HDX900 with Focus Firestore FS100 and v. 3.0 software

[Taylor]

Hi Chad,

Yes I can second this issue. Not only can I not get native frame rates…but if you record in quicktime there is no way to remove the duplicate frames unlike a P2 import. This is a real drag for me on a project. I really had my fingers crossed for this update but… Do you think Focus would let this out without testing on the hdx-900?

[Chad Hall]

Thanks, Taylor. Glad to know I’m not the only one.

Yes, I know focus released this without knowing the results on the HDX900 becuase they have told me themselves that they do not have an HDX900 to test with. You would think Panasonic would give them a sample since they are marketing specifically to their products and have the DVCPROHD logo attached to their units.

I have sent another message to Focus support and I have offered to send in my camera for them to test if it would help resolve this issue for me and others like yourself who use the FS100 with the HDX900.

I’ll let you know the response.

[Suncloud]

hallwaypd:
Have you had any response from Focus on this issue?

Grant Taylor
Suncloud Productions
Santa Fe, NM

[Chad Hall]

Yes, I have been in touch with John from Focus support, but not much progress has been made yet. I should say he has been great to work with and seems to be very concerned about this issue.

As of last week, they (Focus) finally received an HDX900 to test with. I have not heard any new information as of yet.

There has been a new issue, however, that we discovered in the field after shooting last week. We tried utilizing the new Quicktime option with the new software release. We were shooting 720p24 but the clips would only generate at 720p60 (This is looking at the file properties in FCP, not the Firestore screen). The clips looked 24p so I am assuming what was happening is Quicktime was generating a 60p file with pulldown.

I still can not get the PN option to work at all so we are back shooting P2 (not PN) at 720p24 and getting the clips as they should be. The only thing I can figure may be happening is that apparently the HDX900 has no firewire input capabilities, so maybe there is a communication issue. So in the meantime, we will continue to test this in the field and hopefully hear some good news from Focus soon.

I will keep this post updated on any new information I come up with.

Thanks,

Chad Hall

Nashville Production Rentals
http://www.nashvilleproductionrentals.com

[Mark Simon]

Here’s what I learned from another user group, posted by Attila Mezei:

“The settings have been confirmed for 720-24P/PN, 720-25P/PN, and 720-30P/PN:

Menu setup of HDX900:
MAIN MENU > SYSTEM SETTING > SYSTEM MODE : 720-59.94P *
MAIN MENU >SYSTEM SETTING > CAMERA MODE : 24P **
OPTION MENU > OPTION > FRAME RATE UB : MENU (FRAME RATE as default)
MAIN MENU >VTR MENU > TC/UB > UB MODE : FRAME RATE (USER as default)
MAIN MENU >VTR MENU > TC/UB > VITC UB MODE : FRAME RATE (as default)

Switch position of HDX900:
TCG : F-RUN

* For 720-25P/PN, this must be set to 720-50P/PN.
** For 720-30P/PN, this is set to 30P. For 720-25P/PN, this is set to 25P.”

That was Attila’s post.

I tested 720p/24p/PN in free run and it seems to be fine, but when TC is set to rec run mode it has problems: there are duplicate frames every 2nd, 4th, and 4th frames (repeats this cadence) when I import to FCP. I don’t see these duplicate frames when in free run. In 30p it seems to work fine in either free run or rec run TC. Haven’t tested 1080.

Also, in v3.0 the Firestore crashes every few hours but usually restarts okay. Hold down the ON button to force it to shut down if the OFF button doesn’t work, and hopefully it restarts as version 3.0. I’ve had it revert to 2.0 or whatever is native, then recorded some clips, then re-installed 3.0 and was able to recover every clip.

I’m also seeing the problem that Rike Jokela noted: no matter what “TC video syncro” setting I use on the camera, there is still a multiframe discrepancy between timecode on tape and timecode on the Firestore files.