FS4 / FS4 Pro HD various topics

Patrick Moreau · April 8th, 2007, 03:22 PM

I've had the FS4 Pro Hd for a couple months now. It has the latest firmware. Every once in a while I get errors where the firestore display will stop during recording or when I stop the recording that says 'Please Wait...'. This message continually flashes and will not stop until I power the unit down. If I was recording while the 'Please Wait' starts flashing, then I lose the recording as well.

The battery life has never been low, so that can't be causing the error. I contacted focus support but they never called me back so I thought I would try here.

Anybody else have this problem? Any ideas of how to prevent this from happening before I start using this in the field?

Thanks

Patrick

Bill Ravens · April 9th, 2007, 05:33 AM

One of my biggest complaints with the FS4 is the manner in which the unit powers up/down. Once powered up, if you inadvertently hit the "on" button, the system locks up, reboots with all the default menu settings. I can't tell you how many times I've hit the power on button when I meant to hit the power off button.

Matthew Rogers · April 9th, 2007, 12:02 PM

I got my FS-4 HD last week to go with my JVC 110U camera. However, I can't seem to understand how you select the frame rate in HDV mode on the FS-4... At first, I thought the device auto senses the frame rate coming through the firewire. However, while I was shooting 30P, the FS-4 was showing that it was recording 24P! This is very annoying because I want to shoot 30P, 24P, and 60P HDV SD. Is there something I am missing, or something I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,

Matthew Rogers

Patrick Moreau · April 9th, 2007, 09:18 PM

Hi Bill,

My unit doesnt seem to have a problem when you hit the power button. I tried to make that give me an error but it seems to work as it should.

Anybody have any ideas about the errors I'm getting?

Todd Mizomi · April 10th, 2007, 11:57 PM

We have had nothing but trouble with Firestore ever since we purchased it;

Low quality construction

Poor battery life (90 minutes?!? more like 45 min on standby)

Can't turn off that d@mn3d alarm!!!! - Ruined several interviews

Long waits for responses from emails to customer support (our first few emails took almost a year to get a response)

Tempermental recording - records about 70% of what we had recorded on tape. On our last two projects, it failed to record the last 1/2 hour of what we shot. It's like it records when it feels like it.

Glitchy recordings- loses 2-3 seconds in glitches throughout the take.

Thank God we had tape in camera as backup. Do Not Depend on the Firestore as a tapeless solution!

Frank Ladner · April 16th, 2007, 07:14 AM

Hey guys!

First, a little background info...

I just purchased the Firestore FS-4 from VideoGuys.com, to use with my Canon GL2.

I was up in the air with this, as it didn't seem to make sense to further invest in SD. Had thought of selling my GL2, along with Beachtek DXA-6, WA lens, some adapters, etc... and putting that money toward an HD camera. BUT it seemed I would have to have coughed up a lot more money in addition to that for a quality HD camera.

In the end, I figured I'd spend the $700 on the FS-4 and shoot with what I have. ...and it was good to know the FS-4 works with HD as well, so I could potentially have a tapeless solution should someone give me an HD camera. ;)

I've read a bit on the formats supported by the FS-4 so I wanted to ask for some clarification between the options. (What's the diff. between AVI Type 1 and AVI Type 2?) I'm particularly interested in maintaining the best DV quality possible (as lossless as I can go ...would that be the RawDV option?).

Any help on this, or any other pointers you guys can give, would be really appreciated!

Ian Broadbent · April 21st, 2007, 10:25 AM

Ok a stupid question...

I am seriously contemplating buying a FS-4 HD and have been shopping around. As I am in the UK, shipping and purchase is an issue with some companies putting many hurdles in the way, I have kind of settled on B&H as the price is right with import duty and VAT to consider, unless shipping is totally extortionate its cheaper than the UK alternatives....

BUT... (always a but) On the B&H web site the data states that the model they are selling "Focus Enhancements FS-4 HD 40GB Portable DTE Recorder - NTSC" The model is "ASYF115801LF"

Does this mean that it will not record PAL data? I shoot mainly HD at 720P/25 which appears to be supported, but occasionally want to use SD.

Cheers n beers

Ian

Ian Broadbent · April 21st, 2007, 10:36 AM

Shoot me for being dumb - I noticed the answer a page down - looks like its NTSC and wont do PAL - Bummer lol back to paying through the nose :(

Ian

Frank Ladner · April 23rd, 2007, 01:46 PM

Seems that 6-pin to 6-pin connections are more of a Mac thing, and PCs typically use 6-pin to 4-pin.

I hooked my firewire cable up to the FS-4, 6-pin into the unit, and 4-pin into the PC (my firewire card has 3 ports, one of which is 4-pin).

