Thanks, Bill. Hm.. maybe these drives are not as identical as we think: Our FW400 cables snap securely into place in our DR-HD100s -- a very satisfying click connection is made when the cable is inserted.

During this copying problem I anywayI tried several different FW400 cables and repeatedly booted the DR-HD100, ran the copying through different computers, etc. -- it was always the same files that had this "reluctance to copy."

I think it was some sort of formatting or directory problem on the DR-HD100...but of course I don't know for sure. I'm going to call Focus Enhancements tomorrow and see what they think about this....

sounds like they improved the connector....the first real good reason to get the DR-HD100 over the fs4hd

During this copying problem I anywayI tried several different FW400 cables and repeatedly booted the DR-HD100, ran the copying through different computers, etc. -- it was always the same files that had this "reluctance to copy."

I think it was some sort of formatting or directory problem on the DR-HD100...but of course I don't know for sure. I'm going to call Focus Enhancements tomorrow and see what they think about this....

Scott,

Maybe a sector of your drive is bad? What is the length of the Focus Warranty?
Is there a function to reformat the DTE? Once you have your clips off, see if that helps?

Dan Weber

Thanks Dan. There is indeed a "format" function: And it is used to wipe the drive after every use to prepare it for its next use. So any user of this device is 'formatting' every day...

But here is a surprise: It turns out that the OTHER drive on the OTHER camera that was shooting that same day had the SAME problem!

That is, both drives suffered this same balkiness in downloading the last 8-or-10 clips in the folder. This is an additional discovery that confronted us only today. Thankfully we still had not yet wiped the DR-HD100s so we were able to drag -- individually and very slowly -- the balky clips of the second DR-HD100 as well. Happy ending.

And it's a double happy ending because now I believe I know what caused this to occur:

DR-HD100 #1, on camera 1, was running 100% on its internal battery connected to an Anton Bauer battery which was also powering the JVC GY-HD100.

DR-HD100 #2, on camera 2, was also running on its internal battery connected to an Anton Bauer battery -- but that camera was also plugged into the mains (the battery was mounted on the Anton Bauer charger, which was plugged into studio power).

Late in the shoot, the power emanating from the Anton Bauer battery on camera #1 had nearly run out, so I switched the Anton Bauer batteries between the two cameras -- so that the more powerful (indeed, fresh) Anton Bauer battery from #2 would take over the job of powering camera #1, while the weak Anton Bauer battery that had been powering camera #1 moved onto the charger. We have only two batteries and one charger, so that's what we do when a shoot runs really long and the isolated battery gets low.

My guess is that I failed to shut down the DR-HD100s before messing around with their power supply in this way -- and that caused a minor corruption on both DR-HD100s -- so that later, when I tried to download their content, the usual drag-and-drop method would not work.

I can't think of any other "thing" that could cause this same anomaly to occur on two completely disassocated DR-HD100s -- except a chronic sector failure problem such as you suggested, Dan, affecting any number of DR-HD100s, and of course we have absolutely no reason to think that such a widespread problem exists.

I'm convinced that this must have been caused by my changing the power-supply of both drives at the same time, without properly shutting down the drives first.

I should have known better than to do that, I guess, but my view at the time was that the drives have their own internal batteries that would maintain power to the unit through any power fluctuation -- such as plugging-or-unplugging from the Anton Bauer battery, or plugging/unplugging from the mains. I now believe that this is an incorrect view, and the way to handle these Focus Enhancement drives is to never change anything about their power supply without shutting down the drive first.

That will surely be my practice in future.

Hi There Folks. (applogies for posting in wrong section!!)

