Buying an HVX-200 system for my work, need some advice

A

Alon99

Member
Hello all,

The company I work for has decided it’s time to hop on the HD bandwagon, and they’re going to buy an HVX-200. I think this is great, since I’m a huge fan of this camera! I’ve been reading about it, and I’m trying to work out the best package for us, as well as figure out the post-production workflow.

Here’s the system I’ve put together, I’d appreciate any comments:

HVX-200
1 8GB P2 card
1 4GB P2 card
P2 Store
4x Panasonic CGAD54 Batteries
Century Optics 0.6 Wide Angle Adapter
Steadicam Merlin
Miller VJ Tripod Legs
Cartoni Focus Head

Is there anything I’m missing, or that anyone would recommend over one of the items I have listed here? The two different sized P2 cards are just because the cost of the 8GB cards is so high right now. I like the thought of the firestore, but it will weigh down the camera too much when mounted on the Merlin. Is there anything that I’m missing? As far as case systems go, I’ve heard good things about Pellican.

On the post side of things, we’re currently editing on Premiere Pro 1.5, on a P4 2.8GHz system with 1.75GB of RAM. We’re contemplating the switch to Mac, but haven’t made any firm decisions yet. Will Final Cut provide a better / easier workflow when dealing with video shot on P2 media?

I’d say that half the time we’ll be shooting DVCPRO50, and the other half we’ll be shooting DVCPRO HD 720p. Is it time for an editing system upgrade too?

Thanks to everyone in advance for your comments.

Alon

P.S. I'm located in Toronto, Canada. I've contacted Vistek and Henry's for quotes. It looks like I'll need to order the Miller legs and Cartoni head from the US, since nobody here carries them. Is there a source for this gear that comes recommended by any fellow Canadians?
 
You might be better off with 3, 4GB cards rather than the 1+1. That way, you'd always have two in the camera (equal to 8GB) while the other is being offloaded. With your 1+1 setup, there will be times when you're offloading that 8GB card and you only have one four minute card in the camera (720pn), possibly causing you to waste time waiting because you've ran out of room on the 4G card while the 8G card in being dumped. Otherwise, this looks like a terffific setup.

Personally, I'd also need a Matte Box and some filters --- an ND grad is a must for shooting outdoors.
 
Hi Darwin,

Excellent idea re: the 3x 4GB cards. I forgot that they could be hot-swapped.

What Matte box do you recommend? I know that the matte box can block out unwanted light and help reduce flare - besides that is the primary job just to hold filters? Is the ND grad specifically for shooting horizon shots, where it is half sky, and half land?
 
if your boss will let you get a new edit system then i'd really recommend considering adding a final cut pro system.

i'm not happy with the support for HVX content on premiere even using raylight. i have edius broadcast whihc supports HVX content perfectly but no simple way to view any edits via my HD-SDI connections on my Decklink card. in order to do that i have to import HVX footage in edius, put it on the timeline and render out uncompressed then import that into premiere and let premiere do its temp file render and then i can watch some stuff i shot via the HD-SDI port on my Decklink card.

i don't know what kind of work your company does but if you and your clients will need to see edits on anything other than your computer/NLE monitor FCP & Decklink or Kona is the way to go. i would love to have the full bown hardware for Edius on the PC but that is $15k, i could buy 3 FCP edit stations for that much.
 
Symphonic - I tried DVshop, but they seemed pretty high-priced compared to the other quotes I got.

Content - thanks for your advice. I'm trying to fight the good fight for FCP, since it's what I've used for previous film projects. I'm not really a fan of Premiere. We produce travel and promotional tour videos. Some of our content is delivered online, but we're getting into DVDs (and soon HD-DVDs) so I want to think towards the future.

Thanks for your advice, any ammo I can use to get a FCP system in here is good!

One other question... We travel pretty regularly with this gear. Does anyone here use a magliner to move it around? I was thinking of getting one, so we could load up all the cases, but I'd be interested to know the best model.
 
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Alon99 said:
What Matte box do you recommend? I know that the matte box can block out unwanted light and help reduce flare - besides that is the primary job just to hold filters? Is the ND grad specifically for shooting horizon shots, where it is half sky, and half land?
Click to expand...

The matte box depends somewhat on the rest of the rig. I'm trying to figure this out myself, because I have an M2 on order that I'll be using with different sized lenses, etc... If anyone has a suggestion, Alonn99 and I will both be grateful.

And you've hit it on the head regarding the ND grad. Outdoors, they're great for blown-out skies, clouds, etc... But, if you have a Matte box where you can rotate the filters, the various ND grads will come in handy in all kinds of situations --- indoors and out.
 
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