http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/JVC-Announces-the-GY-HD100U-24P-HD.htm

Hell of a week for news eh? Thank you NAB!

IMO too little too late.

DVCPRO HD is significantly greater than HDV.
-4:2:2 compared to 4:2:0 color space
-1080p compared to 720p
-Variable framerate compared to only 24p/30p/60p/60i

Although I will say the new Fujinon lens that was announced today for it looks great! And it's only $6 grand. That's half the price of most other decent ENG lenses.

Here are Mono's meandering thoughts on the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by joren:
DVCPRO HD is significantly greater than HDV.

This is true, but it's still not a great format. The thing that people usually overlook about DVCProHD is that it's always recording at 60p, so if you're shooting 24p, you have to think of it as an 40mbps format. Still a league ahead of HDV, but still leaves much to be desired.

quote:

Originally posted by joren:
-1080p compared to 720p
-Variable framerate compared to only 24p/30p/60p/60i

Actually, DVCProHD won't do 1080p, just 1080i, and 720p (Like HDV). Also, while DVCpro handles all sorts of different frame rates when strapped on the back of a Varicam, this little prosumer doesn't look like it keeps up. It's actually the deck that adds the buffer before laying the information to tape that makes this possible (Again, DVCProHD = 60p always).

quote:

Originally posted by joren:
Although I will say the new Fujinon lens that was announced today for it looks great! And it's only $6 grand. That's half the price of most other decent ENG lenses.

I've wondered about these new HD-prosumer cameras and their handling of backfocus issues. JVC is quite clear that there is a backfocus adjustment on the camera, while the other manufacturers haven't even mentioned the issue (Assuming we won't ask, because the lenses are fixed). To my understanding, in the SD prosumer world, the resolution was low enough, the chips small enough, and the back-focus tolerance great enough that it simply wasn't an issue. I don't buy that 720p is that forgiving, and doubt they're putting in stainless steel mounts to negate the issue. It's possible I've misunderstood pro-sumer optics, though. If I had to gamble a penny I'd guess we'll be seeing a lot of out of focus footage as prosumer users start using this camera. "But it looked in focus on the LCD, and video is what you see is what you get right?" Hah!

BTW, there is mention of a module to send out a straight HD-SDI signal (From the JVC). If you can capture that straight it'll blow DVCProHD out of the water.

Nota "Hasn't smashed open his piggybank yet" Mono

Hmmm... Well the literature seems to agree that there's a 1080/24p option, but I don't know how that works unless they've changed something about the DVCProHD format itself. Will have to look into it!

Nota "Lies LIES!" Mono

Update: The camera handles 1080/24p the same way the DVX handles 24p (Records to tape at 60i).

Well in this cam, it doesn't record it to tape at all! Does that mean the file it writes is still 60p, no matter what? ...just like the varri cam? Or does it write a different file according to the camera's settings? It did mention the P2 uses a special file type, but I wasn't clear what the deal was.

yeah, HD SDI will knock the socks of anything. How much are tape decks? Six figures still, right?

I donno. Not that I think HD is a great acquisition format at all, but to wake up this morning and see a DVCPRO HD camera for $6k (with lens) was pretty amazing--even if it is more consumer than professional.

I've felt pretty militant against HDV because of all the sacrifices in quality it makes just to call itself HD, and I thought it was cool to see an alternative HD format in the micro-budget filmmaking price point.

Backfocus problems? FIX IT IN POST!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joren,