As a wedding videographer I'm really looking forward to what I presume to be the instant start and stop recording, but one of my collegues just asked me if it had an automatic standby mode which you'll have to wake it up from, and I thought: good question, I'll ask it on the forum.

2nd question, how long does it take to initialize when you turn it on?

Cheers Vaughan

I asked the question of custom WB in kelvins (XLH1/A1 style) and they couldnt give a straight answer either..

Low light would be good, accurate WB in that low light is better..

as for start up, I have no idea

I don't think there is a standby mode - the batteries last anything up to 4 hours. Unfortunately there is also no buffer at this stage (an oversight on Sony's part I feel - nearly all hard drive recorders out there are capable of a pre-record buffer of 20 or 30 seconds).

I think many owners will request this feature.

No Pre Record Buffer!
WHat.
I thought that was pretty standard for this sort of thing. Dosent the HVX have a pre-record buffer? I was counting on that. EGG!

That question was specifically asked of the Sony Australia guys. No pre-record buffer and no promises that it would or could be implemented. I was surprised as well; as you said it seems fairly standard on disk and solid state recorders these days. You could of course record 25Mb/s HDV to Sony's hard drive recorder and achieve it in a limited way.

That's weird... the previous rumour was that the pre-record buffer would be firmware implemented at a later date...

A shame if it isn't going to be...

I can confirm Sony's comments about pre-record buffer here (USA) too. At HD World Expo on Oct 10 I asked the Sony rep and he said there is no pre-record buffer and no promise that it will be implemented in a firmware update.

It's the only serious oversight for what should be a standard feature for this type of camera.

Incidentally I was talking to my local Sony dealer (before this thread was started) and he had specifically mentioned that whilst he was attending a Sony demo of the EX1 in Madrid last week a mention was made on the availability of the pre-record buffer. Since this does not concern me as a feature I didn't ask anymore about it.

I'm mentioning this curious incident so that before one starts banging his head to the wall, let's wait until the first units are shipped and see what is or what is not available.

Just to clarify, the approximate words re the pre-record buffer were no promise that it would or could be implemented in firmware at a later date. Reading between the lines he was saying "I don't know and I'm the product rep in Australia, so I'm not going to make any promises that might mislead potential owners of the camera".

I didn't mean to imply that it was a never going to happen, just that at this stage Sony have not informed their representatives of any plans to implement a pre-record buffer.

Of course wouldn't it be a real kicker if the pre-record buffer were introduced in the EX1a introduced 6 months from now?

I'm hanging on for the EX1b with the additional 50Mb/s mode!

;0P

Start up time on the final model should be pretty quick. Certainly once it is switched on recording is instant.

WB is fully adjustable. At least it was in the menus of the cameras I have used so far.