A request to PAnny for the HVX200 - and update on how I feel about mine

M

Malcolm Wright

Well-known member
Hey everyone,

I apologize for my long silence: I've been dashing around preparing for the journey into Australia's more remote regions.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been able to do a few small shoots with the camera, one being a small segment on the sydney funnel web spider (fierce creatures!!!)

The camera seems to perform well. The grain issue has been a problem in a couple of instances, in lighting conditions that I would have thought the camera would handle better than it did, and I have intermittentl noticed a strange sort of sound corruption when using the xlr inputs (I am still trying to track down the origin of this - it is confusing because sometimes the problem disappears).

I do have a request. I have been enjoying the intervalometer and one-shot functions immensely, but I think it would really be great if they could be combined.
Presently, in interval mode, you are able to shoot one frame every x frames for greatly accelerated/time lapse style shooting.
In one-shot mode, you are able to record a single shot of a length you choose in the settings menu, then the camera returns to pause, and will again record a shot of the set duration next time you press the record button.
The question begs itself: why not allow us to shoot shots of a chosen duration at intervals defined by the intervalometer setting?
I am hoping a firmware update could add this option...

Last note: I was able to plug the HVX into a huge plasma screen at a friends house, via the component out. The screen crunched the blacks significantly and I didn't have time to fiddle with the plasma's display options.
I noticed that there was significant quantization/banding in the huge image displayed on the screen, but I do not know how much is attributable to the dvcHDpro codec, and how much is coming from the plasma itself. If it is all caused by the codec, it is a cause for concern because it is really noticable on a big screen. I might waltz down to a hifi store tomorrow with the camera to try playing the footage on a variety of screens there and see what is going on...

I've been frustrated at not being able to play back the mxf footage at real time on my dell m60 workstation laptop. I am hoping everything that has been said about being able to play back HD footage in real time on a Mac Powerbook is true as I'll be getting one in a few days.

More as soon as I have a minute!

M.
 
Plasma's are the most unkind of all the HD displays. I hate 'em. For whatever rich blacks you get, it just murders gradients of any sort. Banding is very common.

Try plugging into a JVC DILA display and enjoy. LCoS is awesome.
 
Elton said:
Plasma's are the most unkind of all the HD displays. I hate 'em. For whatever rich blacks you get, it just murders gradients of any sort. Banding is very common.

Try plugging into a JVC DILA display and enjoy. LCoS is awesome.
Click to expand...

That's reassuring Elton: I'll be sure to do that tomorrow at a local JB Hifi :)

Thanks!

M.
 
Keep in mind that any TV is only as good as its ability to up/downscale resolution. I've been pleased with my relatively inexpensive 37" Westinghouse in combination with a home-grown DVR computer (with HD tuner) and my Xbox 360 (which is FABULOUS for DVD playback). I got lucky without a lot of research, but friends have struggled.
 
Elton said:
Plasma's are the most unkind of all the HD displays. I hate 'em. For whatever rich blacks you get, it just murders gradients of any sort. Banding is very common.

Try plugging into a JVC DILA display and enjoy. LCoS is awesome.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... I have a friend who plugs his JVC HD100 into a 50" Pioneer Plasma and it looks great...better than when we go into a Dell 2405. But those Pioneers are known to be good plasmas.
 
yeah, they're probably the exception, and his plasma might also be calibrated better.

Just a basic opinion, but I don't really like plasma's. They seem to have the most screen-door effect, where DLP and particularly, LCOS (love it!) have much tighter spaced pixel arrays. With LCoS, you pretty much have to put your face right up to the screen to perceive the pixel grid. Have you seen Sony SXRD (LCoS) 1080p? It's stunning.
 
I have a 42" Plasma and the things awesome. The Dell 2405 is a great computer monitor for editing HD but I think its contrast ratio is only about 1000:1.
 
We have a 50" Panasonic plasma in the store and the HVX looks pretty good on it. There is some pixel noise but it is definitely generated by the plasma. We also have a Panasonic BTLH1700W and the picture looks fantastic. The displays are daisy-chained from our G5 Quad.
 
ChuckS said:
I have a 42" Plasma and the things awesome. The Dell 2405 is a great computer monitor for editing HD but I think its contrast ratio is only about 1000:1.
Click to expand...

The 2405 is 1000:1... That's about as good as it gets for fluorescent backlit LCD. The 30" Dell 3007 is 800:1, the Apple 23" and 30" are both 500:1.

Some of the new LED backlit LCDs from Samsung and Sony (same panels, they share the same production facility) are now getting ratings as high as 3500:1. But they run kinda hot and even though they have much better blacks and overall contrast, they still don't look as rich as a good plasma or a nice LCD or DLP rear projection display.

I wanna buy the new 65" Panny 1080p plasma for my HT setup... Too bad it's not available just yet and I had sticker shock when I saw street price was estimated to be $10K. Hehe.
 
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