Thanks, I figured it did, but just wanted to make sure.

Do you know about recording the 24F HDV 23.98 footage?

The FS-C does record 24F 23.98. With the newest software update, it can record the footage as either m2t or quicktime files.

I'm hoping someone in this thread will answer a question for me:

Is there a difference in the stability or functionality of the FS-C vs the FS-4 Pro HD when used with a XL-H1? The specs seem the same for both, other than the mounting hardware for the "C."

FS-C corrupted files
 

I have had so far 3 files of about 30 come out looking like this. The firestore was set to tapeless recording, every once in a while it wouldn`t record when I pushed record on the camera. Any idea what happened?

http://www.kiukle.com/temp/badfile.jpg

*edit* I just tried putting it back on a Firestore FS 4 pro and repairing it, it said it was repaired...but when dropped back in Premiere it was still messed up

heres one of the clips as well..it just dies mid clip....be warned, turn your speakers down.

http://www.kiukle.com/temp/badfile.wmv

so far I have an H1 at work with an FS 4 HD Pro with 0 problems. And an A1 with the FS-C with my first long shoot loosing 20 minutes of 60 to corrupted, unrepairable files. Not sure what that would mean.

Corrupted Files.
 

Hi Nathan.

Check your camera firewire connection. I had the same problem with a Canon XL1-S and an FS4. The firewire cable has to be secured to the camera.

Hope it helps.

Arnaldo

I just received and promptly returned a FS4 ProHD to B&H for the exact same reason. That and it would not charge/run from battery.

I tried several different ways of connecting the unit to my mac and FOLLOWING THE DIRECTIONS to the letter. But nothing would work. I kept getting "failed" on the enable screen. I tried on both a PC and a mac.

The battery issue tells me that there is something wrong with the unit. It will work while connected to AC. But once the AC is removed the unit dies. I charged one of the batteries over night and one for 2 hours. No Joy, the both will not run the unit.

I ordered a second unit to try from B&H and I am returning this defective one. If the second one is messed up, I am back to tape. Thanks to the B&H folks for helping out.

I did call Focus and the lady I talked to said that the battery issue would require the unit to be sent back. The firewire issue might be fixed over the phone with some troubleshooting. I told her that I would rather send it back due to the battery issue.

Try giving them a call. Let me know if you are able to get it working.

I am not having a good day. I got the new FS-4 Pro HD this morning. I charged it for 3 hours. It fired up on battery power with no problems. I got home and tried to connect it to the mac. No joy. I cannot get it to connect to the mac following the instructions to the T. I tried various variations and none of them work.

At first the device would lock up when I plugged it in to the computer and after a few minutes I would pull the battery to reboot. You could not get it to respond to clicks on the enable or other buttons at all. I eventually got it to respond to the clicks. I am not sure how. But now after clicking on the enable it just reboots. It never shows on the desktop.

I even tried connecting it to the PC and it does the same thing.

Faith is fading fast. Unless someone here has advice, I am out of luck until Monday.

Okay Chris / Harry I understand this must be very frustrating....

Only thing to do is go over everything line by line again.... out of interest, when you have recorded footage can you play it back through your camera? Is the drive recording okay.

Have you set the time and date? did you format the drive befor use? (these may not have any direct effect but its worth checking) have you tried another firewire cable?

1: The unit (we are using the hd100) will get its power from the 6 pin firewire from the mac - so the battery state should not be an issue

2: What version of Mac OS are you running?

3: Connect 6 pin firewire from "computer out" on the drive to the mac

4: Switch drive on

5: Check drive menu is set HDD Mode > DD Drive > Enable

6: It may be necessary to repair clips as follows - Utillities > Repair disc > Yes

7: Icon should be on the mac desktop

All the best Stu
www.studioscotland.co.uk

>>I understand this must be very frustrating....

Stu, that is the understatement of the year. I got very little sleep last night working on this thing.

>>Only thing to do is go over everything line by line again....

I don't know about Harry but I did that. Many times.

>>>>out of interest, when you have recorded footage can you play it back through your camera? Is the drive recording okay.

Recorded about 1 minute, it did play back fine on the camera.

>>Have you set the time and date?

Date and time were set at the very begining. I did a reset later on and that changed the date and time back.

>>did you format the drive befor use?

Even though this is not in the instructions I did format the drive after trying a dozen times with no success. Formatting it did not help.

