DVXuser.com exclusive hands on with the HVX200

Wow, that brightened a day filled with boring meetings. Thanks, man! People probably thought me the mental patient with the laptop as i sat in the back smiling goofily...

They say you need chhering up, but you can still cheer the rest of us...
 
The HVX records in 1080/60I, but on the list made by Jarred DVCPRO HD is only 1280x1080.
The 1080/24P is 1920x1080 but this is if the signal is uncompressed. Does the HVX shoot the video to the P2 card uncompressed or using the DVCPRO HD compression? From looking thru the forums and talk of using 1920x1200 monitors I would think it would be the later?
 
No camera records uncompressed. All HD gets recorded compressed (unless you're talking maybe about some ultra-high-end Origin or something like that; I'm talking about the regularly-used systems like HDCAM, HDCAM SR, DVCPRO-HD, D-5 and HDV).

So as a practical matter there's really no such thing as uncompressed HD in a camera.
 
JarredLand and Barry Green said:
Uncompressed Output:
All three cameras offer uncompressed high-definition output on the component video outputs. The Sony offers 1080i, the JVC offers 720/60p (which can also be cross-converted to 1080/60i), and the Panasonic offers native 1080/60i and 720/60p (as well as the ability to cross-convert 720/60p over to 1080/60i). For uncompressed output the Sony is the most limited, the Panasonic the most flexible, but recording uncompressed output is no trivial task: it requires the ability to capture and record approximately 166 megabytes per second, or about 70x as much data as gets stored on an HDV tape. For the vast majority of users, uncompressed output is likely to be completely irrelevant. For live studio switching it could be quite handy.

QUOTE]

Barry, What exactly is this article explaining? Does it mean that you can view the image uncompressed but not record it uncompressed? I am obviously new to the HD world and trying to get a handle on the technology before jumping in too deep :).

From the sounds of things the camera can produce 1920x1080 HD. I was looking into the Decklink card with HDlink adapter. For obvious reasons, (I know I dont have to have the Decklink or HDlink), but I believe that it will help with monitoring and editing the HD image. Instead of having to buy a new HD "super expensive" monitor, I could use HDLink adapter and downcovert the signal to SD to view over my existing monitor and also view the true HD image on say the Dell 24' monitor.
Have you ever used a plasma for viewing the outputs and if you have how does it look? I would be interested in this route expect for hearing that plasma burns in very quick?
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Is it for sure that the HVX has a tape drive? I can not see it in the pictures.
Why don't they just skipp the tape drive and include a P2 card and an extra P2 slot.
 
Cees Mutsaers said:
Is it for sure that the HVX has a tape drive? I can not see it in the pictures.
Why don't they just skipp the tape drive and include a P2 card and an extra P2 slot.
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Lol, amazing. We're still talking about this?

Dude... look at the pictures.

http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/HVX200/IMG_1688.JPG

As for skipping it, I'm all for that... but I think Panny is too concerned about "transitioning" customers to P2 (which is pretty expensive, to be fair), and a MiniDV transport doesn't add very much to the base cost. P2 is the only reason that we'll be able to shoot DVCPRO HD for $6,000, however, and I think once most people try [P2] out, they're going to be hooked. I certainly haven't played with it yet but it makes a heck of a lot of sense to me. Certainly when compared to the cost of shooting film, P2 wins hands down in my opinion. Only thing I'm scared about is image quality with those small chips... light sensitivity, abberation, etc. :-\
 
Hey Barry. I might be the only one not drooling about this. The p2 cards are not cheep but I can live with that. What really scares me is Hardware. What do I tell someone when all the footage we shot and dumped to a laptop gets zapped by some wacky lockup that I'm sure all of us of had. ( and to be fair not just microsoft either ) Having the footage in my hand seems safer then in a laptop where someone could spill a coke on or drop it. I know when a film mag gets dropped, you have a chance. Worrying about a camera is one thing, but a laptop too? I'm sure it will take time for me to embrace the new technology. I also know those problems can occur with tape too. It leaves one to wounder what to choose. Thanks to your aw-some post's it makes decisions a whole lot easier.