Just thought id question it here before pursuing customer support, but I have had my Firestore DR HD100 for some months now (around 5/6) and during this time I have experienced quite a few power problems when in the field shooting. Basically even when fully charged the unit powers down because of ‘low battery’. Originally this was not consistent, sometimes I could turn it on and it would last for a number of hours which led me to think perhaps it could have had something to do with the firmware update performed on it (don’t remember this problem happening in the few weeks prior to this when I first purchased it). However now the unit is in a state of turning itself off within seconds (even with it attached to mains power). The only way I can scan thru the menu options is with the DR HD100 plugged into mains and the battery removed. As you can probably imagine this has been a painful experience (luckily I have always used a tape back up). Going back to factory settings etc has no effect on the power state at all.

So was wondering if anyone else has had this problem or could suggest what the error might be (other than perhaps obviously a faulty battery?)

Thanks for your time all!!! (and appologies if this has already been covered :)

Hi There Folks. (Firstly sorry I have reposted this, once in the wrong section :S)

Just thought id question it here before pursuing customer support, but I have had my DR HD100 for some months now (around 5/6) and during this time I have experienced quite a few power problems when in the field shooting. Basically even when fully charged the unit powers down because of ‘low battery’. Originally this was not consistent, sometimes I could turn it on and it would last for a number of hours which led me to think perhaps it could have had something to do with the firmware update performed on it (don’t remember this problem happening in the few weeks prior to this when I first purchased it). However now the unit is in a state of turning itself off within seconds (even with it attached to mains power). The only way I can scan thru the menu options is with the DR HD100 plugged into mains and the battery removed. As you can probably imagine this has been a painful experience (luckily I have always used a tape back up). Going back to factory settings etc has no effect on the power state at all.

So was wondering if anyone else has had this problem or could suggest what the error might be (other than perhaps obviously a faulty battery?)

Thanks for your time all!!! (and appologies if this has already been covered :)

Hello James

do you have another battery for your Dr 100

I also have the Dr 100 thank God so far no problems

what i can't understand ,
if it works with a main power supply without the Batt.
to bad you don't have another battery to test it with.

it sounds like the battery has some kind of short in it.

just a thought

Joe

Moving this to the Firestore forum where you might get more attention.

I made a power cable which connects the DR-HD100 to my IDX battery 190W.
This way I can shoot a whole day with one battery for the HD100, Videolight and DR-HD100 from one single battery.

I have a similar problem. We use Anton Bauer DIONIC 90's which are 14.4V at max charge. The DRHD100 uses 15V. So when the battery onboard gets down to low voltage, powering the unit with a power tap results in the "LOW BATTERY" in the very CENTER of the view finder! The DRHD100 works fine plugged into the power tap, with the on board battery removed, but the warning remains, ruining the displays usefulness.

If Im using the DRHD100 and plug the unit in with the on board battery connected, it begins charging. But if it's already in a low power state, it will eventually drain out and result in the warning as well. So we have no choice but to charge the onboard battery each and every time we shoot, even though we have 4 DIONICS on hand.

In my case I just want to get rid of the annoying warning when using the power tap. Again it only shows up when the onboard is removed or is in a low power state.


Dave B

In our case, it seems almost random when it works. I had one day with half the clips with proper timecode and the other half all starting at 22 hours. I wonder if the type of HDV timecode in the settings would matter here.

More news about this problem: It happened again, and in a way that makes me wonder about my explanation above. This time one of our two Focus Enhancement DR-HD100s moved all it's files out perfectly speedily...while the other one took more than 8 hours of dragging file by file. Both had experienced the same change in power supply during the shoot, which we had done very carefully, shutting things down properly before changing the power. We're baffled. I'm called Focus Enhancements today to discuss.

ok. I will post this question here, too, not getting much help in the other areas.

I have the DR HD100, and the JVC HD100. I use vegas video 8. no matter what the settings are on my camera, or the firestore, I cant get timecode into vegas.

anyone else have this problem?

I was told that firestore hasnt been "fully tested" on vegas yet, but their website says it has. so I want to get this mess sorted out.

thanks in advance.

