Just talked to one of the DVinfo.Net sponsors and I'm thinking about giving up on waiting for the HVX. I don't have a schedule that I'm trying to keep or anything like that, I'm just tired of not knowing anything at all. I think Panasonic's dropped the ball when it comes to keeping people (dealers and customers) informed. They have the resources, they are just choosing not to use them.

I'm also a little bit worried about where I'm going to keep all the footage I shoot with the HVX. I just finished capturing about 8 hours of footage and have 8 nice little DV's with that footage that I can now go stick in a closet. If anything ever happens to the footage I've captured, I can go get those 8 tapes and re-capture the stuff I need.

My only 3 hesitations with the Canon H1 are:
1) importing HDV shot in 24F into Final Cut Pro
2) from everything that I've seen in this forum and dvxuser.com, the colors of the HVX just look so much more vibrant and rich. This is not a "knock" to Canon in any way at all, I think I'm a pretty fair person over all, just a true concern from the footage I've seen that seems to be flat.
3) I would prefer to shoot 720p

I'm not a "fan" of any particular brand, but I have owned a Canon XL2 and still own a Canon GL2 and think Canon makes a good product.

Anyone have any comments they would like to share?

Can't you go out to one of the sponsors and try both out?
Maybe that could help you decide... When so money is involved I could see why someone would want to test both.
(I could also understand why someone wouldn't feel that's necessary)

I could, maybe. As far as I know, there is no dealer in the DFW area that has both. And even if a dealer did, I've got a new "big hesitation" about P2. I LOVE the thought of no longer having to "capture." It's a huge time saver. BUT, at least if I'm shooting HDV onto tape I have the option of deciding what I want to capture and what I don't. With the HVX and P2, I'll have to capture and store everything on to some sort of hard disk solution (which can get really expensive REALLY fast) otherwise it's gone forever. With recording HDV on the H1 I can just capture what I want and put the tapes away. If I change my mind about footage I need in the future, I can just go get the tape and capture it. I could not do that with the HVX - I would have to capture EVERYTHING with it that I want before I clear the P2 card to use it again.

Yea, but Derek. If you love 720p and you love Final Cut Pro.....then why the rush? Don't let the business practices of Panasonic dictate their equipment. The HVX200 is a sweet camera and it seems to fit your bill. Especially if you like the image quality.
Look D, forget what you see on the internet. Go to a store and check them out side by side with your own two eyeballs. That's the only sure-fire way of seeing if it produces the images you like it. If it does....don't settle for an XL-H1...get the HVX200. I have a feeling that 50,000 HVX200's are on an ocean liner sailing here as we speak! And panasonic is gonna drop truckloads of them to the dealers. It's a strategical thing, I think. And storage?? Ahhh man, 250gb hard drives are 99 bucks on ebay all day. You can buy a hard drive as a back up to a hard drive, they are so cheap! *SMILE*

Look....$9,000 ain't change layin' around in the seat of your sofa. Be smart and think of your favorite workflow and what IMAGE you like the best, then, make your decision. And finally, if you have nothing coming up in the next 30 days...then I DEFINITELY recommend you don't buy a thing. You'll have an XL-H1 sitting around doing nothing and that's just sad. Especially if within that time the HVX200 starts shipping like crazy.*smile*

- ShannonRawls.com

Thanks Shannon - good points.

Go to a store and check them out side by side with your own two eyeballs. That's the only sure-fire way of seeing if it produces the images you like it. If it does....don't settle for an XL-H1...get the HVX200.It would not be settling at all. The H1 is a nice camera and it has some well thought out features as you've pointed out in some of your intial posts when you got your FIRST one. Plus, I was VERY happy with my XL2 and my GL2 continues to amaze me everyday with its reliability and ease of use. I just can't ignore the fact that you've seen them all in action and you also "put your money where you mouth is" by recently purchasing a second one! I have to admit, while I don't agree with everything you say, I do respect your opinion and the fact that you use this gear to make a living. So thanks again Shannon for your input.

I would prefer to shoot 720pWhy? 1080 is not better resolution? And to be progressive is not reachable at post or with 24p shooting or even at Canon's 24F?

I cant really see the point with the expensive on camera hard drives. My workflow (as always, the best ;-): Log all your clips (batch) to a 500GB G-raid hard drive. Then after logging all of your tapes, get rid of the clips you don't like. You have to have a FAST hard drive (not the 99 bucks USB2 drives). And you have to get rid of the not good takes anyway. Tapes are small and lightweight, Always work - I should never never only record to a hard drive in any cases! //J

The whole thing comes down to workflow and usability.

