Upgrading DVX100A to HVX200A! Some questions

C

christiankelly

Member
I’m upgrading to a HVX200A, I’m so tempted to wait for the 170 but I have about 3 projects to do before that will come out and I figure I can always wait for something better or get the best current tool to do the job :)

I have a few questions; I’m mainly going to be shooting in 720 30p, editing and then creating SD 16:9 DVDs but with the option of doing some HD stuff later. I figure I’m going to be getting better quality shooting at 720HD even if I end up with a final output of SD. I’m also shooting 16:9 and I didn’t the DVX100A loss in quality.

Ok so I use DVRack/Onlocation and from what I understand you can’t record in any of the PN modes so that means I would have to shoot at 30p not 30pn which would half the amount I could fit on a P2 card. (16min on a 16G card). One question I have is what exactly is OnLocation recording via the fire wire in normal P mode? It’s not an MXF file like what would be on the P2 card. Is it exactly the same quality? I think it’s an AVI or MOV or something from what I can tell, but basically I want to know if what I’d be recording in OnLocation would be the same as what I would download off my P2 card, and or what are the differences.

The next question is in regard to my laptop for offloading P2 cards. I manly use Dells with XP, so I’d have a Vostro1400 or something like that, and they don’t have PCMCIA cards, so what do I need to get to download the footage? Is there a USB type PCMCIA card that would work? (newegg link?) I don’t really want to get a P2Sore or anything like that, I would like to just be able to download the footage via a USB device.

I’m sure I will have more questions in time, thanks for any answers on these.
 
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After reading and searching I found the answer to the second question. There is no cheep PCMCIA to USB. I find that so odd. If you thinking about it I can’t think of many protocols that haven’t been converted to USB. (Serial, Parallel, Network, Audio, WiFi) I mean almost everything can be done over USB, and since Panasonic already did the conversion for their PCD20 it obviously can be done. I find it odd that Panasonic or someone else hasn’t put out a signal PCMCIA to USB. Anyway for now I will use an old laptop that has a PCMCIA slot.

Still would like any info on the first question. Thanks
 
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DV Rack records AVI files at 100% full original quality. You won't have the in-camera metadata, but other than that it's basically identical.
 
Another question. I'm putting together what I need and so far it's the HVX200A, and an extra 16G P2 card. I'm thinking about adding in the Marshall V-R70P-HDA 7 ($1250). Is that a good monitor for this camera? Up till now I’ve been using an old SD 4:3 monitor, but I that I don’t think will work well with this new setup, 720p and 16:9. I’ve read that to get a good focus you need a HD monitor, does this seem like a good investment? Most of the rest of my kit is staying the same, lighting, tripod and audio, so this would seem like the only thing missing, if I need it. Tx
 
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The marshall is a very good monitor, a required piece among the 35mm adapter crowd.

DV Rack has several settings concerning file type and pulldown, you have to set it up for the proper result but you should be able to get true 30P.

For all of us who want to run the P2 it is a shame that the PCMCIA card bus is dying out. Best solution might be to get an old used laptop and put a new battery and 120GB harddrive. I did, and if my computer gets wrecked on location it's not too big a deal, I'd just buy another Presario, swap in the new batt and drive, and I'm up an running again.

Bob
 
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