720P or 1080i?

[DustBowl]

I am starting a project and am about to buy a single 8GB P2 card for my HVX. It will be some time before my free P2 will be here so I am limited to the one card.

I was told the HVX does an "in-camera" uprez to attain 1080i. Is this true? I like the fact I can get 20 minutes while shooting 720P 24 fps. Woud it be better for me to shoot 1080i though or can I shoot in 720, save card space and do an uprez during post that is as good or better than 1080 in the camera?

[Barry_Green]

No, it images everything at 1920x1080 and then does an in-camera down-rez to whatever recording format you've selected.

[Cynic821]

If you really want your footage to be in 1080 to finish it, shoot in 1080 for sure. Like barry said. You will however get 20 minutes of 720pN on one 8gb P2 card as a trade off for the around 30% less visable resolution

[tmnt]

Cynic I think it's more about 15%

Dustbowl remember you can delete takes then and there too, so you'll get more than 8mins at 1080pa.

[DustBowl]

I'm shooting a doc with this camera. So, bad B-roll shots can be deleted but interviews are a different story. Correct me if I'm wrong here guys. I can shoot an interview on the single P2 and every 8 minutes I can break, off load the footage to my Powerbook and go again for another 8 minutes. Or, I can use my powerbook and FCP to capture the footage. Now, when selecting to capture as DVCPROHD 1080 I assume my footage going to my Mac will be the same rez as going to the P2 card, right?

Anyone know the time it takes to dump footage from the P2/HVX to the Powerbook 867 G4 via firewire?

[Evolve]

I'm shooting a doc with this camera. So, bad B-roll shots can be deleted but interviews are a different story. Correct me if I'm wrong here guys. I can shoot an interview on the single P2 and every 8 minutes I can break, off load the footage to my Powerbook and go again for another 8 minutes. Or, I can use my powerbook and FCP to capture the footage. Now, when selecting to capture as DVCPROHD 1080 I assume my footage going to my Mac will be the same rez as going to the P2 card, right?

Anyone know the time it takes to dump footage from the P2/HVX to the Powerbook 867 G4 via firewire?

Hi,
IMHO what you have just described is really the problem with the current capacity of P2 cards. You don't want to break every 8 minutes dude. You want to be there in that zone with the person being interviewed, make them feel totally relaxed and comfortable with you, and therefore get the most interesting and open information from them. Breaking every 8 minutes to download cards.....forgetaboutit. Donteventhinkaboutit. Justdontdoit.
Best of luck

[Barry_Green]

Just have two cards. One offloading while the other is recording. I've done hour-long interviews on just two 4GB cards before.

[TimurCivan]

just make sure your offload to the Mac is slightly faster than Realitme. unless youre shooting 720pn, in which case you have the luxury of time.

[digitalinnovations]

I'm shooting a doc with this camera. So, bad B-roll shots can be deleted but interviews are a different story. Correct me if I'm wrong here guys. I can shoot an interview on the single P2 and every 8 minutes I can break, off load the footage to my Powerbook and go again for another 8 minutes. Or, I can use my powerbook and FCP to capture the footage. Now, when selecting to capture as DVCPROHD 1080 I assume my footage going to my Mac will be the same rez as going to the P2 card, right?

Anyone know the time it takes to dump footage from the P2/HVX to the Powerbook 867 G4 via firewire?


From what I understand you can directly capture your footage through FCP in 1080. This might be your best solution if it is an option to you. I do not know what kind of capacity your laptop has available, but you could always attach a FW drive and capture straight to it, much like a Firestore, but mobility is limited. In the interview setting you described I highly doubt that mobility will be an issue. That is the way I would go because, as mentioned, you do not want to break every 8 min and ruin the flow. And I am assuming from your first post that you do not want/have the budget to buy another 8 gig currently since your free one is in route. If you capture through FCP time is on your side.

[David_M_Payne]

I am starting a project and am about to buy a single 8GB P2 card for my HVX. It will be some time before my free P2 will be here so I am limited to the one card.

I was told the HVX does an "in-camera" uprez to attain 1080i. Is this true? I like the fact I can get 20 minutes while shooting 720P 24 fps. Woud it be better for me to shoot 1080i though or can I shoot in 720, save card space and do an uprez during post that is as good or better than 1080 in the camera?

As you will be in a set situation I would go from the camera to a firewire to a firewire card in the card port on the left side of the G-4. (I use the Lacie firewire card) from there use your powerbook G-4 as the transfer point to an external hard drive. (You can't expect your laptop hard drive to both run the computer and record info from the camera at the same time, you will have problems if you try that.) I use the OWC 500g RAID hard drive connected to the fire wire port on the right side of the G-4 to record to. Hope that helps.

David

[tmnt]

I assume you can delete the last take on the HVX with one button? I can't even remember - got to play with my cam more.

[THoff]

No, it's a feature that I wish Panasonic would add and make assignable to one of the USER buttons. Currently you have to switch from recording mode to MCR mode, select the clip, bring up the menu, select OPERATION, select DELETE, confirm the operation, and then dismiss the dialog. That beats tape, but is needlessly complicated.

I just got back from shooting some surfers, and I would have loved to be able to delete the bad takes right away.

[TimurCivan]

think of the cursing that would insue if you accidentally hit the erase clip buton after the (insert one) " I do's" "explosions" "or amyother one off event. its a safety feature i think. im glad its not a one click button.

[tmnt]

Maybe would be good if you had to hold a button then press the 'delete last take' button, then it could say 'delete last take?', then hit the 'delete last take' button again for yes. That'd still be quick and safe.

Is a DLT function at all possible with a firmware update?

btw, where are all the hackers for the hvx, I realize it's worth more than my psp, but hey.

[TedRR]

I'd still like a delete last take button.
But as I've done this a kazillion times I'm getting it down pretty quick. :happy:

[THoff]

I'm not saying the function shouldn't have a confirmation dialog, and it certainly shouldn't be one of the default assignments for the user buttons. But I'd love to have the feature.

Another thing I'd like changed is having the ability to use the SHOT MARK function to flag a clip after I have stopped recording. Right now I have to switch into MCR mode and back.

In the MCR mode itself, I'd like the ability to show only the clips that have/do not have the SHOT MARK flag set. While we are at it, give me an option to invert the current selection -- something that selects all non-selected clips and vice versa.

[Barry_Green]

In the MCR mode itself, I'd like the ability to show only the clips that have/do not have the SHOT MARK flag set.
You already have that ability; go to the thumbnail menu and choose "marked clips".