Are many people here still using their HD-1/10s?

[Greg Toope]

Im with you Dave. Im probably going to order one tomorrow as a second camera. I have a JVC GY-Dv300u camera and I think the HD1U would be a great second camera, and since its a bit smaller would be a nice camera for taking on holidays (and the HDV is definitely a great bonus). Hopefully there are some people around that still use these cameras and can possibly send some more video links so that we can see how this camera reacts to certain conditions.

Anyways Im looking forward to playing with this camera and I should hopefully have mine in a week or so.

[Dave Eaton]

Originally Posted by Greg Toope

Hopefully there are some people around that still use these cameras and can possibly send some more video links so that we can see how this camera reacts to certain conditions.

Hi Greg,

That's one of the hassles with coming in this late in the game. Everyone else has gone through the cycles of getting and learning this camera. They've uploaded all sorts of samples and tests and those links are long dead. I doubt if many are willing go though it again, especially for an audience of just a few. Not even sure how many are still reading this board.

You know more about this stuff than I do and probably have your own procedures for testing new video gear. I just plan to watch the DVD, learn the camera, and run assorted tests in varying conditions to see what I need to do (if anything) to get the kind of results I want.

[Greg Toope]

Hey Dave,

Hopefully when you get your cam you will post any tips or tricks that you come across. Im ordering my HD1u this week (also getting an extra battery, .9 ND filter, Steady Stick, camera light, and a new tripod), so Im really excited to get the new setup, and im sure ill also be doing a lot of testing.

Anyways Illl be sure to post any worthy clips and findings that I come across.

Keep posting :)

macbook dual core 1.83ghz
PowerMac G4 1.25ghz
JVC GY-DV300u
Sony TRV-17

[Dave Eaton]

Hello Greg,

Originally Posted by Greg Toope

Hopefully when you get your cam you will post any tips or tricks that you come across. Im ordering my HD1u this week (also getting an extra battery, .9 ND filter, Steady Stick, camera light, and a new tripod), so Im really excited to get the new setup, and im sure ill also be doing a lot of testing.

Mine should be here Tuesday. Then I'll run some simple "anxious to play" tests to see how things work. After that it's reading, study the DVD, surf and learn. Then it's much more informed testing.

Definitely want to test recording in HD, SD and DV and down-sampling HD and SD to DV to see if I can see the differences I've read about. Seeing Carla's message has me wondering if FCP will read SD without a lot of conversions. May load up the JVC software on a Windows machine to see what it does.

I'm going to be making a steadycam (or two or three) like these: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

Will look into filters later. Maybe a .9 ND, a Black Pro-Mist and Ultra Contrast filter, in addition to a Polarizer.

Not sure how many of the threads you've read but the link on this one is still good. Viewed the trailer for the movie and the stills done with a HD10, looks darn good:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=42312

[Dave Eaton]

Greg,

Found this link in the Camcorder Info JVC forum and thought you might find this interesting, too.

Sports Video in High Definition (JVC JY-HD10)
Comparison of High Definition to Standard Definition for sporting events

http://sportsflashtech.com/video/

Link to the Camcorder Info JVC HDV forum:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/f20

[Dave Eaton]

Received the camera on Tuesday, charged the battery and quickly ran some "intuitive tests" (meaning prior to looking at the manual) in DV mode and imported to the computer. Footage looked good.

Switched to HD mode and ran a few more tests. Couldn't get the computer (Mac) to see the HD footage, I could control the camera but saw nothing on the computer screen -- iMovie showed DV mode, not HD despite my setting it for HD, Final Cut Pro didn't even see the camera.

Started reading the manual a bit, running through menu items, cycling between DV and HD on the camera to set the digital zoom off, sound, etc., and setting things the way I think I'd like them to be. I happened to look up and iMovie was now showing HD (nothing I set should have changed that -- maybe the HD to DV cycling?) so I clicked Play and the saw what was on the tape so I selected Import. Imported fine, a bit slow (my machine was over taxed with other apps running, including FCP), but worked and played back just fine.

