fs-100 & hvx200 issues

Man this is really bad news.

I'm ready to buy the HVX, but I need a solid and stable (and beefy) capturing device .. and I thought the FS-100 was the way to go. 2 & 4 gig P2 cards are just not a viable option ... I can't be swapping out cards and creating files on a laptop etc. I've got too much going on during a shoot already ... and adding a degree of uncertainty and relative complications just doesn't work for me.

Do I have a point? Eh, I guess not. Just bummed.

But I will say this: If I was Focus, and knew that I basically had a captive audience and an opportunity to really make a great impression with my product(s).. I wouldn't leave the lab until I had the most incredible unit ... with a price that wasn't an insult (i.e., buy the FS-100 for lots of cash and it might work. Or it might not. If it doesn't, then email us.) It's crazy.
 
Another firmware update today has solved a few issues and added a few new features, I'd say Focus are sticking to their word so far which is a very good sign.

With regard to these right angle cables, they look good, but are a bit long, shortest one I could see is 6ft long. Anyone tried them out yet? Are they good quality cables?
 
mark.burton said:
Another firmware update today has solved a few issues and added a few new features, I'd say Focus are sticking to their word so far which is a very good sign.

With regard to these right angle cables, they look good, but are a bit long, shortest one I could see is 6ft long. Anyone tried them out yet? Are they good quality cables?
Click to expand...
There's a 24" version available here:

http://www.usbfirewire.com/firewire.html
 
C. Keiser said:
While shooting documentary footage today, the FS unit seized on me a number of times. By some bizarre chance, it was always after I had captured my shot and was ready to put the camera down for a minute.

Unfortunately I was not able to get the device to react from any button input and was forced to shut the thing down by removing the battery.

This occurred while shooting 480i DVCPRO50 footage.

Then when I got a chance to offload the files to my Powerbook, it seized up 4 times (with the obligatory batter removal to reboot) before I was able to successfully get it to navigate to and utilize the mount as HDD command.
Imagine my relief when it finally worked and I knew that my weekends work was not lost. . . .

Can somebody honestly tell us that they are having a great experience with the FS-100 and Focus Enhancements?

Christopher
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that "somebody" would not be me. We had the same types of problems repeatedly, despite having brought 7 FS-100 units with us. The culprit may have been plain old ordinary summer weather. We had two drives freeze in 80-plus-degree weather at 8 a.m. in Japan, thus losing irreplaceable footage of the Hiroshima anniversary including the prime minister's speech. (Thought about asking him to just repeat the whole thing, but didn't know the Japanese for that.)

We contacted Focus about this problem from Spain and Japan, and they claimed there was no problem. They didn't even answer my second and third contacts. I'm not impressed with their willingness to stand behind the product.
 
Good stories deserve mentioning as well

Good stories deserve mentioning as well

Once I got Focus Enhancements to replace my FS-100. I have logged a great number of hours with it, incurring no problems. (touch wood)
In fact, last Friday night I was part of a three cam shoot with HVXs.
One cam had 4x8Gb cards which I rotated with a P2 store. The other two cams were on FS-100s. Due to the length of the subject, we shot in DVCPro50 to benefit from the added time-capacity of the lower bit rate. Everything went off w/o a hitch.
....Except for the loss of syncronization of time code which had been synced with firewire 1h30min before the shoot commenced. Anyone?
-Christopher
 
Need help fast! Someone unplugged the FS 100 while it was mounted on my power book. Now the drive wont start up. I get the blue screen but then it does nothin. The fan just spins but the screen is blank. I've pulled the battery. That didn't help!!
 
Too unstable...

Too unstable...

nycfilmmaker said:
sorry but we are all professionals or aspiring to be one. TO shoot on a HVX and capture via a firewire that has no lock is so ridiculous -- I know there are no locks for firewire but Focus Enhancement should of been able to come up with something better than a flimsy connection -- Yes, options are very LIMITED, but the fact of the matter is that the people at Focus Enhancement DON"T GIVE A SHIIT!! They should of put more thought into the unit and theat screwed up manual! This is a 1600dollar plus unit not some cheap hardware -- or is it(?)

They know that when options are slim and far apart they could get away with murder; But not for long.

I hope a rep from firestore is on this board so he or she could listen up and put out a pro unit. I'm not here to ingratiate. 1 star out of 5!!
Click to expand...

Hmm. I was about to buy HVX200 with fs100 for new project starting shortly and hired a kit the other day to familiarise. My DOP, myself and every technician in the hire company were unable to get the thing working. I've come on line here to look for some reassurance but having read through all your comments this system just seems frighteningly complex and unstable and therefore unsuited to any kind of professional work. On the face of it, it really should be the way forward but as it stands, it sounds like a very short route to going bust!
 
As one who used a FS-100 for review purposes, I liked it so much I bought one. I really beg to differ with you. I find no propblems whatsoever in using it and I find it very suitable for professional work.

Ned Soltz

knoxyfilm said:
Hmm. I was about to buy HVX200 with fs100 for new project starting shortly and hired a kit the other day to familiarise. My DOP, myself and every technician in the hire company were unable to get the thing working. I've come on line here to look for some reassurance but having read through all your comments this system just seems frighteningly complex and unstable and therefore unsuited to any kind of professional work. On the face of it, it really should be the way forward but as it stands, it sounds like a very short route to going bust!
Click to expand...
 
