HVX200 or Canon XL H1?

DavidBeier

DavidBeier

Veteran
Yeah, I know a bunch of people are going to come here and say, "there have been a million topics on this!" I'm sure there have. I havn't been able to find one that clearly states the pros and cons for these cameras compared to each other. I'm talking resolution, compression, colors, lenses, light sensativity, gamma curve, sound, frame rates, visual control, ect.

If someone could do a comparision, one preferably without too much jargon, I'd appreciate it. Or, if someone could point me to a topic which has already done this, just as good.

Thanks.
 
Prolly people will ask you what you are going to be using this cam for...ie: Commercials, Films, documentaries and so on. Then they will ask you what is important to you....ie: what you listed: resolution, compression, colors, lenses, light sensativity, gamma curve, sound, frame rates, visual control, ect. But anyways, either of these cams will do, its just how YOU use them and how YOU put the cam to work for YOU.

~John
 
My primary purpose is films.

Anyway, I realize that different cameras work for different things and personally do want to make the choice of which is best for me myself. I'm more looking for an understanding of the technical specifications and how they perform but with hopefully not a lot of jargon.

I'm curious about how they perform in the categories I asked about and then will make my own decision.
 
For films, you can't beat the HVX200, it's just made for it. Plus, there's some more testing to be done with the XLH1's 24F if I'm not mistaken. But, if you could afford to have an HD-SDI deck or get a computer with a Kona 3 card, then the XLH1's uncompressed HD-SDI out could be something to seriously consider over the HVX200.

Noise is something of an issue still, none of these 1/3" cameras will get away from that at the moment. It's easily fixed though, light well and don't use gain!

Have you also considered the JVC HD100U? That is also a very nice camera for filmmaking, but be careful with the gain on that one especially as to avoid the SSE problem. If you're not interested in the HD100U, then I'm just wasting time with this paragraph. =)

One other thing to consider is size, the HVX200 will be less noticeable than a big XLH1 or even the HD100U if you need to run and gun something.

Basically, you're asking the same old debate between the DVX100 and the XL2. Both pros and cons from those arguments are still here, but it's in HD now!

The XLH1 resolves more resolution, not enough to be terribly noticeable, but it technically does. The XLH1 does about 800 lines and the HVX200 does 750 or so. But they're both good for filmmaking in that respect anyway, so the only difference is the P2 card format format for the HVX200 and the HD-SDI out for the XLH1.

Just go with what you can afford I suppose. If you don't want to spend the extra $30,000 for an HD-SDI deck or $3,000 for a Kona 3 card and possibly $4,000-8,000 more for a Mac if you don't have one, then don't get the XLH1. But, if you can live with the XLH1's HDV tape format, then you'll be okay.

If you don't want to swap out cards left and right to a laptop for download to a mobile external HDD, then don't get the HVX200.

But this raises another question, what are you filming? HD or SD? When it comes to SD, I'd still lean towards the HVX200 for the DVCPRO25/50 option. But the XLH1 wouldn't be too shabby either.

You may want to let us know a little more about what you're wanting David. I could just throw stuff out all day and contradict myself right after. What do you want out of these cameras?
 
Thanks for the info. Personally, I can't afford $3,000 and $4,000 for the Kona and Mac so that prettty much gets rid of the HD-SDI possability. I'm am a bit curious however what the difference between the 4:2:2 recording of HDV tape is and the 4:2:0 of the P2 chips are.

I'm also wondering if anyone knows of a cheap way to store the HVX200 footage. I never like to throw footage away and lose it forever but, as a budget filmmaker, I can't really afford to story it on multiple external HDs and the P2s are obviously so expensive that I couldn't not re-use them. Is there a good way to dump stuff for future use?
 
AFAIK, harddrives are the way to go really, until blue-ray or somesuch gets a little more ground, then maybe you can use those disks to archive stuiff on.
 
Both cameras are great, cant go wrong. The HVX does not resolve 750 lines, not sure where that came from. The 24F mode is identical in motion to 24P, slight rez lost but still, on paper, more than the HVX.

I prefer DVCproHD but it is far from perfect, and HDV is better than most people say.


ash =o)
 
[HVX's pros]

One word: color

Two words: color & gamma-curve

Three words: color, gamma-curve & sound (without doubling hassle)
 
One of the multiple reason I wouldn't go with a XL H1 is the HDV recording format. Water, fire or movement doesn't look good. Frame indemendant is the way to go.
Mpeg2 at 100mbits might kill DVCPRO HD though...
 
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