Panasonic SD9 1080/24p HVX200 - Oh My!!!

[David Saraceno]

I been testing this little 1/6-inch 3-CCD AVCHD cam by wandering over to Costco, and shooting footage onto a SD card.

It shoots true 24p footage, not over 60.

Creates a AVCHD mts file that no NLE will open. However, I received a comp copy of Voltaic-1.2.3, which converts it to AIC or prores ---- very slowly.

I drop it into a 720/24p timeline, send it to color for some contrast and CC, and it looks pretty darn good with HVX200 footage.

Workflow is currently skewed however.

I waiting on NAB for some announcements before I further test the cam, but it is surprisingly good.

17 mbps maximum but the native 24p is a seller along with a global shutter and 3-CCDs. Also tapeless workflow.

FYI

[Barry_Green]

I downloaded one of Kaku's clips. EDIUS opens the files, no problem. Drag 'n' drop.

Vegas Pro 8.0 crashed on it, but I've come to expect that from Vegas -- if it isn't Sony footage I have no confidence in Vegas being able to work with it anymore; seems like they insist on making life hell for non-Sony users.

If you have iMovie, try that -- it's supposed to support AVC-HD well.

Pinnacle Studio 11 and Ulead are supposed to support it as well.

FCP should support it through log 'n' transfer, but converting to ProRes so it takes up something like 10x as much space.

I didn't try it in CS3, so I don't know if that'd work or not.

[David Saraceno]

Thanks Barry. Both FCP 6.0.2 and iMovie 08 immediately crash even though the clip is in the log and transfer window.

Premiere doesn't support it.

But the video footage is not bad. No pronounced stobing/stuttering at 24p on medium pans, but you need to be careful.

Lighting in costco wasn't optimal to say the least, but there were some good colors in the area where I was.

How long is the conversion in Edius?

And also note that all AVCHD imports aren't identical. I experienced no issues with the Canon HG10, but the Panasonic SD9 crashes everything on a Mac.

Now if a turnkey Scarlet comes in under $2K, I'll forget about it. Even $3K

[Barry_Green]

How long is the conversion in Edius?

No conversion. Drag and drop and play. You could probably play the clip right off the SD card if you wanted, but I didn't have it that way, I had it on the hard disk ('cause I didn't shoot it, I downloaded it).

I'm using EDIUS Broadcast, but I think EDIUS Neo supports AVC-HD and only costs like $299 or so.

[hvx_germanboy]

Thats what we love Edius for... "how long takes the conversion..?"
Who knows when Avid will support that Codec, maybe in 2 Years.. maybe..!


Nice... sounds really interesting, would be curious to see that cam here in europe too..will check it out..!

Is Kaku still posting some stuff...?
He was really helping me for our decission making about the HVX200...great guy..does anybody has a link to his site?

Thanks..

No conversion. Drag and drop and play. You could probably play the clip right off the SD card if you wanted, but I didn't have it that way, I had it on the hard disk ('cause I didn't shoot it, I downloaded it).

I'm using EDIUS Broadcast, but I think EDIUS Neo supports AVC-HD and only costs like $299 or so.

[THoff]

I played with some SD9 clips in Edius a week or two ago, and I too was impressed by the quality of that little camera. You can either ingest the material directly into Edius, or use the free AVCHD to Canopus HQ Converter to convert it to something more edit-friendly.

[David Saraceno]

Do you have a link for that converter?

Can you convert into something compatible with QT?

[THoff]

It comes with Edius, and can also be downloaded separately from Canopus' support website -- you just need to create an account. It does however require the full Canopus HQ codec because that's the only output format it supports, and there is no Canopus HQ codec for the Mac. The codec comes with Edius and Procoder and will not run without their respective USB dongles.

Conversion speed depends on your CPU, but it does support assigning each file in a batch to a separate core.

[David Saraceno]

Good News for Panasonic SD9 and FCP 6.0.2/iMovie 08

http://www.perian.org/

Download version 1.1 of Perian.

I just finished testing the import of some MTS footage with FCP 6.0.2 and iMovie 08, latest version.

Both apps saw the MTS files within the folder structure on a mounted USB drive.

iMovie imported and converted to 1080/24p AIC in real time on a MBP. FCP did the same to prores 4.2.2 in RT. No crashes. QT 7.4.1.

Pretty lickety split

[Justyn]

David, what kind of experience have you had with the SD9. Are you happy with it?