Considering the HMC150

K

kennethhurd

Well-known member
I've been looking to purchase my first camera and recently heard of the HMC150. Even though I've never owned one, I've done a lot of shooting with the DVX and HVX, and am pretty comfortable with both of them. One question I have is how much different is the HMC150? Is it basically just a DVX that shoots in HD? Is the menu set up just like the DVX and HVX? Will I have control over the scene file to make adjustments?

Also, would the camera be compatible with the set up I already have? I've got a Mac G5 desktop. It has a 1.8Ghz Dual Processor, 2GB of Ram, and 160GB hard drive. I have Final Cut 6.0.4 installed on it and I've had no problems with footage shot on an HVX. Will my Mac be able to handle the AVC-HD footage? Also, what else would I need? Would the Log and Transfer option work just like it does for the HVX?

Thanks for your help.
 
Your G5 is probably underpowered to handle the AVCHD format. If you look around, you will find examples of AVCHD clips from this camera that can be downloaded and imported into your setup to get an idea of its performance with this format. There are always various transcoding options (e.g., Toast 10) that can convert your footage to other more palatable formats, but some would argue that this negates some of the advantages of using AVCHD.

You have a bit of research ahead of you to make an intelligent decision about this, but this is a great forum to read and monitor, you will learn a lot by doing so.
 
You'll be fine with your G5... but you won't be able to transcode via your G5. I have a friend who has a Mac Pro and he does the transcoding as it's less than realtime and then I work on the footage on the G5. It's a bit sluggish sometimes and the 1080 stuff can really tax out the videocard.. but you'll be able to edit and do what you need to do. I've been editing 150 footage for 4 or 5 months and it cuts really really well with HVX stuff. The workflow is also so similar. you'll love the 150. I haven't missed my HVX one moment.
 
What is it about the G5 that would prevent it from being able to transcode the footage? Would it just be really slow, or would the computer not recognize the camera?

I do have access to a Mac Pro, just not at home. Once the footage is transcoded, would the mac handle the footage like it handles HVX footage?

Thanks
 
Kenneth... well you can't use FCP to transcode AVCHD footage.. has to be done on an intel mac. You'll get a lovely text error message stating that. You can do the conversion via toast and Votaic.. but it is so so so slow.


Yes. If you have access to a Mac Pro... do all the conversions on that and then edit on your G5. It will function similar to your HVX stuff..
 
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