I just sent this off to Focus tech support. I am aware that they recently filed for Chapter 11. I'm wondering if any of you have noticed something similar. I would appreciate any feedback...thanks!
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I am an FS-4HD user. I use it with my Canon XL2, and up until recently I've been very happy. I record events with it, and I appreciate the value of being able to record longer than on DV tape's worth of video at a time.

But recently I've noticed that the nine minute or so chunks of video that the Firestore records are not lined up perfectly anymore. I use it with Final Cut Pro (the latest version 6.0.4) on the latest Mac OS X (10.5.5). Regardless of what I do, I end up with a short burst of silence at the seam between the clips (actually, it's at the end of the first clip of a two-clip sequence). I've tried joining the files in Quicktime player instead of FCP (as suggested in a forum posting) but that doesn't work, either.

But upon further investigation, it seems the FS-4HD is cutting off the last frame or so of audio from all the clips it saves, even if I just push the "stop" button (as opposed to spanned clips). Is there a setting (drop frames, etc) that causes this to happen? It is causing me to pull my hair out!

See enclosed screen shot from FCP.

Following up after some more testing...

I am unable to reproduce this problem with short clips. So I think this is related to spanning (letting the FS run for more than 9 minutes, causing it to create a new file). I am able to reproduce this 100% with a 10 minute clip (which is broken up into two clips by the FS).

OK, so it looks like I'm narrating my own tragic little story here. ;)

After further tests, I believe the problem lies in the Quicktime 24P functionality (which always seemed to work fine for me). If I change the FS4 to record in Quicktime mode (NOT 24p), then I copy the clips into FCP, use "Remove Advanced Pulldown", then drop them into a 24P timeline, the gap disappears.

Sigh.

Just saw your post Steve. I've noticed a similar issue with my JVC branded DR-HD100.
seems like a 1 frame audio drop at the head on the new file

<edit> couple of additional things. I'm using M2T files shooting 60P

I've had the same problem with my Citidisk 120GB HDV model (although I'm still using it to record in SD) and my Firestore FS4-Pro, but only when I'm trying to record in the AVI 2 format. When I set up the Citidisk & Firestore to record in raw DV mode, the dropped audio goes away but the drawback is that raw DV footage takes a lot longer to import into my editing software (Liquid 7).

BTW, Steve, I like the name of your town.

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I finally have solved this problem. Oy vey.

Read more here:
Firestore FS-4HD Is Fixed (Sort Of…) Steve Maller Photography (http://stevemaller.com/blog/2009/08/11/firestore-fs-4hd-is-fixed-sort-of/)