Dvx100b or Hv20 - Which to choose?!

A

antonbestle

Member
I am going to buy myself a nice camcorder as soon as I have decided which one. I am going for either Hv20 or Dvx100b. The main feature I must have is 24p. I mostly make shortfilms and stuff like that.
The problem is, I see both pros and cons in both cameras.
Do you think the time for HD has come yet? - (I don't really have anything proper to show HD-footage on)

Which one would you prefer and why? - Since this is dvxuser(.)com I think I know the answer, but at least, tell me why exactly Dvx100b.

Why should I buy Dvx100b and not HV20?!
hv20-smilie110.gif

Thanks,
Anton Bestle
 
well... with one you get to learn how to use a camera
with one you get to learn how to hack a camera

not that hacking is a bad thing.

with one you get to learn pro sound
with one you get to learn secondary pro sound as long as you have a second pro audio recorder.

with one you get to spend tons of money
with one you most likely spend far less money

but you will be less of a cinematographer

its really up to you, as there is still a huge gap between these two cameras

its like a fork in the road... are you turning left or right?
 
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The most common advice you'll see around here, repeated:

Add up the cost of EVERYTHING you'll need for a decent camera package (support? adapter? mattebox? filters? audio? lights?...)

You may find that the price difference between, say, an HV20 and a better HD camera is a relatively small factor.

If you really just want one of those two cameras, and won't be putting a lot of $$ into accessories and such, I'd say go with the DVX as a better all-around camera (better low-light, which will make a real difference without a lighting package), better controls, more stability, and none of the rolling shutter issues that will be a major problem without proper support equipment.
 
ullanta said:
the rolling shutter issues that will be a major problem without proper support equipment.
Click to expand...

Actually, I have a question to you: Does the dvx100 shoot prober 24p and not the kind og 24p the Hv20 shoots (Something like half-24p/half-60i) ?

Anton :smile:
 
bwest said:
well... with one you get to learn how to use a camera
with one you get to learn how to hack a camera

not that hacking is a bad thing.

with one you get to learn pro sound
with one you get to learn secondary pro sound as long as you have a second pro audio recorder.

with one you get to spend tons of money
with one you most likely spend far less money

but you will be less of a cinematographer

its really up to you, as there is still a huge gap between these two cameras

its like a fork in the road... are you turning left or right?
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your answer. It was kind of inspiring and makes me really think about what you wrote. Wise stuff!
Anton
 
In my informal experience, about half the people around here discussing it think that Panasonic's approach to 24p is more "natural" and "filmlike" than other 24p cameras in the same price range. The other half think many of those cameras produce 24p that's just as good. NOONE thinks the Panasonic 24p is not as good as the other cameras.

However, if you mean "24p over 60i"... any camera that shoots to tape, or uses a standard codec, will encode 24p over a 60i stream. Only P2, in 720, allows "true" 24p recording. But after your NLE removes the extra frames/fields, there's no residual detrimental effect of the "over 60i" encoding.
 
The hv20, although very nice, is still mostly a consumer camcorder...if you want something that will give you a wide range of options of manual settings, a dvx is definetely what you need.
 
ullanta said:
In my informal experience, about half the people around here discussing it think that Panasonic's approach to 24p is more "natural" and "filmlike" than other 24p cameras in the same price range. The other half think many of those cameras produce 24p that's just as good. NOONE thinks the Panasonic 24p is not as good as the other cameras.
Click to expand...

I hadn't thought about it that way, but I believe you're right.
 
I had this debate with myself for a few weeks, till I finally went out and brought the HV20. I read so many good things about the camera, I finally got it, took some footage with it, the tricky part for me was importing the footage(im new to the HD game). I wasnt too thrill about the process, I did resource found the answer I needed to importing, but I thought to myself do I really want to do trick every time I capture footage. So i returned it brought the DVX100b and I love it, no tricks to get the footage and i have total control over the settings on the fly...
 
dory_breaux said:
As of now, the only cameras (that I am aware of) that record24 or 23.97 (or whatever it is exactly) are the P2 cameras at 720p 24PaN and most film cameras.
Click to expand...

Well, that's not actually true; the JVC HD100 (110, 200, 250, whatever else) records straight 23.976 to tape; the Canon X-series cameras do as well.

But that's not what my (or ullanta's) comment was about -- it was about the perception of the implementation of 24p among the various cameras, however it's recorded -- as straight 23.976 or as 23.976-over-59.94.
 
Well... the JVC basically does that, but sort of hybrid. It does have pulldown, it is embedded in a 60p data stream, but -- everyone just ignores that. It records 24 actual frames, but the transport stream is a 60p data stream, and it has pulldown flags embedded that tell the transport stream to repeat frames. However, if you just ignore those flags, you get 23.976 fps.
 
The Hv20 is suck a piece of consumer, green button trash. You practically have no control over what the camera does.
 
Get the DVX. I've used both camcorders before and the DVX is just MUCH MORE professional overall. If you're going to shoot short films, then this camera is the way to go[between the two]. Plus the DVX looks much better than the little HV20 handycam.
 
People don't laugh at you when you are rocking a DVX100b on the street.

Plus its the kind of camera that gets people talking to you. I've met a few business contacts simply from people on the street seeing me with the camera, but I live in Toronto, which is the struggling Hollywood north so most of the people in industry are homeless on the street anyway ;)
 
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