Focus Enhancements FS 4 Pro Hd and F350? at DVinfo.net

Mark Bolding · April 26th, 2008, 07:39 AM

I'm waiting for a client to drop off a couple of Firestores and hard drives and then I'm picking up a F350 to go out of town for 4 days to shoot some interviews and b roll. They want us to shoot SD 16 x 9 to the XD cam disc and simultaneously record to the FS-4. So I was wondering if there were any gotcha's or things to watch out for that I should know about. I'll be backing up to some small hard drives as well and can take a macbook pro with final cut 6 or a Toshiba with Premiere Pro 2, any advantages with either?

Thanks for your help

Mark

Greg Boston · April 26th, 2008, 08:20 AM

You'll need to put the firewire port in AV/C mode. It's in the menus.

-gb-

Mark Bolding · April 26th, 2008, 08:57 AM

Thanks Greg,
The guy I just picked up the camera from had never done this and he put it in FAM mode. I appreciate your quick reply.

Mark

Paul Gale · April 27th, 2008, 04:56 AM

What's the reason for using the FS4? - is it just so they can get quicker access to the footage? (or don't have an XDCAM reader) I have an FS3 that I used to use on my 570 but there seems little point using it these days apart from maybe longer record times depending on the size of the HDD used...

Mark Bolding · April 27th, 2008, 08:38 PM

Hey There Paul,
We are shooting in New York and Chicago the next 3 days and our producer will be taking the hard drives and XD Cam discs back to N. Carolina with her where she does not have access to an XD Cam deck. I think the best thing would be to take the files off of the XD Cam each night and download them to the hard drives but I'm just following orders from headquarters. Did I mention I'm just the audio guy on this fiasco with a Mac Book Pro and a little curiosity. My question now is what file type to record to the firestore- DV raw, AVI 1 or AVI 2; as I recall the default is AVI 2 but I'd like to know what is the best format for Final Cut.

Thanks

Mark

Mark Bolding · April 27th, 2008, 09:01 PM

I know this will sound like the typical newbie question but what software do I need to download from Sony to transfer and convert the files into my mac? Is it XD cam clip browser and or file transfer? I'm not seeing anything specific to the 350 on sony's site.

Thanks

Mark

Greg Boston · April 28th, 2008, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Bolding

I know this will sound like the typical newbie question but what software do I need to download from Sony to transfer and convert the files into my mac? Is it XD cam clip browser and or file transfer? I'm not seeing anything specific to the 350 on sony's site.

You need the Sony XDCAM Transfer Tool. But you also need to have FCP 5.1.4 or later to have all the codecs for XDCAM.

-gb-

Paul Gale · April 28th, 2008, 01:20 AM

Not sure about FCP as I've not used it much. My firestore is set to record AVI type 2 which works well with Premiere etc on a PC.

Obviously for the firestore files, you don't need any XDCAM transfer software etc. Also bear in mind that the firestore phyical files won't necessarily match the XDCAM files recorded to XDCAM disc i.e. with my older FS3, it creates 2Gb split files (unless the FS4 does anything different). The recorded timecodes should be OK though - although it's worth doing a test run to check.

Uli Mors · April 28th, 2008, 07:31 AM

If the only idea about the FS is to hand out the footage to the client QUICKLY, I´d think about a laptop and a USB drive for copying the files on location.

?

ULI

Mark Bolding · May 2nd, 2008, 07:04 AM

Thanks Guys for all your help. The first day we did use the firestore in AVI2 as Paul suggested but the client and I both downloaded the file transfer the previous night. We bought a 500 gig Lacie with all the flavors of input and the transfer went off without a hitch so she never even looked at the firestore she had ordered. I did look at the firestore on the flight home and it did work but as we all know it was an unnecessary expense not to mention potentially disastrous if we blew out the firewire port on the camera. After the first day we stopped using it and all went smoothly.
Thanks again
Mark

Jad Meouchy · May 5th, 2008, 01:33 PM

Does the FS4 HD work with the 350 in HD mode 35vbr?

