buying the firestore? HVX

J

julienhi

Member
B][/B]Hi im actually buying my camera in the next 2 months, the camera im looking for was to make Docs, and shoot features, Ive decided on the HVX200 for its film like quality footage, but if anyone has any better ideas please let me know as Im looking for the cam that will look the most like the grainy film , but i do realize any film can be treated afterwards to give it that look.
I was going to take the HVX with one memory card and then buy the FIRESTORE FS 100 any comments on this ive been told by the store owner i can shoot 1hr and and half of footage directly to the firestore, does this do anything to my resolution and are there any other storage devices better than this one being released before i purchase it?? any help would be greatly appreciated
 
The cam video settings and the size of the FireStore's hard drive determine how many minutes of footage can be recorded or captured to the FireStore.

One similar device yet unreleased in the Cineporter. Do a search and you'll find a wealth of posts.
 
I love my FS-100. Been shooting the hell out of it for a couple of months now. No problems. Love it. Cineporter won't be out for awhile, and will have different applications than the FS-100. FS-100 is a great device!
 
Ben,

Glad to hear you're really enjoying your Firestore. My first HVX200 and Firestore arrive on Friday. I've read many hundreds of post here and throughout the net about this cam and different configurations. I just can't justify spending well over a grand for 8 gigs of P2 recording space. Halting production to dump every 8-16 minutes is nuts. I hope to make as good use of the FS-100 as Ben.

I spoke with a rep at Anton Bauer who explained the difficult time they will have achieving a configuration that would power both the HVX and FS-100 simultaneously for extended periods due to the cam's small footprint - unless you want 2 cables (power & firewire) coming out from a belt. Meantime I thought I had read about someone having success here with an Anton set-up similar to those used with the FS-4? So I've ordered a second battery for the FS-100 - 3 hours + power and HD shooting in the field is what I need.

I've found it can take alot of time to search out Firestore facts from actually users here...maybe this thread will eventually become a Firestore FS-100 FAQ? Fill'er up boys.

- John
 
BenB said:
I love my FS-100. Been shooting the hell out of it for a couple of months now. No problems. Love it. Cineporter won't be out for awhile, and will have different applications than the FS-100. FS-100 is a great device!
Click to expand...

What exactly do you mean by "different applications?" I would say that if the Cineporter can deliver 720pN footage and act like a giant P2 card then I think it's gonna be usefull for everyone. Why would you get an FS-100 which can only record 100 minutes of 720 footage when you could get a Cineporter for roughly the same price which can record 400 minutes, utilize the variable framerates, and let one see thumbnails on the LCD?
 
I bought the citidisk Hd for $1100. The fw1246hd records 110 minutes. I am doing test all week on it and shooting this weekend. I am a film guy, but it just didn't make sense to me to get the firestore for $2100.
 
DavidBeier said:
...Why would you get an FS-100 which can only record 100 minutes of 720 footage when you could get a Cineporter for roughly the same price which can record 400 minutes, utilize the variable framerates, and let one see thumbnails on the LCD?
Click to expand...

I did because I need to start shooting a job next week. When the job is complete in November it will have paid off the HVX200, FS-100, Mics, etc. The Cineporter won't even be on the market then. Why would anyone compare an existing product to a non-existant product? Once the cineporter is out, tested and working, I may have ebayed the FS-100 and switched over for the additonal functions. The Cporter rep posted here recently the Cporter is going through serious revisions pushing back it's release once again, maybe 2007? Meantime I need to work next week.

Muggles said:
I bought the citidisk Hd for $1100. The fw1246hd records 110 minutes. I am doing test all week on it and shooting this weekend. I am a film guy, but it just didn't make sense to me to get the firestore for $2100.
Click to expand...

For me, the extra money spent on the Firestore is well worth the LCD screen displaying record modes, progress, etc. Aside from a couple of the citiDISK's leds, how will you know what's even going on under the hood? Would be great if it does work though. Looking forward to hearing your results.

- John
 
David...

About Variable Frame Rates... is the FireStore allowed to use it with or with out VFR`s modes?... im about to buy a HVX and im looking for the best option about storage media... but i want to use VFR mode for sure... so... i kind of confused about it...

thanks :dankk2:
 
The Firestore doe's not support variable framerates, that's why I bought both a Firestore and 8GB P2.
 
To answer one of Julienhi's original questions, the FS-100 does not have a codec and therefore will not change the quality of your recording when compared to a P2 card.

Also, look for FS-100 news at IBC coming up in a couple of weeks!

Matt
 
pmpworks said:
The Firestore doe's not support variable framerates, that's why I bought both a Firestore and 8GB P2.
Click to expand...

The FireStore (and all firewire recording devices) *DO* support variable frame rates.
 
pmpworks said:
The Firestore doe's not support variable framerates, that's why I bought both a Firestore and 8GB P2.
Click to expand...

Barry posted this over at Creative Cow regarding the FS-100 ,

"It'll record 1080/24p, 1080/24pa, 1080/30p, 1080/60i, and 720/60p, 720/30p, 720/24p with or without variable frame rates. Only restriction is that you'll have to run the variable-frame-rate footage through a frame extraction utility in order to use it as VFR footage (same process as what you have to do with VariCam footage)".

Looking forward to testing this out. The best VFR extractor for Mac (FCP) would be....???

- John
 
Yes my bad, sorry Barry I should have said you can't over/undercrank with the camera directly to the Firestore drive, but can do the same thing in post with the right NLE.
 
Hey Guys,
We have had our FS-100 for about a month and things were going well until yesterday when it fell off the edit desk. No more worky and I cannot for the life of me get Focus tech support to return my calls/emails. I'd say unless you have a padded enclosure or a better clip than the cell phone clip that's provided, stick with P2 for field work or you'll be sorry. Oh, and good luck getting tech support on the line!
 
Firstore does support variable frame rates, I do it all the time.

I'm doing a doc that I'm getting paid for, I don't have time to wait for the Cineporter. It also, due to some of it's technical draw backs, won't work with our specific needs. We're in very dirty, dusty, misty enviroments. Having a whole P2 slot left exposed would not be a good idea.

But, it isn't out in time, and we started shooting a month ago. And, is just too bulky and not what we need. Simple. Not every project requires the same equipment.
 
I am trying to decide between the Firestore F-100 and the 100GB CitiDisk. Has anyone used the CitDisk? Obviously the Firestore has been more written about it but the CitiDisk is significantly cheaper. Any input would be great.
 
^
The FS-100 has been tested by a lot more people so you'll have a better idea how it operates in the field. It also is a generally more reliable brand. It also has an LCD screen so you view your clips and saves the files in MXF format like a P2 would instead of AVI.

What kind of work are you doing? I was thinking of getting an FS-100 myself but getting more info here convince me to stick with P2s and possibly spring for a laptop to offload.
 
I've used a citidisk before and hated it. The lack of any kind of screen/menus was terrible and the ambiguous led lights left much to be desired. The first thing I tried to record was a keynote address at a convention. The guy who hired me (and supplied the citidisk) is an idiot, especially when it come to technology. He told me what to push, what lights should come on, etc... So I do exactly what he says and at the end of the session go to transfer the file over... only to find out there was no file. Turns out he had formatted the disk as FAT32 through windows to clear out the last conference he'd shot, and had not formatted through citidisk's utility, so there was nothing on there to record with, but the blinking lights made it look as if everything was fine when I went to record... Good thing I'm smart enough to always run a tape back up (even though he told me not to worry about it), and the keynote came in just under an hour...

On the flip side, that was also the first week I used DV Rack and it was phenomenal! What a wonderful, intuitive product!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top