>>(these may not have any direct effect but its worth checking) have you tried another firewire cable?

I have used 2 cables that I know work as they operate my other firewire drives with no problems.

>>1: The unit (we are using the hd100) will get its power from the 6 pin firewire from the mac - so the battery state should not be an issue

Battery state was an issue with the unit I returned. It would not operate without AC power. This unit will operate with battery power.

>>2: What version of Mac OS are you running?

I am using the latest version of OS... fully updated.

>>3: Connect 6 pin firewire from "computer out" on the drive to the mac

Done and I even tried using the DV out and playing from the drive.

>>4: Switch drive on

>>5: Check drive menu is set HDD Mode > DD Drive > Enable

>>6: It may be necessary to repair clips as follows - Utillities > Repair disc > Yes

This is not part of the connect instructions. The drive should appear even if the clips are damaged. Right??

>>7: Icon should be on the mac desktop

Never happens :-( Thanks for the advice. I will try again after breakfast and I wake up a bit. Maybe Harry will have better luck.

Ok Chris - a couple more questions....

1: Can you - with no battery at all attached to the HD100 Drive, see the Red light (charge light) illuminate on the drive when you connect via firewire (computer out)?

If so... what happens when you go (or try to go) to HDD Mode > DD Drive > Enable?


2: Correct....Damaged clips will not stop the drive mounting...


Don't give up... when the drive works its a great tool.....

Stu...

Stew, It is a FS-4 Pro HD 80 GB. I am not sure if that changes your initial question.

I just tried it and red light does appear on the FS-4 as well.

Powers on... Go to the enable and the screen turns pink for a second and reboots back to main screen. No icon appears on the mac.

Same as before.

Chris - you say this is the 80 GB model (is this an older drive?)

Sorry Chris - I may be getting my wires crossed here - I thought your model was the JVC/Focus DRHD100 - although they are basically the same unit.

Not sure if you are aware - but the newer drives (or the JVC one at least) have gone from 40 - 60GB & 80-100 GB models with new software updates -

Is the version software the latest? (its in the menu)

We have had to shut down the drive now and then when it gets itself a bit confused but in the main they work very well.

Failing all this - it sounds like you have another faulty unit...

Focus where very good with us by email, sorting out issues we had at the begining...

Sorry can't be much more help here... I feel your frustration - appears to be a way of living these days with all this new technology.

Let us know how you get on.... all the best...

Stu...

Negative... It is the FS-4 ProHD. It is running version 2.0.0.0 which appears to be a higher version but, it does not matter as I cannot upgrade it due to the fact that I cannot mount it to load an upgrade bin. :-)

Another faulty unit.... That I will have to pay to ship back. I am really not happy at this point.

I spent $35 dollars on a new 6 pin firewire cable. That has not helped either.

I eventually got the hang of it and now have no problems downloading. If anyone is having problems with my particular unit made for the Canon XLH1 then you can email me and we can talk on the phone.

By the way, the unit worked almost flawlessly on our 12 day shoot. But I was glad we were running tape simultaneously, since it sometimes doesn't start recording properly so you really have to keep an eye on the TC counter to make sure it's actually running.

Harry

Harry,

I am glad that you got yours working. I contacted FE about my problems and they are doing an RMA to replace the second unit. They are out of the 80gb units so I am getting a 100GB in return. That makes up for the 2 return shipping charges I paid out of pocket. I also asked that they test the new unit before shipping it to me.

Harry, I just got an FS-C and haven't tested it yet. Could you summarize the main problem and solution you discovered? Thanks.

Ring me and I'll give you the sacred secret method. 323 851 2942.

Best

Harry

FS-C good so far
 

Just wanted to balance some of the negative comments with a positive one...

I've only done limited testing on my new FS-C, but it worked fine the first time I tried it. I upgraded the firmware before anything else. Then a quick shoot, transfer, and import into FCP. No problems with any of it. In fact, better than DV Rack HD, which I usually use, because DVR can't seem to produce a QT file that imports without a render line (or needs MPEG Streamclip to produce a copy without the line). The FS-C files imported beautifully as-is.

FS-C and DVX100a
 

Hello,

I plan to acquire an XH A1 in a few months, for which I'll want the FS-C, but I'm doing a project in a few weeks (48 Hour Film) on my old DVX100a and would love to use a FireStore. Focus Enhancement's PDF doesn't recommend using the FS-C on the DVX, but I'm wondering if it might work anyway.