Im waiting for the new firmware DR-HD100 that have to support 720 50p and 60p in quicktime format, now final cut 6.0.2 support 720 50/60p, my decklink hd extreme support 50/60p too, and only i waiting for focus. ¿ When can i have 720 50/60p in quicktime?.

ok. lets try it this way.


anyone out there using the DR HD100 and vegas 7 or 8. maybe someone wants to comment now?

how about JUST the DR-HD100? anyone?

ok, how about this.

any of the 150 some odd people who have looked at this post actually using a hard drive made by firestore? lets start simple.

You're not alone. I was never able to get timecode into Vegas 7 from my JVC HD100 / DR-HD100. I've also captured tapes from a Canon XH-A1, no timecode there either. I guess that Vegas doesn't like HDV timecode much, as I've never had problems in the past capturing DV timecode.

hey man, thanks for replying. nice to see someone is willing to respond on this.

as for HDV, I havent even tried it yet, I was actually trying DV format and couldnt get timecode in. but if you were able to, maybe it is just my unit.

thanks again.

Hello

I have a DR HD 100 and a GY HD 110
I Use Vegas 6.0
I have no problem
Maybe its because I'm using 6.0

Joe

Hi all
This is the situation as describen on Focus Enhancements website:

"The DR-HD100 HDV QUICKTIME format is currently not compatible with the JVC GY-HD2XX cameras. This expected to be resolved in a future version of the firmware."

Anybody know when this firmware will become available ?

Thanks

Claude,

DR-HD100, support now 24,25 and 30p y quicktime format for HD200 SERIES, but not 50p and 60p yet. it soon.

Thanks, Javier

why then can't I view these 25p and 30p files in QT pro on my mac ?

im recording in 25p quicktime without problem, i put it in my macpro perfectly

we tried in both 720p25 and 720p30
the QT player is always blank, only the cursor moves.
we tried on G4, G5 with 10.4 and macpro with 10.5

frustrating.

and have no probs, but my mate who I work with on weddings is a Mac man, I've shot PAL SD quicktime on the DRDH100 and given it to him, he copys it onto the mac as a raw dv file, then he edits it. I don't know if this helps?

Good Luck

Adam

ps: (interesting enough, if I play the QT file using Quicktime I only get audio, if I use VLC player, I get audio and video??)

Adam, what you describe in your ps is exactly what happens to my HDV QT files.

I wrote to Focusenhancements but no reply so far.

Now a video appears, but this is the sorry image I get in QTpro: sort-of de-interlaced and in 4:3 :-((

Our vendor, Visuals, just called to say that HDV QT on the DR-HD100 only works in 50p and only when dropped into FCP 6.2, according to JVC Switzerland.

It doesn't work in QT player anyhow according to them

So Javier, how do you do it with the 25p ? on your macpro do you put it in QTpro or in FCP ?

URGENT - thanks

I did a search on this forum but I can't seem to find an answer.
When I record with my DR-HD100 M2T files (not quicktime, I have firmware 1.1)...
The unit still displays 720P25 while I'm outputting 720P50 from the camera.
I was told at IBC2007 that the DR-HD100 can record 50P.
So, M2T 720P50 should work no on the DR-HD100? Or I'm I missing something?
Should I upgrade to 2.2?

Final cut 6.0.2 now have hdv50p codec implemented, so focus now can work for DR-HD100 work in quicktime 50p, when? i don´t know.

By now DR-HD100 only can work in quicktime in 24, 25, and 30p and 50p in m2t.

Nonlinear Editing System Compatibility
No matter which nonlinear editing (NLE) system you have, the Focus DR-HD100 has you covered. When in DV mode, files are recorded to disk as RawDV, AVI Type 1, AVI Type 2, AVI Type 2 24p, Matrox AVI, Canopus AVI, QuickTime, QuickTime 24p, Avid OMF, Pinnacle AVI or MXF. In HD mode, 720p clips are recorded as M2T (720p24, 25, 30, 50 or 60) files or QuickTime HDV (720p24, 25 or 30). When working with DV clips, simply connect the JVC DR-HD100 to your Mac or PC editing system in the same way you would connect a FireWire hard disk drive and you are instantly ready to edit. No capturing, no file transfer, no file conversion. Just shoot and edit. When working in HD mode, you’re able to work with a growing list of compatible NLE systems.

