Totally Conflicted

T

tcgliderguy

Member
O.K..... NAB is getting closer, and I'm going to wait to pull the trigger on a new XH-A1 until I can hold one in my hand, and see what else might be new......

Meanwhile, I am seeing all of the gorgeous footage and stills posted here (some of the stills look better than what is being posted on still photo forums from 12 megapixel SLR's....) I don't see anyone with any major gripes about Canon (other than how they would have designed one feature or another differently)....

And then I get an e-mail from a close friend, a professional video producer in a major city.... who had the following comments when I told him that I was going to take "a long hard look at the Canons at NAB"

His comments.... " the Key word is "long hard look"... Canon, that has burned so many people, that at my video meetings, we don't even mention the word "Canon" as people go postal! Is that using HDV or the new AVCHD format? I would be willing to stake my entire reputation on the fact that HDV will be a dead format within 1 year. It's total crap compared to AVCHD (H264 based MPEG4). "

I feel like I'm caught between two parallel universes.......

Any comments?

-Taylor
 
Depends on what he defines as "a dead format". Within one year? Probably not. There is no question that AVC-HD is a totally superior format, but HDV will stick around as long as people keep buying HDV products.

Canon, Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony are all subscribers to AVC-HD. If you're looking towards the future, AVC-HD is it.

But are you buying something for two years from now? Or something you can use today? Because the XHA1 is on the market today, and you can use it today. It's still going to be a couple of weeks before we see any editors that truly support AVC-HD, and even then, no worthy cameras have debuted yet.

I'd say HDV will probably see its last model introduction by a year from now, but it'll linger on for a while yet. We need to see an AVC-HD version of the DVX, HVX, V1U, and XHA1 and HV20 before we can say that the HDV versions will be "dead" any time soon.
 
This discussion occurs ad nauseum in DVXUSER. Simply said social change occurs incrementally, while technology changes exponentially.

That said if you can make money with the $3500 camera (less for now as offering $250 rebate) then buy the camera. If this is a hobby maybe hold off.

People in this forum have predicted the death of P2 a brand new technology.

The AVCHD cameras now available are basically consumer cameras. But YES Panny and other are looking at this technology as viable for Pro level equipment. Certainly NAB will hold surprises.

NAB shows the new technology which generally has a lag time of 6-8mos. before the market sees the new products. Again if you don't need it or can't make money with hang tough.

I bought the A1 as a step to the HD arena four weeks ago. I shot two product commercials for use on cable in the Atlanta metro area and a 6.5 min sales video for the company to use. Gave them HD resolution files to play on a computer/projector and a SD down converted for DVD's to clients. Four days shooting, a little over 50 hours editing and post and $11,000 in fees.

I could use the camera as a boat anchor now and wait for the next new gimmick.

DV, HDV and P2 will all be with us for many years to come only the "nay sayer pundits" will find their predictions turning to egg on their face.

I am I biased yes, against BS artists who use general/unsupported commentary to predict the future. I own the XH-A1, two DVX 100b's a Sony VX2000 and a Sony PD170. Every one of those still records great images. I have made money with every one and all are still viable as money makers when matched to the right project!

Again I don't know why you want a camera as you could alway's rent the latest one in vogue and never have to own. Then you are never exposed to obsolesence. Only you can make the decision as to what you want to use it for and what price/performance ratio you except.

I sound harsh but this is an old story and you can expect cheaper, better and faster to keep "com'in at ya". Pick a spot and get in the game, go shoot video edit and enjoy. The best camera in the hands of an unskilled user will look like crap! Forget the pundits shoot video.
Respectfully,

S Cannon
 
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Thanks for the great input..... It's interesting to see the comments about HDV and AVC-HD. Changing formats has been an integral part of this business for the fifteen years that I've been involved in it.... and even before that.

I guess my "conflict" isn't so much about the format as my friend's almost violent reaction about Canon. I just don't get that part....... I was using Canon still cameras forty years ago, and they were a darned good product. Everybody around here seems to be pretty happy with the XL-1's, XL-2's, and everything since....

I guess I need to rephrase my question..... Where are the warts on this beauty queen? Or is my friend (whose name would probably be fairly well recognized, if I let it slip....) just on a religious rant?

Anyway.... Thanks for listening. I need to get back "into the game", and I'm going to be buying something when I return from NAB.......

-Taylor
 
tcgliderguy said:
T
I guess I need to rephrase my question..... Where are the warts on this beauty queen?
Click to expand...
On the A1? Plenty. Sucky LCD screen, imprecise manual zoom ring, inability to focus and zoom at the same time. Too many important features buried in menus. Dumb battery compartment design. The list goes on and on.

But then again I can find just as many complaints to make about the HVX, DVX, V1U or any other camera out there. At this price range nothing is perfect but you have to look at the big picture. Does the camera do what you want? If it does and you can live with the flaws then it works for you.

tcgliderguy said:
Or is my friend (whose name would probably be fairly well recognized, if I let it slip....) just on a religious rant?
Click to expand...

Yes
 
I'm of the opinion that the A1 is absolutely an incredible product at its' price point. As mentioned above it does have it short comings, but considering less then 10 years ago you would have paid over 20k for a cam that didn't come close to producing comparable image quality. It's a pretty good deal.

Your friends violent reaction may be more from the XL-1. When the XL-1 released there seem to be polarizing views on both it's image quality and form factor. There are many people, in particular in broadcasting, that still look down on any camera that is not the typical broadcast ENG cam. The A1 produces great video but still looks more like uncle Bob's handy-cam then it does a broadcast ENG cam and some people can't get passed that.
 
People have been railing about Canon DV product for a few years now, since the original XL1. Some of the things include that the Canon doesn't record its audio at exactly 48000 Hz, it was something like 47900 or something, so over the course of a minute or so the audio would start slipping in your editor. And Canons have never been quite as interchangeable with their footage as other cameras; I don't know if it had to do with head alignment tolerances or what, but there are reports of tapes made in a Canon couldn't be played in anything but a Canon. You can find lots of these reports if you dig around in the old archives of 2-pop or DV-L, we used to hear about 'em quite a bit but that's going back 8 years or so. Maybe he's been burnt before?
 
Barry_Green said:
I don't know if it had to do with head alignment tolerances or what, but there are reports of tapes made in a Canon couldn't be played in anything but a Canon.
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That's still a problem actually. Shot some stuff on the A1 in 60i DV mode and couldn't get it to capture properly using a cheap camcorder. The sounds were all out of wack and the image skips. Had to capture using the A1 itself.
 
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