Alex Raskin
November 23rd, 2007, 04:15 PM
Cineform has announced a beautiful concept of the mobile recorder, see here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=107885
...that would capture HDMI out of camera, transcode into Cineform Prospect HD, and record onto a solid-state media (and hopefully external drives.)
Now, I'm a *huge fan* of the concept.
Slight problem: the device is still external to the camera.
Meaning, you have to lug it around; remember the cables, cards, batteries etc; and it adds weight to the setup. So if you are an indie movie guy like me, suddenly the proposed box looks larger and more cumbersome than it actually is :)
(Oh, and mounted on camera, especially with external hard drives attached, it will make the operator tired faster.)
So.
Can the same thing be done in-camera?
So no added parts, weight or extra issues. You power the camera up, you choose which format to record to - mpeg2 or Cineform - and off you go.
If you chosoe mpeg2, have your narrower bandwidth and blockiness/tears of the fast-moving images.
If you choose Cineform, have everything in beautiful 1920x1080, practically perfect quality.
(Guess what... personally, I'd settle for Cineform *only* on any camera. Mpeg2? Nein, danke for me :) But hey.)
Then camera records in the chosen format onto whatever the media it was designed to record to - P2 card... SxS card... internal HDD... or... o blasphemy... even tape.
Why not really? Since the tape simply holds a *file*, why not record Cineform file on tape, then "capture" it to PC.
The advantage would be about 100 times less edia cost than the solid state solution, or about 10 times less cost than the heavy-weight HDD solution.
The disadvantage would be no immediate random-access playback, and waste of time after the acquisition to capture (transfer really) into PC.
If the costs and convenience *at the time of the shoot* are taking into consideration, I personally would go for tape. (Please don't misconstrue: I'd *love* to have the solid state on-camera solution, but at the current $$$ costs it seems just too expensive.)
So, Sony V1U with Cineform codec choice, anyone?
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=107885
...that would capture HDMI out of camera, transcode into Cineform Prospect HD, and record onto a solid-state media (and hopefully external drives.)
Now, I'm a *huge fan* of the concept.
Slight problem: the device is still external to the camera.
Meaning, you have to lug it around; remember the cables, cards, batteries etc; and it adds weight to the setup. So if you are an indie movie guy like me, suddenly the proposed box looks larger and more cumbersome than it actually is :)
(Oh, and mounted on camera, especially with external hard drives attached, it will make the operator tired faster.)
So.
Can the same thing be done in-camera?
So no added parts, weight or extra issues. You power the camera up, you choose which format to record to - mpeg2 or Cineform - and off you go.
If you chosoe mpeg2, have your narrower bandwidth and blockiness/tears of the fast-moving images.
If you choose Cineform, have everything in beautiful 1920x1080, practically perfect quality.
(Guess what... personally, I'd settle for Cineform *only* on any camera. Mpeg2? Nein, danke for me :) But hey.)
Then camera records in the chosen format onto whatever the media it was designed to record to - P2 card... SxS card... internal HDD... or... o blasphemy... even tape.
Why not really? Since the tape simply holds a *file*, why not record Cineform file on tape, then "capture" it to PC.
The advantage would be about 100 times less edia cost than the solid state solution, or about 10 times less cost than the heavy-weight HDD solution.
The disadvantage would be no immediate random-access playback, and waste of time after the acquisition to capture (transfer really) into PC.
If the costs and convenience *at the time of the shoot* are taking into consideration, I personally would go for tape. (Please don't misconstrue: I'd *love* to have the solid state on-camera solution, but at the current $$$ costs it seems just too expensive.)
So, Sony V1U with Cineform codec choice, anyone?