Canon Unveils New Prosumer HDV Line: XH G1 and XH A1

Norbert said:
I read somewhere in this thread that the AVC-HD codec will be recording 1080i/24p (and 25p) but where does that leave us for slow motion shots? Will there be an option to shoot AVC-HD interlaced as well as it is with the true progressive cameras nowadays? If not, then Panasonic better implement variable frame rate if they are going to make an AVC-HD version of the DVX attractive to indie filmmakers. I mean, everyone wants the option to shoot slow motion, right?
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Yes but they dont want to pay for it the same time. ;)

You can shoot 720 60P in AVCHD jut as you can shoot 1080 60i.
 
But at least makes HD affordable to someone just starting out in their early 20s, even though it's only by 1-2 grand, it's a nice option to have, especially for a small studio that needs a backup HD cam.
 
Elton said:
I think a great deal of the natural feel of the footage is a combination of the Nikon lenses, DOF, and Cinegamma 2 from the H1. (the original footage is sharper and more artifact free too)

The H1 Cinegamma's are noticeably improved over the XL2 IMHO and can impart a very organic feel to the image--especially the 35mm adapter stuff.
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Yea i like it. I primarily use a 35Adapter anyway. ( ever since igot my SGpro i havent shot "naked" footage once.) I expect the optical limits of the macros, condenser lenses, GGmaterials, and then trandslating that back through another set of optics and CCD's... kinda limits what yo ucan do with 1080P. The image looks great, but i think 720P will handle the image better. maybe down ressed 24F to 720 24P will help that image have a significant pop. lemme make a 720P version to see if it works.


THis is 720P Looks snapier. i like.
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The Moving WMV literally looks like good S16mm. Jees.....
 
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Very nice. I've always been an advocate of downrezzing 24F to the 720p frame (where it makes sense) as it tends to make something slightly soft in the 1080 frame look much sharper in 720. Converting 1080i to 60p (for slow motion "overcrank") is a particularly good reason to use the 720 HD frame.

Aesthetically what I especially like about Disjecta's footage is that the adapter takes the edge off of the inherent sharpness of the H1 and the Nikon lenses add a very interesting colorimetry.

Organic is a very good word for it. I can't wait to get my adapter (hopefully soon) and record it into the Sheer lossless codec via SDI. This will yield full 1920x1080 raster resolution with rich 4:2:2 chroma too.

It might be even better because there will be no agitation of the HDV codec due to vibrating gg...although I'm sure it will be hard to tell a difference because D's tests prove that the Canon HDV can handle it.
 
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Yea i actually notice the 35mm lens adding coloremitry too!

My canon FD glass really adds flavor and charachter to the images. everythign ive shot though FD lenses has that "Napoleon Dynamite" crisp yet not overly sharp, subtle blue/green tint.

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This kinda loses teh tint but gives you an idea of the lens charcahter. AMazing Bokeh. Canon FD 55mm F1.2


( found the origional)

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It's all good in the 'hood!

This thread won't die until these little XH babies are delivered anyway. And then, well, I expect a lot of "holy craps!" from new owners.
 
I ccd and am downresing disjectas 1080P video to widescreen DV. Lets see how sharp it becomes.
 
mike the beginner said:
Also some very observant chap noted that you may not be able to fit a matt box without it obscuring the likely new auto focus system. I work around water most of the time so a matt box with french flags is likely to be essential.
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Sorry Mike but autofocus is not the hallmark of a pro shooter. Focus must be perfect and the only way to do it is manually.
 
I think manual focusing is going to be signifigantly easier with the new adjustable speed (response) focusing ring.
 
TimurCivan, was that shot with the XL and the Brevis? It looks really great! Any chance you can post the video that originated those grabs?
 
Some questions for a near DVX buyer who's now a potential a1 fan...
Regarding HDV, some say that the compression causes severe blocking in fast moving/explosive footage - can someone post footage displaying this???
I saw disjecta's footage of the trees and that moved fast without problem - so is HDV really problematic for action film making or is this just a 'beef' by HVX owners.

Also, I heard the a1 has uncompressed component outs. Can this be used for anything? Is there such a thing as Firestore that records components? I can't afford the hd sdi upgrade.

Also, with FIRESTORE and CITIDISK, why can't someone just make a firewire HDD controller that allows the user to swap different sized hard drives into it, one citidisk is 80GB & $800, I can buy a 250gb@3gb/s sataII hdd for $75, I'd like to have 5 of them!!! but I'm not gonna pay for duplicate citidisk architecture when I'm just wanting to swap the harddrives.

Quick someone do this and make a fortune!!!

Can't wait for the a1 now!!!
 
HDV can look wonderful, it is a mediocre codec (at best) for editing but I promise as far as acquistion, 90% of the people whining about it would never notice. HDV has the occasionaly motion artifact, DVCproHD has the occasional noisy scene. As far as acquisition, the difference is marginal. For editing I would give DVCproHD the knod but even it falls apart pretty fast with some heavy CC, etc.



ash =o)
 
Ash is right on the money. In truth, HDV should be considered an acquisition codec only and use a good intermediate editing codec like CineForm or PhotoJPEG.

One thing to note about Canon F modes and HDV is that they are actually more motion artifact resistant than regular 1080i modes because all of the bandwidth is dedicated to progressive frames, and MPEG2 is known to like compressing progressive images more than interlace. But that said, the interlace is just fine for anything but the most random and high frequency action. I've shot some pretty crazy stuff like whitewater rafting scenes in 1080i and not a single person ever complained about blockies...and there were definitely some small artifacts there.

In short, it's basically a non-issue.

The component outputs are uncompressed but you would need a device that can convert the analog HD signal to an editing codec, like an HD computer NLE capture card, ala AJA or Blackmagic. This is expensive and restrictive, but in a studio situation (greescreen) it makes sense to capture this signal if you can because you can get true 4:2:2 full-raster color from it.
 
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rawfa said:
TimurCivan, was that shot with the XL and the Brevis? It looks really great! Any chance you can post the video that originated those grabs?
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which the ones of me? or the red headed girl?

The ones of me are Sgpro and DVX. The little girl is from Disjectas footage idownressed to 720P from a 1080P WMV, the nout put to DV widescreen. and i'll be damned it loodks great.
 
i stil cant get over the fact that the highes quality yo ucan get is Mpeg2.... I know it looks good ive seen it with my own eyes, buts like, once it leaves a bad taste in your mouth..... i cant get over it.
 
How's it left a bad taste in your mouth? If the compression yields a nearly artifact-free image than what does it matter?

Canon HDV 24F and 1080i requires a careful post method if you're going to cc/filter your footage. You would never want to do this in MPEG 2 and finish in said format because the extra compression will show.

The ideal is to render a finished timeline to a nearly lossless codec like CineForm, PhotoJPEG, Sheer...even uncompressed 10 bit 4:2:2 if you have the storage. THEN you encode from a finished QT/AVI to H.264 (AVC) or WMV HD for HD DVD, or to anamorphic 16x9 DVD which will look great if done correctly.

The reality is if it looks good encoded to a final distribution format than that's all that matters. If you get any kind of distribution at at all, almost no one is going to see your work in its originating format anyway.

TimurCivan--there WILL be more convenient ways of tapping the uncompressed analog or SDI in the future, so consider that as a possible alternative too.
 
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