Coming with new ways to get around the prosumer design of the HVX

[ozduc]

If they add a HD-codec to record HD to tape, HVX200mkII could be really ahead. Making it better will benefit all of us, but mostly Panasonic, which will sell a lot more...

You've got to be kidding! The whole idea is to get away from tape based cameras. Besides to record the DVCPro HD codec to tape you need a larger tape format than mini dv. Personally in the Mk II version, I would rather see a few extra P2 card slots or even better, remove the tape mechanism all together and put a removable hard drive slot there.:beer:

 

[Erik Olson]

Sarlacc,

That's hilarious seeing the HVX on the Techno. Getting in there is what the HVX does well. The list of what it doesn't do well is unfortunate and indisputable.

I have less complaints up to the P2 cards, but I haven't have to execute zooms with it as much as you had to.

The workflow situation you ran into is a further testament to Panasonic's failure to integrate P2 into the post community. This duty falls squarely on Panasonic as far as everyone who resides there is concerned. It is lamentable that we don't have a serial-number independent proxy viewer like Sony provides for their XDCam juggernaut.

If Panasonic hopes to salvage P2 in the professional community, we should have a Panasonic authored utility that will convert their MXF files to several formats used commonly in post. This should be a premium application, included with devices like the P2 Store, HVX200, P2 Drive and so forth.

Have this application integrated as an upgrade option with P2 Viewer (which should be free) as an option during the conversion to virtual and they would really have something.

e

 

[Neopics]

The workflow situation you ran into is a further testament to Panasonic's failure to integrate P2 into the post community.

I tend to agree. I had a deposit down for the HVX200 in November 2005. I knew at the time that P2 support wasn't widespread, but figured that would've been resolved by mid-2006. (It was unthinkable for it not to be.) Then in January, the shipping delays made go with the HD100 instead.

In hindsight I'm glad that happened. The promise of PC-based "plug-n-play" P2 has only materialized in a few select post options, which is absurd because it is the most logical format (i.e. PCMCIA-based media) for that kind of widespread ease-of-use. One can only speculate that political or licensing obstacles are keeping this from taking off, which really points the finger back to Panasonic.

 

[The Sarlacc]

I don't solely blame Panasonic.

Post houses hate spending money. It prevents them from netting more. There are many post houses running versions of Avid that are 2-3 generations back.

There are other factors. But the blame is to be shared all around.

 

[DavidBeier]

I also don't really think it's fair to blame Pansonic for screw ups on the post end. First off, FCP, Edius Broadcast, and Avid all support MXFs pretty well. Yes it's annoying that FCP has to add quicktime wrappers that take up more space and Avid won't do frame extractions for a 24p timeline in 1080i (something which they really should get on!) but all in all these work quite viably and certainly better than HDV support was when the technology first arrived. As for the rest, it is frustrating that MXF support hasn't been prevelant but frankly that's something that bothered me about them before the HVX200 was released. MXF was created as a universal file format and Avid has been using it for a while so I've always been ticked off that some post options don't support it. On the other hand, my own post workflow is to bring the files into the NLE first then export what I need for effects work or CC. I either export to Combustion/After Effects uncompressed or as a quicktime reference to maintain quality. I did this for my DVX stuff and it's the same with the HVX. I see no issues with exporting from the NLE in uncompressed QT or AVI, doing the CC and effects and then re-exporting uncompressed to be brought back into the program. It takes up a lot of space but hard drives are cheap these days so it isn't too big a deal.

If they add a HD-codec to record HD to tape, HVX200mkII could be really ahead. Making it better will benefit all of us, but mostly Panasonic, which will sell a lot more...

People say this so much without really knowing what that would mean. DVCProHD decks simply aren't cheap. First off all indications indicate that the HVX200 is selling very well, better than the HD100 or XLH1.

Adding one onto the HVX200 would mean perhaps doubling the price of the camera. The HVX200's competitors record HD to miniDV tapes. The codec used not only provides only half the color space of DVCProHD but, more importantly, interframe encoding that gives you motion compression that is a step backwards from plain old DV. This is the reason why a lot of big productions have steered away from the HDV cameras. The HVX200 is being used on a lot of many feature films. Motion compression just isn't pretty. One 1080p show shot with the CineAlta even made a specific report on the attempts to intigrate smaller HD cameras into their workflow. They said they tested the Z1 but found the HDV motion compression unacceptible and continued to use SD DV cameras for PoV shots. Upon trying the HVX200 however, they found they could get it to match well with the CineAlta (100k camera) and not only used it for PoVs but other situations such as car interiors and some B cam stuff. P2 may be expensive but it's cheaper than DVCProHD tapes would be and many of us just find HDV unnaceptible.

There's also the matter of tapeless workflow. There's simply nothing like it. It's such a huge convenience that it's just impossible to go back to tape afterwards and I'm pretty sure it'll end up being the dominant medium for digital 10 years down the road. After all, if you are shooting a digital signal then why bother with all the hassles of tape (dirty heads, broken heads, digitizing, drop outs, ect)? Not to mention having no mechanical parts saves money on digitizing decks and repair fees.

 

[J.R. Hudson]

Where's the hate on P2 ?

Capture to P2

Dump to hardrive

Use Raylight to convert files to AVI

Edit

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ...