New camera-mounted unit provides longer record times for P2

Focus Enhancements has added a 250 GB model to its FS-100 line of portable Direct To Edit (DTE) recorders that offers attractive capacity-to-cost advantages to Panasonic DVCPRO HD P2 camera owners on long-format shoots.
The new FS-100 250 GB model offers over 11 hours of recording in 720p24PN mode, nine hours in 720p25/30PN mode, or 4.5 hours in full-frame-rate 720p/1080i DVCPRO HD mode. These are longer record times than have been available to P2 users.

Considering the recorder’s cost ($2,795), the company said that works out to about $11 per gigabyte when recording 4.5 hours of DVCPRO HD at 100 Mbps at the 60-frame data rate. The unit’s support for 720p PN record modes more than doubles DVCPRO HD record times.

The new FS-100 250 GB, which weighs less than a pound and is 1.5 inches thick, joins the lower capacity 100 GB and 160 GB models in the company’s product line. All three models offer support for both P2 and Apple’s QuickTime file formats.

Audio, video, timecode, and control information is passed through a single FireWire cable, allowing the user to record to disk and P2 card simultaneously. The FS-100 is designed for use in tough conditions and includes a six- or 10-second electronic shock cache to ensure that footage is never lost.

Advanced features such as time-lapse (DV, DVCPRO 50, and DVCPRO HD modes only), retro disk recording, scene marking, and clip categorization are also available. When recording is complete, footage is ready to edit instantly-no capturing, file transfer, or file conversion is required.

The recorders also support PN variable frame rate (VFR) recording, which delivers slow-motion and fast-motion effects, and QuickTime Reference Movie support, which enables long record sequences to appear as a single file.

The FS-100 250 GB model is available now through authorized Panasonic resellers.

For more information, visit www.focusinfo.com.