FS4-Pro 80GB at DVinfo.net

Mark Geiser · April 8th, 2005, 01:20 AM

Received yesterday my FS4-Pro 80GB from Holdan (again fantastic service, thanks Holdan).

My first observation is that I understood that the FS4-Pro had the improved battery fit, I have to say my fs4-pro does not seem that much looser than the 40Gb standard one I have, so question if this is indeed an updated model ?? The information came from Holdan, so perhaps guys if you are reading this you can comment.

Also on first power up from cold, the backlight flickers an awful lot, it goes from dim to bright to off and cycles like this for about 30 secs to 1 minute, after that it seems to settle down, any comments Matt.

I havent had a chance to use it, will do some tests at the weekend.

Mark

Mark Geiser · April 9th, 2005, 05:03 AM

Switched it on again last night and the fan came on as it does but did not go off. The screen stayed lit with nothing on it, eventually had to switch it off by pulling out the battery as none of the keys responded. I'm sure it was a one off, but strange..

I love the products, looks like their will be a period though of ironing out the little issues. I post these snippets not to complain, just to make those that need to be aware of any possible issues, as I said the FS4 will samve me countless hours, and would eventually pay for itself as those wasted captured hours could allow you to do another job where ordinarily you would have to factor in all that capturing which would limit the amount of work you could potentially do in a week.

Just switched it on this morning and all OK, screen did not flicker as much, so not sure if its some sort of voltage drop off, perhaps the larger HD draws a little more power at startup and causes the backlight to be affected, unless of course the backlight connections are loose, not sure if opening the unit invalidates the warranty.

Mark

Mark Geiser · April 9th, 2005, 05:29 AM

Have been using it for a few minutes in manual mode (no tape in the PD-170 so have to use manual as the 170 cannot use tapeless mode).

A massive improvent seems to be that the status LED on this Pro version now shows a nice green in normal mode, blinking Red in pause record and static Red when recording. I know this is how its supposed to work, but my non pro 40GB version it only ever shows a sort of Orange colour, perhaps mine is faulty, or perhaps its a bug in the non pro versions.

Does anyone that has the non-pro version also only have an orange/yellow light for status like I do ???

Mark

Daniel Kohl · April 9th, 2005, 04:17 PM

Hi Mark,

Thanks a lot for posting your experiences.

I finally have a production model FS-4, and as soon as I have some time I will post some observations about. And to answer your question, the LEDs on my unit are also orangish redish. So, they must have fixed that problem on the Pro version.

Cheers,

Mark Geiser · April 10th, 2005, 12:46 PM

Daniel..

Lets hope that some updated firmware is released soon to fix the problem on the non-pro versions..

Regards

Mark

Bill Ravens · April 11th, 2005, 08:03 AM

yeah, the lite on my non-pro seems to be only one, steady color...orange.

Daniel Kohl · April 11th, 2005, 04:14 PM

Hi Mark,

I was wondering if you would check a few things on your FS-4 Pro for me ... er us.

I am interested in knowing how long it takes before the Pro version's cooling fan goes into medium or high speed when recording.

And I would like to know how well the time code function works. Are you able to set a time code yourself, or does it always start at 00:00:00:00 in local mode and grab the TC from the camera in SYNC/SLAVE mode? Does the Pro version have TC FREE RUN? And can that be set to, say, the time of day?

Thanks, if you have time.

Cheers,

Mark Geiser · April 13th, 2005, 01:59 AM

Daniel..

Switched the Pro version on last night and just left it on, didn't get a chance to plug it in to a camera so the disk was not being used so realise not a great test but the fan stayed off...On my non pro version the fan comes on after about 20 mins of no activity like in the above test, so perhaps the fan coming on early is not so much of an issue on the pro version, I will do some mose tests as soon as I can and post.

Regards

Mark

PS. Did not get a chance to try any TC stuff, sorry.

Daniel Kohl · April 13th, 2005, 02:06 AM

Thanks Mark,

Whenever you get a chance would be great. Thank you for your help.