Indeed Ned.. Firestore was one of those miracle turn-around products.. they perhaps let the product out a little to early, it had alot of out of the gate issues, but I am very impressed by the speed and accuracy that they squashed the bugs and updated (and continue to) the product. It seems like a viable option for the P2 worflow now.. where as before it was not the most recommended product.
 
knoxyfilm, I suspect that everyone's unfamiliarity with both the camera and the Firestore was the source of the problem. Most likely the camera was in one of the NATIVE recording modes, in which case the HVX doesn't send any data out to the DV port, so the FS-100 has nothing to record. That's not really a problem with the Firestore.
 
Hello!

I am a newly registered user to this forum and have been a lurker here for the past several months.

I have recently ordered three HVX200 cameras, six 8GB P2 cards, a P2 Store and a single FS-100 FireStore for documentary and independent production work.

I understand that there are some issues with the FS-100 by having read this and similar threads. I have a lot of experience using FS-4 FireStores and may be of some assistance to those experiencing dropout and scrambled file troubles.

I have been shooting docs with a Sony DSR-500WS DVCAM camera for several years now, both rolling tape internally and with an FS-4 FireStore recording in the QT format for use with Final Cut. At first, I was having random problems with scrambled video files. I found that if I completely reformat the FireStore drive in conjunction with the repair disk function after dumping the contents following every shoot that it completely alleviates the problem. Since I have begun this practice, I have had zero recording problems with the FireStore. I would imagine that the FS-100 would have similar options and would produce the same results. I use a short 4-to-6 pin firewire cable between the camera and FireStore, which is mounted on the rear of the camera and Anton Bauer battery pack.

I hope that this tidbit of advice is useful for other FireStore users. It has worked well for me.

Tony
 
It is time for Focus Enhancements (or some other enterprising company) to step up and make the statement that tens of thousands of shooters are muttering under their breath, to wit:
Whoever it was that thought that a bastardized GameBoy connector was appropriate for a real world shooting environment should be hung Saddam style at dawn, with extreme taunting and video coverage on the web.
Put simply, the Firewire 4-pin connector is a homesick abortion crawling up the leg of every shooter on the planet and it needs to be fully discontinued as a method of connecting DV I/O devices.
If you've ever hung drywall, then you are familiar with moly bolts.
The spring loaded tangs pop out when you push the bolt through the wall and it never comes out.
If it were possible to invent a spring loaded slim profile Firewire plug that attached itself PERMANENTLY inside the jack with a rugged 6-pin adapter on the other end of a very short cable, perhaps it would be possible to use Firewire ports in the future.
But you know it, and I know it...camcorders need durable, rigid, angled heavy duty connectors with metal barrels and positive lock capability when it comes to data and video I/O, and the Firewire 4-pin idea is what comprises a very weak link to what is otherwise a very fine product, namely the Firestore DTE drive.
It's like having a 400 horsepower sports coupe with bicycle tires on the front end...the wheels continually come off this trolley to the point where it hampers the ability of the DP to handle the camera in a real world environment.
I am not savvy with engineering but I find myself wondering why mini-XLR's cannot be used for carrying one end of the data stream with a 6-pin Firewire connector on the other end.
Perhaps they can do the job, perhaps not, but XLR connectors are a push in the right direction.
It's time that videographers continually register their displeasure with the Firewire 4-pin solution until the industry starts listening.
Firewire 4-pin is simply unacceptable all the way around...period, end of story.
I sure do hope someone in the industry is listening.
 
deepfreezevideo said:
Put simply, the Firewire 4-pin connector is a homesick abortion crawling up the leg of every shooter on the planet and it needs to be fully discontinued as a method of connecting DV I/O devices..
Click to expand...

this is a disturbing analogy and should be moderated.. but its so friggin true im gonna let it stand on because there is a small gleamer of hope that some employee at the mini-firewire factory reads it at work, gets so disgusted that they throw up all over the robot controls and it melts down the factory so we never see mini firewire again.
 
I am very sorry for using such disgusting verbal imagery, but it's pretty pathetic when you can almost dislocate a shoulder pulling a Molex power connector off a hard drive attached with four sheet metal screws inside a computer, the case of which never moves, but there isn't enough baling wire on the face of the earth to keep your DV port from losing its connection to the hard drive on top of a MOVING camera!

I've recently purchased a 35 dollar 12 inch cable with an ANGLED 4-pin plug to make the six inch run to the six hundred dollar hard disk atop my camera, and the plug STILL sticks out and gets in the way when I fumble for the zoom or focus ring.
I've employed generous amounts of zip ties, velcro and gaffer's tape to wind up the excess cable and route it around the camera and secure the plug, and the connection STILL gets hosed.
Add to this the fact that I get to marvel at the way this entire business makes my two thousand dollar rig look like something an Afghani junkyard owner cobbled together out of used Scud missile parts.
It's a thirty-five dollar fix for a ten cent connector designed by a twenty-five watt bulb working for a two bit design firm in a third rate town in North Texas.
It's known as the Firewire Trade Association and it's the place where the suits and engineers sit around and congratulate each other on how great the Firewire spec is and how it moves data around at blazing speeds, and I bet not a single jamoke in the joint has ever talked to a videographer about their view on Firewire ports.
I'm hoping one of them hires a Firestore user to shoot their daughter's wedding and the footage gets hosed because of a connection issue.

Okay, I feel better now...off to hide behind my egg proof barrier and pray I dont get booted.
 
I still have to catch my breath on this one!
I actually received an amazingly sympathetic reply to one of my poison pen letters from no less than the 1394 Trade Association.
If the Executive Director gives me permission to reprint the letter I'd like for the group to hear what he has to say. I think after you read it you will see the importance in his response.
 
How about this: Surround the 4-pin connector with something like a BNC bayonet. Line it up, push it in. 1/4 twist and it's locked.
 
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