Posted by Rick Merrill on 10/05/07 12:05

Gary Eickmeier wrote:
> I just took my first shots with the Firestore FS-4HD and transferred the
> shots to the computer.
>
> This is one weird critter, but it works. It only uses FAT-32 for the
> file system, but there is no real limit to the shot length. They just go
> seemlessly together on the timeline. Haven't tried it yet, but that's
> their story.
>
That's the way the FS-4 works, and I'm surprized they didn't change to
NTFS for HD.

> I'm using a Sony VX-2000 and a Matrox/Premiere 6.5 editing system. The
> Firestore can shoot Matrox AVI files, and they work great - they even
> have separate audio files associated with them, but you don't need to
> import the audio file to your editing program. Audio and video are still
> married together just fine.
>
> I shot with tape in the camera and controlled the Firestore with the
> record button on the camera. This gives you a backup on tape if desired.
> With no tape in the camera, you start the recording manually with the
> Firestore. If you wish, you can set the Firestore to begin the recording
> six seconds before you press the button. This will be great for dance
> recitals where you don't want to leave it running during every blackout
> between numbers. Just stop it after one number, then wait until the next
> one begins, then press record, and it will start the recording six
> seconds ago. Neat.

Great for sports action too: just keep the camera on the subject and
when they kick a goal press record!

>
> Transfer wasn't as fast as I thought, but it was faster than real time.
> We'll see as I get more experience. All I did was select all in the
> Firestore, then copy and paste onto my hard drive.
>
> Main reason for buying it was that I have been experiencing sound
> dropouts on my tapes, probably due to less than competent alignment
> during the last maintenance. With the Firestore, no more tape drive
> problems.
>
> Mine will record for 3 hours, which should be enough for any wedding or
> dance recital out there.
>
> Anyone else have one of these things?
>
> Gary Eickmeier

Hi Gary,

I've been using one for a year. One tip: I rename the files from a DOS
window so that you can rename with a wildcard and it leaves the time
stamp intact. Try it and you should see what I mean.

I copy files directly to a 360system imageserver (hard drive with
playout for video) using FTP transfer (skip over the PC hard drive).
With the imageserver the audio must be 16 bit.

Regards,

Rick
Merrill

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