Mark Bolding · May 5th, 2008, 08:29 PM

Hey there Jad,
I don't think it matters what format you record in camera; the firewire or ilink as sony likes to call it will only output standard def. DV. I'm basing this on what I read on page 51 of the F350 operations manual that I downloaded from Sony. On our recent shoot we just used standard def (I know I know don't get me started) in camera and the FS4 worked just fine once I got all the settings correct with a little help from my DVinfo friends.
Mark

April 26th, 2008, 07:39 AM	#1
Mark Bolding Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 109	Focus Enhancements FS 4 Pro Hd and F350? I'm waiting for a client to drop off a couple of Firestores and hard drives and then I'm picking up a F350 to go out of town for 4 days to shoot some interviews and b roll. They want us to shoot SD 16 x 9 to the XD cam disc and simultaneously record to the FS-4. So I was wondering if there were any gotcha's or things to watch out for that I should know about. I'll be backing up to some small hard drives as well and can take a macbook pro with final cut 6 or a Toshiba with Premiere Pro 2, any advantages with either? Thanks for your help Mark

April 27th, 2008, 08:38 PM	#5
Mark Bolding Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 109	DV raw or AVI 1 or AVI 2 ? Hey There Paul, We are shooting in New York and Chicago the next 3 days and our producer will be taking the hard drives and XD Cam discs back to N. Carolina with her where she does not have access to an XD Cam deck. I think the best thing would be to take the files off of the XD Cam each night and download them to the hard drives but I'm just following orders from headquarters. Did I mention I'm just the audio guy on this fiasco with a Mac Book Pro and a little curiosity. My question now is what file type to record to the firestore- DV raw, AVI 1 or AVI 2; as I recall the default is AVI 2 but I'd like to know what is the best format for Final Cut. Thanks Mark

May 5th, 2008, 01:33 PM	#11
Jad Meouchy Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 663	Does the FS4 HD work with the 350 in HD mode 35vbr? __________________ software engineer

April 26th, 2008, 08:20 AM	#2
Greg Boston Wrangler Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: DFW area, TX Posts: 6,117 Images: 1	You'll need to put the firewire port in AV/C mode. It's in the menus. -gb-

April 26th, 2008, 08:57 AM	#3
Mark Bolding Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 109	Thanks Greg, The guy I just picked up the camera from had never done this and he put it in FAM mode. I appreciate your quick reply. Mark

April 27th, 2008, 04:56 AM	#4
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	What's the reason for using the FS4? - is it just so they can get quicker access to the footage? (or don't have an XDCAM reader) I have an FS3 that I used to use on my 570 but there seems little point using it these days apart from maybe longer record times depending on the size of the HDD used...

April 27th, 2008, 09:01 PM	#6
Mark Bolding Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 109	I know this will sound like the typical newbie question but what software do I need to download from Sony to transfer and convert the files into my mac? Is it XD cam clip browser and or file transfer? I'm not seeing anything specific to the 350 on sony's site. Thanks Mark

April 28th, 2008, 01:20 AM	#8
Paul Gale Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Oxfordshire, UK Posts: 425	Not sure about FCP as I've not used it much. My firestore is set to record AVI type 2 which works well with Premiere etc on a PC. Obviously for the firestore files, you don't need any XDCAM transfer software etc. Also bear in mind that the firestore phyical files won't necessarily match the XDCAM files recorded to XDCAM disc i.e. with my older FS3, it creates 2Gb split files (unless the FS4 does anything different). The recorded timecodes should be OK though - although it's worth doing a test run to check.

April 28th, 2008, 07:31 AM	#9
Uli Mors Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 565	If the only idea about the FS is to hand out the footage to the client QUICKLY, I´d think about a laptop and a USB drive for copying the files on location. ? ULI

May 2nd, 2008, 07:04 AM	#10
Mark Bolding Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 109	Thanks Guys for all your help. The first day we did use the firestore in AVI2 as Paul suggested but the client and I both downloaded the file transfer the previous night. We bought a 500 gig Lacie with all the flavors of input and the transfer went off without a hitch so she never even looked at the firestore she had ordered. I did look at the firestore on the flight home and it did work but as we all know it was an unnecessary expense not to mention potentially disastrous if we blew out the firewire port on the camera. After the first day we stopped using it and all went smoothly. Thanks again Mark

May 5th, 2008, 08:29 PM	#12
Mark Bolding Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Florida Posts: 109	Hey there Jad, I don't think it matters what format you record in camera; the firewire or ilink as sony likes to call it will only output standard def. DV. I'm basing this on what I read on page 51 of the F350 operations manual that I downloaded from Sony. On our recent shoot we just used standard def (I know I know don't get me started) in camera and the FS4 worked just fine once I got all the settings correct with a little help from my DVinfo friends. Mark