Certainly the XL H1 wins hands down. Being able to genlock cameras on a multicamera shoot is not a bad thing to have. Being able to feed HD SDI to whatever is also a bit of a plus, probably neither of those mean much to most now but from my experience it's amazing how the need arises when you have a capability. I've bought many bits of gear on some odd whim and shortly thereafter work has found the gear.

I was at the initial P2 launch a few years ago and it sure seemed like a good idea at the time despite having to sign a NDA to find out what the cards cost. To be honest I was pretty excited by the idea but my 'boss' who's had years of experience in broadcast thought it was lame. It should have been a giant killer for broadcast, particularly ENG but it hasn't. Sony's XDCAM which is another tapless acquisition system is taking off big time. Why, broadcasters like to keep the media, sure not all of it forever but they've got the option that P2 doesn't offer them with XDCAM.

Now anyone doing serious ENG can afford enough P2 cards to hold a days worth of footage and once they get back to base it can be downloaded very quickly. Now that's a luxury most HVX owners don't have and yes there is a way around that, download it onto a laptop and maybe you'll need an extra drive to fit it all on.

Sounds simple except, stay with me on this one. No serious shooter buys a camera without a few extra batteries and a battery charger, some even buy a charger that'll charge more than one battery overnight. Lets you get some sleep ready for the next day in the wilds. But how long does any laptop run for on batteries. Forget the issue of a laptop and extra HD being more kit to lug, how are you going to power the things for a day? Buy more batteries, maybe if your laptop lets you easily swap batteries and hopefully that external HD runs off the laptops batteries otherwise it's going to need some form of power supply as well.

And the at the end of the day you've got all those batteries to charge, camera batteries no problem, just fork out for a multibay battery charger, but what about the laptop batteries, only way to charge most of them is in the laptop, I guess that's what PAs are for, stay up all night swapping batteries out of a laptop to charge them.

Not saying that any of these problems cannot be solved but why buy into problems that have to be solved, ones that Panasonic should have solved.

Good post Shannon.

I've been following the H1 for a while, and I'm also torn about the HVX200.

One thing for sure, the H1 produces one high rez image.

Also, according to your recent post, the -3dB gain option is the way to go.
Of course, at the risk of losing some sensitivity.
It would of been nice if the HVX200 offered the -3dB option.

Now, after reading your post about the firestore, this finding could change a lot of minds.

Steve

My only 3 hesitations with the Canon H1 are:
1) importing HDV shot in 24F into Final Cut Pro

I take it that FCP 5 does not support capture of 24P HDV footage?

How then does Shannon edit the footage?

I reckon my H1 at -3db is still more sensitive than my Z1. As Shannon has always pointed out the low light performance of the H1 is very good for an HDV camcorder. Even at +6 the noise is not too objectionable. If you use the NR1 noise reduction on low at +12db there is almost no noise, just a little ghosting on movement instead.
I hear many complaining of the H1's image looking "electronic", to me it simply looks very detailed. I don't like the factory settings, the image looks very flat, but tweek the setup a bit and you get great pictures.
My BIG gripe with the H1 is the viewfinder. It's really not up to the job, it just dosn't have the resolution needed, even in monochrome mode. Its also not to good for judging exposure, you really need to use the zebra overlay to be sure of what is and is not blown out or just close to peak white. The peaking setting helps, but I will be looking at alternative viewfinder options.

Jonas,
I took a quick look at your profile and noticed that you are using the H1 and FCP Studio. I would really appreciate hearing your opinion on how the two are working together. By the way, NICE WORK!!! I'm referring to the images on your home page - you have a real artistic eye.

- - - - -

Alister,
Any H1 footage on your sites yet?

- - - - -
I take it that FCP 5 does not support capture of 24P HDV footage? How then does Shannon edit the footage?I'll let Shannon answer that for the 100% correct answer, but I'm pretty sure from seeing some other posts that Shannon edits on a PC in something other than FCP.

How then does Shannon edit the footage?
Shannon edits the 24p HDV footage on PC...where just about every editing program supports it. I feel sorry for the MAC guys.

You can edit it with Final Cut Pro, but you have to demux the .M2T file first using a program called streamclip (or something like that). Or simply wait until FCP will handle native .m2t files OR convert 24p .m2t files to AIC. whichever comes first.

