I had a dream
 

I had a dream last night.
JVC annaunced a promotion to rearly adapters of HD-100 users who bought the camera before April 23, 2006.
JVC will change the encoder inside the camera, and they upgrade the firmware too. All this for $2000. So this way we can record 720/60p.
They called the updated camera HD-150
Nice dream.... VERY NICE dream. But unfortunatly I woke up...

Laszlo

This thread was a success!
 

We can't take all the credit because JVC does have its own consultants. However, as we had hoped, it was confirmed to me at NAB that representatives from JVC consulted our wishlist thread for inspiration and implemented some of our ideas into the new 200/250 models. It looks to me like at least 50% of our most popular requests were added.

Some features we asked for in this thread that I know will be in the HD250 are:

• BNC connectors
• SDI OUT
• Timecode IN/OUT plus GENLOCK for slaving multiple cameras
• 720P60 encoding/recording to HDV tape (also on HD200)
• Image Inversion for use with 35mm homebuilt adapters (like redrock micro, G35, etc.) (also on HD200)
• Studio 26-pin configuration (KY-HD250 Studio Adapter) with remote CCU control
• Higher capacity battery included as standard (A/B mount is now standard on HD250)
• RCA audio out instead of the 1/8" jack
• 4-pin XLR battery connector
  

There are a few suggestions that were not mentioned in the press release, so we probably won't know if any of these have been included until the camera's release.

• LCD & EVF active at the same time option
• TC Preset and LOAD SCENE FILE assignable as USER BUTTONS
• Burn-In Visual TC on Video Output (this is really important to me!!!!)
• PCM 48Khz recording in HDV mode (as described in the brochures as ProHD XE)
• 4x3 SD compatible output with letterboxing instead of anamorphic only
• 2nd set of zebra stripes for black level clipping
• Denser built in ND filters.

Since NAB I have been thinking alot about other features I would love to see in the HD250 that cater to a filmmaker with a film background. Here they are:

• 20P or 22P frame rate (I undercrank these frame rates all the time on film for fight/stunt action and I think it would be quite easy to implement a 2:1 pulldown for 20P - I'm not sure about 22P.)
• Graphical representation of gamma response curve as you adjust the settings. This would help people understand how the curve is affected as they make adjustments.
• Film camera style shutter ANGLE mode (along with STEP or VARIABLE) that is locked to the frame rate. For example, 180° would be the default, and therefore 1/48th when shooting at 24P, but would automatically switch to 1/120 when shooting 60P. Other popular shutter angles would be 11.2°, 22.5°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, 90°, 105°, 120°, 135°, 144°, 172.8° and possibly even 360°. I think Panasonic put something like this in the HVX200.
• WB tweaking in 100K intervals. This would be a great feature that would negate the use of warm cards or cool cards.
• ND filter indications in standard log format (ND3, ND6)
  

I scored:
9: 4pin XLR 12v DC power connector (you missed this one Tim)
3: VMount Plate on the back as standard (well the AB mount which I believe can take a VMount?)

However this is on the 250 only, not the 200 :-(

On this:
"LCD & EVF active at the same time option"
Not just a mirror image though, but ensure we have some alternative display options on the LCD like large audio levels (aka 5000), or even go as far as real time waveform monitors (possibly even seperate RGB) and vector scopes.

Oh yeah. I forgot all about that. Now I can use battery belts!

I think they are only offering the A/B Gold Mount, which is completely different from Sony/IDX Vmount.

Could you remove the plate and put a standard Vmount plate on it. I have only ever had VMount batteries so I am not familiar with how these plates and camera mounting points all fit together.

Tim- Don't you think it's odd, that they had an IDX promo for the 100, but only have AB for the 200 and 250?

Tim,

It was great to meet you and a few other HDVInfo.net people at NAB last week. Thanks for your support! And, thanks for the nice summary. I will be passing on the new "wish list" items to product management. I'm sure they will implement as many things as possible, keeping in mind the delivery dates that we are targeting.

One thing worth pointing out is that on the GY-HD250U; regarding power: It will definately have a 4 pin XLR, and it will have a provision for a direct mount of a professional battery system like Anton Bauer or IDX. I'm not so sure that it will come with either one as standard equipment. That has yet to be finalized. The user base has many people using AB, and many using IDX: We have to be mindful to serve both groups of customers equally well.