Hart Boyd · April 13th, 2005, 06:27 PM

I read this post earlier today and decided to test my unit (FS-4)and after turing the unit on within 15 minutes the fan speeds up to where you would not want it mounted on the camera as the onboard mic would pick it up. I also noticed that my status led is always orangish redish also. I hope you are right about a firmware upgrade fixing the unit as I was wanting to purchase several other units (PRO) but will hold off to see if the issues are resolved.

Daniel Kohl · April 24th, 2005, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Kohl

Does the Pro version have TC FREE RUN?

Hi Hart,

I don't want to bug you, but you are the only one who has admitted to having the pro version on this forum. I was just wondering if you have had some time to check this function on your FS4 pro. The answer to this question will greatly influence my decision to buy one or not.

Cheers,

Hart Boyd · April 24th, 2005, 04:07 PM

Daniel,

I don't have a PRO version but was looking at buying several but am a little disappointed in the reqular version with the fan noise and led not working correctly and FOCUS not responding to issues listed in this forum.

Daniel Kohl · April 25th, 2005, 01:55 AM

Sorry Hart, I meant to address Mark ... Anyway if he is reading this thread, I guess he got the message.

It is really too bad about the fan noise. I'm sure that your LED problem is specific to your unit though.

I don't understand why Focus' response times are sometimes so long. In some respects Focus is way out in front, Matt's participation in this and other forums, (response time almost instantaneous some times). And in other respects Focus is just like almost any other company, "we will get right back to you... (in a year or so)". I wonder how many people work at Focus. I guess it's conceivable that there are six people running the show. At least that would explain the response times.

Mark Geiser · April 25th, 2005, 02:18 AM

Sorry, guys have not had a chance to test anymore..

My non pro version went back to the UK distributor who suspect a faulty battery connector. I have reported the pro version problem with the backlight and they are looking into it.

Mark

Daniel Kohl · April 25th, 2005, 02:34 AM

Hart,

I was a little confused. I think that you are going to have to live with the LED being the color it is on your non Pro version. I thought you meant the problem with the LCD backlight which Mark is having.

I think that all of the first FS-4s have funky (orangish) LEDs built into them. This is a hardware (one of the LEDs is simply yellow instead of green) problem and I don't that that it can be corrected without opening the unit and soldering a new LED into it.

April 8th, 2005, 01:20 AM	#1
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	FS4-Pro 80GB Received yesterday my FS4-Pro 80GB from Holdan (again fantastic service, thanks Holdan). My first observation is that I understood that the FS4-Pro had the improved battery fit, I have to say my fs4-pro does not seem that much looser than the 40Gb standard one I have, so question if this is indeed an updated model ?? The information came from Holdan, so perhaps guys if you are reading this you can comment. Also on first power up from cold, the backlight flickers an awful lot, it goes from dim to bright to off and cycles like this for about 30 secs to 1 minute, after that it seems to settle down, any comments Matt. I havent had a chance to use it, will do some tests at the weekend. Mark

April 9th, 2005, 04:17 PM	#4
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Hi Mark, Thanks a lot for posting your experiences. I finally have a production model FS-4, and as soon as I have some time I will post some observations about. And to answer your question, the LEDs on my unit are also orangish redish. So, they must have fixed that problem on the Pro version. Cheers, __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

April 11th, 2005, 04:14 PM	#7
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Hi Mark, I was wondering if you would check a few things on your FS-4 Pro for me ... er us. I am interested in knowing how long it takes before the Pro version's cooling fan goes into medium or high speed when recording. And I would like to know how well the time code function works. Are you able to set a time code yourself, or does it always start at 00:00:00:00 in local mode and grab the TC from the camera in SYNC/SLAVE mode? Does the Pro version have TC FREE RUN? And can that be set to, say, the time of day? Thanks, if you have time. Cheers, __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

April 13th, 2005, 02:06 AM	#9
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Thanks Mark, Whenever you get a chance would be great. Thank you for your help. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