It is obvious, that HDV is heaven sent for PC users
It is obvious, that DVCPROHD is heaven sent for MAC users.

Both will catch up with eachother very soon.

- ShannonRawls.

Derek,
At the present time 24F is incompatible with FCP 5. A plug in is supposed to be in the works (Don't hold your breath... think NAB). Also the H1 is the only deck capable of playing the tapes in 30f HDV and 24F HDV. 30F HDV does work in FCP 5. So far harddisk solutions for the camera have issues for a direct workflow in FCP5.


Daniel Epstein
Gold Teleproductions, Inc
New York, NY




Just talked to one of the DVinfo.Net sponsors and I'm thinking about giving up on waiting for the HVX. I don't have a schedule that I'm trying to keep or anything like that, I'm just tired of not knowing anything at all. I think Panasonic's dropped the ball when it comes to keeping people (dealers and customers) informed. They have the resources, they are just choosing not to use them.

I'm also a little bit worried about where I'm going to keep all the footage I shoot with the HVX. I just finished capturing about 8 hours of footage and have 8 nice little DV's with that footage that I can now go stick in a closet. If anything ever happens to the footage I've captured, I can go get those 8 tapes and re-capture the stuff I need.

My only 3 hesitations with the Canon H1 are:
1) importing HDV shot in 24F into Final Cut Pro
2) from everything that I've seen in this forum and dvxuser.com, the colors of the HVX just look so much more vibrant and rich. This is not a "knock" to Canon in any way at all, I think I'm a pretty fair person over all, just a true concern from the footage I've seen that seems to be flat.
3) I would prefer to shoot 720p

I'm not a "fan" of any particular brand, but I have owned a Canon XL2 and still own a Canon GL2.

Anyone have any comments they would like to share?

Derek,
At the present time 24F is incompatible with FCP 5. A plug in is supposed to be in the works (Don't hold your breath... think NAB). Also the H1 is the only deck capable of playing the tapes in 30f HDV and 24F HDV. 30F HDV does work in FCP 5. So far harddisk solutions for the camera have issues for a direct workflow in FCP5.I appreciate you going to the trouble of registering on DVinfo.net to let me know. I had not seen anything yet either, but was thinking that maybe since the camera has been out for a while now someone had come up with something. It does worry me though, because the JVC HD100 has been out for quite some time and there is still not an "Easy SetUp" (as of version 5.0.4 on 1/21/06) for "HDV 720p24."
It is obvious, that HDV is heaven sent for PC users
It is obvious, that DVCPROHD is heaven sent for MAC users.
Shannon, I think you are right about that, and thanks for posting the workaround.
And finally, if you have nothing coming up in the next 30 days...then I DEFINITELY recommend you don't buy a thing.I would like to thank everyone for your feedback on the subject. I'll continue to consider the H1, and will probably just wait until I need a camera for a project and will decide that day which one will be best for me and "next day" it from one of the DVinfo.Net sponsors I buy from.

I have no understanding of the difference between 24F HDV footage on the Canon, and 24P footage (ProHD) on the Panny.

Actually, I understand the DVCProHD100 720P footage, but what exactly is 24F footage?

I would like to thank everyone for your feedback on the subject. I'll continue to consider the H1, and will probably just wait until I need a camera for a project and will decide that day which one will be best for me and "next day" it from one of the DVinfo.Net sponsors I buy from.


Interesting you and I just talked about this in email Derek. I think it's possible that Focus Enhancements may just beat Apple to the solution with the upgrade to the FS-4HD. They're promising 24f Quicktime file extraction from the HDV stream for FCP by April or so (what's with everything in this HD mess being available in April <g>).
I'm kind of curious why no one seems to be talking much about the Firestore for the XL-H1, in so much as it would make the H1 a much more practical tapeless system than the P2 approach...with a tape backup to boot.

Derek, my take on the Canon vs HVX debate goes like this.....

Canon wins in the resolution department in 60i vs the HVX with no problem. In 24F, it holds onto an advantage of maybe 50 or so lines. Those 50 lines are hardly noticeable to the average viewer, if noticeable at all. Much of what is considered a "sharper image" that the H1 boasts can also be attributed to the H1's robust sharpness settings. I'm sure that if it were possible to turn the artificial sharpness off completely, you'd be hard pressed to notice much difference in sharpness with both cams.

The HVX wins in color without a doubt. All he HVX clips I've seen have a rich and defined color palette. We're talking 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0 ofcourse, so what else would you expect. That's not to say that you can't boost saturation or other settings in order to attempt to match the HVX's color with the H1, but it would only be a mock attempt and not the real deal. For green screen work, the HVX is the clear winner.