Thanks for any help.

Firestore FSC vs. FS-4
 

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a significant difference between the Firestore FSC (aka Canon Firestore for XL series) and the FS-4 HD. I know the Canon FSC comes with an XL series camera mount kit and is 60 GB all for $1250. The FS-4 HD is 40 GB and $650. I'm thinking about purchasing the FS-4 and a separate XL camera mount kit rather than the Canon-branded firestore. Any thoughts? Thanks

Yes, save yourself some sleepless nights and get the FS-C. I did a lot of research, and the C is really optimized for the XL cameras. The differences go beyond what you read in the specs.

I haven't worked with mine much yet, but so far the C has worked flawlessly. I passed up an $800 rebate on the 4-HD, and I don't regret it.

On the contrary, both products are identical except for some camera/device interoperability. Reliability, quality or anything else is precisely identical between the units. So, it really depends on whether you want to spend the extra bucks for the interoperability. I didn't, and I don't miss what I gave up.

Thanks Philip & Bill for your responses. It appears most people have a love-hate relationship with their Firestore DTEs making me a bit weary about purchasing one. When I'm ready to purchase, I'll find a retailer with a good return policy in the event the Firestore doesn't work well. I'm curious if you can describe any interoperability differences between the two Firestore units. I would think that the Firewire connection and associated "DV camera interface" is virtually the same between computers and video cameras. Isn't that a standard? I recognize the physical camera mounts differ between cameras. Philip, what did your research show? Thanks

I believe the "C" is the only one that will be triggered by the camera's start/stop button. IE, you might otherwise have to use the FS's own controls.

Everyone has their own opinion, but I looked extensively and never found an explicit and reliable statement that the 4 and the C were essentially identical. If they were, why would there always be separate firmware updates for the two drives? (The confusion isn't helped by the fact that neither Canon nor FS replies to emails.)

Anyway, I tend to play it safe, and I figured if something went wrong, I'd have a better argument if the Canon version didn't work as promised with the Canon camera.

I have a Canon A1 and an FS-4 Pro HD. The camera stop/start will trigger the FS-4 on that model. Don't know about the XL series.

GL-2 will also run either tapeless or with tape and trigger the regular old FS-4 with the camera's start button as long as you set the DV Control parameter to ON. Works fine.

It seems according to the Focus Enhancements product literature comparing models that the XL1/1s/2 and GL1/GL2 are not compatible with the FS-C model. Instead only the XL-H1/A1/G1 will work with the FS-C. For my Canon XL2, Focus Enhancements recommends the FS4 and FS4-Pro devices based on compatibility but doesn't specify reasons. Perhaps it is something as simple as a mounting bracket.

See the official website literature for more info:

http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/d...18Jun07-US.pdf

2 Firestore FS-C Timecode Sync
 

I appologize in advance if this has already been addressed.

I was wondering if there is a way to have 2 FSC's sync timecode together each recording a different camera? I have 2 XH-A1's that don't have timecode I/O so I'm trying to figure out a way to have them sync. I like the idea of having the FSC's expecially if they can sync together.

FS-C screen issue
 

When i power down a line stays illuminated across the screen and slowly after about 30 seconds fades away. This can`t be normal. Anyone have an answer to what causes it and if it means my screen will one day not function?

A few questions
 

Good to hear a positive trial. What are the specs you were using?

HDV / DV?
16x9 / 4x3?
24f / 30f / 60i?
QT / mt2...?

Someone had mentioned issues with the actual tape when going back and trying to capture through the camera at a later time. Notice anything there?

Also, I'm trying to find out if you can transfer previously shot tapes into the drive. I would be so grateful if you could give this a test for me.

Share
 

Harry,

Is this still a secret? Please share as I plan on purchasing an FSC model soon.

Brian

I found out that the FS-C is basically the FS-4 Pro with larger hard drive and "Pro" sets of features including specialized NLE support, timecode, time-lapse, etc. So that will explain the price difference.

I ended up purchasing the FS4-HD (40 GB) and the special Canon XL series mounting bracket and really like them so far. I did set the XL2 camera into Ext Control mode so that I could let the camera control the firestore independent of the tapes (in case I run out of tape!) I tested running tapeless...

1) Eject tape
2) Hit record on camera (Firestore starts recording)
3) Insert tape
4) Hit record on camera (tape starts recording & Firestore remains recording)
5) Hit record on camera and they both stop.

