Firestore

[Shane Ross]

The firestore is great in certain situations, but not all.

PROS:
– Long record times
– Ability to record to QT directly and skip P2 format
– Inexpensive

Cons:
– It is a hard drive…it is not all that durable. It is bad if you drop it.
– It doesn’t do well in extreme heat, cold or moisture.
– Requires a separate battery
– big and bulky

So if you are in the African desert, or shooting the Iditerod in Alaska the Firestore might not be the best option. Jogging around, or in a place you might drop it…not wise. But other than that, perfectly viable. Just depends on what conditions you will be shooting under.

Shane

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[Steve Eisen]

Will Focus Enhancement be around in the future! Just a the word on the street.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Board of Directors
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Christopher Wright]

Shane pretty much nailed it.
The FS is absolutely great for long continuous shoots (performances) and also does very well on film shoots. It is not good for “run and gun” or lots of “in field” running hand-held shooting. And the FS part of Focus is fine, it was the server/rack equipment side that got decapitated.

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[Andrew Conner]

Thanks Shane! I appreciate the response. I work for a public school district where we do a lot of long performances. So I think this is a great option. Right now we have 1 16GB card which will be fine for our run and gun situations. I am going to give FS a try!!!

[D. scott Dobbie]

Don’t be so quick to jump in. Just 5 1/2 months ago the FE Board voted to file for bankruptcy, and then resigned. Apparently even their auditor expressed doubts about their company for the past 5 years:
https://www.siliconbeat.com/2008/09/17/focus-enhancement-board-votes-for-bankruptcy-filing-then-resign/

[Christopher Wright]

Again there were different divisions within the company.
The FS side is doing fine.
Regardless, it won’t affect this person’s desire to order a working FS today. I have had mine since the very first HVXs started shipping years ago, and haven’t had a problem with either one of mine yet.

Dual 2.5 G5, IO, Kona LH, IO, Medea Raid, UL4D, NVidia 6800, 4Gig RAM
Octocore 8 GB Ram, Radeon card, MBP, MXO
Windows Vista Adobe Studio CS4, Vegas 8.0, Lightwave 9.3, Sound Forge 9, Acid Pro 7, Continuum 5, Boris Red 4, Combustion 2008, Sapphire Effects

[D. scott Dobbie]

Many companies have different divisions. It wasn’t a sister division that filed for bankruptcy – it was the parent company. So, if there was a “decapitation” of the rack/server side, that was probably an effect of the bankruptcy. If that’s not effective enough, other areas will fall.

At the bankruptcy filing, FE listed assets of only $9.69 million but debt of $37.4 million.

And yes, just as you can still buy a GM vehicle, you can still buy a working Firestore. Heck, even if the company folds, I’m sure you’ll be able to buy a working Firestore… 😉

[Ron Lindeboom]

[D. Scott Dobbie] “And yes, you can still buy a working Firestore. Heck, even if the company folds, I’m sure you’ll be able to buy a working Firestore…”

Yes, and they are a GREAT piece of equipment. Just as Christopher Wright says, I wouldn’t be afraid to buy one.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.