HVX Update?

[Arafura]

I have a quick question, sorry if it's been covered elsewhere.

I got my HVX new last year, around June 08. It can't be set to do 1080p, though the official specs say it can. Is there a firmware update for this, or did they alter the hardware right after I bought mine?

Thanks!
Marcus Aurelius

[David Jimerson]

1080i/24p, 1080i/24pA, and 1080i/30p are all 1080p settings. They're labeled as "1080i" in the menu, and it's really confusing to new users, but they're 1080p.

They're carried in a 1080i container when they're recorded, but once you get them into proper post, they're 1080p. They're not "fake" or "simulated" -- they're actual, true-blue 1080p.

[Arafura]

That is sweet, and yeah, confusing.

Edit: Another quick question. I was talking to a friend about this and this is what he says. Is it true?

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1080p on the HVX isn't as good as 720p on the HVX. The HVX is natively 720p. 1080p is an electronically blown up version of the 720p footage inside the camera, and it's a cheap blow up. It's much better to shoot in 720p and have it blown up in a lab with much better dedicated equipment for doing just that. 720pn opens up so many more framerates and is just a better format on that particular camera because it has a 1280x720 sensor.
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btw, I have an HVX200AP

[KMR]

Another quick question. I was talking to a friend about this and this is what he says. Is it true?

----
1080p on the HVX isn't as good as 720p on the HVX. The HVX is natively 720p. 1080p is an electronically blown up version of the 720p footage inside the camera, and it's a cheap blow up. It's much better to shoot in 720p and have it blown up in a lab with much better dedicated equipment for doing just that. 720pn opens up so many more framerates and is just a better format on that particular camera because it has a 1280x720 sensor.

Actually, the opposite is true. The native format of the HVX is 1080p. The sensor is not 1280x720. The three sensors are each 960x540, and the data from the three sensors are scanned as a 1920x1080 progressive image. There is no "blowing up" or "upsampling" of images. On the contrary, the images are downsampled for recording: 1080 images are recorded as 1280x1080; 720 images are recorded as 960x720; 480 images are recorded as 720x480 (these dimensions are all for the US/NTSC version).

[David Jimerson]

It's true that you have more functionality available in 720 mode.

However, the idea out there that the 1080p is blown up from 720p is as false as it is persistent.

Not sure how that idea got started, but it sure seems to be repeated a lot. :)

Bottom line -- this site here is the definitive resource for information on these cameras. Check here before you believe anything. :)

[Arafura]

That makes me very happy indeed! Thanks guys.

[CovenantPictures]

As before stated, the HVX200/a/170 maintain more functionality in 720p mode, i.e. variable frame rates, native recording progressive modes, ect, but the 1080p option is also there. It's just complicated by DVCPROHD, a codec designed long before the HVX was released, at a time where there was no 1080p broadcast over the airwaves, only bandwidth limited 1080i (and it's still the case ironically).
The hvx employs pixel shifting technology to turn a lower number of photosites into a higher number of lumanance samples by offsetting the green CCD. But, it works extremely efficiently. Just look at charts.
The HVX's 1080p mode is, by all means, 1080p. BUT you filter that signal through horizontal resolution subsampling to reduce file size, as well as interlaced 59.94 recording.

People complain persistently about "pixel shifting" saying it's all smoke and mirrors and the HVX, as well as the HPX500, are only standard definition camcorders. The images beg to differ. And in the end, the image is what defines the camera, as well as what sells the camera, and look at how many HVX cameras have sold.

Even the Red camera employs some "smoke and mirrors" to turn 4k bayer filtered sensels into 4k 'true' RBG. It's all marketing in the end.