HMC-150 for PRODUCTION?

M

mactreouser

Member
Hi,

I'm looking for a Camcorder for my Production House, most of the jobs are "Concert Shooting, Interviewing, MTV..." Will you suggest the HMC150 for the above works?

Thanks and need your idea...:dankk2:
 
the only thing i'd be concerned about is the avchd workflow but if you can handle that fine then the hmc is golden
 
mac, the best thing you can do is do your own research, study HMC video footage from other HMC owners and decide if that quality suits your level of production.

if the quality looks like something that you are looking for in your production, then get it

if not, then don't get it
 
Thomas Lew said:
the only thing i'd be concerned about is the avchd workflow but if you can handle that fine then the hmc is golden
Click to expand...

This is a great point. For individuals with time and hard drive space on their hands this may not be that big of a problem. But a lot of production houses, trying to crank out as many jobs as possible, the need to convert AVCHD footage (on some platforms?) to an editable format prior to post work and the amount of HD space that converted footage takes up are prohibitive to quick turnaround and efficiency.

In my case I am shooting a doc DVCPRO HD (HPX 500) and a few little AVC HD camcorders and posting in FCP. The P2 workflow is smooth and simple. The AVC HD workflow is long and laborious (esp. when I have hit a few bad clips that need rescuing. Not all SDHC cards are made equal). The transcoded AVCHD footage (pro res) takes up a lot more drive space than my 1080 DVC PRO HD clips. It's a trade off between upfront cost for the P2 workflow or time cost for the AVCHD workflow after the fact (and maybe a little extra for HDDs if you have a lot of AVCHD to convert.

There are my thoughts.
 
Casey is correct.

Cost of P2 vs Cost of more hard drive space and time transcoding.

For me, the hard drives and transcoding won.

If you need to shoot over an 1 1/2 hours straight, P2 just does not offer a solution.

The HMC-150 can give you 3 hours on one SDHC card.

The transcoding is done in the background as is the transfer from the card, so I don't really lose much work time.

Unlike back in the DV - firewire days when you were afraid to touch the computer as it might skip a beat!
 
AVCHD issue

AVCHD issue

Hi ,

Thanks all of you!!!!

Do the AVCHD PQ really an issue when you choosing a Camcorder for your Production House?

DVCPro really produce a higher PQ than AVCHD?

or

Nowaday, AVCHD might able to fit the needs of a Production House?
 
Look around on this site, there are a few folks who own both the 150 and 170 (or 200a), and will freely tell you they can't tell the difference in PQ. There are a few extras that the 170 offers you, like variable framerates... but if the bulk of what you're doing is shooting concerts and interviews and such, those extras won't be needed. Plus with concerts, the 3 hours on one card is a nice bonus.
 
So, if AVCHD takes up more drive space...how much Drive space should we expect to plan for? How much hours would fit on a 500gb or a TB?

Plus, is it true that Final Cut won't read AVCHD footage and we have to get a converter? I currently edit with Final Cut Pro.

I have done Film Shorts where I needed the "Film Look" so I used the HVX w/ 35mm adapters and primes, but I am prepping for a Documentary and I do need the longer storage capacity in the SD cards without worrying about dumping the P2s every couple of hours.

Thanks.
 
Hi,

Thanks again!!

I just read a thread from other forum mention about using AVCHD on FCP.It c'ld read the AVCHD but when come to Log & Transfer...it'll taka a lot of space to transcode it into Pre Res...do you agree, and what's your suggestion?

Young Gun, i wish to watch your Movie which done with AVCHD format...mind to show us?

So, AVCHD is a Goal for a production house in terms of Quality, Recording media/Storage???
 
By past conversions, the file size ratio between ProRes and the native AVCHD is between 4:1 and 5:1. I just downloaded the Mac version of NeoScene and I have to admit I like the image of Cineform's conversion as opposed to VoltaicHD's conversion to DNxHD, although I haven't tested VoltaicHD's conversion to ProRes. I think Cineform states on their website that their Cineform files are on the order of 35GB/hr, depending on image size and quality.

http://www.cineform.com/products/NeoScene.htm
 
Mactreouser: Actually, I shot my short with a HVX & primes, but about to do a Doc, so I was doing some research to see what cam I'm going to shoot with.

According to the peeps on this Forum that a HMC is the way to go (for docs, concerts, reality stuff, etc.), but I just needed to know more about the AVCHD format and workflow.

Geeze...every time I'm about to make my decision to purchase a camera...a new one comes out with better features.

Renting is the way to go for me until then.
 
Young Gun said:
So, if AVCHD takes up more drive space...how much Drive space should we expect to plan for? How much hours would fit on a 500gb or a TB?

Plus, is it true that Final Cut won't read AVCHD footage and we have to get a converter? I currently edit with Final Cut Pro.
Click to expand...

AVCHD does NOT take up more space than DVCProHD. It takes roughly the same amount of space as DV and HDV. Where people are getting the more space issue is that AVCHD is a hard format to edit with depending on your computer setup, because it is so CPU intensive. So a lot of folks are converting it to a more manageable, like Cineform or ProRes. The trade off is that the file sizes are about 5-6 times bigger. An hour of AVCHD is about 10-12 gigs. An hour of Cineform I believe is about 60. ProRes... I dunno, I don't use FCP.

As to FCP... and bare in mind this is coming from a PC person who uses Adobe CS4... I believe you are correct. FCP can't edit it. It CAN convert it to ProRes. That is how everyone with seems to be working with it in FCP.
 
Pro Res is not lossless if that's what you're asking, although I would imagine that the image quality doesn't suffer a whole lot of degradation. It's something of a compromise to be able to edit.
 
Gymnut808 said:
Pro Res is not lossless if that's what you're asking, although I would imagine that the image quality doesn't suffer a whole lot of degradation. It's something of a compromise to be able to edit.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
What bout the AIC format?any different in between AIC format and Pro Res?:huh:
 
AIC is associated with iMovie and FCE whereas Pro Res with FCP. File size wise, they're pretty much the same, but I'd fathom that Pro Res would be better suited to edit with, while AIC was born out of the need of a manageable HDV workflow with consumer HDV cameras.
 
I see.
So, for Pro editing, transfering preset will go for Pro Res and Consumer Camcorder transfering preset, AIC will be more than enough, am i right?
 
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