The computer recognized the device, but doesn't actually mount it as a drive.

Do I absolutely have to use a 6-pin to 6-pin? If so, I'll have to order one - there are none in the any local stores (Wal-Mart, Bestbuy, Office Depot, Circuit City, etc...)

Frank Ladner · April 23rd, 2007, 01:58 PM

I'm now familiar with the differences between the two types (6-pin carries DC current for device power/charging), and have also gotten feedback that 4pin/6pin should work, so I'll just have to try it again.

Jim Andrada · April 23rd, 2007, 11:36 PM

Did you put the FS-4 into what they call DD mode? I think you have to do this so it will be recognized as a (mounted) drive.

Frank Ladner · April 24th, 2007, 07:33 AM

Thanks, Jim!

Yep, I did that as the manual shows but it still wouldn't work. However, I used a cable other than the one supplied with the FS-4 and that did the trick. When plugged in with the first cable, it is listed in Device Manager with an exclamation mark and error "Cannot start device". Swapped with second cable and the FS-4 shows up as a drive in My Computer.

My question now is whether or not it's best to use .DV or .AVI Type (1 or 2). When I say "better", I mean in terms of quality.

Thanks!

Randall Allen · April 24th, 2007, 07:24 PM

Frank:

Glad to see you got it working.

Randy

Chris Powell · April 28th, 2007, 05:03 PM

Hi Patric,
I've been having the very same Please Wait problems since the last udate.
I'd hoped the firestore was going to save me time, and when it performed as it should its been just what I wanted but thats becoming very infrequent. I'm now having problems getting the thing to sync at crucial times so I'm leaving the expensive little box off until focus come up with a fix. The only good thing about this is it will be one less battery to keep charged..

Brian Orchard · May 2nd, 2007, 02:30 PM

anybody using this setup

no time code showing up while recording

will be using FCP

April 8th, 2007, 03:22 PM	#271
Patrick Moreau Still Motion Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,186	FS4-Hd Pro 'Please Wait...' Errors I've had the FS4 Pro Hd for a couple months now. It has the latest firmware. Every once in a while I get errors where the firestore display will stop during recording or when I stop the recording that says 'Please Wait...'. This message continually flashes and will not stop until I power the unit down. If I was recording while the 'Please Wait' starts flashing, then I lose the recording as well. The battery life has never been low, so that can't be causing the error. I contacted focus support but they never called me back so I thought I would try here. Anybody else have this problem? Any ideas of how to prevent this from happening before I start using this in the field? Thanks Patrick

April 9th, 2007, 12:02 PM	#273
Matthew Rogers Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Knoxville, TN Posts: 152	Selecting frame rate in HDV on FS-4 HD? I got my FS-4 HD last week to go with my JVC 110U camera. However, I can't seem to understand how you select the frame rate in HDV mode on the FS-4... At first, I thought the device auto senses the frame rate coming through the firewire. However, while I was shooting 30P, the FS-4 was showing that it was recording 24P! This is very annoying because I want to shoot 30P, 24P, and 60P HDV SD. Is there something I am missing, or something I'm doing wrong? Thanks, Matthew Rogers __________________ matthew@macvilleproductions.com http://www.macvilleproductions.com

April 10th, 2007, 11:57 PM	#275
Todd Mizomi Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Maui, Hawaii Posts: 141	I Feel Your Pain.... We have had nothing but trouble with Firestore ever since we purchased it; Low quality construction Poor battery life (90 minutes?!? more like 45 min on standby) Can't turn off that d@mn3d alarm!!!! - Ruined several interviews Long waits for responses from emails to customer support (our first few emails took almost a year to get a response) Tempermental recording - records about 70% of what we had recorded on tape. On our last two projects, it failed to record the last 1/2 hour of what we shot. It's like it records when it feels like it. Glitchy recordings- loses 2-3 seconds in glitches throughout the take. Thank God we had tape in camera as backup. Do Not Depend on the Firestore as a tapeless solution! __________________ Todd Mizomi Photographer/Videographer/Editor/Computer Guy Island Production Group Maui, Hawaii

April 16th, 2007, 07:14 AM	#276
Frank Ladner Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Poplarville, MS Posts: 453	FS-4 and GL2 Hey guys! First, a little background info... I just purchased the Firestore FS-4 from VideoGuys.com, to use with my Canon GL2. I was up in the air with this, as it didn't seem to make sense to further invest in SD. Had thought of selling my GL2, along with Beachtek DXA-6, WA lens, some adapters, etc... and putting that money toward an HD camera. BUT it seemed I would have to have coughed up a lot more money in addition to that for a quality HD camera. In the end, I figured I'd spend the $700 on the FS-4 and shoot with what I have. ...and it was good to know the FS-4 works with HD as well, so I could potentially have a tapeless solution should someone give me an HD camera. ;) I've read a bit on the formats supported by the FS-4 so I wanted to ask for some clarification between the options. (What's the diff. between AVI Type 1 and AVI Type 2?) I'm particularly interested in maintaining the best DV quality possible (as lossless as I can go ...would that be the RawDV option?). Any help on this, or any other pointers you guys can give, would be really appreciated!

