder which allows external devices such as the FireStore DR-DV5000 disk recorder and the JVC KA-DV5000 network adapter to integrate tightly with the camera.

Hope that helps.

Matt McEwen
Focus Enhancements

Thanks for your quick reply Matt.

I’m just curious as to how people using the FS3 with the XL1 are dealing with this drawback.

I mean, I’m sure that I’m not the only cameraman who has, in the heat of shooting, not noticed that the tape is not running. Either because I didn’t really stop shooting after the last take, and after filming the floor and my knee for two minutes push the record button only to go into standby when the action starts. Or I didn’t hit the record button firmly enough and only notice that the camera is not running because none of the indicators in the viewfinder are moving – and that with blinking red dot and TC display.

I don’t like the idea of having to take my eye off the viewfinder to reassure myself that the recorder is really recording. This almost offsets the advantage of being able to start recording via the slave function. If I have to look at the recorder to see if it’s running then I can push a button on it to start it as well.

Are there any workarounds for this problem? An LED extension cable that one can glue into the viewfinder? An acoustic signal?! , Vibration alarm?

Hopefully,

Even though I feel like I’m talking to myself, I’m going to answer one of the previous questions. It occurred to me, (and I hope I understand this right) that the record trigger for the FS3 connected to the XL1 only works when the FS3 is in Sync/Slave mode. That means that the record indicator for the tape movement of the XL1 would also be the record indicator for the FS3.

The only remaining question is – what happens when the XL1 starts recording to tape before the FS3 has completely booted, and what happens when the tape has run out while the FS3 is recording? I think that it reasonable to assume that FS3 has to be fully booted before it can recognize that the record button has been pressed. But will the FS3 continue to record after the tape part of the camera has stopped?

I hope I’m not babbling here. These are just some things that are concerning me before I invest in this system.

using the FS3 with the JVC GY-DV5000
 

Hi,

I just used the JVC GY-DV5000 with integrated FS3 again yesterday. I want to correct something I criticized on it in a previous post. I’m getting used to the viewfinder symbolism – and the blinking symbol of a torn piece of film does indicate that the FS3 is in the process of booting, and is not ready to record to disc. If it doesn’t stop blinking after around 30 seconds, then there is a problem. After about 10 -15 seconds the symbol changes to a solid looking symbol. I’m sure that all this is described in the GY-DV5000 handbook – but I haven’t had the time to peruse through it. My feeling is that stuff like that should be intuitive.

I realized that what bothers me about the menu system on the FS3 is that there is no arrow up button – which makes scrolling through the menus frustrating. If one scrolls past an item, one has to scroll through the whole list again to get to the item one wants. I find myself doing the rounds two or three times, sometimes. I also don’t like the fact that some times the option "select”(SEL) is assigned to a buttonthat doesn’t do anything. Simply choosing an article and then exiting is what is called for. If that’s the case, the option "select”(SEL) shouldn’t appear as a choice.

The TC display on the FC3 goes to 0:00:00:00 when it’s not recording, even when it is in eternal TC mode. I wish that it would always display the current TC so that I can compare it with the camera TC between shots. It may just be psychological – but it would help me know that everything is working and in sync.

Another thing: I edit with FCP 4, I copy the media from the FS3 HDD onto my internal HDD and then drag the folders into FCP’s browser window. Every time I have done this in the past, FCP has given me a warning that some number of files could not be imported. I haven’t let this bother me until now. But while editing this time I noticed that an important clip was missing. I checked the tape, since I am recording in syncro slave mode, to see if I had inadvertently not been recording at the time (I’ve admitted that I am prone to this), but to my horror (relief) the missing clip was on tape. I went back to the original folders from the FS3 on my internal HDD and found that the missing clip was there as well.

Why did FCP reject the clip when I imported it with all the other clips together? FCP accepted the clip alone without a problem, using the same drag and drop method I used for the folders.

I was also wondering why there is an on/off switch on the Firewire HDD. Is it a sort of record safe? That cost me a few minutes of searching, yesterday when I set up the camera. Someone had switched the HDD off and stuck it in the FS3 which caused a "no disc” warning to show up on the FS3. I’m wondering what the thinking was behind that. It’s no problem if one knows it’s there, but until you know , it’s just another little thing that can cost some time finding.

I also noticed that FCP did not recognize my camera/recorder while the FS HDD was connected to the second Firewire port on my G4. Is that normal? I dismounted the FS HDD, and then everything was all right.

To end on a positive note, I just finished the editing on the shoot from yesterday and I cut it in record time – a lot of credit to the FS3.

How to configue FS3 to work like this...
 

1. How can I record only selected shots whilst recording non stop on Panasonic AYDVC200 (Large DV Camcorder) ? Cox i have the same camera to record non stop of say some conference but simultanously i have FS3 connected to it . Is there any way to control whats gets recorded and what doesnt on FS3 parallely with non stop recording going on on tape in DVC200 camcorder...Any wired remote or thing like that....I hope you uinderstand this concern of mine before purchasing such a costly product.
2. Fs3 Accepts 6 pin or 4pin input as My Panasonic & PD both gives 4pin output
3. If i use it with DV200 then it gets attached to my anton battery hot shoe behing camera...howd i use it with PD.
4. I have read on this forum that FS3 & FS1 takes sometime to boot...how long does it really take to boot. When we shoot we dont keep our cameras on always .. there are time when we turn off the camera when we dont see happening say in a marriage function but suddenly we need to record so we turn on the camera and loooo 5secs we are rolling on tape ... how much does these firestore units require time to boot up ?

