FS-4 advice needed

G

ggrantly

Veteran
Could anyone give their opinions about the FS-4. In concept it sounds great. In practice, I have heard it is not quite so wonderful; fan noise, short battery life, no time code on tapeless recording, blah, blah, blah. What have been your experiances? Is it a viable option to eliminate a deck for low volume production?

Also, has anyone used the Sony DSR-V10? Seems like it could be a pretty handy little gizmo. Would this work to data dump into a NLE as a low volume substitute for something like a DSR-11.

Thanks in advance,
Grant Gormley
 
There's an interesting thread in another DV forum regarding the Firestore. Like you, I've been weighing the pros and cons of the FS-4 and other devices currently available.

In researching the Firestore, the alleged fan noise and short battery life on the FS-4 are somewhat of a turn off for me. The plus side is that it's reported to be very reliable, and the LCD makes setup and operation easier. Its size and cost when compared to the nNovia and Laird Telemedia units is also more favorable.

ADS Technology has the Pyro Drive DV. It's similar to Shining Technology's Citidisk and MCE's Quickstream (interestingly enough, it appears that Shining makes the guts for ADS - I'm not sure if they do for MCE; but the units seem to be similar in layout and configuration). The apparent drawback to the ADS unit is the 30GB drive may be a a bit too small - although a Pyro Drive owner has stated he has personally upgraded his drive to 80GB and has had no problems. The stock 30GB capacity means only about 2.5 hrs. of recording time, which may be too short for some users.

Thorough detailed online documentation also seems a tad sparse for the Pyro Drive DV, whereas there's a wealth of information available online for the Firestore. Early reports on the Pyro Drive stated there were audio dropouts after the first 2GB file, although that seems to have been resolved.

Batteries are always a concern in the field (with the exception of the camera - just get some of Jared's 5600 mAh batteries, and you'll be set in that regard). The Firestore battery is supposed to last just over 80 minutes, whereas the ADS battery, which is integrated into the unit, will reportedly run for roughly 2 hours. Of course, you can always purchase an additional battery for the FS-4 and swap out between shots if necessary.

The FS-4 can be set up to sync to start/stop recording via the cameras record button. I'm uncertain if the Quickstream or Pyro Drive DV will do that; although I've sent an e-mail to ADS inquiring if this is possible. As an aside, MCE, which makes Quickstream, seems to be slow in fulfilling orders and responding to inquiries regarding their product or order status (I know firsthand: I cancelled a Quickstream order a couple of months ago due to this - it doesn't bode well for customer support).

You might find this thread in another forum to be of interest: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=43420http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=43420.

All in all, I would say whatever you purchase depends on your needs, budget and workflow.

Hope this helps.
 
This post is for anyone who is looking into buying a hard disk recorder that plugs directly into cameras. I purchased three from Nnovia while working on a job this summer and had nothing but problems. The firewire port can be rendered useless with as little as a jiggle. These absolutely can not be used in a handheld environment.

What's more their customer service is appalling and their accounting is shoddy. It took them 5 weeks to return $1000 deposit they claimed they didn't have until I proffered the credit card receipt.

for your own sake, stay away from Nnovia.
 
Concerning the FS4 or going tapeless. I use the fs4 pro with the dvx and can highly recommend it. I have no problem with fan noise (firmware update). I purchased with optional 1950mah battery (180min) so that is less of a concern. I could not see shooting that long straight throught.

Besides the dvx allows either tapeless - direct to fs4 or tape and FS4. The FS4 helps me use the camera more and can store in AVI 24P MODE.

It is very good~
 
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