Went to FCP and it now saw the camera and imported the footage, faster than iMovie did. Looked good.

Played a bit more and decided that the camera's staying. Now I will open the DVD and learn to use this thing. Buying a second 428 battery and a few filters shortly. The FUN begins!

[Greg Toope]

So now that i see you are having so much fun with the new camera, makes me jealous. HAHAHA. What speed of mac are you running on. Ive never dealt with HDV footage so im hoping my machines will be quick enough. I have a powermac g4 1.25 ghz with 1.25 gigs of Ram and 1 terabyte of hard drive, and a macbook dual core 1.83ghz also with 1.25 gigs of ram and 200 gigs of hard drive.

Anyways Im just waiting for my money to clear Paypal so that I can order my camera and extras. Ill definitely post some stuff once I get it all.

Im sooooo looking forward to it.

Greg

[Dave Eaton]

Originally Posted by Greg Toope

What speed of mac are you running on. Ive never dealt with HDV footage so im hoping my machines will be quick enough. I have a powermac g4 1.25 ghz with 1.25 gigs of Ram and 1 terabyte of hard drive, and a macbook dual core 1.83ghz also with 1.25 gigs of ram and 200 gigs of hard drive.

Your MacBook will be happier than your PowerMac with HD editing. I assume you're going to use Final Cut Pro vs. iMovie, although you can probably use either — most of what I plan to do can easily be done in iMovie but since I bought FCP I feel I have to use it. :-)

Importing HDV in iMove dropped to about 1/2 speed (a line appeared saying this) on my system, meaning that the video was loading into a buffer and the Mac was behind the camera’s speed. I manually stopped the camera when what I wanted imported was finish playing and the Mac kept loading the video for a few minutes longer.

The process went a bit faster in FCP. My Mac is a dual 867 G4 with 1.5GB RAM and 900GB drive space (four drives) which is marginal for HD in FCP with a bunch of RT features not even showing up, lots of rendering needed, etc. However, I had no problem working with the files nor a HD tutorial a friend loaned me that I’m working with, had to stop and render a bit but not a big deal. Haven’t done anything on my Windows machine yet so I can’t compare.

Anyways Im just waiting for my money to clear Paypal so that I can order my camera and extras.

That's how I paid for mine, too. B&H accepts Paypal and I'll be ordering a Tiffen 1/2 Black Diffusion FX filter and maybe a 0.9 ND filter for the camera in a couple days.

Just watched the DVD and it's a disappointment, not much on actually using the camera. I was so looking forward to really learning the camera from the DVD but there’s not much camera specific information there. I feel like what was presented about the camera could have been in a quick FAQ sheet. Actually, what was camera related is already in this forum. I’m glad it was free or I'd have been a bit bummed. Probably a better DVD in 2004 when getting software to accept HDV was more of a hassle than now. Wish it had been more on the camera though.

[Greg Toope]

Yeah, ill be using FCP 5.1.4, I use it a lot and iMovie would never due for what i need. Im just curious though in regards to the Tiffen 1/2 Black Diffusion FX filter. What is it used for. ive pretty much just used ND and UV filters. So if its a good one to get, It may just be placed on the list.

[Dave Eaton]

Originally Posted by Greg Toope

Im just curious though in regards to the Tiffen 1/2 Black Diffusion FX filter. What is it used for.

From Tiffen's site: "Black Diffusion/FX® - gives a silky-smooth look to textured surfaces. Suppresses facial blemishes and wrinkles, while maintaining a clear, focused image. The effect of the lighter grades is subtle, with the higher grades becoming gradually more noticeable, all capable of providing a beautiful image."

A friend with a 2-3 HD1's (not local to me or I'd have played with his prior to buying mine) swears by the filter. He tried the #1 but said it bloomed with some lights and the 1/2 doesn't seem to. I first heard of them in "Video Shooter: Storytelling with DV, HD and HDV" by Barry Braverman -- he recommends different filters for a bunch of pro cameras.

