A Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

[Ranger]

Steve Mullen from Creative Cow has put together a detailed "Pre-review" of the Sony FX1.  The article discusses in depth the various Cinema modes.  Good read.

http://home.earthlink.net/~dvcnyc/Sony HDR-FX1.htm

Here's something I thought was interesting (in relation to CinemaFrame 24):
"What information will be within each frame depends on the way the 24 samples were obtained. If every fifth frame has simply been dropped, CineFrame 24 will obviously provide neither true “24fps” nor “24p.” In this case, the question becomes will CineFrame 24 be accepted by professionals as providing an acceptable film look—especially for those creating narrative productions. Sony, of course, would likely say professionals will not use a consumer camcorder. Which leaves the tantalizing possibility that the Pro version will support either true “24fps”video or “24p.”

Of course, at this point everything is speculation, but WOW - including 24p on its pro-version would become every indie's wet dream.  Sony would control the prosumer market.

 

[Aejaz]

Re: A Highly Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

Re: A Highly Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

[quote author=Ranger link=board=nws;num=1096349819;start=0#0 date=09/27/04 at 22:36:59]Sony would control the prosumer market.[/quote]


Yes....may be when MOST prosumers DECIDE to shift to HD.

But one can't really say, how other companies like Panasonic and Cannon would react to the situation... by then?

 

[Ranger]

Re: A Highly Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

Re: A Highly Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

[quote author=Aejaz link=board=nws;num=1096349819;start=0#1 date=09/28/04 at 02:21:44]
Yes....may be when MOST prosumers DECIDE to shift to HD.

But one can't really say, how other companies like Panasonic and Cannon would react to the situation... by then?[/quote]
There is nothing that would prevent MOST prosumers from recording in SD (with the FX1) should they DECIDE to.  Not to mention that coverting an image recorded in HD to SD will in most cases show a higher resolution picture than if the footage was originally shot in SD.

As far as the reactions from Panasonic and Canon ... well, I look at that as good thing.  A little competition is good for all involved.  Personally, I could care less about brand loyalism.  I just want a great camera - Canon, JVC, Sony, or Panasonic - machts nichts to me. If these companies come up with something better (and they eventually will) then I'm all for it. It will fast forward the adoption of HD to the mainstream consumer.

 

[moe_snodgrass]

Re: A Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

The audio issue is the one that worries me:

"In short, it is a lossy encoding system that might not meet field-recording requirements."

 

[Neil Rowe]

Re: A Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

..it probably sounds fine, but for fidelity's sake, i can only hope that future HDV models we see have found a way to squeeze in standard uncompressed PCM audio.

 

[magicdavek]

Re: A Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

[quote author=Ranger link=board=nws;num=1096349819;start=0#0 date=09/27/04 at 22:36:59]Sony would control the prosumer market.[/quote]
Not if the professional version cost $7000, which is a figure I've seen tossed about. When I think prosumer cameras, I think $1,500-$4,500.

 

[Ranger]

Re: A Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

[quote author=magicdavek link=board=nws;num=1096349819;start=0#5 date=09/29/04 at 20:35:21]
Not if the professional version cost $7000, which is a figure I've seen tossed about. When I think prosumer cameras, I think $1,500-$4,500.[/quote]
I kinda, sorta, mighta agree if the price was $7k with only a few minor modifications done.

... but then again, if Sony gets it right with this camera (i.e. 24p, great filmlook footage, XLR inputs, great picture, superb resolution, little to no motion artifacts, the ability to record Mini-DV as well as DVCAM and all on a native 16:9 chip) hmmm, well $7k might not be all that much money to pay considering there are no other cameras on the market that could pull this off below $30k.

In that case, I'm willing to wager that the FX1 WOULD indeed control the market (for at least a year).

 

[Ranger]

Re: A Detailed Pre-look at the Sony FX1

An Update to CineFrame 24 from Steve Mullen at Creative Cow HDV Forum:
In CineFrame 24 mode, the camcorder creates 24fps video. Sony USA claims CineFrame 24 works by dropping every fifth frame over the period of 30 frames, thereby creating 24 samples per second that are available for further processing. Assuming this is an accurate description of the process—although 24 samples per second are obtained, clearly the sampling interval is not constant as it would be with a real 24fps camera. Nevertheless, CineFrame 24 would yield a film look that may be acceptable to some.

If, however, the camera’s CCD frame rate were 24fps, the sampling interval would be constant because no frames would need to be dropped. The video made available for further processing would now truly have a frame rate of 24fps—although, of course, each 1080-line frame would be interlaced (24I). This would offer a far superior film look.

What about obtaining true 24P video? Because CCDs are inherently progressive, every CCD read-out yields 1080-lines. For interlaced scanning, “row pair summation” creates a 540-line field from each scan. However, were summation disabled and every other read-out discarded, each 1/24th of a second all 1080-lines from the CCDs would be available as a progressive frame to be stored in a buffer. From the buffer, alternating “fields” of 540-odd and 540-even lines would be available for further processing. This mode of operation is very similar to the 1080/PsF24 recording used by Sony CineAlta cameras.

No matter how created the 24 samples have been obtained, 2:3:2:3 pulldown is applied to generate 1080i60 video. (Six times each second, four samples are converted to five frames, yielding 30 frames.) Thus, by applying pulldown, 24fps video is carried as standard 1080i60 HDV video. (Naturally, if the samples contain progressive video, the fields are not interlaced—and the 1080i video should encode very efficiently.)

Naturally, those who want to create film from HDV video will ask if the 24 samples can be reconstituted. Using reverse 2:3:2:3 pulldown, the four samples can indeed be recovered. However, if every fifth interlaced frame has been dropped, the four samples will have little value. Which leaves the tantalizing possibility that the Pro version will support 24P video. Were 24P supported, reverse 2:3:2:3 pulldown would yield 24 progressive frames per second—exactly what filmmakers want.