Focus DR-HD100 QuickTime HDV Support Upgrade Available Now
With the DR-HD100 v2.2.1 firmware upgrade, JVC GY-HD100, HD200 and HD250 series camcorder owners can record 720p/30,25 and 24 clips in the native QuickTime HDV file format. QuickTime HDV clips can be imported directly into Apple Final Cut Pro without the need for capture or conversion first.

and the pdf
http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/Focus%20DR-HD100.pdf

Nonlinear Editing System Compatibility
No matter which nonlinear editing (NLE) system you have, the Focus DR-HD100 has you covered. When in DV mode, files are recorded to disk as RawDV, AVI Type 1, AVI Type 2, AVI Type 2 24p, Matrox AVI, Canopus AVI, QuickTime, QuickTime 24p, Avid OMF, Pinnacle AVI or MXF. In HD mode, 720p clips are recorded as M2T (720p24, 25, 30, 50 or 60) files or QuickTime HDV (720p24, 25 or 30). When working with DV clips, simply connect the JVC DR-HD100 to your Mac or PC editing system in the same way you would connect a FireWire hard disk drive and you are instantly ready to edit. No capturing, no file transfer, no file conversion. Just shoot and edit. When working in HD mode, you’re able to work with a growing list of compatible NLE systems.

Focus DR-HD100 QuickTime HDV Support Upgrade Available Now
With the DR-HD100 v2.2.1 firmware upgrade, JVC GY-HD100, HD200 and HD250 series camcorder owners can record 720p/30,25 and 24 clips in the native QuickTime HDV file format. QuickTime HDV clips can be imported directly into Apple Final Cut Pro without the need for capture or conversion first.

and the pdf
http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/Focus%20DR-HD100.pdf

edit - sorry Chris double post, really tired today :-P

So it must be available then in version 2.x, while I have 1.1 (and doesn't want to record 50P)?
It does record it into 25P instead which is a bummer at the moment.

The only thing keeping me from buying a xdcam ex is the overpriced cards. I would have to spend at least 3k on cards.

So, I have a DR-HD100 already, could this be used in place of the cards at least until third party media is accepted?

I am fully aware that only the HDV setting of the xdcam ex is able to feed through the firewire port.

Everyone kees saying that the Sony cards will come down in price shortly. Supposedly you can run the Firestore as long as it is in HDV mode on the camera, so I don't see why not. I think though that you'll find there will be a ton of options for recording to the EX1's when they start allowing other brands of cards to be used and when they have adapters to go to SD, CF, etc. Then storage will become VERY cheap.
Kit

ok, I will go ahead and assume the dr-hd100 will work with the ex1.

Now for my next question. I am guessing the dr-hd100 is not able to convert the data from the ex1 into a quicktime format (.m2t to .mov).

So, the dr-hd100 would then record raw m2t files?

I am trying to figure out the workflow. I use FCP so m2t files make things a little more complicated.

Depending on when you purchased the drive, there is an upgrade that will allow you to natively capture quicktime instead of .m2t. Check on the Focus site for more info.

OK situation resolved, all 720p formats now work here with QT - our mac vendor just put a whole bunch of plugins on the mac and it worked ! but in too much hurry to identify which plugin did the trick.

Hi, I have a JVC HD-100, hooked up to a FS-4 Pro HD, and I use Vegas 6 to edit. (would love to move to vegas 8 when i can)

So far I have no problems, with the exception of being limited to SD for things like time lapse, and stop motion.

What exactly do you mean by "I cant get timecode into vegas."? I am assuming you are able to import your files into Vegas. If so, there must be some sort of timecode. Do you want the time code generated from the camera, or the Firestore?

