New HDV hard disc recording device...
 

Has anyone seen or used anything from this company? I will be purchasing a Firestore device within the next month and want to know how this compares to the Focus Enhancements FS4 PRO HD or the Focus Canon Firestore...

http://mcetech.com/quickstreamdv-hdv/index.html

I do like the design of this. I was originally looking into the Canon Firestore with the BeBob holder, but everyone complains you can't adjust settings while it is in the BeBob, which is why I kind of like this.

Thoughts?

I wonder if it would do 30f/24f modes. My guess would be no.

That is my concern exactly because it is priced about the same as the Focus FS4PRO HD and that one does not...

If the A1 is in 24f mode, wouldn't that come through the firewire in 24f and on to the recorder in 24f?

This would be something I would definitly want. Imagine... no more dirty heads.

-John

Update....
 

Ok, I just finished talking to MCE and I was told that the device will record the video in whatever mode the camera is in. So if you are recording in 24f then that's the way it will be saved on the HD.

I also asked if they were aware of any issues or compatitablity problems with A1 and he said that the device is 100% compatitable with the A1.

I am really considering getting this in the near future. There are a lot of advantages in using this.

-John

Wow! That is awesome news John. Because before this you would need to buy an FSC-60 or 100 ($1200 - $1700) and a Bebob holster ($300) and you can do both of what those 2 things do for less than a grand. I'M SOLD!

That is good news! I will definitely consider buying one if everything checks out well!

I couldn't find a price on their site, but how much are these generally going for?

Sounds very interesting for me, too.

But two disappointing that I noticed:

1. I can see no display or indicator that shows recorded time, remaining disk capacity etc.

2. The technical specifications say the disk is formatted FAT32. So this would mean a maximum file size of 4 GB ... :-(

According to their site, the pricing breaks down as follows:

QSDV-HDV-360 MCE QuickStream DV/HDV - 6 Hour $799.00
QSDV-HDV-540 MCE QuickStream DV/HDV - 9 Hour $999.00

Extra batteries are $99/each.

Wonder how this compares to the nNovia QC line...?

By the way this is not a new company... we used to have a dedicated MCE QuickStream forum here at DV Info Net; you'll find it in our Archives section.

Yeah I have heard of Quickstream before, but this HDV unit is brand new. It just came out like a week or 2 ago.

Quickstream
 

This looks very similar to the Citidisk, which I own. If it's made by the same manufacturer then you may have problems with the device losing footage whenever something goes wrong (i.e. when the firewire cable comes loose, when you turn off the camera before you turn off the capture device, or if the power shuts down before turning off the capture device).

I'd recommend testing it thoroughly with the camera(s) you'll be using it with before using it out in the field.

Point 1 I could see it being a big issue. Point 2 you could just "butt up" the clips to make them seemless on the timeline. In my view, having 4GB files would make them easier to back up to DVD :).

I've been waiting for something like this to come out. Gonna get this as soon as the budget allows.

Not true
 

Max size for fat32 is actually around 128GB. I upgraded my 40GB firestore to 120GB and partitioned the drive using the unit. The unit supports only FAT32.

I think you're talking about the maximum partition size... not the maximum file size, which is 4GB (minus 1 byte) for FAT32.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table)

Ahh! Roger that! That is correct.

I'd have to guess that it will shoot 24f/30f but your going to be dealing with pull down if it really will do it.

I wonder if it'll have a 1 frame glitch when you hit the 4gb limit and it starts a new clip or if it'll properly buffer everything.

I also have the A1 and shoot 30F. I wonder about Windows compatability. The site only seems to talk about Mac.

They have a new SSD version out:

http://mcetech.com/quickstreamdv-hdv/qsss.html

It's available in two sizes:

-2 hour ($1799)
-4 hour ($2799)

The advantages are (1) it's completely silent and (2) it's impervious to movement since it's SSD, not HDD. Although for that price, I feel like I should be getting an HDMI recorder, not a Firewire recorder!

Has anyone picked a QuickStreamHDV up yet? It seems like the easiest solution for going tapeless, but there's next to no information available on the new models. I want to know how much noise the HDD-based models make...my external onboard mic picks up my HV20's tape noise, so having a silent recorder would be a huge, huge plus. However, if only the SSD version is silent, I might as well save up for a Red Scarlet!

quickstream....
 

The quickstream records in high definition in m2t files, and dv in qt files. Does FCp natively work with m2t files? Vegas does, but with the sony ex1, you have to convert those m2t files into qt files that fcp will recognize. Or does one simply do a log and transfer and change the files via pro rez 422?

The battery, that they show on the Quickstream, looks like my DPS9000, that I use on my
still cameras.

Unfortunately, The DPS9000, is 7.2v, so, I guess they may have higher voltage batteries/current capacity, in the unit they sell, for that $99.

My two my DPS9000's cost $49, each, so one recharges, the other is being used.