Canon XH-A1 & JVC HD110 for 24p/f and 60i

[pixelator]

I'm one of the on-the-fencers who lives 4 hours from a major town that MIGHT have anything to see in person. I'm looking at a JVC HD110 and a Canon XH-A1. I know these two are not really similar however. Roughly 50% of what I need is for 24p/24f for indie film market for local film festivals. The other 50% is for sports video for college and highschool. I know JVC HDV is not a good choice being 30p, no autofocus, hard to use on a tripod etc. However I still have my old Sony 3 chips for that for another year or two until everyone wants HD DVD/Blueray of their sporting events.. Then I'll have to switch anyway. So here are the two questions.

1. Canon XH-A1... how good is the HDV (60i) in sporting events at 1/125th or so shutterspeed. Soccer/football, 50 yard line about 10 feet from side line. Does the HDV codex handle lots of medium zooms and pans following the action at medium shots?

2. For 24p/24f I heard lots of good things about the Canon XH-A1. Personally I prefer a non servo lense (such as JVC's HD110) for repeatable hands on rack focus etc. However I still have a good Varizoom LANC control that makes servo rack focusing easier. So has anyone had any experience with the 24f/24p on the Canon XH-A1 AND the JVC HD110? Big bonus for the JVC is Firestore handles the 24p and in quicktime for us Apple FCP users. meanwhile they have no plans to support 24f from Canon. So 24f from canon will be tape only for the near future.

Getting the Canon XH-A1 could mean dumping my old Sony 3 chip DV and shoot sports at HDV 1080i. The 24f might be comparable to the JVC HD110 and Panasonic HVX200 at 24fps 720p. I just am sceptical of things that do too much but I have heard nothing but good things about the Canon. Only negative is a flat scene out of the box, but with lots of user controls over image, I could be able to dial in an image I'm happy with.

 

[Barry_Green]

The JVC is comparably flat out of the box, but it's highly tweakable and you can really amp up the color in it.

Have you considered the HD200? It adds 60p recording to the mix, so maybe you could get everything you're looking for all in one cam?

HDV has its struggles with certain types of scenes; zooming is one of the things that should push it over the edge. But you'd have to really try it for yourself and see if you are satisfied with the results you get. I would think you'd be decidedly not happy with sports coverage in 30p or 24p, vs. the "live" 60i/60p look. The JVC can also do 480/60p if you don't truly NEED high-def for those events.

I think for most circumstances the XHA1 is a way better buy than the HD110. However, if you despise servo lenses and love a repeatable manual zoom & manual focus, you may be the special case that the HD110 would be better for.

24P vs. 24F is a non-issue, they both move exactly the same. Canon loses a tad of resolution when going in 24F mode, but it's higher-res than the JVC in the first place, so 24p/24f nets out about the same.

Good luck making this choice without getting your hands on 'em first. Too bad there's not a dealer nearby; in fact try posting your location, maybe there are some owners nearby who'd let you check out the cams firsthand.