I didn't have any trouble with timecode or assembling the short clips together to make a very large video file. I use Scenalyzer to do that and that software works great.

Thanks again

Well, it's not really a secret. I just managed to actually get hold of a guy at Focus and he walked me through it step by step.

But now I have returned the unit to them for a different reason which they are attempting to analyze and correct: if you shoot a scene where there is a big and rapid light change - like someone switching on a light on set - the recorder freaks out and produces a few frames of corrupt material and black frames.

Not too great.

Fortunately we were running tape simultaneously, and the backup was fine which shows the problem was not in the camera.

In any case, they have my unit right now and are "looking at it". I hope to hell they can fix it because it's a really handy unit which has saved me hours of boring digitizing time.

So, to sum up, I solved one set of problems and discovered another.

Best

Harry

Hi Nathan, I just purchased a Firestore FS-4 last week and noticed mine did that as well. Just one time though while plugged in to the wall. It could be discharging its power. Does yours display the line every time you turn it off?

A recent problem with my FS-C and the Focus people
 

We recently shot a small feature on the XL-H1 using the Focus FS-C and also running tape for backup.

A good thing we ran the tape backup too: whenever there was a radical change of light level, such as an actor entering a dark room and switching on a practical lamp, the FS-C recorded a series of distorted frames and then a few frames of black.

This was only on the FS-C recording and not on the backup tape.

At the end of shooting I contacted Focus, sent them examples of this fault and they asked me to send them the unit - which I did.

A couple of days ago I received the unit back from them. There was no note or explanation, nor did they email me. I assumed all was well and fixed.

So I emailed them to find out what had been wrong, and this is their reply:

"Hi Harry,

They ran multiple tests on the drive, reviewed the clips of corruption but unfortunately found no problem with the unit.

Bonnie
Support
Focus Enhancements".

I think that's astonishingly bad treatment of me as a user.

Is this typical of them?

Perhaps someone on this board can direct me to a person higher up the food chain at Focus who would be more courteous and willing to help me get this - their faulty unit - fixed.

I look forward to hearing from one of you people out there.

Best

Harry.

Harry, have you done any tests to rule out a defective firewire connection? For example, have you tested the FS-C with a different camcorder and a different wire?

Would the unit's resources for processing data be already highly committed then momentarily overwhelmed by sudden changes which might cause increased bursts? There's other circumstance which would provoke it and it would have raised its ugly head before now.

I'm a total luddite when it comes to these things. The people who design and make these things, I think might have taken you quite seriously and probably sweated away in their basements or garrets trying to make happen what happened to you.

I would favour the thought that something in your location environment caused the problem.

There are any number of things could happen which might not be attributable to the unit. It lives apart from the camcorder, is fed information along wires which have plugs and sockets.

Plugs and sockets can be momentarily resistive or open circuit during movements and wires make good RF aerials if earths and shield connections are interrupted.

If a light is actually switched on during the take as you mention, a spike or surge in the power can be expected which can feed through to the device or into and through the camcorder in any number of ways. If you are powering the camcorder from mains, you are even more vulnerable.

My personal preference is not to switch powered appliances during a take. It would be interesting to listen to your camera sound recording with the level up and headphones on. You might just hear a spike in the high frequency audio.

Hi folks,

Thanks so much for your encouraging and prompt replies about my problems with Focus Enhancements and our film "Darkness Visible".

I will try another Firewire cable, although this one was provided by Focus and came with the kit.

The camera and Focus recorder were both running on battery power, so no interference from mains power was really possible. Also, the light being switched on in one of the scenes was a practical lamp which was only about 75 watts. I find it difficult to believe that this is the problem.

I will endeavo to reproduce it on another camera - that's a good idea from you guys since Focus could not reproduce it on their camera.

I guess that what I truly object to is their cavalier attitude of just returning the unit to me without a note or explanation. I think that, perhaps, they might have offered to exchange the unit in case there was some peculiar and arcane mismatch.

In any case, I thank you for the ideas and for taking the time to calm me down ... although I remain annoyed with the Focus people who have, in my experience, been somewhat arrogant and inefficient in this matter and, by the way, in their promises and failures to deliver the unit on time.

Best wishes and thanks again.

I will update this in the next few days just in case any of you want to hear me whining again.

Best

Harry