[Jeff Kellam]

Originally Posted by Dave Eaton

Hi Greg,

That's one of the hassles with coming in this late in the game. Everyone else has gone through the cycles of getting and learning this camera. They've uploaded all sorts of samples and tests and those links are long dead. I doubt if many are willing go though it again, especially for an audience of just a few. Not even sure how many are still reading this board.

You know more about this stuff than I do and probably have your own procedures for testing new video gear. I just plan to watch the DVD, learn the camera, and run assorted tests in varying conditions to see what I need to do (if anything) to get the kind of results I want.

Dave:

Most people are still here and can help.

I think Steven Dempsey was the first pioneer with the HD-1 and really got things going.

Nowdays he is in the Canon XH-A1 forum if you need help.

There are some good tips in Steve Mullens "Tiny JVC Guide" which is really Appendix D to his larger HDV shooting guide.

I still use my GR HD-1 a lot it's a reliable workhorse.

Where did you get yours, and for how much? I paid almost $3,000 back in the day. I have always wondered if the newest models have any improvements. I know the sensor is different, but Im not sure if it is higher sensitivity or not.

Have fun, it's a nice camera.

[Dave Eaton]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kellam

Most people are still here and can help.

Hello Jeff, that's good to hear. This was a hard camera to buy as I kept reading assorted reviews painting it in a bad light. However, bypassing the overly critical reviewers (the "Mikey's" that don't seem to like anything) that were making unreasonable comparisons, the comments from people that hadn't touched the camera but had a firm opinions of it anyway, and focusing on the posts from people that actually own and use the HD1 helped.

After I started looking I discovered that a friend, in another city, has a few of them. They shoot industrial and short films, and assorted other things, and added the HD1's as they couldn't believe all the camera you got for the price -- $1500 when they bought theirs. I asked about some of the concerns I had after my reading and my friend had no idea what I was talking about. Seems they've been using theirs, not reading about them. Mixing the footage in with their higher-end gear, all without knowing all the "limitations" of the HD1 -- how dare them. Reminded me that the bumble bee doesn't know it's not supposed to be able to fly. :-)

They came into them kind of the way I work. You learn how the equipment works and use it as opposed to complaining what it doesn't have and what's not located where it is on your other, different brand/price gear.

Where did you get yours, and for how much? I paid almost $3,000 back in the day. I have always wondered if the newest models have any improvements. I know the sensor is different, but Im not sure if it is higher sensitivity or not.

I got mine at B&H and paid $1,199 for it. One thing I plan to do is add the extended warranty JVC uses, Satisfusion -- not Mack through B&H, since it's only $90 for three years ($125 for four years). I normally don't buy extended warranties but for a HD cam it seems link a good idea.

As for improvements from the initial releases of it, I can't tell you. All I've done so far is play with it inside and out for a bit making sure it would do what I wanted during the return period.

I don't shoot in low light -- what some people call "low light" I call complete darkness. Most everything I do now and will do with video is under controlled conditions. I add the needed light, lock exposure, white balance, and focus, etc. and shoot, so I don't foresee a problem.

Thanks for replying and letting us know we're not alone...the truth is out there.

[Damon Gaskin]

One question to you guys that recently purchased at B&H.. On your cams does it have "HD CyberCam" on the side? I am simply wondering as I downloaded some literature from JVC that has this on the camera. I simply wish to be sure I am getting the newest revision(I believe my partner and myself have decided on this camera)...

Thanks,

Damon

[Dave Eaton]

Originally Posted by Damon Gaskin

One question to you guys that recently purchased at B&H.. On your cams does it have "HD CyberCam" on the side?

Yep, mine does. It's the outside of the LCD door, just like in the brochure -- with "Digital" above and centered on the HD CyberCam.

[Damon Gaskin]

Ok and thanks David. So how has it been for you with it soo far? I am thinking my friend and I should be able to order ours tomorrow I think.