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FS-100 Firestore --- shooting 720pN now?


JD Marlow

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Perhaps I'm behind the times....but I've been reading different things here and there suggesting that the FS-100 Firestore drives for the Panasonic HVX200A can record to 720p Native now. So my questions:

 

1) Is this true?

 

2) If so, how effective is it? If the drive is removing duplicate frames upon record to achieve true 23.98, I feel like there must be plenty of room for cadence breaks / errors / drop outs when recording hours of continuous footage at once.....

 

Clearly if the FS-100 were a 100% effective device recording 720pN I don't think many people would be shelling out the same price for a 64GB P2 card. If this is the case, the 250GB version would also be capable of 11 HRS of 720pN record time! (w/ 4 channels audio record to boot)

 

So perhaps someone has some insight into the pros and cons between P2 and Firestore?

 

I'm trying to price out an HVX200A between going P2 or Firestore and this is really the big question for me if I end up going firestore or not.

 

Thanks everyone.

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  • 1 month later...

Yes it's true. The FS-100 must have firmware 4.0 to record P2 or QT Native. Final Cut Studio 6 is required for Quicktime Native.

It works well with my HDX900, but I always back up with tape. It is stable, but vibration can cause dropouts. The FireWire cable can get loose or unplugged.

 

You can pickup used FS-100 100Gb models for around $1K, so that's not much more than a single 16Gb P2 card, while having six times the recording capacity. I have two FS-100's and while I normally use P2 cards with my HPX170, it's a great option for a long form project.

P2 is more convenient as far as form factor, very reliable, but the FS-100 can be a viable option depending on the types of projects you do.

 

Jeff Regan

Shooting Star Video

www.ssv.com

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Yes it's true. The FS-100 must have firmware 4.0 to record P2 or QT Native. Final Cut Studio 6 is required for Quicktime Native.

It works well with my HDX900, but I always back up with tape. It is stable, but vibration can cause dropouts. The FireWire cable can get loose or unplugged.

 

You can pickup used FS-100 100Gb models for around $1K, so that's not much more than a single 16Gb P2 card, while having six times the recording capacity. I have two FS-100's and while I normally use P2 cards with my HPX170, it's a great option for a long form project.

P2 is more convenient as far as form factor, very reliable, but the FS-100 can be a viable option depending on the types of projects you do.

 

Jeff Regan

Shooting Star Video

www.ssv.com

 

 

Jeff,

 

I appreciate the post. I've been leaning very far over now to the P2 cards exclusively. I'm so afraid I'll be shooting with the FS and a drop out occurs, or the firewire gets unplugged, or the battery dies, etc.

 

I don't have the money to purchase P2 cards AND firestore --- but buying two 64 GB P2 cards (which is really what I need) is just far too expensive as well (at $2,500 per card!!). I own an HVX200a now, but with no firestore or P2 cards to go with it. I'm desperately hoping the 64GB card price drops in the next 6 months.

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