>>>>> I was sold the device and was told BY Focus Enhancements that it will do any type of DVCPRO HD. Then I got the drive to find out that it will only work after the next firmware update. Kinda sucks that Focus Enhancements is making us pay for their screw up!
-- Well, I'd like to point a couple of things out:
1) It is not clear as to who you actually spoke with prior to purchasing your FS-100, but Focus Enhancement has always clearly stated in their advertising that the FS-100 supported DVCPro HD capture from the HVX200 in the P2 MXF format. Focus Enhancements has never claimed that the FireStore FS-100 "will do any type of DVCPRO HD"... Here is the text taken directly from their FS-100 literature: "When in DVCPRO HD or DVCPRO 50 mode, files are recorded to disk in P2 MXF format." The FS-100 was designed to mirror the very same process that the AG-HVX200 uses to record DVCPro HD or DVCPro 50 in the P2 MXF file format, only to a 100GB hard drive instead of to P2 memory card media. This is exactly what your FS-100 has been doing... Please note that the Panasonic AG-HVX200 is only capable of recording DVCPro HD in the P2 MXF format and not in any other NLE format. Now, Focus is adding additional functionality to the FS-100 by offering the ability to record DVCPro HD in the QuickTime .mov format as well, thereby eliminating the transcoding from MXF to .mov process required by Final Cut Pro during ingest of standard P2 media. This is an OUTSTANDING feature which will prove to save any FCP/ FS-100 end user a lot of time by eliminating the ingest process completely. Now Final Cut Pro users will be able to bypass the MXF format and capture DVCPro HD directly in their NLE's native format. That is Direct To Edit compatibilty with Final Cut Pro. That is one HEFTY feature benefit and certainly worth the modest upgrade fee that Focus is requesting.
2) Panasonic clearly states in the AG-HVX200 operating manual that the AG-HVX200 is not designed to output video over FireWire when the AG-HVX200 is operating in Native Mode. Here is some text taken from page 35 of the AG-HVX200 manual: "No signals are output from the 1394 terminal during recording or recording standby in the native mode." For this reason, the fact that the camera does not output video over firewire when in Native Mode, this is why the FS-100 has not yet offered the ability to record any Native Mode from the AG-HVX200 over FireWire. Until now... Now, Focus Enhancements R&D team has developed a method using the processor within the FS-100 to cull the proper video signal from the AG-HVX200 when in Native Mode. This means that the forthcoming FS-100 $39.99 upgrade ALSO provides the ability to record DVCPro HD from the AG-HVX200 in Native Mode. This will be a HUGE benefit to many end users and again, certainly worth the modest upgrade fee that Focus Enhancements is requesting.
The point is: This is new technology and many of us are Early Adopters... Some things do take time and effort... Be thankful that Focus Enhancements has a tangible R&D staff capable of delivering real, useable features to maximize the FireStore end user experience - via an open archictecture, software upgradeable design. The reality is that the FireStore R&D team is continuously working hard to enhance the end user's investment in FireStore. This forthcoming FS-100 upgrade from Focus Enhancements is proof of their commitment to a quality end user experience.
>>>>>>That's ok.... I sent it back after finding this out and paid much less for a CitiDisk drive that will have the same capability of the FS but at half the price and less a couple of features. Never the less, I was told up front by CitiDisk that it would require a free update to make this work.
- - Speaking from experience, the CitiDisk drive does not offer nearly as many of the feature benefits or capabilities of FireStore. I have noticed a pattern of people who have expressed dissapointment with their CitiDisk investment as well. Regarding the CitiDisk capability to capture DVCPro HD in the .mov format - check again... try dropping that file into FCP and look for any error reports that FCP may offer back in return. Once in FCP, do a simple "Item Properties" check on one of the CitiDisk files and look at the Data Rate of the file... is it a valid .mov file??? is FCP able to identify the data rate or does FCP Item Properties list a bunch of question marks???
Best regards,
- don
http://noisybrain.com
http://www.bosfcpug.org
http://fcpugnetwork.org
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