Noise, well this has been overly exhausted and debated over for some time now and it is quite evident that at -3db the H1 does give you less noise, at the cost of lost light ofcourse. The noise argument is a mute one until we get some real side by side test footage with the H1 and HVX.

Sound, well uncompressed audio is going to give you a cleaner signal so with that being said, the HVX wins in that department.

The HVX offers variable frame rates, so it wins in the creative department.

Lens...The H1's lens are a bit of a hassle in manual mode. Focusing takes a bit of time to get used to and is often unrepeateable. The HVX's manual mode gives you a great amount of control and fairly repeatable focusing, in addition to its live focus assist option. The H1 seems to have a problem with chromatic abberation. Haven't notied any from the HVX as of yet.

Now there's the H1 in hd-sdi uncompressed 8bit. Here's where things get tricky. The H1 will in hd-sdi offer 4:2:2 color, but with this comes the problem of audio. To get your audio you'll need another recording unit dedicated to audio. This can be quite a hassle unless you're going for the studio system or have a large crew and budget to go with the setup. Expect to spend a good $5,000 for a recording comp capable of capturing the uncompressed signal.

The HVX vs H1 debate leaves a quite obvious victor in my opinion. The HVX.

If you're going to spend the extra money on the H1 hd-sdi setup, you're looking to spend about $15,000 for the whole setup. At that price point, why not forget the H1 and spend a bit more to grab a Sony XDCam which will probably take out both the HVX and H1.

At this price point the HVX is a clear winner. Hope this helps in your decision Derek, it sure has helped in mine. =)

I'm kind of curious why no one seems to be talking much about the Firestore for the XL-H1, in so much as it would make the H1 a much more practical tapeless system than the P2 approach...with a tape backup to boot.

Have you read this Jim:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=58783

I will do my first real production in two weeks, so I cant tell yet how it works togheter (FCP and the H1). Happy to say, I cant see any problem yet anyway. I will do feature from a runway show, under quite difficult lighting conditions - that will be interesting to see how to manage low light with H1 - I post if it don't sucks ...;-)!

The HVX wins in color without a doubt. All he HVX clips I've seen have a rich and defined color palette. We're talking 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0 ofcourse, so what else would you expect. That's not to say that you can't boost saturation or other settings in order to attempt to match the HVX's color with the H1, but it would only be a mock attempt and not the real deal. For green screen work, the HVX is the clear winner.

Lens...The H1's lens are a bit of a hassle in manual mode. Focusing takes a bit of time to get used to and is often unrepeateable. The HVX's manual mode gives you a great amount of control and fairly repeatable focusing, in addition to its live focus assist option. The H1 seems to have a problem with chromatic abberation. Haven't notied any from the HVX as of yet.


I think Nikial Makes some good points, but I have to disagree that adjusting saturation is a "mock attempt and not the real deal" I'll even go so far to say that I can mimic the panasonic color settings with canon CP in camera. I guess the panisonic looks better out of the box, but if you're going to spend 9,000 on a camera and not learn how to get the best picture you can out of it, well i mean, geez.

I also disagree with the analysis of the lens, which in my opinion has been very good. The big thing is if you don't like the lens of the canon, you can change it for what ever else is available, but if you don't like the lens of the pani then well, tough. I also find this chromatic abberation issue to be somewhat of technical over kill. I've worked on f900's with lenses that weren't correctly matched to the camera, and NO ONE editors, shooters, dvinfo members no one realized there was a problem until I brought up the info in a waveform. maybe it's more Pronounced with the HDV cameras but I think it may not be as huge a problem as it's made out to be.

the audio is questionable, I haven't tested it with teh onboard, but through a camera mixer on line outs so far it seems like there isn't an issue.

Also I like the catagory "creatively" I had no idea that multiple frame rates made you more creative.

And yeah if you're going hd-sdi you'll need to spend more money, yup, I mean it's HD-SDI of course you will. You're going to rent out a studio, get a raid array and superfast computer, but you don't want to shell out the bucks for an external audio record option? I would say that's just silly if it didn't sound like reasoning I here every day.

I think when it comes down to it, the people who like the dvx-100 will be the same ones that think that better color (maybe) and p2 make the hdx-200 an awesome camera, and those that liked the xl-? will think that HD-sdi and slightly more resolution (maybe) makes the xl-h1 better.

