MiniDV vs. HVX200/Ex1

[DanHD]

For years as a kid I shot home movies with my little miniDV cam. They looked good to me back then, but watching them now, I realize how horrid looking MiniDV was.

And of course I'm mentioning it's handling of highlights, how they are always blown out, and clip very very easily.

Now that leads me to my question, why is miniDV as a codec/format so sloppy with the highlights? I mean, shoot with ANY miniDV cam that's under, say, a thousand dollars and you'll get ugly ugly washed out blown patches of blobby white (unlike the dvx, which is miniDV but does a great job)

Why question is simply, why is this?

I mean miniDV is an 8bit codec, therefore it should provide an ample amount of latitude (both DVCPRO HD and XDCAM EX are 8 bit as well as many others)

so why so different? does it have to do solely with the camera heads? the dsps and bit depth of the A/D converter?
I assume it's probably a combination of all these

Is it the non adjustable gamma of most miniDV cams? is it a real steep curve that just blows everything out? or what? I mean obviously the more falt gammas attainable with the hvx200/ex1s help with highlight rendition, but still,

whats going on with miniDV?

 

[jls4]

I mean miniDV is an 8bit codec, therefore it should provide an ample amount of latitude (both DVCPRO HD and XDCAM EX are 8 bit as well as many others)

so why so different? does it have to do solely with the camera heads? the dsps and bit depth of the A/D converter?
I assume it's probably a combination of all these

Is it the non adjustable gamma of most miniDV cams? is it a real steep curve that just blows everything out? or what? I mean obviously the more falt gammas attainable with the hvx200/ex1s help with highlight rendition, but still,

whats going on with miniDV?

You've answered your own question. MiniDV first of all is an 8-bit codec that comes from an 8-bit stream. So the sensor itself is only picking up 256 values of luminosity. And even though when you watch your favorite movie, it has the same amount compressing into DVD format, the problem is, it wasn't "captured" that way. Most of the higher level cameras are now using at least 10 bits to capture and 8 Bits to store.

8 Bits - 256 levels, 10 Bits 1024.

So what the higher level cameras do, is take the larger signal and capture only a piece of it. But the piece they capture is better because they can use say 750 bits to capture highlights where with the lower level cams, they only have maybe 50 bits.

Also the EX3 is really good because you can personally control how your highlights are captured, giving you maximum flexability.

 

[Barry_Green]

You did answer your own question, but at a different place. The answer lies here:

I mean, shoot with ANY miniDV cam that's under, say, a thousand dollars

Why would you expect great performance from *any* camera that costs under a thousand bucks? Cheap is cheap for a reason. Now, take that exact same miniDV format and shoot to it from an HPX2700 or a DSR450WS and I think you'll see a WORLD of difference.

8 bit vs. 10 bit will help, but it's the front end of the camera that's making all the difference, and no $1000 pocket-cam is going to perform anywhere near like a big full-fledged pro cam.

 

[DanHD]

I know that Barry, but I was just asking for a technical explanation as to WHY the cameras are so bad with highlights.

Is it because the DSP is ony 8 bit like he said? or because the heads just arent as sensitive or what?