Hi Bankim,

As far as I can tell, there are two additional modes in the FS3to sync slave (record triggered by the record button on your camera) but I think they only make sense together with the JVC cameras. You can do what you’re talking about by putting the FS3 in local mode and it works like a video recorder. You can have your camera running the whole time, and when you want to record with the FS3 you just push record on the FS3 itself. Pushing record again will stop the FS3 recording and you will have a new clip for the next time you push record. This will not effect what is going on with your Panasonic in any way – except for some camera jiggle when pushing buttons on the FS3. But I think it comes with an IR remote control as well, so that should prevent that.

You can adapt any 4 pin into a 6 pin either with the right cable or an adapter plug. Since the FS3 gets its power from its own battery system the power supplying pins on the FS3 are not essential to its functioning.

I don’t understand your third question, what is a PD

I find that the FS3 takes about 10 to 15 seconds to boot (I haven’t timed it yet). It’s so long though, that I turn the camera on whenever I even suspect that something is about to happen that I want to shoot. It’s a bit too long for my taste. I leave the camera on a lot more than just with tape. Tape is ready to shoot in about half the time as the FS3 when the camera and FS3 are completely off. If the camera is on and the FS3 is booted, the FS3 records simultaneously with the tape.

I hope that this is some help to you,
Matt McEwen should be able to answer you questions more exactly.

Thanks for your reply. Now the way out is to take practicals in !!! I Have ordered my FS3 and should be with me in a weeks time or so...I shall post my experiance with it till then cheers !!!

Happy Firestoring !

FS3 Firestore
 

Can the data be downloaded to any compatable Firewire enabled device or does that device have to be configured to FS3. I have a German Casablanca NLE that is neither compaible with PC or Mac systems. It's something brilliant but from another planet. PC

Dear Pete, Sorry but i couldnt get what excatly u mean but if i am not wrong

You mean to ask that what ever we shoot on FS3 then when we connect the unit to any NLE can we dump all the data to av hardrives for editing.

The Answer is sure we can. i have a FS3 and i shoot on it later to dump everything on my Matrox RTX100 AV drives for editing

Cheers !

FS3 Firestore
 

Thanks Ben. Yes I just want to load data via fierwire as though I was dumping to another deck.
India ay. What are you working on over there?
I have been filming whales for 8 years & most of that on XL1 & XL1s. Cheers thanx again, PC

Hey Pet,

Thts a gr8 work you do ... whles are the perhaps the most magestic mammal i would ever like to see as i havent seen them more than on movies.

Well i make documentaries, orporate videos & do make wedding movies but for high profile & high budget clients.

I use PannyDV200 & PD150 with Sony DVCAM edit recorder with RTX100 fe sheniisss cordless mics, lighitn gear from satchler...

Well in india we have more than one can think of for shoot. be it sports, culture, docus, travel...food the saga goes on.

I am planning a series on india as a travel show and onder whom should i approach with idea for commissioning in overseas market


Cheers !

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for you post and comments about the FS-3. Feedback such as this allows us to continually evolve the product.

To answer some of your queries, when you are recording or in playback and want to monitor EXT TC from the camcorder, press the middle soft key (DISP) when on the main screen and cycle through to the SMPTE NTSC (or PAL) display and this will display external TC from the camcorder.

I would encourage you to contact our tech support department regarding the lost files within FCP, as this is of course not correct and this should not be happening. They should be able to help track down what the issue is.

The power switch on the base of the drive is there for use when the drive is being used on a computer with only a 4-pin FireWire port (such as a Sony Vaio) which requires an optional power supply.

The issue of FCP not seeing your unit while connected is fixed in an upcoming release which is due out shortly.

Thanks,
Matt McEwen

Hi Pete,

I just got back from down under...had a great time!

Unfortunately, we have not officially tested the Casablanca yet for DTE compatibility. What exact model are you using and I will try and get it into our lab?

Thanks,
Matt

Hi Bankim,

To answer your questions...

1) It is possible to trigger record on FireStore manually and separate to camcorder control (you basically do not set it in Slave Mode). You could also use the optional wired or infrared remote controls units.

2) FS-3 ships with a 6-6 pin and 6-4 pin FireWire cable...so it should work with any DV camcorder.

3) Check it out with the Anton/Bauer Stasis...a terrific solution for PD150/170 users.

4) Boot up time is about 5 seconds for both FS-1 and FS-3.

Hope that helps,
Matt McEwen

FS3 Firestore
 

Thanx Bankim & Matt.
The model is KRON on an 80 gig drive with V10 software. Look forward to results. Casablanca runs VX works. Unfortunately we have no way of backing to another hard drive.
Cheers PC

is there any www presence of casablanca nle for us to know more on your system

FS# Firestore
 

Yo Bankim, here it is;

http://www.macrosystem.de/e/index.html

but they are loathe to tell too much. I only found out about the Works VX info thru a dealer. Very secretive mob these Germans!! Cassie runs an old but reliable Motorolla chip too.The platform although limited is very reliable & fast. Do 90% of your edit on one of these & the tricky bits on a Mac or so. For outright editing, these things kill Macs & PC's

Cheers & hope all's well. Plenty de news re HDV coming thru too. Bring it on. PC