If you're not in one of those camps congratulations to you, go out and look at the two cameras figure out the work flow you like best and then when you have a gig that calls for you to purchase it buy the one thaat works for you.

The HVX wins in color without a doubt. All he HVX clips I've seen have a rich and defined color palette.

Need to be a little careful here. I have not yet measured the H1 but I well remember when similar comments were made about the XL2. There were lots of "what's wrong with my new camera - the colors are muted?" posts. It turned out the answer was "nothing": the XL2's color reproduction was actually more accurate than that of the previous XL series offering (the XL-1s). True color is indeed less vibrant than true color which has had the saturation boosted and that's what the chroma control is for in the NLE's. Canon apparently adopted, with the XL2, the notion that their gear should reproduce color accurately so that videographers who wish to exaggerate it have maximum flexibilty WRT to how to exaggerate it and I'm hypothesizing that they have continued with this philosopy with the XL -H1. It will take a set of tests to confirm this hypothesis.

Nick and A.J. are right on the money. It's now all about the workflow and compromises you're willing to deal with.

Here's my little tweak I used for Sundance segments I shot with the H1:

Cinegamma 2
Master Ped -4
Color Gain +2

I captured SDI to DVCPROHD (1080i) from HDV tape with the Kona LH card, and the footage held up beautifully. I edited in FCP5 off of a single firewire drive without issues. Delivered in DVCAM but have a DV100 master Quicktime.

The producers of the show are seriously considering buying a load of H1's now.

I just like the fact that I can make my XL-H1 look like "UNDERWORLD 2" in the camera!

Try that with some of the others. *smile*

- ShannonRawls.com

No offense Shannon but I remember you complaining that you couldn't set up the H1 to be properly lit between a sky and in car shot. I highly doubt you could set up the H1 to match the look of underworld 2 lol.

I personally wouldn't buy an H1 until the body only kit was available. Sure you could also purchase the manual lens but hey guess what? If you're going uncompressed in addition to purchasing the maunual lens, that adds even more money onto the price tag and at that point well...you'd be at around 16,500. And hey what do you know, the XDCAM is at your grasp at this point.

My statement still stands, the HVX is the best cam under $10,000, and if you're planning to spend in upwards of $15,000, just get yourself an XDCAM.

Nikial,
LOL, you got me good! *smile*

I guess I was more trying to illustrate the point of color tuning the XL-H1 has over others and how it can be dialed in to look like any camera it wants to or any movie it needs to (even the UNDERWORLD look directly from the camera itself), but some other cameras can not be tweaked as far as color richness and tunablity to do the things the XL-H1 can do. Also, the HVX comes out the box with certain color settings already "SET" in stone. So it's colors are a digital mock attempt as much as any other camera is. The XL-H1 comes flat with CP color settings turned completely off showing you the raw unoptomized image from the lens and allows you to paint each and every color to your liking. So people who have been singing that "HVX COLORS ARE NICER" song simply haven't seen what the XL-H1 can do in the right hands. NOT MY HANDS OBVIOUSLY....Not that "I" shannon w. rawls can make an XL-H1 look like UNDERWORLD...I was only trying to say that it can be done.....in camera. *smile* Leave it up to me, and your movie will look like a cartoon. lol

And remember, the HVX200 is the best cam for "YOU" for under $10,000.

But good one, Nik...you got me good. LOL

- ShannonRawls.com

Hehe Shannon it's cool, I mean after all you're a producer If I recall and not a Camera op. =)

Shannon, are you the man in charge of the Hollywood DV Festival?

That would be me.
(ignore the mess @ the website....the webmaster is designing a totally new setup for 2006)

Totally agree with Nick Hiltgen and Shannon about the CP settings and quality of the Canon lens.
Picture quality, optical stabilizer and range is really good, then it´s up to the operator to
get used to it, like everything else.

In my case I really also need a long tele lens, and for shure the Pana don´t have the range even
with a clumsy teleconverter that for sure will not be a great option. I can also use the 1,6 Canon
extender that you can zoom out all the way aswell, nice! And ofcouse lot´s of other lens-solutions, Mini-35, manuals etc.
So for ME the Canon is the best cam you can get for this price...right now.

Regarding personal own settings in the camera;
I agree that the "out of the box" settings the Canon is plain and quiet lame..but you easy
make the picture really good looking, depending what you looking for!
It´s like choosing film stock, they have different looks, and here you can change on the fly.
So both are good cams, depending what you looking for.

