For Barry Green or anyone else

C

Corine

Well-known member
Hi Barry, I have a question for you (i hope this is the right thread) but anyway the question is - What is a better camera HVX200 or JVC HD100? I know that you are the person with the in and outs on the HVX200 and also I heard that you did an article on the JVX HD100. And ....I know you will say "depending on what you want to do with the camera" :)

This is what I want to do: I'm going to shoot a short film and transfer it to 35mm. The short is really to help me do a test run before I dive into my feature film project. I want to make sure I have the right camera before production.

A friend of mine runs a theater so I have a place to put the 35mm up and see what it really looks like on the big screen. Fotocam is going to do the transfer for me.

As you already know both cameras cost about the same. I have heard from others that the JVC HD100 is better for film transfer and is the only one that is true 24p?

Please shed some light. Many, many many thanks
 
The HVX is also true 24p...

The HVX also has 4:2:2 color
Fewer (read: basically none) motion artifacts
And true variable frame rates
And single-frame recording for time lapse or stop-motion
And reliable, solid-state recording...

The list goes on, but I don't feel like listing everything now.

The point is this: only you can decide on which camera to buy. I chose the HVX because of the reasons above, and because I was afraid of the "split-screen effect" that used to occur on the JVC. Also, I watched footage from both cameras, and found the clips from the HVX vastly superior.
 
LOADED question from someone who needs to do a little more homework =o) First off, what is your skill level? The HVX has a robust support community and is generally easier to operate IMHO. The JVC feels great on the shoulder though the codec CAN be suspect, unless you are shooting some smoky action scenes or pans of trees, shots in the rain, etc. that is a non-issue. Are you going to be operating the camera? Hiring a DP?

Neither is "better" for a film transfer, both will work fine. The bigger question, is that if you already KNOW you are going to make a film print, why not upgrade to a better camera? Why not an F950? Vari? etc. Those ARE better for a film out. Most Hollywood types would tell you to go with the F900 or F950 but I personally think you can get away with a Vari. I assume camera budget is not an issue because you are looking at $20,000 to $25,000 for Fotocam to make a single 35mm print.



ash =o)



PS I think the subject of "film out" is brought up entirely too often =o)
 
We could summarize everything but you can probably find the data on these boards if you search. As Ash pointed out, your data is incorrect since "better for filmout" is very vague and the JVC being the only true 24p is flat out wrong. In fact, arguably the HVX200 is the only "true 24p" in that it's the only that will just record a pure 24 progressive frames instead of having to encode them on a 60i signal.
 
Thanks everyone.

This is what Andy sent me on the JVC. (I did make a mistake about about the 24p 'sorry')

Hi Corine, to be honest JVC HD100 is the best budget HD camcorder available!!!
Canon and Sony do NOT have true 24 progressive scan on their HD camcorders,
Panasonic does NOT record HD on tape, only on expensive cards, which only last a few minutes. JVC is a real thing with the shoulder mount, interchangeable lenses, and recording on tape AND a Hard Drive simultaneously!
 
Andy has given you really simple info that isn't going to help you.

For instance, while it's true that Canon and Sony aren't real progressive, Canon's fake progressive is still quite a bit sharper than JVC's making for a sharper film output.


He's flat out wrong about the HVX also. It can record to a HD just like the JVC. It can't do tape because then one could only record 25mbs a second (which means a huge amount of compression). The HVX's codec records 100 mbs a second with twice the color info and no frame compression that leads to motion artifacts.

And the JVC HAS to record to tape and HD. You can't use the HD unless there is a tape in the deck which means, if your deck breaks down, your HD is useless.

These are just one of dozens of things you should know about the cameras before you get one. There pages and pages of the differences. Do your homework.
 
The only way to know for sure which one is better for you is for you to try them both (including finishing all the way to post).

You could ask Michael Pappas for his opinion, he went out and bought each of the leading low-cost HD cameras (XLH1, HD100, HVX) and did extensive testing and I believe film transfers of each. Last I knew he had sold the XLH1 and HD100 and kept the HVX, but I haven't corresponded with him in a while so I don't know for sure what his final determination was.

One thing AshG said reiterates what I often say -- if you know you're going to end up on a film print, you shouldn't be shooting on a low cost video camera in the first place. Shoot on film for a film print. Transferring to film will cost about $300 per minute, or $27,000 for a 90-minute film. You can buy a lot of film stock for $27,000! If it's a case of "well, it MAY end up on film", then the reality is that 99% of projects that think they're definitely going to do a film transfer, never end up doing it.

If you want to know which is better you have to select a film transfer lab and go with their recommendations. Don't try to force Swiss Effects to transfer an HVX job; Swiss Effects (last I heard from them) prefer to use 50i video (of all things!) DVFilm.com is expert at transferring DVX/HVX projects and has experience transferring HDV projects as well.

I know what I think of the HD100 and HVX, I bought both, I sent the HD100 back. Great ideas, not so good implementation, and I prefer the features of the HVX over the HD100. But others feel differently, and you may as well.
 
Barry_Green said:
The only way to know for sure which one is better for you is for you to try them both (including finishing all the way to post).
Click to expand...

The phrase in the parenthesis is the operative point for our workflow.
 
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