Thanks
Steve
 
Cees Mutsaers said:
Haakon : no reason to start insulting people. Keep it nice !!!! We all want the best cam.
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Sorry buddy... certainly wasn't trying to insult you. There have just been about 5,000 posts on the topic and it's pretty visible in the photos that the tape mechanism is there. However, I'm sorry if my reply seemed callous or rude; that wasn't my intent.
 
Steve_Bec said:
Hey Barry. I might be the only one not drooling about this. The p2 cards are not cheep but I can live with that. What really scares me is Hardware. What do I tell someone when all the footage we shot and dumped to a laptop gets zapped by some wacky lockup that I'm sure all of us of had. ( and to be fair not just microsoft either ) Having the footage in my hand seems safer then in a laptop where someone could spill a coke on or drop it. I know when a film mag gets dropped, you have a chance. Worrying about a camera is one thing, but a laptop too? I'm sure it will take time for me to embrace the new technology. I also know those problems can occur with tape too. It leaves one to wounder what to choose. Thanks to your aw-some post's it makes decisions a whole lot easier.

Thanks
Steve
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True, although a film mag has to be loaded in complete darkness (which also takes time), and if you drop the mag, you certainly run the risk of exposing it. I suppose there are a plethora of positives and negatives for each format, but I don't think that keeping the footage "archived" on a laptop is the long-term intent. After it's been edited, you can throw it on a hard drive or optical disc or whatever. And once it's there, it should be pretty protected. Film probably does have the upper hand in terms of longevity right now, but I can't imagine spilling a coke onto exposed stock is very beneficial for it, either. :) As long as you treat your equipment well, P2 should be a very reliable, lasting format. At least as I see it...
 
True as well. But what happens if I shoot all day, and then at the end, my laptop takes a dump before I get it back to editing. Now I'm completely screwed. With technology in general, I feel that scenario is very real at this point. If something happens to a tape or a mag, your screwed, but maybe not entirely. That is the dilemma I'm struggling with more than anything.

Steve
 
Steve_Bec said:
True as well. But what happens if I shoot all day, and then at the end, my laptop takes a dump before I get it back to editing. Now I'm completely screwed. With technology in general, I feel that scenario is very real at this point. If something happens to a tape or a mag, your screwed, but maybe not entirely. That is the dilemma I'm struggling with more than anything.

Steve
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it would be ideal if you just had one of the little 2.5" portable firewire hard drives... you take it from your camera to the laptop, and do a backup to the little removable hard drive at the end of the shoot. That way you have your little drive that is much harder to screw up then a laptop, and it should be safe.

Remember, film is a big pain in the ass as mentioned, because not only if you drop you screw it up, but if your shooting outside and its cold then finish and rock into your super heated BMW to take to the lab, the heat can do a number on the film stock.

No media will ever be rock solid.. even with DV tape you had to avoid magnets and condesation, plus dropouts etc. i think the P2 is probally gonna be the most stable durable format yet.
 
It's a new world and a new workflow. We'll have to see how it works out and what tools become available to us.

I can point out that many (most?) laptops have DVD burners on them now, and you can get DVD-R's for under 50 cents apiece. A DVD-R will easily hold the contents of a 4gb card. So after you copy the files over, you can set the laptop to burning a DVD-R of the card's contents while you continue to shoot, perhaps. That way you'll have a hard copy that's unrelated to hard-disk crashing. A dual-layer DVD will easily back up an 8gb card, although dual-layer DVDs cost more than double what single-layers do right now.

Or you could always have a second hard disk that you set the computer to copying to while you continue shooting. I'm sure there are many things that can be done.

The counter-question is: what do you do when your tape gets a wrinkle, or your tape footage has a nasty "venetian blind" dropout right in the middle of it, or there's a hair in the gate during your film take... stuff happens. It always has. It always will. There's risks in every form of shooting. A prudent producer does what he/she can to minimize those risks. So we check the gate every so often when shooting film, and we back up our footage when shooting to P2, and we dual-shoot to tape and hard disk when shooting tape.
 
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