Sony HVR-A1U 24fps For $2,699!?!?

Ill Eagle

Well-known member
I just looked at B&H Photo and they have the A1U at $2,699.00........

Any thoughts on this camera, it says it has a sort of 24fps mode but I'm not up on the technical stuff as of yet.......
 
It doesn't have 24p. It is a 1080i-only camera. It has a fake CineFrame 24 type of video effect that, at least on the FX1 and Z1, does a lousy job of imitating 24p. Search around for "CineFrame 24" or "CF24" on this and other forums and you'll get people's opinions on CineFrame 24.

Saw the A1U very briefly at WEVA -- it is super-maddd tiny. Amazingly small, considering it shoots high-def footage! If you want to read up more on it, look for reviews about the Sony HC1, which is the consumer version. I think there's a lot more info about the HC1 out there. The A1U is the same basic camera with a few extra features.
 
I'm still confused on the whole "Cineframe" issue. I've seen Cineframe25 and it looks good but I've heard that Cineframe24 looks extremely jerky, I've heard more people hate it than like it and the ones who do like it act like it looks good on a TV, not the LCD........

I've still yet to see any footage since I cannot view HD on this computer........
 
it looks like ****. sorry to be frank. the cineframe 24 is horrible. i do like the cineframe 30, though. it doesn't have the look of interlaced video - looks much more "filmic". we just bought a philips 32" HDTV and have been previewing footage all morning. we just received our Z1U yesterday, so play play play...
 
greatscot said:
it looks like ****. sorry to be frank. the cineframe 24 is horrible. i do like the cineframe 30, though. it doesn't have the look of interlaced video - looks much more "filmic". we just bought a philips 32" HDTV and have been previewing footage all morning. we just received our Z1U yesterday, so play play play...

What about it looks shitty, exactly?? Is ist the jerkiness or does it just not look like it's only 24fps?? I've heard different stories but never got a direct answer........
 
I'll give you the most direct answer I can -- it looks awful for three main reasons:

1) the motion rendition is uneven. It's herky-jerky start/stop. It's not evenly sampled between frames. With true 24p you get one frame every 24th of a second. So for every two frames, motion is allocated equally between them. CineFrame 24 doesn't work that way. With CF24 you get about 1/3 of the motion allocated to one frame, and 2/3 to the next. So everything that moves, moves in a weird stuttery two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of way.

2) It drops the resolution dramatically. A high-def CF24 shot has LESS vertical resolution than a DVX or XL2 in standard-def!

3) Even though it's such lower resolution, the resolution isn't constant between frames! In every group of five CF24 frames, you'll get two frames with 475 lines of resolution, followed by two frames with 425 lines, followed by one frame with 575 lines, and then the cycle repeats. That means that even on a static shot where *nothing changes*, you'll still see this odd crawling/shimmering effect going on! If you want to see what it looks like, check out this extraction from a resolution chart shot in high-def CF24 on an FX1:
http://www.icexpo.com/FX1-CF24-Res.avi


CineFrame 24 is horrid.
 
Wow..........I downloaded that clip a few minutes ago and viewed it in this DivX (not the real one) and all I have to say is wow...........

You know, if Sony would've just put out the Z1U with progressive scan, they might've had a near perfect camera but yeah that CF24 looks.....retarded.....
 
Too bad the A1U isn't switchable PAL/NTSC like the Z1U...I might have purchased one if it was. Cineframe25 looks really nice...'sigh'...oh well. :(

Anyone know of a good online store across the pond where I can buy the PAL version from when it comes out?
 
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