a couple questions

T

Tom_Vayianos

Member
Hey everyone, I'm about to buy an HVX mainly to shoot snowboarding and music videos, and I have a couple questions...

1) Do you have to record high definition on P2 cards or can you do it on tapes too?
2) You don't have to shoot widescreen right?
3) How is it in low light? I heard the DVX isn't great. I have a VX-2100 right now and its great in low light, would it be better to use in low light conditions than the HVX?
4) How much footage would fit on one 8gb P2 card?
5) How similar are the controls/menus to the DVX? I know how to use a DVX will I have a head start on the HVX?
6) How long does the included battery last if you are not using the LCD screen?

if I think of any more I will post them....

thanks a lot,
Tom
 
1) DVCPRO50 and DVCPROHD cannot be recorded to tape. Only P2 or external HDD recorder, like the Firestore, Citidisk, or Cineporter (Yet to be released)
2) No. You can shoot 4:3 as well, or shoot wide and crop to 4:3 in post or letterbox it on a 4:3 timeline (depending on how your NLE works). note: shooting in camera 4:3 can only be done in SD shooting modes like mini dv, dvcpro, dvcpro50. 720 and 1080 are, of course, 16:9 aspect ratios by nature.
3) I have heard that all of the 1/3" HD cams are similar in lowlight performance (I don't know for sure) SD interlaced cams will be better in lowlight, yes. DVX is very good in lowlight. Most people would agree. Also, when shooting progressive, you will lose some lowlight performance.
4) 21minutes of 720pn @24fps. 8 minutes of 1080p. A little less than 21 minutes of dvcpro50 (sd)
5I can't answer, but from what I have seen, they are pretty similar.
6) I have never used it, but the spec-comm batteries last a couple to 3 hours or so, depending on shooting conditions. The batt. that comes with the camera will last less time than that.

Hope that helps,
Jason
 
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Thanks, that helps a lot. But your responses made me think of two more questions...

1) Can you explain the difference between DVCPRO50, DVCPROHD, 720pn, and 1080p?
2) What would you recommend... shooting in 4:3 or shooting wide and cutting it to 4:3 in post (I have FCP)
thanks
 
DVCPROHD is the codec that the HVX uses to record Hi def, either in 720 resolution or 1080 resolution.

DVCPRO50 is a standard def. codec that the HVX uses. It, as mentioned can only be shot to the p2 cards, but yeilds the same 4:2:2 color space that DVCPROHD uses.

DVCPROHD is 100mbits/sec
DVCPRO50 is 50
HDV is 25, as I believe mini dv and dvcpro are as well. HDV is 4:2:0 color space. DVCPRO and mini dv are 4:1:1 in NTSC land and 4:2:0 in PAL land.

I can't tell you about FCP, as I don't use it. But, if you shoot 4:3 in camera, it is just taking that sample from the ccd's. Many people prefer to shoot in 16:9 and crop/zoom, whatever in post, as they have more control over what part of the footage will be used in the 4:3 framing. Does that make sense? Pan and scan, I would guess is the technical term.

I use EDIUS. With it, if I want, I can shoot widescreen and put my footage on a 4:3 timeline and EDIUS will automatically letterbox the footage for me. So I have the full, original frame and widescreen look (if I want it) but in a 4:3 timeline.

Does that anser your questions. You can only shoot mini dv to tape with the HVX. you can shoot mini dv, or the other two flavors of sd to p2 cards, as well as the HD formats mentioned.

Hope that helps
Jason

*Oh yeah. The difference in p and pn... pn means progressive native. It is available in 720 shooting mode with the HVX. What that means is that only the amount of frames you want are recorded to the card. 24 fps = 24fps, for example. Because you are recording to cards and not tape, there isn't a need to conform to that 60 field format (like with mini dv) when you shoot in progressive mode in either sd or any other HD format with the HVX you can choose between p or pa. The difference is the pulldown that is used to conform to the 60field format. p is 2:3:2 I believe. pa (advanced) is 2:3:3:2. I think. I may have the numbers wrong. Basically what pulldown refers too, though- It's just a way of duplicating/splitting frames, etc. to make 24fps(for example) fit into a 60field format. the funky pulldown I just referenced only deals with 24fps. 30fps is just going to duplicate the frames to make it equal 60. 60p is already 60. I think I have that right. Does that make sense?
 
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Yes that does help... but what is the difference between 720 and 1080 reolution for DVCPROHD, is 1080 just better quality? Why would you shoot 720 then?
 
I have yet to shoot 1080, but that isn't out of preference or anything. I am still learning to use the camera so I opt for the record times, etc. Many people would shoot 720 for the pn mode. As a result, you get longer record times on the p2 cards.
Otherwise it would depend on where the finished product is going. If you're going straight to dvd, then dvcpro50 or 720 is generally recommended. If you are going to a network, then it would depend on what that network delivers. If you are going to film out then 1080 would (probably) be recommended. These are just general guidelines, though

1080 is better quality. 480 lines of res. for SD. 720 lines and 1080 lines. Then you have 2k lines and 4k lines with the raw dog cameras and the future red camera :)

Jason
 
Many people do not see much, if any, quality different between 1080 and 720.

And shooting 720/24pNative bumps recording space on cards significantly because redundant frames are not being recorded.
 
David S. said:
And shooting 720/24pNative bumps recording space on cards significantly because redundant frames are not being recorded.
Click to expand...

Shooting 720/24pNative instead of what bumps recording space?


And one more question.... how do you transfer the footage from a P2 card to your computer? (I have FCP)

Also, it isn't possible to record directly to a firewire external hard drive is it?
 
It increases recording space on whatever device you are recording to: FS 100, Cineporter (when released) p2 cards, etc.

As to your other very basic questions, you might want to use the search function here or google. Those interrogatories have been asked for months and there are a bunch of threads on each point.

Especially transferring p2 card contents to a Mac for ingesting into FCP and recording directly to a hard drive.

Google will even provide downloadable pdf files on workflow.

Don't mind helping, but retyping what's easily located by you with a little resourcefulness doesn't make much sense.
 
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