Firestore FS H200 and Canon XH-A1

[Roger Van Duyn]

Hey Andy,

I just ran across this post of yours after running across another somewhere else. What Josh says is related to what I mentioned in my other reply elsewhere. REFORMAT required. I found out by accident with my gear, but it held 100% of the time. Reformatting my CF cards solved the problem for me. Whenever change format in the camera, the unit has to be switched AND the card needs a format.

Hope this helps.

[Andy Johnson]

Thanks, i have tried reformatting, It came in the FAT32 and the manual mentioned UDF and Josh's post confirmed that so I reformatted into UDF (a couple times) and still, it will record DV 16:9 in RAW and .AVI just fine, but when i switch to HDV on both the cam and the DTE it refuses to copy. Having filmed to sd cards in smaller SD cams, but I am very new to the DTEs and the prosumer cams (almost wondering if i shouldn't have bit the bullet and got the XF100 but dont know if i want to give up on this challenge just yet ...LOL ) .


So far I have:
Reset both devices to factory settings,
Running a 16gb scandisk extreme 3 card at 30mb per sec (tried 2 different cards -same specs) .
Tried in HD 1080 - 24f, 30f, and 60i
DV selection on the cam under system set up is on.
Tried in m2t and quicktime,
Toyed with time codes,
Tried in Normal, external and Synchro

so now i am just stabbing in the dark and hoping some one else may have more ideas.

Thanks Andy

[Roger Van Duyn]

" but when I switch, it refuses to copy..."

When you switch, you need to reformat AGAIN, if your firestore behaves like my DataVideo. Does it mention anywhere in your manual that you can have DV and HDV on the same card? Or does it state you cannot mix file types on the same card? If you can't mix file types, that's a really strong hint you can't leave the card formatted the same way as it was recording DV.

I found this out by accident with my units. I'd always recorded HDV, but had a one time project that had to be DV. A few days later, I had another job. So, I just emptied the folder like I always do. The camera recognized the recorder, but would not record. Turning camera on and off, recorder on and off. Nothing worked.

I had to reformat the card, with the card in the recorder, while the recorder was set up for HDV. No switching allowed. It's the same going from HDV to DV. Whenever I switch DV to HDV,or HDV to DV, the camera recognize each other normally, but acts like there is no card in the recorder, or the card is full, or something. They won't work together to record until I format the card.

Check your Firestore manual and see if the Firestore allows both DV and HDV on the same card or not. The DataVideo units are picky about how the card is set up. They won't allow both formats on the same card. I suspect the Firestore is that way too.

By the way, do you have DIGITAL VIDEO CONTROL set like it says on page 85 of the XH-A1S manual? Do you get the green square beside the lightning bolt on your camera's lcd screen, meaning communication is established, but still can't record? If so, that is exactly what was going on when I had the trouble.

If you're not using DIGITAL VIDEO CONTROL on page 85 of the manual (or page 74 of the XH-A1 manual), it's a miracle you were able to record DV. Some cameras output DV and HDV through the fire wire all the time. But some don't. Some will output DV, but not HDV without setting up DIGITAL VIDEO CONTROL. There are lots of threads from "the olden days" about this kind of stuff. It took a while to learn the quirks... My cameras are sometimes a little slow to link up with the recorder. The green box doesn't appear quickly all the time, and I need to reset the camera and recorder by turning both off and on again. It can be aggravating.

Before we go further with this, what DOES your screen show? Do you have the Lightning bolt and green box, just the lightning bolt, lightning bolt and dashes line?

[Andy Johnson]

I have nearly read most of the manual, and to this point it says nothing about the disk being formatted with the DTE at the setting you would like to record in. But just to be sure i have tried formatting it in both HDV and DV settings with no change. (did this in both FAT3 and UFD) . That again makes me wonder if a slower card might allow DV recording but not HDV. Due to my limited knowledge of these i didnt know, The web site on VTEC (who bought out Focus i believe ) says that it has a 30mb per sec minimum but all the recommended ones they give are 60 mb per sec.

Does that sound like a logical choice? To upgrade to a 32gb CF card at 60+ mb per sec???

[Andy Johnson]

Originally Posted by Roger Van Duyn

" Do you have the Lightning bolt and green box, just the lightning bolt, lightning bolt and dashes line?

Sorry, i typed my last reply before i saw you edited your response, I have also noticed that the B&H Web site recommends a 40mb/s (266x minimum) so i dont know if that is a prob or not, BUT ...

To your questions, when i plug the DTE in i get the dashes right after the DV box with the lightning bolt arrow and then after a few seconds it disappears (it does this in both HDV and DV, even when DV is recording )

Dont know if this helps either, I have hooked the cam up to a computer in both DV and HDV modes and it it appears to sending video fine or so it appears. ...

Thanks for your help , Andy

[Roger Van Duyn]

When the dashes disappear, does the green box appear and stay there? That means the two devices have established a link with each other. The green box should NOT disappear until you press the record button on the camera. Then that icon is replaced by the red circle, which is the recording in progress icon. The green box is the standby or ready to record icon. Until the green icon appears, the camera has not recognized the recorder.

If the dashes disappear, and no green box appears, that means communication is not established, in the camera's opinion, so to speak. Your device MAY still record. The camera just doesn't know that it's there. That happens fairly frequently for me. So I turn both camera and recorder off, and then back on. This resets both devices. Occasionally it takes me two or three attempts until communication is established. That's the quirky behavior I mentioned in my previous post. It's not unusual, in my experience. It also occurred with a hard drive recorder from CitiDisk I used to have.

Are you recording by pressing the button on the camera, or is there a button on your recorder you are pressing? My old CitiDisk would record without setting up the Digital Video Control if I pressed the record button on the unit itself, the vast majority of the time. But not always.

Sadly, the CitDisk had other issues, I'd bought it used, and I junked it after a year or so.

I never feel assured recording is actually taking place until first the green box icon, and then the red recording icon appear. I also check the display on the recorder to make sure the time code is actually increasing, showing recording is taking place.

My DN-60 recorders both work seem to work better if I don't have a tape in the camera at all. I haven't used a tape in either one of my cameras in about two years, dozens and dozens of jobs. A lot of my jobs are long recording sessions, depositions, meetings and such. Changing tapes every sixty minutes creates unwelcome interruptions.

I use the 60 mb/s Sandisk CF cards most of the time. But, I have two 30 mb/s SanDisk CF cards that also work reliably. I stick with what the manufacturer recommends.

Since the computer receives from the camera, your fire wire port is probably okay. I've had to have one of my cameras repaired twice for the fire wire port.

If I understand correctly, you did manage to record DV material to the fire store. The clips were really there on the card? If so, then the fire wire port on the recorder is okay too, and the cable.