JVC rep - latest word

[David Newman]

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Mullen : <<<-- But a question. Does Aspect HD currently handle 720p60 and 1080i? -->>>

The shipping product "Aspect HD" is a 720p30 product.

We will have a different line of products to meet the needs of 720p60 and 1080i/p -- some will be aimed at HDV formats and others to the high-end production world. The technology is in place, but these other HD formats are yet to be productized, so I don't have any details.

[Steve Mullen]

OK -- I thought I missed something. But it is good you clarified how the codec technology is not confined to HDV as it wasn't obvious to me.

On the other hand, I do realize why I'm uncomefortable about the term "HD". I have no problem with JVC calling HDV HD because it is.

But when it comes to editing, I know that those shooting high-end HD want to edit in 10-bit uncompressed. That's what the PCI board products offer. They do not want to use an intermediate codec.

And they they need FCP or Avid, not Premiere Pro because they need 48-bit YUV internally plus floating-point computations.

They also need a Proxy format because uncompressed requires so much storage.

Neither of our solutions provide all these high-end HD capabilities--which is why I feel better with the term HDV for mine. And why I don't see the Applied Magic PC as being HD in the same way as the HDboxx, Avid, or FCP.

[Robert Jackson]

Well, this is certainly exciting news. I think most of us expected it, but expecting it and hearing a rumor confirming your expectations are two different things. Now if only there was a good rumor about a Canon model with interchangeable lenses...

<<<-- Originally posted by Christopher C. Murphy : By the way, I forgot to mention that Ken said he "happens to know" that Sony has a HDV cam in the works. He said that we'll probably see it at NAB, but won't be on the market until afterwards.
Chris -->>>

[Ken Freed JVC]

Chris, To see what I said in print makes it seem so much more certain that what I thought I was saying even if the words are the same.

I see the words about Sony "working on" and then "maybe NAB" and and it seems so concrete and certain. But it is more vague than that and I of course don't speak for Sony any more than Apple. It could change or even be cancelled although I do expect that what I said will turn out to be accurate.

I wasn't pitching this HD line to teachers. Actually it is a very different tool that would change the way they work and many of them are still going digital in the first place. I gave that talk to update their knowledge about the video world in general, not as a sales pitch. That whole conference was not a sales pitch. The other talk also was not JVC specific but was a general discussion of video image gathering.

I didn't know I was ignoring you after our FCP discussion, actually I think the last thing we discussed was your inviting me to come to NH to talk to another group of people which I said I was happy to do. And I look forward to doing it.

[Steve Mullen]

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Freed JVC : I see the words about Sony "working on" and then "maybe NAB" and and it seems so concrete and certain. But it is more vague than that and I of course don't speak for Sony any more than Apple. It could change or even be cancelled although I do expect that what I said will turn out to be accurate. -->>>

We should heed Ken's words. The fact that Sony has signed-up to the HDV spec does not mean they will produce an MiniDV-tape based HDV camcorder. Sony has told me it will Blu-ray -- so it may be HDV file on disk. But it might not be. Or Sony may do both -- MiniDV tape for consumers and Blu-ray for prosumers.

In an ideal world, Sony will bring out product(s) that are fully compatible with JVC's so that everything done to support the JVC will carry-over to the coming HD camcorders. But Sony doesn't follow. Sony tends to make propritary products. Which means we can't assume when a Sony camcorder arrives we'll be able to plug it and edit.

For example, Sony may decide the workflow should be like their new XDCAM. Move the optical disk to your computer. That would mean you would need a Blu-ray DVD drive -- easy for Sony because they make both the drive and PCs. But what about the file structure? Sony has bought Sonic Foundry which makes Vegas which just happens to play MPEG-2 TS already. That makes it easy for Sony to supply its PCs ready to edit. Will Sony supply information to Apple? To Avid?

As far as I know, Sony has not made either HDCAM or IMX codecs available to anyone. Only Sony NLE's get them.

One other point, Sony also told me their Blu-ray camcorders will feature a bulit-in NLE just like Hitachi/Panasonic DVDcams. They could build a camcorder without FireWire access to source. Only FW out from edit material to HDTVs. The advantage is no competition with HDCAM.

I'm not predicting -- only cautioning that we should -- as Ken says -- make no assumptions about Sony.

[Al Falaschi]

<<<-- Originally posted by Steve Mullen :

Vegas on a 2.4 ot 2.8 can NOT do realtime effects. ALL effects must be rendered before they play smoothly.

They same limitation exists for the $5000 Heruis product. Actually, in terms of playing MPEG-2 -- Vegas does better than Heuris!>>>


You can use proxies in Vegas that do the same "real-time" editing that your product does.

Vegas CAN do "real-time" preview. If you have a simple crossfade between two shots. It will REAL TIME preview at a full 30 frames. As long as you have a decent machine. If you add a couple filters to it, on a 2.4 machine, it will probably be to much and vegas will dump the frame rate down to say 20 fps during the crossfade in order for you to preview the segment. To me, the reduced frame rate, even though you are watching the video at the same speed as the events happened in "real time," is not "REAL TIME PREVIEW." Vegas tells you when it reduces the frame rate. However, up to 15 fps is still a decent frame rate as to get a good idea of what the effect will look like. If you need to, you can pre-reder just the effected frames on the timeline. That sectio will then playback seemlessly with the other footage.

Be carefull. You can't Say that "ALL effect must be rendered in order to be previewed smoothly." Yes, if start to add multiple effects, the computer will not be able to process it all and you will lose the REAL TIME preview.

As system speeds increase though, you will be able to REAL TIME preview even more tracks and filters at the same time.

Even now, with the 3.2 machines and a raid array you can REALTIME Preview a decent number of effects.

And the whole program is $700.00. This also includes one of the most powerful audio editors available.

Sonic Foundry/Sony left an open door in the programming of Vegas as well. They allowed a scripting language. So if you come up with an idea of something you would like Vegas to do, that it does not already do, you can write a script for it. The script can be made into a button on the tool bar. In fact, you don't even need to write the script. There is a forum on Sony's site full of people that will write any script you throw at them. There are also A large number of scripts that already exist and are free for downloading.

I understand that Vegas is PC only, and if you have a mac, it is not an option. But if someone is interested in switching to pc, they should know what Vegas can do. It is a much better option than Premier and Aspect, but that is just my opinion.

[Jose Cavazos]

The educational version of Vegas4.0+DVD is under $400.