H1 and Focus FS-CV Firestore...

[Kevin Martorana]

I posted this also on the Firestore forum...but wanted H1 users to see this:

First off...I want to say that we got our hands on a FS-CV last week.
We've had some issues....but I want to say that Focus and Canon have been EXTREMELY helpful with our problems....

We connected our Canon XL-H1 to the FS-CV. Both units were on. We noticed the CV did not report the TC that the H1 was displaying. We went into the menu of the CV, and began to change the connection/control setting....when the H1 went DEAD. TURNED OFF !....

We couldn't turn the unit back on. Disconnected the CV, and still no luck. We had to take the battery off....then back on...and the H1 started again.

Focus has told us that no voltage is passed down the firewire cable between the two units. But, after this issue....we can not pass video down the firewire port of the H1. Earlier that day...we had digitized footage using the dv connection. (yes...of course the DV menu setting was ON.)

Canon has been taking care of us in a FINE manner...requesting we send the H1 immediately to repairs...so they can look at the connection. We are asking them to try the same sequence of things on another H1...to see if there really is a problem ! I'll let you know what we find out.

NOW...for those folks using an AVID on a PC...and wanting to use the 24f recording capability of the CV....

Matt at Focus tried recording a 24f clip...as a quicktime movie. (only way to record 24f on the CV. MXF is for 1080i only) He imported it into FCP...and said the clip looked great....24look...and no audio sync issues.

Of course...after our issue...we couldn't record anything due to the DV connection going bad. But...we have a Canon HV10 (used as a playback deck, often for H1 footage).

We recorded some footage in QT format by hooking up the CV to the HV10.

We imported the files into our Avid PC. Guess what...just a white screen ...

HUH ?

Matt from Focus found out that the QT codec they use in the CV is only available when the codec is in FCP...on MACS !!!! The codec isn't available for PC.

We took the QT movies we made....dropped them into our second edit suite which has FCP...and voila ! the QT movies played !

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ????

Matt says they're looking at the issue..to see if there is a "fix"...to allow it to work on a PC system.

So..for us...who shoot tons of 24F footage....and edits it on an Avid Adrenaline PC system...we might be "skunked" !!!

We'll see how Focus works with this. I believe they are truly trying to find a solution...it will just be how quickly.

I'll update more to this as I find out ! In the meantime...our H1 is off to Canon to get repaired...