hmc150 vs. hvx200: no clear answer.

resellerratings.com will give you idea of the company

also, MAP is about $3200. If someone advertises for less it is grey market or worse.
 
wait wait wait.... Unfortunately I have been a victim of ordering one of these cameras way under retail... I was to get a Sony FX1 for $1300 normally $3200... When I made the order, I had to call in and verify my info... At that time they said it was just the 'Body' and i had to buy over $2000 in parts like lens, battery, warranty, etc...

Make you read the google reviews or do a search for "thestore.com scam" or "thestore.com fraud"

Anyone that is really going to sell you the camera will be about $3200.


Any recommendations to where to buy the 150? The cheapest price was around $2600 that I found online?
 
And...

Just with the media alone, SD is the way to go... I cant wait to shove a 128GB card into my camera in a few years for around $50... I am amazed P2 is still holding out, and so expensive.
 
....At that time they said it was just the 'Body' and i had to buy over $2000 in parts like lens, battery, warranty, etc...

The FX-1's lens is made onto the body!!!
I wonder what they would do if someone said "Yeah... I just want the body."

That's sad.
The police should track them down and lock them up because BS like that is clearly FRAUD.
 
The FX-1's lens is made onto the body!!!
I wonder what they would do if someone said "Yeah... I just want the body."

We tried that, they said It's in the fine print when we bought it that you have to buy the lens (which like you said is friggin attached) and accessories. Total BS. The guy then said well its on back order for 3-4 weeks. After more lies they agreed to cancel the order.

They are little hole in the wall addresses that pop up with new names and websites overnight... be careful.

That's sad.
The police should track them down and lock them up because BS like that is clearly FRAUD.

Great thing about the internet, you piss people off they will blog about it...

Great evidence, Check out this link:

http://thoughts-of-dave.blogspot.com/2008/02/update-on-sonic-cameras-soniccamerascom.html

http://thoughts-of-dave.blogspot.com/2009/01/warning-closeoutgenius-aka.html (we ordered from these tards)
 
The HVX200 really makes no sense. The tape is SD only. The HPX170 is otherwise better with P2.

Unless your budget is huge, the HMC-150 was a fine choice. While it loses the 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. However, those cameras only sample the chroma 960x540 to begin with.

The HMC150 has the most sophisticated H.264 available; more than AVC Intra, although Intra has a higher bandwidth. Compression quality is probably 3-4x DVCProHD depending on content, a combination of H.264 encoding schemes vs. MPEG2 and long GOP vs. I-frame only. The recording media is 1/50th the price.

You have the right camera...be happy...buy a 1/2 Black Diffusion, mattebox, rods, and some lights. Tripod and mics also. And go take pictures.
 
One of the biggest drawbacks between DVCProHD and AVCHD other than chroma sampling and the availability in some DVCProHD cams, such as the recently released HPX300 to shoot AVCIntra-100 is EDITING.

Editing AVCHD natively in RT is still a promise, not a reality.
 
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I run Final Cut Pro, on a 15" Macbookpro, so I have plenty of power for either the DVCPro or AVCHD codecs.

I know you plan on transcoding to ProRes, but if others are wondering, the MacBook Pro will not be able to handle native AVCHD smoothly. Even 8-core Harperton Mac Pro's (2008) aren't silky smooth. You'll most likely need some sort of Nehalem (i7) based chip for AVCHD RT editing.

Transcoding to ProRes 422 will take time and space. On your MacBook Pro, you'll probably get close to real time transcoding, so you might want to factor that into your workflow. Shoot 2 hours of footage (720 or 1080), wait 2 hours to transcode it (plus transfer SDHC transfer time). With DVDProHD, once you transfer you're ready to edit smoothly. Then again, I guess you could argue that P2 transfer time at 1080p is 1-2 gig/minute, so the 'waiting' time between the two could be similar.

As for space, ProRes 422 (145 Mbps) takes up 6x as much space as AVCHD (24Mbps). So that 16GB you recorded is now 96GB on your HD. Comparing that to DVCProHD: 720p (40Mbps) is 26 GB and 1080p (100 Mbps) is 66GB. Just something to consider for backup/archival purposes.

Of course you could always moot that point by transcoding AVCHD to DVDProHD, but then Apple would be sad.
 
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My take on the HVX vs HMC: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1599066&postcount=9

Also, I wanted to add... while the HMC and HVX are both decent Prosumer HD cameras, the HVX is likely the greatest and most flexible small SD cameras ever made... if your work is still in transition from SD to HD, that's an important factor. Really, a being a truly GREAT SD camera is something the HVX is often overlooked for.
 
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As for space, ProRes 422 (145 Mbps) takes up 6x as much space as AVCHD (24Mbps). So that 16GB you recorded is now 96GB on your HD. Comparing that to DVCProHD: 720p (40Mbps) is 26 GB and 1080p (100 Mbps) is 66GB. Just something to consider for backup/archival purposes.

Well, I suppose it depends on your workflow. For me, the greatest benefit of the HMC is that I can archive the small AVCHD files, and blow 'em up to ProRes when I need to. Archiving DVCProHD is a much more space & money-consuming endeavor.
 
Well, I suppose it depends on your workflow. For me, the greatest benefit of the HMC is that I can archive the small AVCHD files, and blow 'em up to ProRes when I need to. Archiving DVCProHD is a much more space & money-consuming endeavor.

I've been considering that as an archiving solution. Is your workflow something like:

- Make copy of original AVCHD files for archive
- Transcode AVCHD to ProRes
- Edit/Composite/Grade ProRes.
- Save the project, then remove all original AVCHD -> ProRes files
- Several months later, you need to make a change to the project. Transcode all original AVCHD files back to ProRes and reconnect the media.
 
- Make copy of original AVCHD files for archive
- Transcode AVCHD to ProRes
- Edit/Composite/Grade ProRes.
- Save the project, then remove all original AVCHD -> ProRes files
- Several months later, you need to make a change to the project. Transcode all original AVCHD files back to ProRes and reconnect the media.

That sounds about right. Although, for short form productions, 4 minutes or less, I don't bother deleting the transcoded media. Along with keeping the AVCHD files, I would keep the ProRes files and archive the whole project 'as is' onto one DVD. Easier to pickup the project like that. No need to relink.
 
I've been considering that as an archiving solution. Is your workflow something like:

- Make copy of original AVCHD files for archive
- Transcode AVCHD to ProRes
- Edit/Composite/Grade ProRes.
- Save the project, then remove all original AVCHD -> ProRes files
- Several months later, you need to make a change to the project. Transcode all original AVCHD files back to ProRes and reconnect the media.

Right! That's for HD archiving.

Backup freak that I am, I also archive H.264 versions of the raw materials at the highest bitrate that's convenient to fit on a DVD (that is, each act/camera of an opera at 10Mbps, maybe, etc). I like to have copies on DVD. When BluRay gets affordable enough for me (and proves itself reliable), I'll likely back up the original AVCHD to that.
 
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