FS4 / FS4 Pro HD various topics

[Max Wilson]

Its probably not the plug, the Firestore's PCB is a very thin board and can flex easily if pressure is put that the DC plug, i had my port go out.
It ended up being a onboard fuse that the solder joint broke lose from the PCB board, i re-soldered this and the dc port works...
How i traced the issue, i used a volt meter and put the ground on the ground plug and traced the 13V from battery once the voltage stopped flowing i knew thats where my problem was, i probed both sides of each component on the board following the + trace.

I was hopping this would fix the issue with the battery not charging but it did not, at least i can run it off a external battery pack for now though. I think its a faulty battery since i'm reading 0 volts and if i bypass the battery charge circuit i get 9v at the battery...

I also stuck a 80GB drive in while i was in there, a nice simple upgrade.

[Kalulu Ngilo]

1)) I noticed the battery pack included is only DC 11.1v/850mAh.
The dc input is 15V. the pack below boasts a 14.4v output at 4000mAh. This would last me almost 5hrs atleast right?

would this do the job for the firestore device?

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.as...OD&ProdID=2741

2) Mounting kits for the fs-4 hd. where can i find them? or cheap alternatives..


thanks

[Heath Vinyard]

Originally Posted by Max Wilson

Its probably not the plug, the Firestore's PCB is a very thin board and can flex easily if pressure is put that the DC plug, i had my port go out.
It ended up being a onboard fuse that the solder joint broke lose from the PCB board, i re-soldered this and the dc port works...
How i traced the issue, i used a volt meter and put the ground on the ground plug and traced the 13V from battery once the voltage stopped flowing i knew thats where my problem was, i probed both sides of each component on the board following the + trace.

I was hopping this would fix the issue with the battery not charging but it did not, at least i can run it off a external battery pack for now though. I think its a faulty battery since i'm reading 0 volts and if i bypass the battery charge circuit i get 9v at the battery...

I also stuck a 80GB drive in while i was in there, a nice simple upgrade.

Max. Can you let us know the model and type of HD you put in there? I'm seeing mix posts of either SATA or IDE and would like to know which one for sure.

Thanks.

[Kalulu Ngilo]

WARNING, DOING THE FOLLOWING BELOW VOIDS WARRANTY!
I AM NOT LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY YOU.
BLAME IT ON THE RAIN, BUT DO NOT BLAME IT ON ME!
OH, there is a reason Focus Enhancements didnt reply to my email.
Read below at your own risk! Now lets do it! :)

when i say, "reference purpose only", i mean do not take the image literally. Your setup will

look different.


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1) First take out the battery to expose the two hidden screws.
All screws have been checked.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0189.jpg

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2) You will be stopped immediately, if you try to lift the lid open.
The ide cable is too short. You will need a flat head screw-driver, to separate the cable

from the board.
While the flathead is at the bottom of the cable, VERY GENTLY turn the flathead side ways to

lift each part. side, middle, side, until you can lift the cable out!

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0179.jpg

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3) As soon as the ide cable is disconnected, you can flip the top side(black plastic) over so

it lays on its back, hard drive facing top. You dont need to take the front case(black) out

at all. The picture below was taken later, the board is missing the front cover. You may or

may not need to disconnect the fan cable.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0175.jpg

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4) The disk drive will need to be disconnected from the back panel plastic.
Five screws are clamping it down.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0173.jpg

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5) Notice the two drives next to each other.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0158.jpg


The Fujitsu is 40GB, uses +5V, 0.60A, while the Western Digital is 120GB, uses 5VDC, at

0.55A.
The Fujitsu drive is in class ATA-6.

So get a laptop drive thats ATA-6,
Interface ATA-6
Capacity 120GB
Cache 8MB
Average Seek Time 12ms
Average Latency 5.5ms
RPM 5400 RPM
Price on newegg, $69.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136130
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6) Take out the screws from the side metalic casing. Two on each side. I have my western

digital mounted already, so the image is for reference purposes.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0171.jpg

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7) Left Empty.
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8) Here you need to be very careful, you maybe opening your FS-4 HD again if not done right.

Take note of the ribbon cable below. The first pin is highlighted black if the drive is

laying down(image1). Image2 - where the other side of the ribbon will dock. Together with the

disk drive(note the drive is upside down now), black side facing the right side(image 3).

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0158b.jpg
http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0159.jpg
http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0168.jpg



9) Left Empty.

10) This is very risky, YOU MAY SKIP STEP 10. Get a plastic bag, wrap it around your hand.

Testing the fs4 while its completely open! Hold the board by its side(like a dvd disk). The

bag is for protecting the board from your fingers while you press the buttons!

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0177.jpg

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You can disconnect the board from the front black panel/facing/plastic. Five screws are

stopping you. Take them all out. Obviously you will need to connect the disk drive back into

the board to attempt this stunt. Look at step 3 image(reference purpose only).

Image below, the screws will need to be removed. The three top screws are underneath the disk

drive. The image is for reference purpose only.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0166.jpg

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NOTICE HOW I USED THE STATIC BAG TO SEPARATE THE DISK FROM THE BOARD. YOU DONT WANT TO SHORT

ANYTHING, OTHERWISE YOUR FS-4 WILL BE KAPUT! DO NOT TURN THE FS-4 ON, UNLESS YOU HAVE THE

BOARD COVERED BY THE STATIC BAG OR ANY PROTECTION LIKE A PAPER BAG or HARD PAPER. look at

image above.

