Is anyone having success with their Citidisk & HVX?

So, to re-ask, the opening question, as of today, is anyone actually having hassle free use of their citidisk? Is anyone happy with it?
 
treefilm said:
I've read that the FireStore requires a lot of "arcane" knowledge and is basically an artistic talent.

Is it really that hard to set up and record **reliably** night in and night out.
All totally and factually untrue! Anyone who can't figure out the FS-100 sure as hell ain't never gonna figure out the HVX200!

I will tell you that CitiDisk has refused me a unit for a magazine review until they're upgrade is releaed at NAB. As of this moment, it won't record MXF format.
 
The original FireStore manual was not good and it was not that easy to set it up. Now Focus includes a quick-start guide that makes it very easy to get set up and start working with it right away.
 
Barry_Green said:
The original FireStore manual was not good and it was not that easy to set it up. Now Focus includes a quick-start guide that makes it very easy to get set up and start working with it right away.

The quick start guide always existed, it's not "new".
 
Sorry to ask a boneheaded question but it's hard to get a definitive answer on this :
1. Can the FS100 record 1080 25p from the HVX200 or not ....and
2. ...if so, how much recording time can you get at 1080 25p - and finally...
3. Does it require a laptop to dump the footage or can one simply plug in a portable HDD (like the LaCie rugged)?

Thanks a million, (credit card on pause in expectation of an answer) - J.
 
Barry Green: Yes the FS-100 records 1080/24pA and 1080/24p and 1080/30p as well as 1080/60i.

For the best still frames I recommend 1080/30p.

sorry just found this - any details on duration available?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
 
It's 100GB drive, the FS-100 will do any format the HVX will. It will not dump to a hard drive directly by itself. Reason is the CPU they use "could" technically do it, but it'd be super slow and take forever, so why bother, basically.
 
jamestmather said:
1. Can the FS100 record 1080 25p from the HVX200 or not
Yes, provided you buy the PAL firestore FS-100.

2. ...if so, how much recording time can you get at 1080 25p - and finally...
111 minutes.

3. Does it require a laptop to dump the footage or can one simply plug in a portable HDD (like the LaCie rugged)?
It's a dumb drive, you'd need something smart on the other end to control the transfer. Which means a laptop, or some sort of "bridge" device (is there even a bridge device for firewire?)
 
An update - just to balance things out.

We are entering week 4 of our drama shoot. Our basic setup is as follows -

- HVX at 1080 with a firestore, SGPro
- Set of Nikons (24, 28, 35, 50, 85, 105) with 0.32 geared JBK cine teeth - all f2 bar the 105 which is a 2.5 lens.
- Redrock Follow focus, 4 inch matte box, 7 inch assistant monitor.
- 10.2 inch directors video feed.
- Fluid head and legs, Fig Rig, Spiderbrace.


The entire thing lives, fully built, in a pelican coffin box and we can be shooting in about 5 mins in the mornings.

The firestore is behaving very well. We've used it in a number of environments and solidly for three weeks and it's great so far. No reloads etc. Some teething problems (like making sure you have a red dot in the eyefinder (lost one take to being in playback mode - so no big deal but FYI). So far we have never managed to fill it up in a days shooting. At the end of the day we dump off the footage to LaCie rugged drives (which imports straight into FCP).

The SGPro is what has transformed the HVX into a vialble and real production camera. The director has commented in watching rushes that it "looks like really nice 35mm film" - and this was looking at it in an edit-suite on a grade-A monitor (a pretty tough test of the system). I can't recommend it highly enough. An added side effect is that when something in the background does hit 100% luminance - the SGPro actually seems to create a film like rolloff as opposed to the hard "video" highlight flatline. 10 out of 10 to mr Wayne Kinney on an amazing adapter.

Teething probs with this system include getting used to focus on the lenses (as it is pretty critical and lens markings have no discernable relationship to real world scenarios) - we have, on occasion, marked up the lens barrel with distances. The focus puller seems pretty happy at this stage and likes the look that the lenses provide - he seems to think that nobody will believe the show was shot on video. Not shooting wide open is advisable for lots of reasons (CA, resolving power generally and a wafer thin DOF is cruel and unusual for the assistant). We aim for a 2.8/4 split generally.

Problems we have encountered overall include being horribly let down at the last second by Varizoom on a monitor (I cancelled the order in a rage and won't be purchasing anything from them again) and utilising another system (I may still get a marshall) - However, the HVX component output stops all other video output from the camera (which is a drag as we have have a focus monitor which also needs a feed).

Redrock Micro were superb in customer support and immediately responded to a query we had (Quite simply, the best and most efficient tech support I've ever seen. 10 out of 10 again to RedRock and Mr. Valente). I'll buy from you guys again.

Thats it for now. Just goes to show ya what a lil ole HVX is capable of.
 
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