In Review: Focus Enhancements FS-5

DV By Geoff Poister

Direct To Drive: This portable HD video recorder offers a few surprises.

For those who are not up on all of the acronyms, DTE means “Direct To Edit,” a Focus Enhancements registered trademark. The Focus Enhancements FS-5 is a disk drive that captures video from HDV or DV cameras and can then be plugged directly into an NLE for editing.

But, there’s more.

What really made the FS-5 grab my attention is its ability to provide wireless clip logging during the shooting process. By using a wireless LAN adapter, the FS-5 can connect to a handheld device or laptop through which descriptive information can be added to the clip as metadata. When the clips are loaded into a system such as Final Cut Pro, the logging information is all there too. For anyone using tape-based cameras, the FS-5 provides both a superior capture method as well as the revolutionary wireless logging feature.

The Focus Enhancement FS-5 comes in two sizes: 60GB and 100GB. The 100GB version holds 7.5 hours of HDV 1080i data and 10 hours if shooting HDV 720p. It also records standard DV.

The FS-5 recorder is much more than just a disk drive. It’s essentially a small computer that enables the incoming data to be recorded in a variety of different formats. When recording HDV, you can select QuickTime (720p/30, 1080i/50/60); MXF (720p/30, 1080i/50/60); or m2t (720p/24/25/30/50/60, 1080i/50/60). Recording in the QuickTime format provides instant file transfer into FCP. Using the MXF file format optimizes compatibility with Avid Xpress Pro, Avid Media Composer and Avid NewsCutter.

The first advantage with using the FS-5 is its DTE capability. You can connect the FS-5 to your NLE, laptop or desktop computer and immediately start editing. Although most users will prefer to transfer the FS-5 contents to their system hard drive, you can edit without transferring in time-critical situations, such as getting breaking news to air. read more...