V mount or gold mount? at DVinfo.net

Xiao Yao · February 16th, 2008, 03:58 AM

Hi guys, I'm looking for a new battery system to upgrade my HD110U. I am just confused by the V mount and gold mount as a beginner.

Which one is better? I have absolutely no idea.

Any recommendation guys?

Willis Chung · February 16th, 2008, 04:45 AM

i think by gold mount you mean (3-stud) generally, I believe 3-stud is the way to go, but slowly the industry is transitioning towards the V-mounts. That's my opinion though, I just got 2x V-mount batteries for my camera, and it's great. The marshall monitors supports V-mounts too.

Robert Adams · February 16th, 2008, 07:21 AM

most of the guys I meet on the road who are using pro cameras are using V mount now. I have a Hawkshead mount and Swit 8080 batteries which I find very good value. One big advantage is that you can use other guys' chargers/or batteries if you are stuck for power. I don't know if there is any technical advantage - I get a good couple of hours of recording time from one battery with the Swits.

Carlos Rodriguez · February 16th, 2008, 05:28 PM

I use v-mount on my 110. I like it because all the accessories I need (or ever think I might need) are usually powered by the v-mount. I also like that they are stackable. Although from experience I know that you can find AB batteries just about anywhere (even overseas if you're in a pinch) and I find that really convenient, but I've also been noticing the increasing trend in v-mount's popularity. The kit for a 110 is usually 1100 or so, it comes with 1 battery which will power the camera for about 3 hours continuous recording time, the mount adapter for your camera, and the dual quick charger, which charges 1 battery in about an hour and a half, or two batteries simultaneously in about 3 hours. replacement IDX batteries are about $200. AB batteries are about 5-600.

$.02 given.

Xiao Yao · February 17th, 2008, 10:21 AM

thankz so much for the replies!!!!!

I'm going V mount now.

I'm going to order charger, 2 X 130wh batteries and the JVC adaptor from a china company. The quality of the stuffs looks good, the battery even comes with LCD display for remaining power/charge cycle and standard 12v power tap,circuit protection, overload protection etc.
All for 400USD only (without shipment and tax). 190wh battery costs only 200USD

The price may sound cheap to you, but guys, 200USD is an ordinary people's 2 months salary in China.

I try to post a review on these stuffs when I got them. It will be probably after march.

Willis Chung · February 17th, 2008, 05:26 PM

... where do you buy your batteries? my 90wh costed me $350/ea with no LCD

Steve Oakley · February 17th, 2008, 05:28 PM

a lot depends on your local. in the US, the AB mount is the most common. The V mount has gained ground in part because of the JVC free battery offers. having been around a lot of public events, AB type batteries are the most common. you can figure that if you got in a jam, you could borrow a battery from some one, or use their charger for a quick recharge, or they from you. rental co's also tend to pretty much be AB mount, as are most news organizations. thats a huge number of AB mounts out there. there are also AB->V mount and V->AB mount adaptor plates, as well as NP1->AB and NP1->V, but NP-1 is a minority format battery mainly due to its limited battery capacity.

Greg Bellotte · February 17th, 2008, 08:23 PM

not that it really matters (personal preference-both work equally well), but I went with AB for my cams. being associated with many broadcast entities, *ALL* of the people I work with use the AB/Gold mount. Made sense to me to go that way-i have *LOTS* of options if one of mine were to ever fail.

Sure you can argue cost...but I could have bought a handycam too... ;-)

Don Bloom · February 17th, 2008, 09:42 PM

Anton Bauer Dionic 90 sell for AROUND $400 USD each (gold mount)
IDX E10S (98watts) sell for AROUND $350 USD each (V mount)
IDX E7S (71watts) sell for AROUND $200 USD each (V mount)
Sony BP-L80S (83.5 watts) sell for AROUND $500 USD each (V mount)
Sony BP-GL95 (95 watts) sell for AROUND $550 USD each (V mount)

For a long time NP1's were the king of the hill-then aklong came the Hytron 100, then the Li-On types came, the Dionics came on strong but most broadcast folks loved the Hytrons, so much so, they came out with a 120 but it didn['t go over as well as they had hoped. So now they came back with the 100 and the 140. Having used the 100s,120s, and Dionic90s (they also have a 160) I prefered the 90s and I see a lot of newies going to them as well. Weight considerations is a big reason. Now after all is said and done a lot of people are going to V mount be it Sony or IDX and they are fine batteries but I do agree that if I go back to using a camera that needs that type of battery again I'll probably go back to my ABs - I like them, the performance, the warranty, all that but keep in mind the charger can set you back up to around 1300 or 1400. I don't think the IDX or Sony are quite that high burt he AB will charge 4 batteries very quickly and will charge any chemistry of battery they offer.
It's a pays your money-takes your choice deal I guess.
Don

John Sirb · February 18th, 2008, 08:30 AM

I agree with Don about AB's. I've have pretty good success using them over the years ( I had a digital trimpak that came with my supercam that I had to send into AB. They told me it had it had over 500 cycles on it and was still at 105% capacity, not bad for a at the time a four year old battery)

and when there was a problem, their service made it right. and FWIW, I haven't seen too many non AB's in my neck of the woods.

