Hello fellow DVX owners,

I've just been contacted by Focus Enhancements / Videonics and the $999 Firestore direct to disk recorder (FS-1) will not work 100% with the DVX because of Panasonic's non-standard DV control protocol. You cannot control the start or stopping of recording from the camera (although you can do it manually on the FS unit itself (sorta defeats the tapeless solution in my opinion).....so beware of units similar to the FS, like the "DV Bank" etc that promise "direct to disk" or "tapeless dv recording"- although I'd recommend calling the manufacturer to make certain it would work with the DVX. (if you find a DTD solution that works- let me know- and this board)

I'm out over $1300 because of this small problem as I had to buy the Firestore and bus-powered Firelite HD...so beware of Panasonic's non-standard DV control protocol.

CapDiv by Laird which is a smaller, self-contained (with 40GB HD) direct-to-disk DV recorder DOES work with the DVX100- in case anyone is looking into a tapeless solution. I spoke with a person at Laird and they assured me the unit is indeed fully compatible with the DVX100 and will accept "start" and "stop" commands from the camcorder....it's a bit more pricey but considering it comes with an internal HD and battery, it's actually less expensive than the Firestore.

I'll be ordering one and will let the forum know how well it works.