Using HVX's in place of studio cameras

[unclepablito]

I am outfitting a public access center, and I've been trying to figure out what to do for the studio cameras. Traditionally you'd get big studio cameras with ccu units and all that sort of stuff, but in trying to think a little differently, I got the idea that maybe I should buy 3 HVX's and hook them up via BNC cables to a switcher in our control room. As far as I could tell, the HVX's would be just as good if not a better picture than most studio cameras in our price range, and would also be able to give us some sort of initiation into the world of HD without totaly abandoning the DV aspects. All we would lose would be the capability to automaticaly control the iris and pedestal and all that stuff from inside the control booth.

My question is this... Am I nuts in thinking this way? Has anyone else out there ever done anything like this? Are there other places rthat use the HVX in place of traditional studio cameras? Are there any other drawbacks that I'm not seeing?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[AshG]

For this application, you would be better of with XLH1s or A1s...



ash =o)

[D.L.]

My HVX is by far superior over the cameras I used to shoot with at the nearby public access center. Sure real glass on those cameras but they were not HD quality. I know HD won't matter for most public access programs. When I was in there I would run three Ikegami cameras and then run around with a PD150 teathered to the switcher via a composite cable...PD150 and Composite! Nonetheless the video feed from the PD150 was very comparable to the higher end formats because of the deliverables...SD. I can only image what the HVX would look like in this scenario. The only issue would be the wonderful D4 connector if you were sending to a HD capture.

Not much advice just my past experience...oh and the cameras where all white balanced before every shoot and the exposure was dialed in as well.

Edit...I agree with the above post on camera selection.

D.L.

[Erik Olson]

I think it's not the best idea for several reasons.

First, public access is almost always SD. Are you planning to record the switched composite feed? Record to what? You absolutely don't want to do an iso record at each camera, so that means you're in composite land for sure. That's from an RCA connector and everthing that goes with having to marry 50'+ BNC runs with com from the booth to / near the HVX.

Second, if this is a learning center, and most are, you're not doing any of the students any favors by breaking from the tethered camera to CCU / RPB convention. Any professional studio that they go onto in their careers will certainly have this set-up along with the associated scopes and so forth.

My first job after the public access course at Comcast was at the Post Group. That would have been an impossible scenario without the foundation I had in my time taking public access courses through my high school.

Matching the cameras can ostensibly be done prior to the show, however, at the longer end of the lens, remote iris control is something important to have. Scoping could be done with some difficulty through an application like HDRack, though having more than one camera wired into the PC would be incredibly difficult.

When I started to reply to this, I thought that it might make some sense if you needed to break the same cameras out for field work. However, as I've been thinking and writing, I came to the conclusion that the HVX (or any camera in this form-factor / class) is absolutely the wrong gear for the job.

Unfortunately, the HVX, even for public access fieldwork, wouldn't even be on my radar.

e

[D.L.]

Second, if this is a learning center, and most are, you're not doing any of the students any favors by breaking from the tethered camera to CCU / RPB convention. Any professional studio that they go onto in their careers will certainly have this set-up along with the associated scopes and so forth.


I totally agree with this...for what it is worth.

[mainstreetprod]

I broke with conventional thinking about 8 years ago when setting up a system to broadcast church services. I used a Sony EVW-300 on a Pelco
security camera remote panhead along with 4 other cameras, such as a Sony VX-1000 , in other locations in the church. A remote control to the Sony provided somewhat complete control of focus, iris, zoom, etc. A Videonics S video mixer was used along with appropriate monitors and audio gear. The end result was quite nice. The matching problems I did have could have been mostly solved by using identical cameras. Today the same mixer is offered (now named Focus) with firewire inputs and color controls on each channel, and could be used in the scenario you describe.

[mikkowilson]

Yeah, the HVXs arn't the right cameras for this job.. though..

If it it's a Composite only SD studio, then the DVX100B cameras could be appropriate. They (and the HVX) have good focus control options. They are the only cameras of this form factor that you can put proper zoom and focus controllers on. And camera usability is paramount.
It is possible to build custom cables to extend the Iris control from the cameras into the control room. It's a far shot from full CCU, but at least good basic Iris control is a good start, that no other non-CCU camera can offer.

BUT studio connectivty, all of these type of cameras, is weak.

The Canon XL-H1 and XH-G1 cameras have genlock inputs, which for even tradiational composite SD are a HUGE HUGE HUGE feature. Coupled with the SDI outputs, this are about the most connectable low-cost cameras. - You can plug them into ANY studio production system and mix them live.
However, their controls suck. Not beeing able to manually focus while you are zooming is a instant deal killer, not to mention the lack of any proper external focus control. If you are shooting 100% auto-focus (bad idea, but workable on a budget in a well lit studio), then these cameras are adequate. If possible, using extended firewire cables to a bank of "CCU" computers in the machine room, and a cleverly set up control station in PCR, you can get on-the-fly camera matching. - Allbeight with an un-convetional control surface.

Non of these opetions have proper hardware CCU/RCU panels, built in tally-lights, com systems, power/prompter/audio feeds, etc all built in as standard.

To be honest, I'd look into a proper CCU-based camera system.
Of the current range of lower end DV/HD cameras, only the JVC GY-250U can actually operate as a fully feaured studio camera.
Though if SD is all you are working with, then there are lots of options on both the new and used markets.


Is this a HD or SD operation? Also, what switcher are you planning on using?


For the record; those videonics/focus (and similar) video mixers arn't worth the space they take up in a proper live-switchign environment, let alone a proper production studio.

- Mikko

[Disco Robo]

15 year old Ikegami HL series cameras will look better than the HVX in SD mode. Better optics, higher lattitude, professional controls, oh yeah and CCUs (which do a lot more than control iris and pedestal). Plus you'll need to provide TBCs for all the cameras unless you're using a non-broadcast switcher. The list really goes on and on. The HVX is not and will never be a broadcast/studio camera.