Werner Wesp · February 19th, 2008, 02:13 AM

It is indeed a rather local matter. Europe used to use NP1 and now they virtually all use V-mount. In the US the Anton-Bauer mount is still popular. No clue what the situation in Zimbabwe is.

Good thing to power the 110 with serious batteries. One 90Watt WespGear battery (either V-mount or A/B) will last you for over 5 hours at about €225. For 5 hours you would need quite a few of small batteries. Chargers for V-mount and AB-mount alike are rather more expensive then consumer-type chargers though.

Robert Adams · February 19th, 2008, 08:41 AM

... is pretty sorry, really. Ridiculous local politics aside, I work all over the world - but mostly for European broadcasters. As I said, I've found V-lock is becoming more and more commonly used. In Africa generally most kit comes through SA and Kenya, and most of those suppliers seem to follow European trends - partly, I'm sure, because certainly in Anglophone East and Southern Africa, PAL is the broadcast standard...

Glen Vandermolen · February 21st, 2008, 05:38 PM

I bought both mounts for my HD-200, so if I should find myself needing to use someone else's batteries, I can go either way. It's a pretty simple operation to change the plates. I find the A-B mount to be more secure, however, so I normally use that mount. Also, the DY-HD100 mount is a lot cheaper for the A-B mount, I don't know why.

Get one of each. They're cheap and it's good insurance.

February 16th, 2008, 03:58 AM	#1
Xiao Yao New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Singapore Posts: 11	V mount or gold mount? Hi guys, I'm looking for a new battery system to upgrade my HD110U. I am just confused by the V mount and gold mount as a beginner. Which one is better? I have absolutely no idea. Any recommendation guys?

February 16th, 2008, 07:21 AM	#3
Robert Adams Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Harare Zimbabwe Posts: 162	V mount's the way to go most of the guys I meet on the road who are using pro cameras are using V mount now. I have a Hawkshead mount and Swit 8080 batteries which I find very good value. One big advantage is that you can use other guys' chargers/or batteries if you are stuck for power. I don't know if there is any technical advantage - I get a good couple of hours of recording time from one battery with the Swits.

February 16th, 2008, 05:28 PM	#4
Carlos Rodriguez Major Player Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Modesto, California Posts: 206	v mount I use v-mount on my 110. I like it because all the accessories I need (or ever think I might need) are usually powered by the v-mount. I also like that they are stackable. Although from experience I know that you can find AB batteries just about anywhere (even overseas if you're in a pinch) and I find that really convenient, but I've also been noticing the increasing trend in v-mount's popularity. The kit for a 110 is usually 1100 or so, it comes with 1 battery which will power the camera for about 3 hours continuous recording time, the mount adapter for your camera, and the dual quick charger, which charges 1 battery in about an hour and a half, or two batteries simultaneously in about 3 hours. replacement IDX batteries are about $200. AB batteries are about 5-600. $.02 given.

February 18th, 2008, 08:30 AM	#10
John Sirb Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Amherst, OH Posts: 134	I agree with Don about AB's. I've have pretty good success using them over the years ( I had a digital trimpak that came with my supercam that I had to send into AB. They told me it had it had over 500 cycles on it and was still at 105% capacity, not bad for a at the time a four year old battery) and when there was a problem, their service made it right. and FWIW, I haven't seen too many non AB's in my neck of the woods. __________________ John Sirb Lake Breeze Video

February 19th, 2008, 02:13 AM	#11
Werner Wesp Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 497	It is indeed a rather local matter. Europe used to use NP1 and now they virtually all use V-mount. In the US the Anton-Bauer mount is still popular. No clue what the situation in Zimbabwe is. Good thing to power the 110 with serious batteries. One 90Watt WespGear battery (either V-mount or A/B) will last you for over 5 hours at about €225. For 5 hours you would need quite a few of small batteries. Chargers for V-mount and AB-mount alike are rather more expensive then consumer-type chargers though. __________________ High-Definition Video Consultant - CEO of Delimex NV - http://www.delimex.be gear of choice : http://www.wespgear.com

February 16th, 2008, 04:45 AM	#2
Willis Chung New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 15	i think by gold mount you mean (3-stud) generally, I believe 3-stud is the way to go, but slowly the industry is transitioning towards the V-mounts. That's my opinion though, I just got 2x V-mount batteries for my camera, and it's great. The marshall monitors supports V-mounts too.

