Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

David Jimerson

David Jimerson

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Staff member
Tonight, I stopped a guy from making a terrible decision . . . buying an XL-1s. I showed him my DVX and we did a little 60i/24p comparison.

Not even a question in this guy's mind anymore.

Ahhh . . . doing good work always feels so rewarding, doesn't it?

;)
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

I've swayed two people thus far. Even though they got the A, (which is better than mine) I couldn't let them do it. Just wrong.
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

John Hudson was nearly one of them. But for the grace of DVXUSER.COM, he may very well have fallen prey to the XL1s...
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

There was a diehard XL-1 guy there, too. I told him we insult each other with that term . . . "that's SO XL-1 of you . . . "

;)
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

Yes. I too almost went the way of the darkside. Sigh...................

But I was born again. :D
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

But when the XL2 comes out with 16:9 native 24P then what? ;D
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

"But when the XL2 comes out with 16:9 native 24P then what? "

Ill buy a crate of XL2's and spray paint dvx200 all over them and give them out like candy.
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

[quote author=Elvis link=board=Offtopic;num=1080702416;start=0#12 date=03/31/04 at 09:05:01]But when the XL2 comes out with 16:9 native 24P then what? ;D[/quote]

Then pigs will fly, Ralph Nader will win the US Presidency (with Rush Limbaugh as his vice-president), Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman will get back together, Al Qaeda will apologize and disband, and "Dude, Where's My Car Now (the sequel)" will win the Oscar for Best Picture.

In other words, it ain't gonna happen.
 
???

???

"In other words, it ain't gonna happen."

Hope you are sure for this one, Canon is big competitor and prooved it in photography market again Nikon...Maybe Nikon will be the one to strike with a first DVCAM 16/9 24 fps. ;) :D ;D :P :-*
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

Hey, I'm sitting here with a plate full of my words, knife and fork at the ready.  If Canon wants to make me eat 'em, I'd be only too happy to.

There are no guarantees in life, but I can *almost* guarantee that Canon will not introduce a 16:9 24P DV XL2.  It just won't happen.  It will never happen.

The closest that would happen would be that they license the DVX chipset and implement an electronic squeeze mode.  But the DVX/A already added that, so there goes the one competitive advantage they could have had.

I personally think Canon is completely hosed.  They made their camera's focus, in fact staked their camera's reputation, on filmmaking.  They pursued Soderberg, they set up town hall meetings and tours all about how the GL2 was so great for filmmaking, and then the DVX came in and handed them their hind end.  Nobody takes an XL1s seriously as a "filmmaking" tool anymore, do they?

So now, Canon's left with an obsolete product based on 1996 chips from a camera that Panasonic discontinued about four "generations" ago.  They can't give away XL1s's right now -- they've got $500 rebates on 'em to try to move the piled-up stock.  Their trade show booth at DVExpo was a ghost town.

They must respond.  And they must deliver 16:9 and 24P.  And they can't.

First of all, they get their chips from Panasonic.  Panasonic is the only 1/3" 24P chipmaker in the world.  And a Panasonic rep told me there's no way in **** they're giving Canon the 24P chipset.

Second, there has never been a 1/3" CCD that's 16:9.  Heck, there's never been a 1/2" CCD that's 16:9, has there?  Even the JVC "HD" camera, which shoots 16:9 video, does so off a 4:3 chip.  So Canon would have to a) find a new chip supplier, b) find one that can make a 24P CCD, and c) find one that will build it in a shape that's never been done before.  And if they do, well, joy of joys -- they'll announce a new DV-format camera, at the same show that Sony announces a 1080i HDV camera.

It'd be way too little, way too late.  There is no way they could recover their R&D costs. Could they truly invest the time and money and infrastructure to fire up this new chip line, when HDV looms over their shoulder (and they are in fact one of the co-signers on the HDV specification)?

Canon is punting on the whole DV XL2 concept.  I'm telling ya, there's no way they will do it.  They are not a stupid company.  They cannot possibly announce a new, 24P, 16:9-shaped-CCD, DV-format camera.  Won't happen.  Can't happen.

I suspect that there will be a new XL2 announced at NAB (which is only three weeks away now).  And it will be HDV, and 16:9, and 1080i and maybe also 720/30P.  But it won't be 24P. It will not have the 24P that everyone is clamoring for, because HDV does not include 24P as an option.

The 24P wars are over, and Panasonic won.  Canon will respond with an HDV XL2, which will have some success, even though it will be 1080/60i.  And Panasonic is hard at work right now, developing  a 1/3" HDV-class chip that will shoot 16:9 and 1080/24P.  And they won't make it HDV-compatible, they'll call it HDVCPRO, and it'll have a higher bitrate than HDV (although still MPEG2).  How do I know this?  Because I ... well, heck, I'm making it all up, but when you consider Panasonic's recent track record, it sure seems like it makes sense.

Anyway, the ball's in Canon's court.  I've been wrong before. I'm wrong all the time. But I don't think I'm wrong this time (well, I NEVER think I'm wrong, I mean, what's the point of going around being wrong... kind of a waste of time, right?)

Like I say, I've got my napkin tucked in, a fork and knife at the ready, and a whole plateful of words.  Will Canon make me eat 'em?

Anyone wanna bet?
 
Re: Even if it only saves ONE life . . .

Wow!!!! and don't forget the corkscrew and "une bonne bouteille de vin rouge français"

Bon Appétit Barry!!!

p.s.: I'm still getting my DVX100A next week, just can't wait.
 
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