Shoot Review: Focus Enhancements FS-4Pro HD

The Focus Enhancements FD-4Pro HD offers tapeless digital recording in both SD and HD.

Since 1997, Focus Enhancements has racked up a number of technological firsts. The company's “direct to edit” (DTE) technology allows simultaneous recording to hard drive and tape, and near-instantaneous access to recorded clips once you're in the edit suite. The company continues to lead the way with the new FS-4Pro HD recorder for tapeless digital recording in both SD and HD — in fact, the FS-4Pro HD could be the perfect bridge between the two. Whether you're working in standard-def only or you've begun producing high-definition video, as long as you have an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port, you are pretty much good to go.

When I received my review unit, I was immediately struck by two things: the size and clarity of the LCD screen and the sheer ruggedness of the unit. While testing, I set the FS-4Pro HD on the rug, and my pudgy 12-year-old nephew stepped on it. No problem. Focus Enhancements has created a product that can stand up to the rough-and-tumble world of on-location shooting.

There are four sizes of the FS-4Pro HD: 40GB, 60GB, 80GB, and 100GB. You can fit more than three hours of 25Mbps DV/HDV recording on a 40GB device (which supports a more limited list of native formats) and a whopping seven and a half hours on the 100GB model that I tested. Using an IEEE 1394 connection and the special included harness, you can attach the FS-4Pro HD to just about any camera. The recorder encodes the video in your chosen native digital format while recording to tape at the same time. The native formats include DV, DV25, AVI Type 2, QuickTime, Matrox AVI, Canopus AVI, Avid OMF, MXF, and Pinnacle AVI. With the new 2.0 software upgrade, users can record in the HDV M2T file format and QuickTime HDV for direct-to-edit use with Apple Final Cut Pro.

The FS-4Pro comes with a FireWire cable and features RS-232 device control and a GPI trigger to expand possible uses for the unit. With RS-232, you can use older edit control systems and control the FS just like any other VTR. With GPI, you could use the unit in a CCTV security configuration and have it perform periodic record, loop record, or recording that's triggered by sound. There's also a cool time-lapse record feature and a wired remote option.

The standard battery lasts about 90 minutes, depending on how it's being used (it actually lasts about an hour while you're shooting and 90 minutes while in the edit suite), but a high-capacity battery that lasts about three hours is available for $199. I highly recommend it; nothing's worse than running out of power during a shoot in the middle of nowhere with no AC outlet in sight. (The FS-4Pro HD also comes with an AC adapter.)

The all-black enclosure is handsome, weighs less than 1lb., and is only 1.5in. thick. There's also a hard harness into which the unit slides that can be attached to a belt or a camera hot shoe.

The FS-4Pro HD has a two-year warranty with free tech support for the life of the product to registered users. The product also comes with one of the best printed manuals I've seen in quite awhile. I wish more manufacturers would provide documentation like this: clear, concise, and with great illustrations. I also contacted tech support via phone, and I found their responses timely and informative.

Focus Enhancements posts new drivers to its website on a regular basis, and some are free to registered users. Others, such as the new 2.0 upgrade for using HDV 1080i and 720p with QuickTime, are charged upgrades.

With the top-of-the-line FS-4Pro HD 100GB model, I recorded DV and HDV video to and from the unit using a Sony DCR-VX2000 DV camera and a Sony HCR-HC3 HDV camera, connecting both via their 1394 ports. Recording in everything from bright sunlight on Oahu's north shore to late-night music clubs, I tried most of the different recording formats and had no problems. However, it's important to choose the right native file format from the get go. This product is not a transcoder — there is no internal codec so one can't up- or downconvert from one HD format to another, nor from standard to high definition.

Using a tapeless disc recorder took a little getting used to, but I found the FS-4 user interface to be intuitive and immediate. Most functions and settings are executed in just a few clicks. A circular menu navigator, along with three sub-menu selection buttons, and the more traditional play, fast forward, rewind, and stop buttons, were responsive, but they were a little on the small side. This made it a little hard to navigate on the fly or in darker shooting environments — you have to hit the buttons dead on.

The status-access and charging lights are welcome features but are misplaced, and they are a bit difficult to see in all but optimum conditions. In daylight, I could not tell they were on. However, unlike other similar devices with small, dark LCDs, the FS-4Pro's is actually pretty large, and it has a contrast control so you can adjust the screen for optimal viewing. That's really helpful when using the unit outdoors in direct sunlight.

Back in the edit suite, I used the FS with both Adobe Premiere Pro on Windows XP and Apple Final Cut Pro 5.1 on a Mac G5 tower. The FS-4Pro HD showed up on the computer desktop just like any other hard drive. After dragging the clips from the recorder, in every case they looked as good as anything I've seen tape produce — and I've been a shooter for more than 20 years. This relatively new technology almost begs us to rethink how we work — now my DV/HDV tape becomes my “master safe copy.” Of course, the FS-4Pro provides some backup of its own, via a large internal buffer that ensures no dropouts.

I also ran some HDV footage from and to the drive via a Panasonic AJ-HD1200A DVCPRO HD VTR and viewed it on a Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY 42in. plasma display with a native 1024×768 resolution. Playback of captured files from the FS-4Pro HD was impressive and artifact-free. I also tested the signal throughput with a broadcast-level signal generator, waveform monitor, and vectorscope. Both the DV and HDV test footage in and out of the unit was nothing less than gorgeous on the monitor, and SMPTE color bars hit all the targets on the vectorscope without any major adjustments.

In every stage of the tapeless workflow that the FS-4Pro facilitates, this product makes me productive. There's really nothing I didn't like about the recorder, and I can't really see any major ways in which it could be improved. Regular readers know that I very rarely feel that way about products that I review.

Focus Enhancements has created a nearly foolproof digital video recording system that will save you time in the edit suite and ensure that your footage is free of dropouts. The units' SD and HD multi-format support makes this technology future-proof, at least for the foreseeable future. While purchasing it is a significant investment for most users, the FS-4Pro HD still has a very competitive price — especially if digitizing has become a chore and you need clean, dropout-free video with which to earn your living.

Contributing Writer and Reviewer Tom Patrick McAuliffe is a journalist, entertainer, and video creator living in Hawaii.

Company: Focus Enhancements
Campbell, Calif.; (800) 338-3348
www.focusinfo.com

Product: FS-4Pro HD

Assets: Solid construction and reliable, foolproof operation with a time-saving workflow.

Caveats: No format conversion, buttons on the small side.

Demographic: Any shooter who needs the advantages of tapeless video acquisition.

PRICE: $1,895 (100GB AS TESTED); $1,595 (80GB); $1,295 (60GB); $799 (40GB)

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