I may be the worst person to ask though. I have been messing with this stuff for over a year, and still can't get the concept of timecode straight. The only place it would matter to me would be for multi camera shoots so i could switch cameras in post & keep everything alligned time wise. But until I have more than one camera I have no use for it that I can see.

Hi,

Our HDD sends this signal to the camera's display (GY-HD251) every now and then in the middle of a take:

------------------------------
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
------------------------------

it seems to indicate a dropout but apparently not always.

The FW connection is correctly plugged in.

Can anyone tell me what this is due to ? Thanks

On my JVC HD 200 and firestore hd 100, I noticed the same DDDDDDDDDDD. s
This happened twice , as far as I know , but I have been editing this footage and have not noticed any dropped frames or any other problems as of yet.
But it is a bit strange.
I am wondering if it is the firewire connections , that even on my old JVC hd 100 seemed a bit loose.

sr

see, I think a lot of people think that their equipment is running fine, when its not.

I have called firestore, and had them try and pull clips in, and even they cant find the original timecode. so I would be interested to see who else is having this same problem.

to clear things up, the problem is this:

when you record (in any format, HD, SD, QT, M2T, AVI) video, lets say you shoot 4 clips, with the time code starting at 0:00:00:00, you shoot 15 seconds of video per clip so you have a minute of video. Now, I want the sound bites at 0:00:15:00 and 0:00:30:00, so I pull the video clips from the hard drive and into vegas, go to load the clips into either the trimmer window or straight to the timeline, and the time code all starts at 0:00:00:00. for ALL clips. so apparently firestore hasnt fully tested the DR HD100 with vegas yet, even thought the website says it has.

anyway, thats the problem. i guess a lot of people dont actually rely on timecode, so they arent seeing this as a problem.

On a shoot in Portugal, the DR-HD100, which was attached to a JVC GYHD201 camera via a Manfrotto hot shoe mount, suddenly worked its way loose and fell on to a marble floor (at a height of about 4-5ft). It was one of those moments when you can only watch in horror (no chance of catching it). Clients and crew stand around in stunned silence. I picked it up expecting that to be the end of it... but it is still working, with no apparent damage at all...

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Will it suddenly die an early death? Or are these units built to withstand such a fall?...

Any feedback appreciated!

Dan

I too dropped my Firestore. Fortunately it was off at the time and nothing bad came of it.
The firestore is essentially an hard-drive connected to a controller.
IMO and having dropped a lot of electronics if it doesnt move inside it is hard to harm. So, your firestore's controller part should be ok.
On the hard-drive side it depends if it was completely off, recording or in idle mode (turned on but not recording). If it was recording there is a big chance that the disk got bad sectors. It wont die suddenly but can get you a lot of pain with random errors.
First step for you to be safe: mount it on the pc as you would for footage transfer and do a thorough scan (properties-tools-check errors-scan for bad sectors on XP)
The ultimate step would be to swap the disk itself inside for a brand new identical or larger 2,5in laptop harddrive. It voids your warranty but could prevent footage loss in the future.

Paulo
p.s.: hope you liked your stay in Portugal

Thanks for that Paulo. Fortunately, it was not recording at the time, just in 'idle mode'. I will try the Xp scan idea and see what happens.

And Portugal was beautiful... a nice 18 degrees compared to 7 in the UK! Got sunburnt on the Penha Longa hotel golf course!

Dan

Have you tried running free run timecode and synching the cameras that way? Does FIRESTORE automatically start each clip at 00:00:00 if the cameras are running free run TC?

i dont need to sync cameras, I shoot news so I need to be able to use the time code when I log video and write down my sound bites. I have tried every mode of time code capture on the DR HD100 and the camera, and every time I bring the file into vegas 8, ALL the clips start at 0

anyone have pics of this bracket mounted on their camera with the DR HD100?

After watching a youtube demo of the DR-HD100 I guess I will put out the extra money for the DR-HD100 VS the FS-4. Is anyone using the DR-HD100? Is it solid? reliable?