April 21st, 2007, 10:25 AM	#277
Ian Broadbent Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Fleetwood UK Posts: 69	Fs-4 Hd Hd Ok a stupid question... I am seriously contemplating buying a FS-4 HD and have been shopping around. As I am in the UK, shipping and purchase is an issue with some companies putting many hurdles in the way, I have kind of settled on B&H as the price is right with import duty and VAT to consider, unless shipping is totally extortionate its cheaper than the UK alternatives.... BUT... (always a but) On the B&H web site the data states that the model they are selling "Focus Enhancements FS-4 HD 40GB Portable DTE Recorder - NTSC" The model is "ASYF115801LF" Does this mean that it will not record PAL data? I shoot mainly HD at 720P/25 which appears to be supported, but occasionally want to use SD. Cheers n beers Ian

April 9th, 2007, 05:33 AM	#272
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	One of my biggest complaints with the FS4 is the manner in which the unit powers up/down. Once powered up, if you inadvertently hit the "on" button, the system locks up, reboots with all the default menu settings. I can't tell you how many times I've hit the power on button when I meant to hit the power off button.

April 9th, 2007, 09:18 PM	#274
Patrick Moreau Still Motion Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,186	Hi Bill, My unit doesnt seem to have a problem when you hit the power button. I tried to make that give me an error but it seems to work as it should. Anybody have any ideas about the errors I'm getting?

April 21st, 2007, 10:36 AM	#278
Ian Broadbent Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Fleetwood UK Posts: 69	Shoot me for being dumb - I noticed the answer a page down - looks like its NTSC and wont do PAL - Bummer lol back to paying through the nose :( Ian

April 23rd, 2007, 01:46 PM	#279
Frank Ladner Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Poplarville, MS Posts: 453	Seems that 6-pin to 6-pin connections are more of a Mac thing, and PCs typically use 6-pin to 4-pin. I hooked my firewire cable up to the FS-4, 6-pin into the unit, and 4-pin into the PC (my firewire card has 3 ports, one of which is 4-pin). The computer recognized the device, but doesn't actually mount it as a drive. Do I absolutely have to use a 6-pin to 6-pin? If so, I'll have to order one - there are none in the any local stores (Wal-Mart, Bestbuy, Office Depot, Circuit City, etc...)

April 23rd, 2007, 01:58 PM	#280
Frank Ladner Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Poplarville, MS Posts: 453	I'm now familiar with the differences between the two types (6-pin carries DC current for device power/charging), and have also gotten feedback that 4pin/6pin should work, so I'll just have to try it again.

April 23rd, 2007, 11:36 PM	#281
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Did you put the FS-4 into what they call DD mode? I think you have to do this so it will be recognized as a (mounted) drive.

April 24th, 2007, 07:33 AM	#282
Frank Ladner Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Poplarville, MS Posts: 453	Thanks, Jim! Yep, I did that as the manual shows but it still wouldn't work. However, I used a cable other than the one supplied with the FS-4 and that did the trick. When plugged in with the first cable, it is listed in Device Manager with an exclamation mark and error "Cannot start device". Swapped with second cable and the FS-4 shows up as a drive in My Computer. My question now is whether or not it's best to use .DV or .AVI Type (1 or 2). When I say "better", I mean in terms of quality. Thanks!

April 24th, 2007, 07:24 PM	#283
Randall Allen Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 192	Frank: Glad to see you got it working. Randy

April 28th, 2007, 05:03 PM	#284
Chris Powell Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Mid-Wales, Uk Posts: 40	Hi Patric, I've been having the very same Please Wait problems since the last udate. I'd hoped the firestore was going to save me time, and when it performed as it should its been just what I wanted but thats becoming very infrequent. I'm now having problems getting the thing to sync at crucial times so I'm leaving the expensive little box off until focus come up with a fix. The only good thing about this is it will be one less battery to keep charged.. __________________ The red kite feeder

May 2nd, 2007, 02:30 PM	#285
Brian Orchard Tourist Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Spring Hill Fl Posts: 3	fs-4prohd and v1 settings for 1080i 24p anybody using this setup no time code showing up while recording will be using FCP Last edited by Brian Orchard; May 2nd, 2007 at 05:59 PM.