HVX200A Records HD to Mini DV?

F

finklefilms

Active member
Hi folks,

Looking to purchase an HD camera for shooting documentaries however it seems using P2 cards is not conducive to conducting interviews or capturing long running events.

Does the HVX200A record HD to DV Tape? If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.
 
No, the HVX only records SD to tape.

Why do you say p2 cards are not conducive to long running events? Except for price issues, they're fine... even better than tape since you can run continuously for longer times with P2 than with tape.

Have you considered the HMC150?
 
ullanta said:
No, the HVX only records SD to tape.

Why do you say p2 cards are not conducive to long running events? Except for price issues, they're fine... even better than tape since you can run continuously for longer times with P2 than with tape.

Have you considered the HMC150?
Click to expand...
Is the SD quality better than the DVX by far?
 
finkle - depends on your budget! But basically, yes... in progress, I keep copies of all footage redundantly on multiple HDs. I also archive h.264 of all footage to DVD-Rs, as an emergency measure.

thome - The DVX is a good camera... if you don't need HD yet, then sure, hold off and keep working with the DVX. The HD world changes daily. But, if you want to do both, the HVX is a great transitional camera. When the new E-series P2 cards ship, you'll be able to get 4 hours of continuous HD recording (720/30pN) or 8 hours of continuous SD recording pretty cheap... the workflow is nice!
 
So if I go away for a month shoot to Africa I have to bring multiple hard drives if I am going to shoot hours of footage? Is there not an easier way?

Just trying to find the best camera to buy that shoots HD but is most convenient for shooting docs. Thanks for your suggestions.
 
ullanta said:
No, the HVX only records SD to tape.

Why do you say p2 cards are not conducive to long running events? Except for price issues, they're fine... even better than tape since you can run continuously for longer times with P2 than with tape.

Have you considered the HMC150?
Click to expand...

ullanta said:
Have you considered the HMC150?
Click to expand...
Exactly. No question for budget doc work HMC150.
HiDef.
Beats the pants off tape in footage hours per media unit and size / portability of media for doc work.
 
Great suggestion Jack. After doing some research this morning this looks like the way to go for what we do.

Do you have experience with the HMC150? Is it easy to drop the footage into Final Cut 6 and maintain quality without having to do any conversions?

Can you really get 100 minutes of 1080 out of a 16GB SD card?

Thanks you've been really helpful.
 
ullanta said:
Sometimes I feel really tiny and invisible.
Click to expand...
LOL! I even quoted you and everything.

finklefilms said:
Great suggestion Jack. After doing some research this morning this looks like the way to go for what we do.

Do you have experience with the HMC150? Is it easy to drop the footage into Final Cut 6 and maintain quality without having to do any conversions?

Can you really get 100 minutes of 1080 out of a 16GB SD card?

Thanks you've been really helpful.
Click to expand...

I have cursory experience with it but I have a friend that works with one all the time. I believe you have to log and transfer like you had to do with P2 and FCP 5. Still faster than tape.

I'll forward my friend this thread and he can tell you about his workflow - pretty sure he is on a mac.
 
You definitely have to transcode the AVCHD as it is just too compressed to really edit. It makes HDV native editing look like a walk in the park. My quad core with 4gb of memory has trouble scrubbing AVCHD if that gives you an idea.

I use one of 2 work flows depending on whatever suits the situation.

1)Transcode to ProRes directly from card using a usb card reader and edit.
2)Copy cards as folders to hard drive and transcode to ProRes for editing later.

You can also just buy several cards and transcode whenever you feel like it. I purchased 16gb Class 6 SDHC AData cards from newegg.com for $25 each. That gives you 99 minutes of recording time in the 1080 PH mode. (21-24MB VBR AVCHD)

It takes close to real time to transcode but it still beats the crap out of dealing with tape issues. I cut the footage together with stuff from my HVX200 and it looks great!

If you have a pc handy then you can use the free Mainconcept AVCHD to DVCPro HD transcoder and then you have standard P2 footage you can use with other Panny cameras footage seamlessly.



P.S. I see you Ullanta, I see you...
 
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