Turn the FS-4 ON.
Your FS-4 should find the drive and ask you to partition it if its connected.

The image below says "NO DISK DETECTED" because i didnt connect the cables right(image is for

reference purpose). Thats why i put step 8 above. You can guide(press buttons) your FS-4

using your bag covered fingers. By this point, I wont blame you if you start dripping sweat.

:P

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0177b.jpg

11) If all is well it should indicate the partition is done. Your total recording minutes

should move from 203 minutes to 610 minutes.

RISKY!!
Shut it down, lay everything down carefully. Disconnect the ribbon cable from the board.

Leave the disk and the cable connected using instructions from step 8. Screw down the board

to the front plastic(5 screws)

12) Now mount the drive to the metallic casing(observe step 6 - 4 screws).
Mount the drive and the metallic casing back to the black plastic panel(5 screws).
Make sure the fan cable and the power cable are connected. look at step 3 image.

13) Here comes the final most tricky part. Remember step 2? We are going do it backwards.

You are going to close the case like the image below, then line up the ribbon connector to

the pins and push down with your index finger. Make sure the pins and the holes line before

you push down. You do not want to bend any pins!!!! Left side, Right side, then middle.. be

careful not push down too hard. You may compromise your board. Repeat the step again, left,

right then middle until the pins are close to 100% covered.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0179b.jpg

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14) Press on the back panel, join the two together, then start screwing down up, down, then

sides.

15) Congratulations, you have now upgraded your FS-4 HD 40GB to 120GB!
From 203 minutes to 610 minutes.

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0181.jpg

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16) Drinks on the house! :P


Miscellaneous images!

http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0153.jpg
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http://www.dcrin3.com/fs4hd_upgrade/IMG_0184.jpg


post by dcrin3.com

[Heath Vinyard]

Wow.
This is an awesome "How To."

Thank you.

[K.C. Luke]

That is great on "Step by Step" I have FS-4HD. Will be doing that soon Thanks for the info and Pictures

[Kalulu Ngilo]

With the Fujitsu drive, i clocked about 1hr 56mins after the battery had been chiming for about 4mins.

[Mateo Leybab]

I believe I have all the settings correct.

I am shooting in 1080i60

FS has date and time set correctly.
HDD MODE
-DV RECORDER
DV FORMATS
-QUICKTIME

I make the connections and turn on camera, turn on FS.
CONTROL
-SYNCRO SLAVE

The FS goes into pause mode at the beginning screen as expected. When I press record on the camera, the FS goes from pause to record, but the counter does not respond. It's like it's recording but not actually recording.
I monted the drive on my computer and there is a folder that is being created but with no files in it. Am I missing something simple?

Thanks for any help!
mateo

[Mateo Leybab]

I needed to have the HDD MODE on HD RECORDER DOH!!!

[Brian Boyko]

Quick questions:

Are there any problems that I should be looking out for in the FS-4 that have not been resolved?

In addition to recording to the FS-4 simutaniously as the tape, is it possible to record FROM tape in the camera TO the FS-4? (doing so would allow me to do work on this computer while I recapture some tapes with dropped frames.)

Is there any problem with recording the Canon HV20's 24p HD on this thing? Canon's 24p mode is in a "60i wrapper."

[Colin McDonald]

Just for information:

I bought a FS-4 Pro with my XH-A1 in November. I checked it all over when delivered and noticed the FS-4 Pro wouldn't charge the battery supplied in the box, but worked fine with the free spare one given out as part of the deal.

I sent the battery back and it was replaced, but still got the red "charge fault" LED. So I was asked to send the whole unit back to Holden, the UK FireStore distributors last week.

I have just got it back fixed under warranty and the repair sheet mentions that one of the battery contact pins on the FS-4 wasn't making contact.

The FS-4 Pro worked fine with the spare battery so I can't really complain, but it sounds a bit like a QA issue either on the FS-4 or the battery. I would have thought that it would have been tested before it was boxed. These things aren't cheap and I've had to pay for postage and insurance twice on a new unit.

I should mention that the retailer and Tony Benson at Holdan were both very helpful.

[Robert M Wright]

Has anyone considered modifying a FireStore to use something like this, instead of a hard drive:

http://www.acscontrol.com/Index_ACS....CF_Adapter.htm

[Daniel Kohl]

Looks very cool,

I would definitely give it a try. It's cheap enough.

The drawbacks would have to do with the read write speeds of the CF cards. I don't think that they will be fast enough to sustain the data flow of the DV streams produced by the FSs. And, although there seems to be 16 GB CF cards on the market, (which would give you over an hour of recording pleasure (and are probably really expensive)), a normal (cheap) 1 GB card would give you around 4 minutes (not really a pleasure).

The advantages are obvious: No rotation vibrations from the HDD, and no need for the loud cooling fan (at least in the older model FS4s).

Good idea though!

Cheers,

[Robert M Wright]

A 133X CF is easily fast enough. A 16GB 133X CF can be purchased for under $100 and a 32GB 133 CF can be purchased for under $200. Reliability should be far and away better than with a hard drive (no head crashes from banging it around while shooting).

[Daniel Kohl]

SSDs are interesting too:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/08/...drives_cometh/

Of course the CF adapter could make it potentially easier to swap storage mediums in the field. That would give the FS-4s, the lost function of being able to swap HDDs, which was on the FS-3s! A nice feature if you are shooting and editing at the same time. You would have to make a major mod on the FS-4 case though.

Heck! my guarantee has expired a long time ago. I think that it will be time to Frankenstore again soon.