Looking to upgrade my FS-4 > HD

[Brian Fischer]

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since I've been active on the board, but I had to see what you might have to say about this. I purchased my FS-4 unit from Focus Enhancements shortly after they acquired Videonics, back in '05, I think. Maybe earlier. Anyhow, My warranty is obviously expired and I'm ready to open up the unit and slap a 120GB HDD in there. I'm also interested in making the move to HD (and a Panasonic AG-HVX200A), but I don't want to shell out another $800 for the FS-4HD. On the other side of that coin, spending another $300 for the upgrade doesn't sound too appealing either, as I would then end up with a 3 1/2 year old FS-4 (they now call this a "Legacy" model LOL) with no warranty and a price tag of about $1000 for a unit I could buy for $800 that has a warranty. I'm not interested in the warranty or a unit with only a 40GB HDD.

I guess what I am wrestling with is this: Do I want to spend $300 for the upgrade, or $800 for a new unit. It doesn't make sense to spend $300 to upgrade a unit that cost me $700, to make it the equivalent of a new $800 HD unit, minus a warranty. But I don't see another way around this. I'd be a happy camper if the firmware upgrade was being offered for say $100 vs. $300. I could justify that. The $200 saved would go to upgrading the HDD in my current unit.

Now, if I were to bite the bullet and lay the cash down for the FS-4HD, is there any way possible to use that unit to update the firmware on my FS-4 Legacy, which would subsequently give me two FS-4HD units? That would certainly be worth looking in to, but I just don't know if that's possible.

Any opinions on this? I've been torturing myself for the last couple of days trying to figure out the best way to go.

Thanks.

P.S., Would anyone be willing to sell me their old firmware upgrade CD? :)