Regards, Carl

Thanks for clearing that up Carl. I was going by the line in the press release "The built-in Anton-Bauer battery bracket provides compatibility with the most popular battery systems for ENG." The line seems to contradict itself, but I think it would be best if the ability was there to simply attach a battery mount of your personal preference.
It was great meeting you too. We are lucky to have someone from JVC on these boards who is so technically proficient.

Carl- Any word on whether the 250 will come with a lens?

The press releases are pretty clear that the HD250 for $8995 DOES NOT come with a lens. The HD200 at $7995 does.
Is this still true Carl?

Keith & Tim,

As of last week, the idea was that the GY-HD200U would be packaged with a 16X lens, like the GY-HD100U.

With the GY-HD250U, we anticipate that many will be sold in full studio configuration. Many of those customers will want longer lenses, so the thought is that the GY-HD250U will be sold as "head only" , and possibly in several package choices, similar to how we do it with the GY-DV550U.

This has not all been finalized yet.

C'mon Carl... throw us a lens? Maybe a Super 16 even??

As far as battery mounts go it's worth pointing out that PAG is also an option and is as popular in the UK as anything else, fitting your own choice of Cells via an adaptor is by far the best option in my books, keeps everyone happy.

4:3 Monitors in 16:9
 

We have 3 nice Sony 8020 field monitors without a 16:9 switch setting.
Dave B[/QUOTE]

Can you still get 4:3 converted to 16:9, or has that long gone out of fashion? There used to be a co in UK doing it.

I would like the next versions to have a way to connect 2 monitors to it. A real S-video or component out would help. As it is, the composite together with Y from component seems like a stupid idea and a engineering failure. Maybe it's just me, but I'm used o shooting with big pro cameras and they all have video and camera out.
Also 2 zebras settings is the way to go. I like to have one zebra set at over 100% and the second set at around 70%-80%. If you could at least assign the zebra functions to the custom keys, it would work. But one zebra only is really a limitation. Most if not all pro cameras have 2 zebras.

Michael, please keep in mind that at the price point of the GY-HD100U, it's not possible to include a large choice of output connectors.

The new GY-HD250U will have a separate composite video and component video output, so you could feed two monitors at once. It will have many other additional connectors and features. These nice things will all come at a higher price, of course. But, still it will probably cost less than the "big pro cameras."

Regards, Carl

Really? Just the addition of a separated composite connection would be that expensive? I would have never guessed. I thought the matter was most likely of lack of space rather than cost. I'm not asking for HD-SDI. I recognize it's unrealistic for this price level. But I would never have guessed a composite would be out as well.
How about the zebra?

Thanks for jumping in by the way.

Better EVF
 

at the moment, I shoot live concert type material. I know theres a flipout lcd, but it's susceptive to being broken off if one were to hit it too many times whilst squeezing between equipment and performers onstage. And the reason I say this, the current viewfinder has a matte type ring around the outside of the viewfinder which makes the image too small to shoot with the camera from the hip. And I know all things being considered that this is all done at a certain price point, but without adding too much to the cost, maybe a fliptop evf like the xhl1's, with a larger/higher res lcd. I know that its been brought before in this thread, but I don't know if it addressed the hip shooting problem as such.

An easy solution for this is adding a bigger LCD with an Israeli arm on the top. Since you only need it for framing any cheap will do. You can buy new ones for under 50 bucks on Ebay.

Has this wish been posted already?

Add an optional waveform overlay to the image so we can easily see if we are clipping whites or blacks. Or even a histogram would be useful.

I've considered carting around a WF/VS but so far, we've used zebras, but they are only so good.

The only problem is charging $2k extra!!! That is now a $9k list camera.

For the features included, $9K is truly a bargain, plus it's competitively priced against the Canon XL H1. There's nothing wrong with the price compared to the list of features.

most of those feature would be *software*...

I'd really kill to be able to dial in WB in 100deg amounts because sometimes the camera just own't white balance where you want for best picture. the other day, outside, it was balancing at 4300k, and it was too warm, I needed 6500. I finally tricked the camera by finding a jacket of the right shade. I have found the camera will WB off of many surfaces that older cameras wouldn't off.
I've also notice that the camera tends to balance at 3200,4300,5200,6500 and 8000. while having 4300 is nice, I sure wish I could dial that in via the menu when I shoot tungesten and want to go for a warmer look. it would also be so handy when trying to get a WB outdoors and you wanted to go a little warmer or cooler than what the camera was giving you.

now you can go into the R and B paint menu items an play, but not really convienent, and too easy to forget about, giving you some whacked shots on the next setup and you waste time figuring out you left those things changed from 0.

Steve Oakley