Is there any way to output 1080 using HD250's HD-SDI?

[Kaku Ito]

Just wondering is there any way to output 1080 using HD250's HD-SDI?
Would the camera's optical worth capturing 1080 using, say Decklink or Kona?

[Nate Weaver]

While the camera might be able to upsample to 1080 on HD-SDI output, remember the internal processing is still going to be at 720p.

There's not going to be any advantage to going that route. It's not like the HVX where the internal frame buffers are 1080, and 720 outputs are downsampled.

[Stephan Ahonen]

Even if the camera is shooting 720, 1080 output comes in handy if your client wants 1080. And the poster is in Japan, where most of the TV networks are in 1080.

[John Mitchell]

Hi Kaku - thinking of jumping the HVX ship? I saw your early videos over there you did a terrific job posting stuff so early.
The only way to capture 1080 would be to upsample and you'll get the best quality using the HD-SDI port and a card like the Decklink or Kona to capture, and then uprezzing in software. For live work there is this Miranda product to cross-convert in realtime (720P - 1080i):
http://www.miranda.com/product.php?i=314
If you are looking for a cheaper solution there is this:
http://www.dvdo.com/pro/pro_isvp30.php
Which would live scale the analogue outputs of the HD100/110 or 200 but not the HD-SDI of the 250 - to capture this signal you'd also need a Kona or Decklink with analogue inputs, or a Multibridge HDPro to convert the analogue HD back to HD-SDI. Of course you also lose your all digital path but I can guarantee you it'll be much less than the Miranda.
720P to 1080i should give very acceptable results especially compared to the Z1, whos lens and optical block actually capture less lines of resolution than the HD100.
Neither of the solutions mentioned above would be suitable for portable work.
Alternatively you could look at the new SI camera if your budget can stretch to $20K.

[Kaku Ito]

Thanks all to your inputs.

While I was guessing how it would be as Nate mentioned, however what John mentioned is exactly the answer I was looking for.

XL-H1 might be the best for 1080 in the price range, but I just can't get used to the form factor of XL-H1 (pushing the cam against the shoulder) while HD100 was very comfortable operating on my shoulder.

John, thank you for the acknowledgement. I have been having problems with my HVX200 that I can’t backup the clips through firewire port with connecting firewire hard disk drives nor connecting HVX200 to G5 Quad. Only way is to insert the P2 cards directly to appropriate PowerBook G4 (which I don’t use anymore). I missed few opportunities for shooting, and it came back from Panasonic repair saying nothing is wrong.

I’m contacting JVC if we can work something out.

[John Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Kaku Ito

Thanks all to your inputs.

John, thank you for the acknowledgement. I have been having problems with my HVX200 that I can’t backup the clips through firewire port with connecting firewire hard disk drives nor connecting HVX200 to G5 Quad. Only way is to insert the P2 cards directly to appropriate PowerBook G4 (which I don’t use anymore). I missed few opportunities for shooting, and it came back from Panasonic repair saying nothing is wrong.

I’m contacting JVC if we can work something out.

There does seem to be some workflow issues for HVX users. It seems the world is not quite ready for P2. Shame really.

Kaku - with the solutions I mentioned above, the cheapest option really comes down to whether you want to transcode live or in post - it is obviously cheaper (and easier) to ingest at 720P and then transcode the images in post. Also please remember that the above suggestions are theoretical solutions - although you could almost guarantee the Miranda would work.

I have heard that companies like AJA and BMD are working on cross-conversion products. At the moment it's vapourware and rumour, but within 6 months there may well be some cheaper solutions out there for both analogue and HD-SDI 720P-1080i conversion.

[Kaku Ito]

Originally Posted by John Mitchell

There does seem to be some workflow issues for HVX users. It seems the world is not quite ready for P2. Shame really.

Kaku - with the solutions I mentioned above, the cheapest option really comes down to whether you want to transcode live or in post - it is obviously cheaper (and easier) to ingest at 720P and then transcode the images in post. Also please remember that the above suggestions are theoretical solutions - although you could almost guarantee the Miranda would work.

I have heard that companies like AJA and BMD are working on cross-conversion products. At the moment it's vapourware and rumour, but within 6 months there may well be some cheaper solutions out there for both analogue and HD-SDI 720P-1080i conversion.

Don't worry about your responsibilities on the theoritical solutions because I have used Kona and Decklink HD and know what they can do, so I know what you mentioned is pretty much correct. Remember I was the first one to find out the problem on Multibridge live analog input (well, actually someone pointed out from my clip)? I'm well equipped to do those test as long as I have the cams. So in the future, I will do those tests with HD250 (I pretty much decided to sell HVX200 and buy HD250 and hoping to buy better version of HD1, too).

I will list the environment that I have in the future, so I would take suggestions for my tests in the future.