Sony reveals 1st NXCAM camcorder: HXR-NX5U

PDR said:
It's better to shoot progressive, if your intended output is progressive.
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Obviously, but it hasn't been very practical to shoot true 720p60 real affordably up until recently.

My original point was that I don't really see a huge barrier to Canon getting decent 720p60 out of their CCDs. I'm not advocating that they get as crude about it as essentially using YADIF and creaming the rough edges by downscaling, but getting pretty nice results using that methodology makes me think that Canon really should be able to manage getting reasonably good 720p60 with conventional CCDs.
 
Robert M Wright said:
My original point was that I don't really see a huge barrier to Canon getting decent 720p60 out of their CCDs. I'm not advocating that they get as crude about it as essentially using YADIF and creaming the rough edges by downscaling, but getting pretty nice results using that methodology makes me think that Canon really should be able to manage getting reasonably good 720p60 with conventional CCDs.
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Exactly. On the other hand, ~600 lines is currently barely enough for HD and will probably not be tolerated for a brand new camera released in 2010.
 
Cranky said:
Have you actually verified it for one-line details?
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I have blown it up and looked at it frame-by-frame. Most recently, I've been looking at ways to get 720p60 (inexpensively from a 1080i60 consumer cam) for analyzing facial expressions (something a therapist friend of mine has some interest in) - seems like it could work pretty nicely.
 
Robert M Wright said:
I have blown it up and looked at it frame-by-frame. Most recently, I've been looking at ways to get 720p60 (inexpensively from a 1080i60 consumer cam) for analyzing facial expressions (something a therapist friend of mine has some interest in) - seems like it could work pretty nicely.
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No, what I meant is that a dumb deinterlacer can cause line twitter if you have details one pixel high. You should watch this in motion, not a still frame.
 
The easiest way is with Avidemux (which is sort of similar to Virtual Dub). You can also do it with AVISynth. Are you on a PC?
 
In Vegas, drop 60i onto 60p timeline and select deinterlace->interpolate. If you want to preview, you need to use FULL mode, in other modes Vegas shows every second frame (field).
 
You'll get way better images using YADIF (and downscaling with Lanczos resizing) than you will deinterlacing (and downscaling) in Vegas.
 
Avidemux is freeware, and includes YADIF and Lanczos resizing filters. It's fairly easy to use and stable, as freeware goes. Using AVISynth takes more know-how and is more work - no GUI, just purely scripts (but it is also a very powerful tool).
 
i know for a fact that there are many people really keen on figuring out how to do this properly. could you give us more detail on how hot to go from 1080i 60i to 720p 60p?
 
Ok guys, that's interesting but slips a little off-topic. Let's keep the discussion more on the NX5 subject, please.
Regarding the NX5, has anyone order it? And recieve it? I saw an "open box" clip from somebody in Taiwan, and he says it's the final product.

http://vimeo.com/9021894

I want to know if anybody can confirm that the NX5 final product is missing the following options (compared to Z5):
-shot transition
-histogram
-Extended Clear Scan
-copy Color Profiles from/to memory cards
-interval recording
-Color Correct function on Picture Profile settings

The operating manual from the NX5 microsite does not show any of the above options. But I still hope that there is the operating manual for the prototype, not the final product.

And regarding Canon's new camcorder, it seems it will be recording MPEG2 4:2:2 50mb/s 1920x1080
 
Well, I have ordered a NX5 from b&H , but have no information on expected delivery. From a features perspective the camera hits all the points I am looking for. But, I am having some second thoughts about the "rolling shutter " characteristics inherent to CMOS imagers. The video at this link http://www.trainingvideographers.com/tipsandtricks.html shows a comaprison between a Panasonic HMC150 (my second choice camera) and the tape based Z5. I am most concerned about the CMOS based camera representation of still camera flash, and secondarily the tilting verticals represented during pans. I intend to shoot weddings and nighttime sporting events (football) with the camera. Weddings will require dealing with flash, and sporting events will require fairly rapid pans. Have I chosen the wrong too l(NXCAM) for the tasks at hand? It seems like the perfect camera is a CCD based Z5, which does not exist yet. From a financial perspective my budget needs to be limited to around 4K us dollars. Any thoughts, and can I expect improved rolling shutter performance from the NXCAM over the previous generation Z5 camera? Thanks
 
rick1000 said:
Well, I have ordered a NX5 from b&H , but have no information on expected delivery. From a features perspective the camera hits all the points I am looking for. But, I am having some second thoughts about the "rolling shutter " characteristics inherent to CMOS imagers. The video at this link http://www.trainingvideographers.com/tipsandtricks.html shows a comaprison between a Panasonic HMC150 (my second choice camera) and the tape based Z5. I am most concerned about the CMOS based camera representation of still camera flash, and secondarily the tilting verticals represented during pans. I intend to shoot weddings and nighttime sporting events (football) with the camera. Weddings will require dealing with flash, and sporting events will require fairly rapid pans. Have I chosen the wrong too l(NXCAM) for the tasks at hand? It seems like the perfect camera is a CCD based Z5, which does not exist yet. From a financial perspective my budget needs to be limited to around 4K us dollars. Any thoughts, and can I expect improved rolling shutter performance from the NXCAM over the previous generation Z5 camera? Thanks
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I'm kinda in the same boat cost-wise. I do not want to go over 4 to 4.5K max. The lower the better however!!!

I have seen some Z5 videos on Vimeo that did not show much if any tilting on some normal to fast pans.
I haven't seen many videos with camera flashes.
 
Now that you mention it Cristi, the NX5 could be inferior in firmware although the only real world difference is the recording format. The HVR (z5) has been always considered the professional line. But the pricing is the same, isn't it? Being a little older, the Z5 could even be cheaper.
 
Actually the NX5 does full 1920X1080 using all of the CMOS sensor, and the AVCHD codec is superior to HDV so I'd trust Adam Wilts judgement in that the choice would be easy between the Z5 and NX5.
 
I asked a Sony representative about those functions I mentioned before and he confirmed my concerns: the NX5 camcorder doesn't have any of the functions I mentioned. That's why they specified that the NX5 is not the replacement of the Z5, they weren't kidding. This explains why the price is about the same. My guess is Sony plan to release another camera (NX7 or something) that will be an equivalent of Z7 with all the good stuff included.
 
Out of those:
-copy Color Profiles from/to memory cards
-interval recording

I'd miss most but really, I can do interval with my HMC40 so I don't need that one either.
I can count on one hand the times I used shot transition on my old FX1.

For me the benefit of higher rez, AVCHD file based recording and 128GB flash unit outweigh the few missing features.
 
ATL Media Group said:
Actually the NX5 does full 1920X1080 using all of the CMOS sensor, and the AVCHD codec is superior to HDV so I'd trust Adam Wilts judgement in that the choice would be easy between the Z5 and NX5.
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The full sensor is 1,037,000 pixels, just like the Z5. They both use the same sensor area and this is clear from the 35mm equivalent zoom specs (4.1-82mm, 29.5-590mm equiv.) . Since this is a prosumer model, they wanted to keep the pixel size reasonably large. Full HD on 1/3" would deteriorate low light and dynamic range a lot taking them to 1000u/a1u levels. Check the specs:

http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/nxcam/brochures/nxcam_hxrnx5u_v2454.pdf
http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/hdv/brochures/HVR-Z5U_brochure_final10-08.pdf

The format is fullHD, but some cameras with 500,000 pixels are also full HD.
 
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