FS-100 Firmware Upgrade

BenB said:
It was actually a pretty funny post. I was having a horribly bad edting day, and with footage I'm just sick of looking at. Then someone emailed me to check it out. I laughed my butt off! Anyone wants the inside scoop on my assesment of what happened, PM me, I won't go public. But after that post, my day was a lot more fun! I'm still laughing over that guy!

Basically he "claims" to have bought one of the first FS-100s, claimed he had the very common problem of the front panel "peeling off", not falling off, but "peeling" off. And then ranted about how Focus "promised" him free upgrades for life, when in fact, Focus never made that claim at anytime, not anywhere. I think the Cineporter guys sent him over here to trash Focus. Or it sure seemed suspiciously like he was sent here by someone to do that. All his claims were way too outrageous, false, and petty. Or he's 12 years old and lieing about having been a DP for many, many years.

Cookester7, feel free to PM me any FS-100 questions you have.
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BenB,

I know your comment was in a joking manner about us sending this guy over to trash Focus and I want to confirm that wasn't the case. This is the first time we heard about the thread. We have an interest in both the CinePorter™ and the Firestore. We are a Focus dealer and have no interest in trashing them in any way.

Best regards,

Andrew Hoffman
Senior Operations Manager
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
301-790-0103
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com

Please visit our new online store at ( http://www.spec-comm.com/store ). New products being added daily!
 
Andrew:

I also was involved in that thread, now deleted

I'm not speaking for Ben; he's quite capable himself, but I never interpretted his comments as anything but in jest.
 
BenB said:
Or he's 12 years old...
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Does anybody "read" anymore? I know the Internet has completely killed of proper writing (which makes me sick), so everyone knows nothing about how to capitalize, punctuate, form a complete sentence, etc. But come on y'all, at least "read" something properly.

Anyone notice the "...with an attitude" in my signature? That's not humor...

It's now warmer than it's been in a long time, the rain has stopped, I've got some Nutria liver for bait, I'm going fishing.

It's not easy being me...

BTW, I found the perfect holder for the FS-100.
http://www.bbalser.com/public/fishing.jpg
 
filmtovideo said:
if not too off-topic, could you say what are the specs. on your MacBookPro
that's running FCP 5.1.2? I have a MacBookPro but heard that it's not
powerful enough for FCP 5.1.2

Thanks.
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I'm running MacBook Pro 17'' 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo 2GB DDR2 RAM with FCP 5.1.2 but only edited a 1.5H SD sequence working off a LaCie FW Drive till now without problem though only just finished my first job on the machine. Have handled some HD footage in FCP as well without trouble yet. Thought the macbook pro's could take the burden, no?
 
nudge said:
I'm running MacBook Pro 17'' 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo 2GB DDR2 RAM with FCP 5.1.2 but only edited a 1.5H SD sequence working off a LaCie FW Drive till now without problem though only just finished my first job on the machine. Have handled some HD footage in FCP as well without trouble yet. Thought the macbook pro's could take the burden, no?
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No, there was one Intel Mac portable that had a graphics card in it that was not up to snuff. Didn't they replace that model? But it was only one model due to a small, weak graphics card, not the MBPs themselves.
 
Does this FS-100 upgrade do the same for 1080i footage?! Am I correct for thinking I'd be able to record twice as much in 1080i?

While reading the Discovery Channel HD technical requirements, it says that all the master tapes have to be delivered in 1080i 59.94Hz line rate. If we use the v3.0 upgrade to strip half of the frames & give us more space, will our final output NOT be at the correct 'format' anymore?
 
gaston said:
Does this FS-100 upgrade do the same for 1080i footage?! Am I correct for thinking I'd be able to record twice as much in 1080i?
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No. 1080i uses all 100 megabits.

What the question is about is whether it strips out frames for 1080/24p. I doubt they do, but I don't know. Even if they do, it would only give you a 20% boost in space. Nowhere near twice as much.
 
Basically, the FS-100 does what the HVX does. Thus, since the HVX has no Native 1080 mode, you won't get it from the FS-100.

To quote from the 3.0 user manual:

DVCPROHD
4:2:2, 8-bit, 6.7:1 compression, 100Mb/s
1080 60i (30P, 24P, 24PA), 720 60P (30P, 24P)** NTSC model
1080 50i (25P) , 720 50P (25P)** PAL model
( ) pull down format - (same stream)
** The 720 24PN, 25PN, and 30PN recordings are supported in version
3.0. These are generated from the 720 24P/25P/30P as an input. The
PN modes are not supported as input streams.
 
