New EX1 Model?

From Sony's point of view, SD is Standard Definition. There is no official (or unofficial) support for SD media with the EX1R.

It will be interesting to see what Sony has done with the EX1R. I see 3 possible outcomes

1: No change, the EX1R works identically to the EX1 with USB interface media (eg SDHC cards in media adaptors)
2: Sony improves the USB throughput (& potentially adds some optimsed buffering & code) to unoffically better support USB based media (first indication of this could be by better overcranking performance with non SxS media, or finally,
3: No support for USB based media solutions, other than the Sony external hard drives themselves (device ID check & validation etc, or they even state the U60/U120 units as being simply not compatible with the EX1R and disable the USB interface totally.

We should know pretty soon after they hit show room floors...
 
We have so many customers still working in SD and are very interested in the XDCAM EX Series. If this SD recording feature is true, It would definitely persuade that group of professionals to upgrade.
 
I would be happy with SD line frames that you can turn on in the LCD/viewfinder so you can frame your shot for SD, then just cut off the sides in post.
 
Chadfish said:
I would be happy with SD line frames that you can turn on in the LCD/viewfinder so you can frame your shot for SD, then just cut off the sides in post.
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You mean, 4:3 lines? SD can be 16:9.

I think that the new/updated camera will have 4:2:2 @ 50 Mbit/s to compete with AVC-I @ 100 Mbit/s. According to EBU tech report, intraframe codecs with subsampling are not recommended for 4:2:2 "high quality" recordings (DVCPRO HD is out), also intraframe codecs with bit rate lower than 100 Mbit/s are not recommended (AVC-I @ 50 Mbit/s) is out. On the other hand, long-GOP codecs with 50 Mbit/s at higher are fine.

It would be a serious hit to the HPX300 if Sony releases a shoulder mount model with 4:2:2 @ 50 Mbit/s XDCAM EX camera (they already have the PDW-700, but it records onto PD): comparable compression quality, larger sensor and twice longer recording time on the same capacity cards.
 
Chadfish said:
Yes I mean 4:3 lines.
Click to expand...

But that's already in the EX1 (old) setup. Oops - fired off reply too fast. Okay, okay... my bad.

FWIW Almost all Standard Def production in Europe is 16:9. Except conferences where most project is 4:3 for PowerPoint, which happens to be one of my biggest markets.

Obligatory on-topic addition: But on the whole, whilst I prefer the look of downsampled EX 720p to SD over DSR570 DVCAM, shooting Standard Def to AVI is going to be really helpful for delivering rushes to clients quickly (assuming I'm not editing them): just dump the cards and hand over the USB disk. None of the issues with backing up BPAV folders and pointing the clients to Clip Browser, or the simpler but more time sucking 'transcode to DV and lay off to tape or hand over hard disk.
 
There are 4:3 markers/guides but no actual 4:3 recording mode. The only way to get 4:3 at the moment is to use these guides to frame 4:3, then use Clip Browser or your NLE to down convert & crop in post.

I know LOTS of people who will want this new SD mode, the biggest problem is most of them have already bought cameras like the Z models (9's & 5s etc).
 
How this is an issue? Cropping standard def at export does not take much additional power, and you will be doing center crop anyway, so it can be fully automatic.

As Matt Davis said, Europe has switched to 16:9, if not HD. Shift to 16:9 began as early as 1993. In 1999 every tenth TV sold in France and Sweden, and every fifth TV sold in Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom was a widescreen set. Average European sales dynamic skyrocketed from 0.4% in 1993 to 12.7% in 1999.

This trend finally reached the U.S., most if not all TVs that I see in the stores are widescreen, even cheap ones. They use cheap panels, but they are widescreen.

NTSC is dead, DTV in the U.S. can use widescreen SD, and widescreen DVDs are commonplace. 4:3 must die, any camera that pushes its users away from using 4:3 is a good camera in my view ;-)

Sorry for the digression :-)

P.S. The attached image is from the Final evaluation of the 16:9 Action Plan by IDATE.
 

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Guy that's what I'm asking about - Guides only. We have 4:3 guides in the EX1 now? Where?

I can deal with that - just plop some 720p30 into an SD 4:3 timeline, and enlarge until the thing fills the screen. If I have the guides I can shoot for 4:3.
 
Its in the menu: LCD/VF Set>Marker>
Aspect Marker -> On
Aspect Select: 4:3

(page 40 of my manual)
 
Cranky I agree that NTSC should die. NOW! But still it's all I use in my local TV market. I usually just put a 16:9 HD project into an SD timeline with letterboxing. But I may use 4:3 sometimes, so I was happy to hear I have guides for that if I want. Thanks GuyB!


And I remember in 1998 that my Japanese girlfriend told me that everything went to HD in Japan back then. It is simpler when your country is the size of a county.
 
These improvements sound to me like they're all software based. I wouldn't be too suprised if they worked on a regular EX-1. Not that I'd have the balls to flash any EX1 of mine with EX1-R firmware.
 
Dafilman21 said:
Hey fellas check this out

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/view/Show...tion=2&site=biz_en_GB&contentId=1237476716938
Click to expand...

Nice find! Thank you. You should probably make this a new thread.

PMW-EX1R - review of new features. Same picture quality, but he didn't mention anything about dynamic range of the new sensors. He did say they added IR filter. No pricing or delivery date. Looks like Sony listened to customer complaints about the EX1. Probably not different enough for you to sell your old EX1,but overall a very nice camera.

PMW-350K - 2/3 inch over the shoulder camcorder, recording to SxS. 35Mbps 4:2:0 MPEG2 long GOP codec, but with 4 audio channels. He says it has a very sharp picture. No pricing or delivery, but I would guess that price would be lower than the 700.

SxS-1 card - uses MLC flash memory, half the price of old SxS, 5 year lifespan.

MEAD-MS01 - adapts Sony memory sticks to SxS form factor.

[Edit:] Just noticed it's already been discussed in other threads.
 
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Since the HDSDI/HDMI output is an either/or situation, that limits its' usefulness (like recording via sdi and having a hdmi screen for focus pulling....).
 
Man.... If I could have only held out another 2 months.... Still I really love my EX1 as it is. And I already know I want a second one eventually for event videography, so I suppose I have something to hope for.
 
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