April 25th, 2005, 01:55 AM	#13
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Sorry Hart, I meant to address Mark ... Anyway if he is reading this thread, I guess he got the message. It is really too bad about the fan noise. I'm sure that your LED problem is specific to your unit though. I don't understand why Focus' response times are sometimes so long. In some respects Focus is way out in front, Matt's participation in this and other forums, (response time almost instantaneous some times). And in other respects Focus is just like almost any other company, "we will get right back to you... (in a year or so)". I wonder how many people work at Focus. I guess it's conceivable that there are six people running the show. At least that would explain the response times. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1

April 9th, 2005, 05:03 AM	#2
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	Switched it on again last night and the fan came on as it does but did not go off. The screen stayed lit with nothing on it, eventually had to switch it off by pulling out the battery as none of the keys responded. I'm sure it was a one off, but strange.. I love the products, looks like their will be a period though of ironing out the little issues. I post these snippets not to complain, just to make those that need to be aware of any possible issues, as I said the FS4 will samve me countless hours, and would eventually pay for itself as those wasted captured hours could allow you to do another job where ordinarily you would have to factor in all that capturing which would limit the amount of work you could potentially do in a week. Just switched it on this morning and all OK, screen did not flicker as much, so not sure if its some sort of voltage drop off, perhaps the larger HD draws a little more power at startup and causes the backlight to be affected, unless of course the backlight connections are loose, not sure if opening the unit invalidates the warranty. Mark

April 9th, 2005, 05:29 AM	#3
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	Have been using it for a few minutes in manual mode (no tape in the PD-170 so have to use manual as the 170 cannot use tapeless mode). A massive improvent seems to be that the status LED on this Pro version now shows a nice green in normal mode, blinking Red in pause record and static Red when recording. I know this is how its supposed to work, but my non pro 40GB version it only ever shows a sort of Orange colour, perhaps mine is faulty, or perhaps its a bug in the non pro versions. Does anyone that has the non-pro version also only have an orange/yellow light for status like I do ??? Mark

April 10th, 2005, 12:46 PM	#5
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	Daniel.. Lets hope that some updated firmware is released soon to fix the problem on the non-pro versions.. Regards Mark

April 11th, 2005, 08:03 AM	#6
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	yeah, the lite on my non-pro seems to be only one, steady color...orange.

April 13th, 2005, 01:59 AM	#8
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	Daniel.. Switched the Pro version on last night and just left it on, didn't get a chance to plug it in to a camera so the disk was not being used so realise not a great test but the fan stayed off...On my non pro version the fan comes on after about 20 mins of no activity like in the above test, so perhaps the fan coming on early is not so much of an issue on the pro version, I will do some mose tests as soon as I can and post. Regards Mark PS. Did not get a chance to try any TC stuff, sorry.

April 13th, 2005, 06:27 PM	#10
Hart Boyd Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 148	I read this post earlier today and decided to test my unit (FS-4)and after turing the unit on within 15 minutes the fan speeds up to where you would not want it mounted on the camera as the onboard mic would pick it up. I also noticed that my status led is always orangish redish also. I hope you are right about a firmware upgrade fixing the unit as I was wanting to purchase several other units (PRO) but will hold off to see if the issues are resolved.

April 24th, 2005, 04:07 PM	#12
Hart Boyd Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 148	Daniel, I don't have a PRO version but was looking at buying several but am a little disappointed in the reqular version with the fan noise and led not working correctly and FOCUS not responding to issues listed in this forum.

April 25th, 2005, 02:18 AM	#14
Mark Geiser Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: london Posts: 59	Sorry, guys have not had a chance to test anymore.. My non pro version went back to the UK distributor who suspect a faulty battery connector. I have reported the pro version problem with the backlight and they are looking into it. Mark

April 25th, 2005, 02:34 AM	#15
Daniel Kohl Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Posts: 571	Hart, I was a little confused. I think that you are going to have to live with the LED being the color it is on your non Pro version. I thought you meant the problem with the LCD backlight which Mark is having. I think that all of the first FS-4s have funky (orangish) LEDs built into them. This is a hardware (one of the LEDs is simply yellow instead of green) problem and I don't that that it can be corrected without opening the unit and soldering a new LED into it. __________________ Daniel Kohl Frankenstein meets XL1