February 17th, 2008, 10:21 AM	#5
Xiao Yao New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Singapore Posts: 11	thankz so much for the replies!!!!! I'm going V mount now. I'm going to order charger, 2 X 130wh batteries and the JVC adaptor from a china company. The quality of the stuffs looks good, the battery even comes with LCD display for remaining power/charge cycle and standard 12v power tap,circuit protection, overload protection etc. All for 400USD only (without shipment and tax). 190wh battery costs only 200USD The price may sound cheap to you, but guys, 200USD is an ordinary people's 2 months salary in China. I try to post a review on these stuffs when I got them. It will be probably after march.

February 17th, 2008, 05:26 PM	#6
Willis Chung New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 15	... where do you buy your batteries? my 90wh costed me $350/ea with no LCD

February 17th, 2008, 05:28 PM	#7
Steve Oakley Trustee Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: United States Posts: 1,158	a lot depends on your local. in the US, the AB mount is the most common. The V mount has gained ground in part because of the JVC free battery offers. having been around a lot of public events, AB type batteries are the most common. you can figure that if you got in a jam, you could borrow a battery from some one, or use their charger for a quick recharge, or they from you. rental co's also tend to pretty much be AB mount, as are most news organizations. thats a huge number of AB mounts out there. there are also AB->V mount and V->AB mount adaptor plates, as well as NP1->AB and NP1->V, but NP-1 is a minority format battery mainly due to its limited battery capacity.

February 17th, 2008, 08:23 PM	#8
Greg Bellotte Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: SLC, UT Posts: 291	not that it really matters (personal preference-both work equally well), but I went with AB for my cams. being associated with many broadcast entities, ALL of the people I work with use the AB/Gold mount. Made sense to me to go that way-i have LOTS of options if one of mine were to ever fail. Sure you can argue cost...but I could have bought a handycam too... ;-)

February 17th, 2008, 09:42 PM	#9
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	Anton Bauer Dionic 90 sell for AROUND $400 USD each (gold mount) IDX E10S (98watts) sell for AROUND $350 USD each (V mount) IDX E7S (71watts) sell for AROUND $200 USD each (V mount) Sony BP-L80S (83.5 watts) sell for AROUND $500 USD each (V mount) Sony BP-GL95 (95 watts) sell for AROUND $550 USD each (V mount) For a long time NP1's were the king of the hill-then aklong came the Hytron 100, then the Li-On types came, the Dionics came on strong but most broadcast folks loved the Hytrons, so much so, they came out with a 120 but it didn['t go over as well as they had hoped. So now they came back with the 100 and the 140. Having used the 100s,120s, and Dionic90s (they also have a 160) I prefered the 90s and I see a lot of newies going to them as well. Weight considerations is a big reason. Now after all is said and done a lot of people are going to V mount be it Sony or IDX and they are fine batteries but I do agree that if I go back to using a camera that needs that type of battery again I'll probably go back to my ABs - I like them, the performance, the warranty, all that but keep in mind the charger can set you back up to around 1300 or 1400. I don't think the IDX or Sony are quite that high burt he AB will charge 4 batteries very quickly and will charge any chemistry of battery they offer. It's a pays your money-takes your choice deal I guess. Don

February 19th, 2008, 08:41 AM	#12
Robert Adams Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Harare Zimbabwe Posts: 162	The situation in Zimbabwe.... ... is pretty sorry, really. Ridiculous local politics aside, I work all over the world - but mostly for European broadcasters. As I said, I've found V-lock is becoming more and more commonly used. In Africa generally most kit comes through SA and Kenya, and most of those suppliers seem to follow European trends - partly, I'm sure, because certainly in Anglophone East and Southern Africa, PAL is the broadcast standard...

February 21st, 2008, 05:38 PM	#13
Glen Vandermolen Space Hipster Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,596	I bought both mounts for my HD-200, so if I should find myself needing to use someone else's batteries, I can go either way. It's a pretty simple operation to change the plates. I find the A-B mount to be more secure, however, so I normally use that mount. Also, the DY-HD100 mount is a lot cheaper for the A-B mount, I don't know why. Get one of each. They're cheap and it's good insurance.