Recording modes and bitrates

ullanta

ullanta

Veteran
I am very excited to see the DVX200, but looking at the docs, I have a few questions - perhaps feature requests...

Is it true that there are no 30p (29.97p) frame rates available in AVCHD?

Is it true that there's no low-bitrate MOV/MP4 option (e.g., 21 or 25 Mbps - the AVCHD codec, but in MP4 wrapper)?

Is it true that there's no option for dual recording to the 8Mbps codec with anything less than 100Mbps as the main one?

Any chance for any of this to be added in a firmware update? I'm looking at an academic setting where the camera would serve many purposes, and in many ways this camera seems ideal. But the lack of low-bitrate options in MOV/MP4 is a big problem for workflow in many situations, and may be a deal-breaker.

:-(
 
1) There is no 30p option in AVCHD. No idea why not, but it's not offered in this camera.
2) The lowest bitrate option in MOV/MP4 is 50mbps, unless you use the Dual Record option. You can get much lower in AVCHD of course, down to 5mbps. You cannot have MP4 at lower than 50 mbps. You can, however, get MOV at 8 mbps, if you choose dual codec.
3) To use the 8mbps dual codec option, the main codec has to be 100 mbps or 200 mbps (FHD 24-60p, or UHD 24-30p).

If you want long recording times in 8mbps 30p, the way to go would be to set a 256gb card in Slot 1, and a 64gb SDXC card in Slot 2. Put the camera in UHD 30p, with Dual Record at FHD 8 mbps. That way you'll have about 5 and a half hours of continuous recording time in UHD and your dual-codec record will also be a continuous 5 and a half hours. But, the two big bonuses over AVCHD are that the 8mbps FHD will be in .MOV format and it'll be one continuous file. It won't have been split into segments. You'll have one big continuous .MOV file of somewhere around 17 gb or so.

And, on top of that, you'll have a UHD master file to go back to if it's ever necessary or desirable.

A SanDisk Extreme Pro U3 256gb card is under $128 right now. Not free, but not exactly prohibitively expensive either; it costs less than an additional battery. For your particular usage it would be considered an extra-cost mandatory accessory.

Of course, if this still doesn't get you enough recording time, you could get a 512gb card for Slot 1. Lexar makes one that's about $225 right now, and would double your recording times so you'd get about 11 hours of continuous UHD recording, and your 8mbps dual codec would be the same 11 hours and would still be one continuous file.
 
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Ugh, yes, I was thinking about something like that. I worry about using the same large card on a daily basis; and I assume a card fault in this case would stop BOTH RECORDINGS (i.e., no redundancy). I could see this as a stopgap measure whilevwaiting for a promised firmware upgrade, but an ugly long-term solution. It's not so much the recording time; it's the ability to have a distributable file with no further processing right after an event; and the ability to have reasonable raw footage that's relatively compact for redundant long-term storage and relatively quick offloading. AVCHD quality is perfect for this; it would've perfect to have that quality in a single large file (or AVCHD main recording and 8mbps mov secondary recording).

Any idea why there's no 30p in AVCHD? That seems perhaps like the most likely thing to come in a firmware update.....
 
Barry, Do you think Panasonic will ever update the DVX200 to 10bit-4.2.2 Internal? Do you know if the new AG UX180 will have 10bit-4.2.2 Internal?
 
7DDude said:
Barry, Do you think Panasonic will ever update the DVX200 to 10bit-4.2.2 Internal? Do you know if the new AG UX180 will have 10bit-4.2.2 Internal?
Click to expand...
I do not think it's possible using the hardware they have now, or they would have done so. So no, I would bet heavily that you will not see internal 10-bit 4:2:2 on this generation of cameras. I mean, they may surprise me, and I might lose that bet, but I doubt it.
 
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