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I just received my Firestore 3.0 firmware upgrade cd. Upgraded the firmware and it works as promised. Ran some test footage with the camera set to 720P/24P and the Firestore set to Quicktime PN.

I was able to import the quicktime files easily into FCP using the Import Files routine in FCP and the import is immediate instead of the way it used to be when using the P2 Import routine in FCP.

I was also able to use Quicktime to view the files while the files were still on the Firestore. Very cool and easy.

I recorded one clip that was larger than the 2gb limit (I'm aware that 3.0 doesn't support clip spanning). When I imported the files and placed them on a timeline one after another, there were no dropped frames.

I was able to delete the quicktime files from the firestore by selecting them from my Mac.

It just seems great. Seems very stable. This is what I dreamed of in a DTE recording device. The future is here!

Mike
 
Remember it is still recommended to reformat the FS-100 with it's own menu before recording your next batch of clips. It's just safer.
 
About the update!

About the update!

just got an email from Focus there are not giving the update to people even if you bought the product after jan 1st!

I'm think of returning the product until I know it is included with the product!.

Not happy.
 
trollSA said:
just got an email from Focus there are not giving the update to people even if you bought the product after jan 1st! I'm think of returning the product until I know it is included with the product!.
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$39 will kill you? You were never promised these functions when you bought the item. It was very well known the upgrade would be only a small $39. You knew what you were getting when you bought it, no one ripped you off or lied to you. I do not understand you logic at all.

Hey, you're not DP4hire, are you?

Here's the official Focus word:
"The 3.0 upgrade is available to existing FS-100 owners directly from on the Focus website for $39. All new FS-100 units manufactured after February 1st, 2007 will have version 3.0 loaded."
 
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is DP4hire a username? no I'm new here. I'm just a little upset about spend alot of money over all, which I had to beg my wife for and now there are just little things that I know have spend more on. Just makes it hard. Plus I have a gut feeling panasonic is going to annouce something a NAB 07. I'm renting it out to friends but I'm mostly going to use it for myself and hopefully make some money just to help off set the cost and return some of our savings back to our bank and so my wife will like me once again. :-) I do feel this is a great camera it would just suck to be the last person on the bus before it changes again.
 
trollSA said:
Plus I have a gut feeling panasonic is going to annouce something a NAB 07. I'm renting it out to friends but I'm mostly going to use it for myself and hopefully make some money just to help off set the cost and return some of our savings back to our bank and so my wife will like me once again.
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There is no doubt that Panasonic is going to announce something at NAB, which is more than two months away.

However, it won't be a hard drive direct to disc device for the HVX200. That is covered by Focus and Cineporter when it ships.

At the most we might see 16 GB cards, which have roughly 15% of the capacity of the FS-100.

If you have clients, and like the FS-100, what is $39.00?
 
Again, you got exactly what you were promised when you bought the FS-100. What about it do you not like? I just don't follow your logic. This upgrade adds functions that did not exist on the unit until now. It's not a bug fix patch, it's a functionality upgrade. Not sure how you feel ripped off, just trying to understand what the issue it.

Focus never promised the Native and QT modes for anything made before Feb 1st. You could send it back to Focus, and wait for the Cineporter. I'm just not understanding what the issue is. I'm trying, though.

Maybe I should ask this; back in January when you ordered the FS-100, what were you under the impression you were going to get?
 
It's the same thing as always. People always want something for nothing. Panasonic announces a rebate, so everyone who already bought starts clamoring for the rebate. They announce a free card, so everyone from a year ago clamors that they want the free card. Focus announces version 3.0, everyone who already has an FS100 wants the free upgrade.

It's understandable as to why they'd want it, but it ain't gonna happen so why clog the forum up with it?

In Focus' case it's a bit different in that they've issued several free firmware update, but this time they charge for 3.0. I think a slight change in marketing tactic would have helped them here: had they called it an upgrade to an FS-101 or FS-100A, it would have helped them explain the difference -- this isn't just a bug-fix firmware update (something that would definitely be owed to all customers), this is an actual upgrade to the functionality of the unit (making it have all sorts of new features that it didn't have when it was first bought, and it was never marketed as having).
 
If you bought it in February, write to Focus and ask them if you're entitled to a free upgrade. That's a different case.
 
If you purchased it after February 1st, it is included.

BTW "where and from who" did you purchase it?

And make certain you have your invoice/proof of purchase.
 
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