HMC150 vs. Canon XH-A1 vs. ?

I think I would choose HMC-150. It can record 60 fps in 720p. What is the difference between shooting in 720 and 1080? I will probably not need more than 720, but I think like.. It's stupid to use 720 when I have the ability to shoot 1080!
So what's the differences?
 
Bump! I'd like even more comments about this.

If I can get a slightly used XH-A1 for 2/3 the price, is that a better deal?
 
Another thing, I know the HMC-151 can capture 50p, so that I can make a nice slowmo.
This may be a big point in skimovies. Can I make good slowmo's with the XH-A1? Or will the 50p setting on the HMC be far superior?
 
sindrejibb said:
If I can get a slightly used XH-A1 for 2/3 the price, is that a better deal?
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I bet you can get a fair deal on a XH-A1 used since they have released the newly updated XH-A1s.

66% off new price would be around $2,244. That would leave a lot of money for other essentials. Even if the HMC-150 is better, can you afford it?

Im starting to think that for any adverse conditions, the HMC-150 will be a lot tougher. I recently got caught in blowing sand when some high speed vehicles passed my location on the beach. It might have put a hurt on a tape based camera. I blew all the sand off the HMC-150 and it was fine.

In very bright locations, set the knee to low in 720 mode or the DRS to 3 in 1080 mode and you will be set to avoid clipping highlights. You will also have to adjust the master pedestal and other settings. When you get the HMC-150 adjusted right, it will make amazing video.
 
Now I know that I will not have the Canon XH-A1. The 50p framerate on the HMC-151 is very important for my use and I would prefer tapeless out in the cold.

But now I've got a new problem. I can get a used HVX-200 (the old version) with 4 batteries, 2x 8GB P2-cards and 2 chargers for 2/3 the price of one new HMC-151. Do this sound like a good deal?

Here's the link (in norwegian, but you can look at the pictures): http://www.norskfilmforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,6807.0.html
 
sindrejibb said:
Now I know that I will not have the Canon XH-A1. The 50p framerate on the HMC-151 is very important for my use and I would prefer tapeless out in the cold.

But now I've got a new problem. I can get a used HVX-200 (the old version) with 4 batteries, 2x 8GB P2-cards and 2 chargers for 2/3 the price of one new HMC-151. Do this sound like a good deal?

Here's the link (in norwegian, but you can look at the pictures): http://www.norskfilmforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,6807.0.html
Click to expand...


That kind of deal will make you have to really think about it.

Here is Barrys comparison of the 200 & 200a:

http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/hvx200a/
 
Yes, I AM really thinking about it ;)

This is so hard.. I will not have the 200a anyway. If I don't get a killer deal on a used one. But basically it is the HMC-151 vs the old HVX-200...
 
brother, you are dealing with my exact dilemma and decision making that I was going through. I was torn between a used HVX or the 150. I already own an HVX so there's something going for that. The big thing that held me off on the 150 for a while was the workflow.. but then when I got the option to just capture all the footage on the fly with the intensity card on the Mac Pro and convert it to DVCPRO.. That was all I needed.


I went for the 150 as I love getting a new camera and there's a lot more to consider besides the cost of the camera. I will have enough SD cards to shoot 9 hours straight without offloading and I think that the images produced between both will be comperable and in someways the 150 is a cleaner image than the 200...


I'll do a posting and compare the two. This week I'm going to shoot with the 200a, 200, 150 and if i could find a 170.. shoot I'd get that in there too.
 
sindrejibb said:
Yes, I AM really thinking about it ;)

This is so hard.. I will not have the 200a anyway. If I don't get a killer deal on a used one. But basically it is the HMC-151 vs the old HVX-200...
Click to expand...

"sindrejibb" for whatever it's worth we had the tapeless route with the HVX200 and 200A and for our Broadcast, Wedding, and Event the camera turned out to be far too demanding on light as compared to the XHA1. That is, the XHA1 is right there with the DVX100B which we absolutely loved and put about 3000 hours on four of them and about 2000 hours on our four HVX's (2+2) but in the long haul when thinking of a "next step" HD . . for us it boiled down to:

  • Ease in use
  • Easy and reliable archiving
  • NLE loved it
  • Readily accepted by our broadcast clients
  • Readily passed to NLE outsourcing
  • Minimal or no fear of data loss

The only solution of course was tape, HDV and the camera (XHA1) at under $3K allows us to offer 100% HD productions at competitively SD prices a year ago AND these cameras are holding there value until the "real" next gen format and/or camera solution comes along. We've lost nothing and gained 100% HD.

That said, if none of the above concern your business practice then by all means go for the HMC150 now that the price is hitting a very likable 3300 over at a store in Amazon, and especially now that SD cards have come down in price. However, if those items listed above are of concern then take the safe route for now and go tape that you're probably familiar with and archiving simplicity.

We did and wished we hadn't waited so long while also taking a terrible turn financially with all the camera switching and system changes. Geez, we turned our whole architecture upside down in literally 6 months time . . cameras, computer platform, NLE's, lighting, etc. Wow! Only audio remained untouched other than we unloaded the Neumann's and the Rolls (had too much audio gear - kept Sennheiser and Audio Technica).
 
drdimento said:
"sindrejibb" for whatever it's worth we had the tapeless route with the HVX200 and 200A and for our Broadcast, Wedding, and Event the camera turned out to be far too demanding on light as compared to the XHA1.
Click to expand...

Im not exatly sure what you mean. I think you mean the 200A (same sensor as HMC-150) needs more light than the XH-A1. I found just the opposite, the HMC-150 has better low light sensitivity and less noise than the XH-A1. That's one of the reasons I migrated to the HMC-150 from the A1.

drdimento said:
That is, the XHA1 is right there with the DVX100B which we absolutely loved and put about 3000 hours on four of them and about 2000 hours on our four HVX's (2+2)
Click to expand...

Will XH-A1 heads even last this long? You are bound to have many head problems/dropouts well before you get near these levels of hours.

drdimento said:
"but in the long haul when thinking of a "next step" HD . . for us it boiled down to:

  • Ease in use
  • Easy and reliable archiving
  • NLE loved it
  • Readily accepted by our broadcast clients
  • Readily passed to NLE outsourcing
  • Minimal or no fear of data loss
Click to expand...

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I went tapeless just for the reasons above except the broadcast & outsourcing bullets. I can't see anything being easier about using tapes. Just look how long it will take to ingest the tapes to the HD. Your archive solution can be HD, thats where the material is going, it's way less than half the cost of buying tapes, including redundantcy. HDs are about $0.09 per GB nowdays. So, a $70, 750GB HD will hold about 58 MiniDV tape equivalents ($0.83 per tape).

And when you get rid of the A1s like I did, you are stuck capturing all the tapes anyway or never getting the data off the tape.


drdimento said:
The only solution of course was tape,...
Click to expand...

I thought the only real solution was tapeless. I think it's much cheaper to archive tapeless and is the final step after producing the video. You can also keep the NLE files with the project.

I don't mean to sound like I am ragging on your camera choice, you just spent a lot of money switching cameras (me too, I could have sold you my mint A1s), I am just on the exact opposite side of the fence. Kinda funny.
 
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