hvx in japan is about 4700 usd

B

brianluce

Carbonite Member
I was going to get an hvx but decided to get the jvc hd100 instead. Although I know the hvx has a better codec and is more versatile, and may even produce a superior picture (at least that's what's barry's vegas stills seem to suggest) i'm just not comfortable with p2 workflow and arhcival options. I never really could get my head around it--mini dv tapes have that built in comfort level, the jvc should work out to offer the best bang for the buck now that the sse problems have been mitigated and the battery issue is solved with the idx promo.

Just wanted to remind people that i do believe japanese vendors have the hvx in abundance apparently? that's what i've heard and the prices are much lower though for the p2 cards i think they're about the same.

this is how i was gonna get mine, since i'm living in asia at the moment, this method really made more sense than buying from a us vendor--EVS was not particularly comfortable with shipping overseas and other vendors simply won't do it.

there are on line purchasing agents that can act as middlemen, i used such an outfit about 3 years ago for a lcd video projector. they saved me a lot of money and i had no issues at all. smooth deal. I do NOT endorse or condemn this method of acquiring a hvx but it is an option some of you guys might want to consider.

don't forget, the us may charge an import duty (my projector was $2100 and they didn't charge me anything) and shipping is about $150. and if you go through a middle man, they might charge something like 5%.

b
 
Brian, I tried the JVC yesterday in a Film fair in HK. It was attached to a Mini 35. It gave excelent DOF, and it looked good when filming static objects. However, when I put a person in front of the camera, I immediatelly saw the difference between the HVX and the JVC. The HVX simply portraits the tonality and organic color of people a lot better than anything else on the market- just like the Varicam does in a Higher end situation.

I saw Varicam footage blown up side to side to XDCAM HD footage. The XDCAM footage looked sharper (significantly), but, color wise, (and, shall I say, gamawise?) the Varicam footage just looked a lot better. The new Varicam will certainly be a real treat if it can compete with Sony's sharpness in the HDCAM field and maintain the beautifull color and gamma curves...

But I was also really impressed with JVC's 70" rear projection HDTV ! Beautiful image, no problem with dailight (new projection technology makes screen looks as bright from any position in a room, just like a crt or plasma).

Also, JVC was displaying their 17" HD CRT- the best solution, at least for me, for HD monitoring. And quite accessible in price!
 
SPZ said:
Brian, I tried the JVC yesterday in a Film fair in HK. It was attached to a Mini 35. It gave excelent DOF, and it looked good when filming static objects. However, when I put a person in front of the camera, I immediatelly saw the difference between the HVX and the JVC. The HVX simply portraits the tonality and organic color of people a lot better than anything else
Click to expand...

that's interesting because several reports have given glowing reviews regarding the jvc's warmth and color, particularly when compared to the Canon.

Did you observe any of the macro blocking thats haunted the hvx? that's another issue that concerns me. The thread haakon posted in fried my brain and left me not knowing what or who to believe. the macroblocking thing also swayed me toward the hd100.
 
I haven't tried the Canon XL-h1, but seeing the picture of older Canon XL series cameras, I can assume the picture looks equally flat out of the Box. But, Brian, in my opinion, one shouldn't look at this factor as the judgement factor for this camera specifically. Canon camera is flat but portraits all colors evenly, which in someway is easier to work with in Post production. The JVC camera, however, is like the DVX, which means nice filmic colors, but due to the 4:2:0 color resolution, a bit more dificult to color correct in Post-production. While the HVX color is similar to the JVC ( not flat colors but rich film-like colors), the advantage is that in the HVX you are working with 4:2:2, which is a lot better in for post-production. Add to that the Panasonic cine-gamma curve, which is the closest representation of film gamma from all the cameras I've seen, and you get what is, in my opinion, the better package.

The PAL camera is arriving in a week time over here. Why don't you wait for it and try it? How much for a trip from the Philipines to Singapore? They will get it there first...

Recording footage ends up a non issue with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. First Blu-Ray drives from Pioneer are already on sale in HK for 1000 USD.

EDIT- The macroblocking is a non-issue. Just look at the footage you are getting from the users over here: Look at the bathtub video and the Ipod boogie video. Look at the Basketball video. And last but not least look at the snow footage video. There's no comparison of what you get with this camera and the competition. The only problem are the recording times...Unless you are mainly event shooting and occasionaly shooting Commercials (like I do), I don't see a better option than the HVX at the price range bellow 20k.
 
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my problem is i will need to shoot 30 and 40 minute interviews so i'd have to get firestore, cineporter, or stream to laptop. p2 is poorly suited for that type of long take.

the 422 dv 50 codec is quite seductive but apparently 420 in the context of a 1/3" camera, especially when downrezzing is involved is close to 422 anyway. or so the gurus say.

the green screen work i've seen off the hd100 looks alot better than mini dv, so i'm good with the 420 color space.

the other thing is the reports of horror stories in post production are all second hand, the people that have actually used it first hand usually say it's a workable solution.

the one thing i find hard to believe is that the image off the hd100 is significantly better or worse than the hvx, the canon, or the z1. I think it comes down to feature set more than anything else.
 
That's why you need to see it for yourself. Do yourself a favor and waste 1600HKD(maybe 190USD there?) and go check-out these cameras in Singapore or HK (the price includes a stay in a 3 star reasonable hotel in HK). Arrange a meeting with the Panasonic, JVC and Canon representatives. Try e-mailing them. Both JVC and Panasonic personell are very responsive over here (HK). Canon is a bit harder to get in contact, but you should try nonetherless. That way you can clear your doubts once and for all...
 
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