Firestore or P2 Card?

[tavious2]

I'm picking up a HVX200 next week and have been looking at the cost of a 32gb card vs getting a 100gb Firestore. I have only read about this camera and the pros and cons of p2 and the firestore, I was hoping for a little feedback about the good and bad of both. Mainly because right now the cost of a firestore is the same as a 32gb p2 card and your getting triple the storage with the firestore.
I don't know what extras are involved in getting footage from a p2 card to my mac; or whether its as simple as firewiring footage over from the firestore. Just looking to make the best decision from those of you with the hands on experience. Thanks.

[Nathan Beaman]

You are going to be way better off with a p2 card. You should get at least 2 cards though, even if it means 2 16gb instead of a 32gb - that way you can perpetually shoot and
"dump"

[Luis Caffesse]

Well - I think it depends on a few things

1. When do you need it (the 32GB cards aren't available right now)
2. What are you shooting the majority of the time?
3. Where are you shooting the majority of the time?

Keep in mind that with the firestore you'll need some way to mount it as well as battery power. The battery that comes with the drive only lasts for about 1.5 hours. Though it's interesting to note that Focus just announced a larger 160GB Firestore, of course you need the battery power for it.
:)

If you decide to go the P2 card route, I would seriously consider Nathan's advice - as two P2 cards are much more useful than just one.

[agcohn]

If you go the P2 route, you need at least 2 cards. Also, you then need to get a P2 Store or DualAdapter to download the cards without tying up the camera.

If you go with the Firestore you need to invest in extra batteries. Get the extended batteries if you can, because they go for 3 hours instead of just 90 minutes. With the FS-100 you can get 111 minutes of 1080i/24pA footage, or 260+ minutes of 720p/24pN footage. But you need the power to run it that long, if you can't keep it plugged in. You need to make sure that the firmware is full updated to take advantage of native frame-rates and variable frame-rates.

In my opinion P2 cards are a better long term investment, but the FS-100 is a more economic investment if you are going to be shooting documentaries (only if you are shooting 720p/24pN or 720p/30pN). However, if you use up all the space on the FS-100, it takes longer to download than a P2 card, so you should have a P2 card w/ the FS-100 to record while the FS is down.

In my opinion P2 is better for shooting shorts / features, while the FS-100 is better for shooting docs or events.

[filmguy123]

The P2 cards are way more convenient then carrying around an extra device, and you have access to more features (metadata, thumbnail scrolling, etc. etc.). If you are shooting SD a 32gb card will hold 2 hours, and then you can use tape as a backup.

For HD and/or 60p that space will get eaten up a lot faster.

If you are shooting something that needs continuous runtime and is HD then you need two cards so you can hotswap off onto a laptop (so 2x16gb at that price point). But if you don't, i would get one 32gb card now and then a second 32gb card as soon as you can afford it.

P2 is more reliable, too... and its the future, and its designed to work with the camera. It will depend on your particular needs but I think you'd be better off with P2, even though it is less storage and costs more, the other benefits are very nice - at least for the way I use my camera and the work I do. I LOVE P2.

[acquest]

I'm picking up a HVX200 next week and have been looking at the cost of a 32gb card vs getting a 100gb Firestore. I have only read about this camera and the pros and cons of p2 and the firestore, I was hoping for a little feedback about the good and bad of both. Mainly because right now the cost of a firestore is the same as a 32gb p2 card and your getting triple the storage with the firestore.
I don't know what extras are involved in getting footage from a p2 card to my mac; or whether its as simple as firewiring footage over from the firestore. Just looking to make the best decision from those of you with the hands on experience. Thanks.

Hi there:
Remember if you are going to record native 24PN or 30PN the only way is with the P2 card. I bought a portable 120 Gb firewire drive with a battery for about $200 to transfer the footage. It works great and a lot cheaper !!!

jg :-)

[filmguy123]

acquest, thats really smart I hadn't thought of doing that. Because the HVX can be a 1394 host and control the HDD, you can just dump that footage straight off to the HDD while on the field, is that right?? I might need to do that myself...

