GY-HM200 night ENG test shoot

[Paul Anderegg]

JVC loaned me an HM200 for testing. Shot my first story with it, in 720p60 35Mbps QT. Lighting provided by several 1K HMI's. Camera set to 1/30 shutter, AWB, gain settings L-9db/M-15db/H-24db.

Testing this camera as a possible replacement for night ENG run and gun, which is being served by my Sony PXW-X70. My station is going Zixi, and we use FCPX. My Sony will not do Zixi, and the XAVC files are not immediately exportable in FCPX. The control layout on the X70 is also not user friendly. Those were the reasons for considering the HM200.

Things I have learned. Zixi is really worthwhile. The QuickTime files produced by the HM200 must be transcoded one at a time, and FCPX will not export your timeline until this completes, unlike the other ProHD line. The focus changes faster the slower you rotate the focus ring. The LOW LUX button forces 1/60 shutter, which at 36db is no brighter, but much noisier, than 24db at 1/30th shutter. The camera is almost impossible to focus, and the expanded focus is something like a 1.2x zoom in, practically nothing. My loaner had a horrible double vision thing going on, I believe it was dropped at some point, and this would probably not be an inherent problem with new units.

What do I like? Again, Zixi, the sweet menu system, control layout, buttons, it looks really cool, the batteries last 4+ hours, I can plug a 4G XLTE modem right into it, it's pretty light weight and comfortable to hold and operate, and it does Zixi. Did I mention it does Zixi? And it only cost $2000 new, same as a new non 4K X70. I didn't bother to test the 4K function, as you loose the 24x zoom, and also several more stops of sensitivity. I am not sure how much of the 150Mbps would be wasted on large blocks of black noise and mud.

So what is this camera good for? If you have a Zixi receiver, and need to live broadcast using high speed broadband internet, and will use this in daylight, this is the perfect camera. The cheapest Zixi encoded is the Teradek Cube, which you need to add a $1000 Zixi license to the base price. Who knows, you might see the footage below as good enough for your needs, we all have different standards. :)

YouTube (Short URL)

[Noa Put]

It is somewhat to be expected from a 1/2.3-inch sensor camera and JVC never was known for their low light capabilities, but if you don't have to shoot at night it's about the best camera, taking it's price and features into account, you can get for news gathering I guess.

[Paul Anderegg]

From what little testing I have done, in a lighted environment, it should best JVC's 1/3 3MOS cameras, it lacks the horrible noise reduction that smothers any detail in the 600/800 series.

Paul

[William Hohauser]

How is the low-light in 1080 or 4K?

[Steve Mullen]

"The QuickTime files produced by the HM200 must be transcoded one at a time, and FCPX will not export your timeline until this completes, unlike the other ProHD line."

If when you import you request Optimised -- while you edit, FCPX should transcode H.264 to ProRes 422 so by the time you are finished editing you will be exporting ProRes 422 to ProRes 422.

You can directly edit the H.264 files without any conversion to ProRes Proxy. I'm editing 4K.

Beware -- I find clips may come clip in as Rejected.

[Paul Anderegg]

The Quicktime files, including 50Mbps 1920x1080p60 from the HM800 series, from all other JVC ProHD cameras, when imported into FCPX, will allow immediate export of the timeline, even before the files have been transferred to your hard drive. In fact, you can even leave the files in place, and export from the SD card. The QT files from the HM200 I tried, would not allow that, and acted exactly like the XAVC files from my Sony cameras, forcing me to WAIT as each clip did a little clock icon thing, and this was NOT optimized. The long time to wait for these clips to be "processed" on import is a big negative for this camera as a run and gun ENG rig.

Paul

[Noa Put]

The long time to wait for these clips to be "processed" on import is a big negative for this camera as a run and gun ENG rig.

It's not a camera problem but a fcpx problem, Edius, just to give an example, doesn't need to transcode but I can understand if your workflow depends on fcpx then your camerachoice can depend on the limitations of your NLE.

[William Hohauser]

Have you tried EditReady to rewrap the files before import to FCPX?

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Paul Anderegg

The QT files from the HM200 I tried, would not allow that, and acted exactly like the XAVC files from my Sony cameras, forcing me to WAIT as each clip did a little clock icon thing, and this was NOT optimized. The long time to wait for these clips to be "processed" on import is a big negative for this camera as a run and gun ENG rig.

Paul

From Day 1 I've suspected JVC is using Sony's XAVC codec. The reason -- JVC only says the file format is MOV. MOV is a QT wrapper, not a codec.They never mention the codec!

XAVC is H.264 and can have 4:2:0, 4:2:2, or 4:4:4 color sampling. It can have 8, 10, or 12 bits per sample. JVC may be using High Profile, L-GOP, Level 5.1 which Sony calls XAVC-L 4K. It supports UHD at up to 120p. It supports 2K at up to 51.2p. It supports 4K at up to 28.5p.

It looks like for HD @ 50Mbps they may use High 4:2:2 Profile, L-GOP, Level 5.1 which Sony calls XAVC-L HD. 120p is possible.

What you found seems to confirm this.

BUT -- JVC may have an "XAVC-like" codec because there are differences: CABAC is not used and only 2- not 3-ref frames are employed.

I don't have a problem even with FCPX 10.0.9 because I can edit UHD using the JVC source files. THERE IS NO WAIT TO EDIT. Forget the clock as it seems not to work!!! Just start editing.

By the time I've finished an edit -- FCPX will have transcoded the source files into ProRes files. Each clip will have a green dot beside Optimized. Now an export is very fast.

You can also use these ProRes files in Resolve.