QuickStreamDV & New HVX?

Bart_Boge

Bart_Boge

Well-known member
The QuickStream site says their device can handle DVCPRO formats. Does this mean, with a firmware update, that it might be able to handle DVCPROHD100? Might it then be another "until the P2 prices drop from the stratosphere" option? And an option for event videographers who need an hour of runtime or more? What kind of recording times would we see from QuickStream's 60GB version @ DVCPROHD100?

I don't know if the drives they use in their enclosures would be fast enough. FW400 itself is fast, but that is not where the bottleneck is with FW drives anyway, is it? Even if it were, FW800 would be complete overkill for DVCPROHD100 anyway, and not too hard to engineer into a new version of the QuickStream.

And have they resolved all of their QC issues? Not that more won't surface at much higher data rate recording formats. Since the doomsday warnings a year ago, I haven't heard much about MCE's hd-recording contender. Their reputation was trashed--but have they turned the corner yet? I think I could be quite forgiving if the thing was reliable!
 
Focus Technologies is a Panasonic "P2 Partner" that will be providing a software conversion utility to convert the P2 MXL files to AVI, Quicktime, etc. So I think it's more likely that there's going to be a Firestore device that's compatable with the HVX--at least initially. This would be a good niche for Quickstream, but as you say, their reputation has taken some body blows. It seems like third party HDD capture manufacturers need to really work closely with the camera manufacturers to insure compatability.
 
On a job I did in February, they wanted to record to hard disk. I was going with the FS-4, the other shooter decided to order a QuickStream. I told him not to, but the price was too cheap, and the FS-4 wasn't on the shelves yet.

Turned out the FS-4 didn't make it in time, and the producer got cheap anyway and ditched the whole shooting-to-disk aspect, so we just used tape, but the other guy already had his QuickStream.

He tried to demo it to me. He couldn't get it to work. He tried like six different things, and couldn't find a reliable way to get it either record or play back.

He sent the Quickstream back.

Take that for what it's worth, but from the user reports I've heard, and the times I've seen the product, I don't think it's ready for professional use yet.
 
That seems to be the grapevine opinion that I've heard from several people too. Firestore seems to be the best of breed, even though they themselves have problems. I'll qualify - I've not heard of FS record problems, but status light problems and not turning on first time etc.


I'm actually curious as to why any sort of HD recording system has problems really. I mean it's not exactly high tech science. Any half decent electrical engineer and programmer should be able to make one - given enough time of course!

Aaron
 
Barry_Green said:
Take that for what it's worth, but from the user reports I've heard, and the times I've seen the product, I don't think it's ready for professional use yet.
Click to expand...

February, huh? Well, I guess they stilll aren't ready for "prime-time." Too bad.

I hope the FireStore product line will be priced competitively--otherwise we'd all be better off waiting for cheap 'n' plentiful P2's.
 
I have to agree that FireStore is going to get it together first. QuickStream has had ample time to fix their problems. Love the QuickStream pricing though!
 
At least the Firestore FS-4 Actually WORKS!! From the reports and comments I've read from everyone it works great as long as you initiate recording from the FS-4 device itself and not the camera!! Seems to be a pretty well rounded product. I'm sure an HVX version will be more compatible hardware wise and would be a good option for longer recording times. ~reservoir~
 
Barry_S said:
Focus Technologies is a Panasonic "P2 Partner" that will be providing a software conversion utility to convert the P2 MXL files to AVI, Quicktime, etc.
Click to expand...

Just for the record: Telestream is to introduce at NAB a new software (probably as plugin) to import MXL files into Quicktime Mac savvy apps. Could make a nice workflow. Have no further info yet but will keep you posted.
 
i planned to get FS-4 soon because i saw how great it is... just for my DVX though... abandoning tape.

if anyone thinks i shouldn't, stop me now.


thanks
 
i had one of the first Quick streams and had nothing but problems with it. I then got a newer one, but because of a firmware glitch was sent another.

This new one is about 95% solid. Once in a while it loses sync, and will not start recording and I have to reboot the QS. But the tape still works. And it does start and stop when the camera button is used. Also if your tape runs out, it will continue to record, you can put in a fresh tape and hit the record button and it wont stop the QS, which is really nice. I use the Tapes as back up. But not having to download the tapes is worth the $800 spent!!!

While is isnt Perfect, I shot a 1.5 hr bar mitzvah ceremony with it and and had no issues. At the very end of the reception It stopped recording. Could have been a power issue, as I hacked on 6 AA batterys to extend its run time.

MY big complaint is really that it breaks the video into 2GB files. So when you import them to FCP, if you want to change the audio or add color correction you have to do it to each segment.
 
Two QS, one good, one bad.

Two QS, one good, one bad.

I film all day (6-8 hrs.) seminars for our office and recently bought a couple 6hr. Quickstreams. One of the drives arrived without the silver cam adapter which seemed odd, so I decided to use it as the second drive. I filmed 3/4 of the day with drive 1 and then the rest with this second drive. The first drive worked flawlessly using the .mov format and FCE. The second drive however had 2 corrupt files at the end and was missing the last 5 or so minutes of footage. This meant that about 15 minutes of the end of the day was not available from the QS. Luckily I used minidv as well. During the copying of the files to my hard drive I got the error message telling me about the corruption and then ALL the files on this drive just disappeared. The drive still show that the drive space was used up though. I then filmed some more with it at work and found I could not see these new files but that the hard drive space was used up in this new footage. With the part missing and the way this drive acted I'm beginning to wonder if this was a returned/repaired drive. I'm going to return it for replacement. As mentioned the other drive worked flawlessly with the majority of the day filmed on it. I like how you can use the drives record button and minidv as a backup. I got into the habit of using this button instead of the cam to control the QS, I felt I had better control this way.
 
i don't think it is a returned/refurbished drive, they just simply don't work! i went through 3 of them and all had problems...minidv saved my butt...quit wasting your time and money on those quickstreams...glad you got it on minidv....
 
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