[Ram S.O.S]

Hi there:
Remember if you are going to record native 24PN or 30PN the only way is with the P2 card. I bought a portable 120 Gb firewire drive with a battery for about $200 to transfer the footage. It works great and a lot cheaper !!!

jg :-)

Could you specify what model Hard Drive you bought and where you got it from? I will also have to agree with everyone else and endorse P2 cards.

[acquest]

Could you specify what model Hard Drive you bought and where you got it from? I will also have to agree with everyone else and endorse P2 cards.

Hello Ram.
I got the IOMEGA Firewire/USB2 120 GB 5400RPM at a local store (CompUSA) $120.00, the battery I bought it on line http://www.bixnet.com/5v7libapa.html
for $70.
Belcro the battery and HDD and you got it brother. If you buy another drive, make sure it has DC in. Remember the camera does not provide power on the 1394.

jg :-)

[filmguy123]

Thanks acquest, that's great. Really cool/smart idea with the battery. Does the camera provide power on the USB, can you use it to control an external USB HDD? Is this the HDD you were talking about? I can't tell from this if it has DC in:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822186033

Also, just to clarify - you just plug in the HDD, then use the camera to dump P2 to it, and then plug in the HDD in your comp and transfer those files to your local HDD?

Awesome!

[THoff]

The camera does not provide power on either the Firewire or USB port. It also does not support controlling USB devices the way it does for SBP2-compliant Firewire drives. However, you can use a USB On The Go (USB OTG) drive to offload the camera -- it puts the drive in control instead of the camera.

[acquest]

Thanks acquest, that's great. Really cool/smart idea with the battery. Does the camera provide power on the USB, can you use it to control an external USB HDD? Is this the HDD you were talking about? I can't tell from this if it has DC in:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822186033

Also, just to clarify - you just plug in the HDD, then use the camera to dump P2 to it, and then plug in the HDD in your comp and transfer those files to your local HDD?

Awesome!

Yes, that´s the one. You want to use firewire to verify the transfer. The option of VERIFY is not available with USB. The camera does not provide bus power with USB nor firewire.
To transfer, make sure to first format the drive using the camera, then transfer the P2 footage. Every time you do that, the camera makes a new partition folder so you don´t record over. Keep in mind it takes about 1 min per GB to transfer and maybe an extra min or 2 to verify by checking the data copied to the drive.
Once you have it on the drive, you may copy it to your computer or you might be able to edit straight from the drive. The drive is 5400 RPM, maybe fast enough for DV footage but not sure for HD. , but it is always a good idea to copy it to the comp. as a back up.

jg :-)

[agcohn]

Hi there:
Remember if you are going to record native 24PN or 30PN the only way is with the P2 card. I bought a portable 120 Gb firewire drive with a battery for about $200 to transfer the footage. It works great and a lot cheaper !!!

jg :-)
The FS-100 can record 24pN and 30pN footage with the 3.0 revision firmware or later.

[Moog]

I tried to shoot with a firestore once, witout knowing an awful lot about it - and it was a HUGE pain in the arse to get it set up. In fact, we ran out of time and had to end up shooting on TAPE!! eek!

When I bought my HVX last month, I was faced with the same dilemma, but in the end, I bought two 16G P2 cards and am very happy with my choice.

My advice would be though, look around for a good deal. Speak to a few companies and see who's willing to undercut their competetors.

Be bold - it's worth it :)

[acquest]

The FS-100 can record 24pN and 30pN footage with the 3.0 revision firmware or later.
Well, I think the camera mutes the firewire output when shooting native!!So, if that is the case, it doesn´t matter is the firestore can record native when the signal is muted.

jg :-)

[filmguy123]

Yeah I've worked with the FS-100 it is cumbersome when needing to run'n'gun, to have a whole seperate device with its own battery worries plugged in via a firewire cable that can come unplugged. And I've had it change recording settings on me halfway through a shoot before after I powered down and back up, it went from shooting in a .mov format to .avi format. And you lose a lot of the interface benefits that the P2 has with the HVX.

[THoff]

Well, I think the camera mutes the firewire output when shooting native!!So, if that is the case, it doesn´t matter is the firestore can record native when the signal is muted.

jg :-)The way it works is that you keep the camera in a non-native mode, and instruct the FS-100 to remove the redundant frames as it records. You wind up with the equivalent of a PN recording -- you get the increased recording capacity and don't have to remove the frames in your NLE.