Shoot w/HVX200 + DVX100 - settings for compatibility?

R

RobertW

New member
Greetings. I'd like to pick your collective brains - thanks in advance.

I might be on a long term doc that would involve a main crew w/a HVX200 and 2-3 field producers shooting substantial footage with DVX100's. THe HVX footage would be about half of the film; DVX's would generate the rest. Post would be on FCP. This would be a project for delivery to public television - hopefully national - in about a year and a half. As much as it would be great to outfit everyone with HVX200's and Cineporters, that's unlikely to happen. And the DVX's might work better for low light run & gun doc situations, anyway. So I'm trying to figure out how best to plan for mixed cameras/footage and future-proof the project as much as possible. Options I'm pondering:

(A) Shoot HVX and DVX's in regular DV, 4x3. (Too boring, backward looking.)
(B) Shoot HVX and DVX's in regular DV, but in 16x9. (More interesting.)
(C) Shoot HVX in DVCProHD, 16x9; DVX's in regular DV, 16x9. (Most interesting, but potentially complicated in post.)

I'm leaning towards (C), but want to anticipate any issues. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. I'm wondering:
(1) What would be best settings for 16x9 on the DVX - letterbox or squeeze? Thick or thin?
(2) Are there some anti-aliasing issues with HVX 16x9 in standard def? I seem to remember reading something.
(3) How much of a pain would it be in post to mix DV and DVCProHD in a FCP project? (Rendering is an issue, obviously, but I could convert the DVCProHD to DV for the offline.)
(4) Would differences between footage from the cameras be too glaring? (It's unlikely that footage from different cameras would be intercut in the same segment, but montages might include a variety of footage.)
(5) Any other considerations?

Thanks!
- Robert
 
It really depends on what you want. Do you want the two cameras to intigrate well or do you wanna take full advantage of the HVX200? It seems that if you're going to shell out the cost of the HVX200 you might want to use it to it's fullest potential (even in SD) but it won't intigrate as well.

1. I've been told Letterbox (or just adding black bars yourself in post to give you more options) is the better way to go since they yield the same amount of resolution either way. THIN is going to give you a cleaner image.

2. I haven't heard that. The HVX200 has a native 16X9 CCD so I don't know why there would be aliasing issues (anti-aliasing is something a bit different).

3. Not sure about FCP. I know in an Avid SD project you can go ahead and import footage in either DV25 or DV50 in the same project.

4. The HVX200 is going to be sharper. It has a sharper lense and sharper CCDs so even if you are shooting strait to DV tape it'll still look better. It's CCDs are true 16x9 so you'll want to use squeeze mode (it makes no sense why they call it squeeze since it's actually the true resolution with no squeezeing) rather than letterbox which will give you a sharper image. Also, DVCPro50 is going to give you a much cleaner image than DV will. Do some tests and see how glarring the difference is for yourself.
 
Regarding (2), yes there's an issue with aliasing on an HVX when shooting 480/60i, it appears that it's delivering a too-sharp image for the interlaced system. You can rectify it a lot by turning down your detail level and v-detail-level. But the best way to avoid the issue is just to not shoot in 60i, shoot 30p or 24p instead and it looks fantastic.
 
Thanks.
It sounds like the following will work for me:
DVX at 16x9, 30p, DV, letterbox(?).
HVX at 16x9, 30p, DVCPro50, squeeze(?).

And I'll test, of course, but since I don't have a DVX yet, I wonder whether anyone has any wisdom about whether the DVX in letterbox (or 4x3 framed for letterbox) and HVX in squeeze is the way to go - from what I've read, that would yield the best quality in each camera. Thoughts? Would this make post even more complicated?
Thanks!
- Robert
 
I would letterbox the HVX and squeeze the DVX. Also to match best shoot in DV25. I can tell you that in 16:9 mode it is tough to match these two. I have successfully matched an XL2 and HVX but the DVX footage is very soft thrown next to HVX.


ash =o)
 
If you wanna match these to cam,
use the hvx for the large shots and the dvx at full zoom for the closeups.
The dvx is sharper at full zoom and can look HD.

I made a short movies the two, and it matched well.
At the same setting, the hvx was way redder than the dvx though...

Dvx100 dv, 16/9 squeeze
hvx200 dv, 16/9 letter box (it has a shorter focal range)
 
Baddack said:
If you wanna match these to cam,
use the hvx for the large shots and the dvx at full zoom for the closeups.
The dvx is sharper at full zoom and can look HD.

I made a short movies the two, and it matched well.
At the same setting, the hvx was way redder than the dvx though...

Dvx100 dv, 16/9 squeeze
hvx200 dv, 16/9 letter box (it has a shorter focal range)
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'd love to see some pics since this strikes me as odd. I don't quite understand why the DVX would be sharper at full zoom since it's got a smaller CCD and softer lense. The comment about the HVX being redder just strikes me as odd too. In my experience, I find the HVX tends to look less saturated and generally less red than the DVX.
 
He's saying (if I may be allowed to interpret) that the DVX will look comparatively sharper in a tele shot than it will in a wide shot.

Or, in other words, don't use the lesser cam for wide shots (whenever mixing cameras). Shooting closeups on the DVX and wide shots on the HVX will intercut a lot better than shooting closeups on the HVX and wide shots on the DVX.
 
RobertW said:
(3) How much of a pain would it be in post to mix DV and DVCProHD in a FCP project? (Rendering is an issue, obviously, but I could convert the DVCProHD to DV for the offline.)
Click to expand...

does anyone have this answer? I'm wondering how to mix footage, too, if need be. I have the original DVX and no squeeze capability. Would I just drop this footage into a sequence for DVCProHD and FCP would "convert?" or would I need to do something to the footage in Compressor? pretty lost, but i'll keep reading around.
 
Barry is correct, the wider and more detailed the shot, the more you expose the lack of resolution.




ash =o)
 
what about gs400 cinema and hvx sd?

what about gs400 cinema and hvx sd?

Hi guys! What about matching footage from a gs400 in cinema mode and hvx in 24p SD?
I am thinking of going on a long trek to an area where I shall be without electricity for weeks at a time. Hence, the need to go for smaller form factor cameras. Am thinking of buying those portable solar panels for charging batteries. What other specialized gear should I prepare?
 
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