BTW I just did my H1 first HD-SDI, greenscreen shoot...and it looked amasing!

All the best

Carl

My statement still stands, the HVX is the best cam under $10,000, and if you're planning to spend in upwards of $15,000, just get yourself an XDCAM.


It doesn't stand any more than any one else with an absolute opinion about inabsolute things, but we all appreciate such firm conviction.

Nope---it is more then 15,000---and when you factor in all the little extras you need (like a nice lens) it is probably closer to 20,000 for the entry level cam.

BTW I just did my H1 first HD-SDI, greenscreen shoot...and it looked amasing!Carl

Any chance you could post a sample? I would love to see an HD-SDI chromakey example.

Best,
Christopher

Any chance you could post a sample? I would love to see an HD-SDI chromakey example.

Best,
Christopher

Yes maybe I can post some later, but the footage is in heavy post production for lots of 3D animation and treatment.
And it´s is not suppose to be ready before a couple of weeks. It´s going to be a big projection
on stage together with a big show...I can´t say more now.
The production company use to use Sony HDCAM Cinalta for greenscreen, but wanted to test the Canon...they are impressed.
Anyway I´m stoked with the camera, it´s small size and heavy performance; a great package.

Regarding post and getting HD-SDI capture;
You don´t need to own everything your self, you can rent post studios.
When I do productions with Digibeta, IMX, HDCAM or film I rent
such equipment, but this Canon XLH1 is a great camera to own for me.

All the best

Carl

Barlow,

Great work on the Sundance stuff. Your "miscSundance2.mov" is making this decision REALLY tough. I think I read in another post somewhere you are using a H1/Mac combo. I like the above clip because it shows some nice bright reds (in the lights and the guys hat) to give a better perspective what the H1 can capture. IMO this is the absolute best H1 clip that I've seen and is REALLY going to give me something to think about today.

Superb!

I'll post a few more once the festival's over. I've got some pretty shots...there's no doubt the H1 is a superb performer and can look any way you want. Personally, I like that the cinegamma is slightly conservative, and not overly driven in any particular direction.

Is there any doubt that 24F has plenty of resolution and will blow-up nicely to any screen size and make a good film-out?

The clips look great! As for film out quality, that's something you never know about until you actually see it. I've seen some Varicam stuff blown up that looked great originally, but after being blown up was very shotty.

I think Mr. Papas said it best in another thread using an analogy comparable to this: You can take a photo with a 6mp Nikon D70 and blow it up to the size of a 10mp photo and get a nice clean blowup. Or, you can take a photo with a higher resolution 8mp Sony Cybershot and blow it up to the size of a 10mp photo and the quality will be garbage.

The clips look great! As for film out quality, that's something you never know about until you actually see it. I've seen some Varicam stuff blown up that looked great originally, but after being blown up was very shotty.


This isn't to bad rap the idea of film out or higher aspirations and all, but there is an unrealisitc and unnecessary tendency right now to make film out a major consideration with these cameras (HVX, HD100, H1).

The truth is the percentage of indie film makers or other content producers using these or any HD cameras and having their work projected in cinemas is probably analagous to the percentage of people who play the lottery ever actually win.

The great thing about HDV is that it makes HD production obtainable for story tellers. The number of people who's work will ever actually be projected in a theatre is virtually irrelevant IMO.

What's really exciting is the idea of a technology in the coming months whether it's Blu-ray or DVD-HD, that will enable the general population to start seeing our work in HD on their 42" LCD HDTV from Best Buy.
I'm involved with another small production company here that has produced maybe 15 or 20 films on their own lot and studios with name tale, all in 35mm and super 16 over the last 15 years. (It's mostly disaster junk for Porch Light and stuff like the gem just wrapping with Anna Nicole Smith)

Not one of those has ever gone to film out or theaters...every one straight to video and cable and foreign distribution. These have real budgets, crews, and markets, all shot in film and they don't even worry about film out.

The future is all about HD, digital editing, and digital distribution. That's where the market is, that's how people are going to see 99.999% of anything shot in HDV or any small HD camera - HD media, HD broadcast and cable, wide-pipe...hell people will be looking at HD podcasts on their cell phones in the near future.

Film out, shmilm out <g>.

Jim, agreed on your point, I was just replying to Barlow's post stating that a film out on the H1 would unquestionably be good. =)

Is there any doubt that 24F has plenty of resolution and will blow-up nicely to any screen size and make a good film-out?
......... =)