Skateboarders can’t seem to let the VX1000 die, but with Mini DV tapes becoming discontinued and increasingly harder to find, the VX may literally become unusable in the future.
We have caught wind of a few different workarounds for this problem, like this guy who modified the tape deck of his VX to take SD cards, but skate filmer Erick Carrada and his friends hit us up about their own ingenious solution: recording straight into a hard drive.
The FS-5 Recorder from Focus Enhancements is a super niche, somewhat expensive device, but these guys figured out a way to put it to good use, connecting it directly to a VX taking the live feed from the viewfinder straight into the memory bank.
It’s really that easy. You just gotta grab the items for the rig, mount it all together, and film all the footage your heart desires until the end of time.
ITEMS YOU’LL NEED
FS-5 recorder
Velcro strips
Firewire cable
L-bracket
Cable fasteners
USB A to USB A cable
NOTE: Be sure to leave a minimum of 1/4 inch of space between the camera and the recorder to avoid overheating the recorder.
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May 19, 2021 1:17 pm
How do you check the footage other than bringing your laptop on the spot?
May 27, 2021 7:37 am
On NTSC VX1s you can use the playback feature on the camera to playback the clips, as the NTSC cams have ‘DV IN/OUT’ enabled. It should say on next to the DV port.
PAL cameras lack this feature and cannot do so unfortunately. You can just use a cap cam or a Mini DV Walkman, however! I do it with my MRC1 at the spot.
May 19, 2021 1:26 pm
Terrible filmer. Dude shakes the camera too much. 0.76/5 film job. Would not watch again.
May 19, 2021 4:24 pm
Skaters are idiots. Paying too much for outdated technology, now paying more to update it lol. VX was cool when it was new, now it’s just a lame trend to make up for the fact dudes don’t know how to make HD look good. This would be akin to me streaming music through my radio then recording it to a cassette tape lol.
May 19, 2021 5:39 pm
Yep.
May 21, 2021 2:14 pm
If bill cant do it what makes you think the average American can make hd interesting or pay $4000 for a century Xtreme
May 25, 2021 3:17 pm
4K for an xtreme is a steal right now
May 22, 2021 9:19 pm
He do be kinda make sense
At least its better than vertical clips – i think?
May 26, 2021 3:52 am
You are an idiot. It’s about passion for the camera and skateboarding in general, so it doesn’t matter what it cost or takes to run the camera. Also no other camera brings the colour and the sound like the vx does.
June 3, 2021 1:37 pm
Go film a skate vlog on a gopro u dork
May 19, 2021 11:22 pm
Yep