First impressions of the HDC-TM700

[C.S. Michael]

I also use Sony Vegas Pro 8 c, and have been editing (or at least attempting to edit) 60P. Be sure to set your preview to the "Auto" setting.

Of course the TM700 also shoots 60i and 24 (via 60i), but reports (Camcorderinfo, etc.) indicate that the TM700 captures maximum resolution in the 60P mode, so I'm shooting 60P. I'm not yet sure how to best render the 60P, and it's during rendering that I am having trouble -- sometimes Vegas crashes. I've tried rendering to WMV (24p and 30P) and also Sony MXF (720P 60P). Sometimes it works, and sometimes it crashes. There's probably a better workflow for these 60P files, but I haven't found it yet.

[C.S. Michael]

Just an update... I edit on a couple of different PCs. I'm using 32-bit Vegas Pro 8(c) on both. But the two have different operating systems (the older has 32-bit Windows 7, while the newer PC has 64-bit Windows 7).

The 60P files are crashing Vegas on my Core i& with 64-bit Windows 7. But they edit and render just fine on my older laptop with 32-bit Windows 7. So perhaps some of my render problems are related to the 64-bit operating system.

[Mike McKay]

Have you tried the Demo version of Vegas 9 Pro 64bit on your 64bit machine? Give it a shot see what happens, not sure if it's limited in any way other than time.

[Tom Bostick]

Originally Posted by C.S. Michael

I also use Sony Vegas Pro 8 c, and have been editing (or at least attempting to edit) 60P. Be sure to set your preview to the "Auto" setting.

Of course the TM700 also shoots 60i and 24 (via 60i), but reports (Camcorderinfo, etc.) indicate that the TM700 captures maximum resolution in the 60P mode, so I'm shooting 60P. I'm not yet sure how to best render the 60P, and it's during rendering that I am having trouble -- sometimes Vegas crashes. I've tried rendering to WMV (24p and 30P) and also Sony MXF (720P 60P). Sometimes it works, and sometimes it crashes. There's probably a better workflow for these 60P files, but I haven't found it yet.

i havent used the 1080p 60 fps clips yet ,but for 720p 60fps clips i render with quicktime photo jpeg at 100% quality

[C.S. Michael]

I have been sticking with 32-bit Vegas because my Magic Bullet plug-in apparently is not compatible with the 64-bit version. (Basically I had to choose between Magic Bullet and the increased memory usage of the 64-bit). But I will give the 64-bit demo a shot to see if the crashing continues.

By the way, I also just tried rendering 60P footage to Quicktime Motion JPEG, and much to my surprise, it worked! The resulting file is quite large, but it looks great. Thanks for the tip.

[Eliot Goshman]

Download the FREE Edius Neo 2 Booster editing software (30 day trial) at EDIUS Neo 2 Booster | Grass Valley ...then download 1080/60p sample footage at vimeo.com to test. You'll be amazed how smooth it is, and no conversion.

[Michael F. Grgurev]

I just picked up my TM700 and I'm pretty happy with it so far. However, I was wondering if you noticed an exceptional (or any) amount of audible grinding when utilizing the control ring. I'm wondering if I should return mine for a new one.

I plan on doing some test shots too.. in particular differences in quality from the different modes. I'll post em when I do. The most bothersome thing I find so far is a lack of seperate gain and iris controls... although of course I have to keep reminding myself it is consumer. In very low light, I prefer to keep the gain levels a bit more limited (then brighten in post) then what the Ai cranks them all the way up to, but that also means locking the iris, so I need to be ready to make adjustments if I move into a brighter area or more lights come on when filming indoors. Obviously the surround sound mic also isn't ideal for all situations, but I planned on attaching an external for it from the get go.

---- Edit ---

Okay, nevermind the ring noise. As it turns out it was the shoe adapter port lid rubbing up against the ring :p

[Graham Hickling]

The HMC40 does the same - no gain applied until iris fully open.

[Steve Pond]

Anyone have a mini-shotgun mic recommendation for this camera? I just picked one up and I'm looking to install a more directional mic. Thx.

[C.S. Michael]

If you want a small shotgun mic, Sennheiser MKE400 is about as small as it gets.

[Ervin Farkas]

Could someone please give me a link to some Panny TM700K 1080P60 raw footage?

I would like to do both some quality evaluation and editing tests.

Thank you,

[Steven D. Martin]

I just returned from two weeks of taping in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank. I left my EX1 at home and went with a less conspicuous, tourist-camera-geek-looking rig. I used a Panny TM700 and a Canon T2i with an assortment of lenses. I shot 1080/60p with the Panny and 1080/24p with the Canon in hopes of editing in a 24p timeline. That didn't work out, but here's the workflow I'm going to use (I have a Mac with FCP 7).

I'll transcode the MTS files into ProRes 422 with Clipwrap, which loses the 5.1 surround sound but preserves the 60p frame rate. I set up a 1080/30p sequence in FCP with ProRes 422 as the codec. The Panny files do not have to be rendered in order to play back, but the MOV files from the T2i do. Everything look good, the motion I prefer looks good, and the render times are reasonably low.

BTW, Premiere reads the MTS files without the transcoding step. The 60p material has to be rendered in the timeline, but the 5.1 surround sound is preserved.

I'll let you know how this goes once I get into some cuttin' on this material.

[Paulo Teixeira]

Where are you putting this?
DVD? Blu-Ray? Web?

If it's the web, perhaps you can put it on Vimeo so that people can download it.

[Stuart Brontman]

I'm trying to figure out the 60P editing sequence... Can you "convert" the 1080 60p into 30p footage and have normal speed? In other words, can you use the 60p footage for acquisition, edit it, and output standard 30p footage that's more easily played back on various systems...

The 60p samples look great and I'm considering the HDC-TM700 as a nice "home" camera and backup in the field, but only if I can cut its footage with my standard 1080i and 30p footage.

Thanks.

[C.S. Michael]

Stuart, I haven't tried converting 60P to 30P, but I have converted 60P to 24P Sony MXF 1920x1080 with no problem using the Sony Vegas 8 batch rendering tool. It plays as normal speed 24fps, but you retain the benefits of TM700 resolution in 60P mode.

If memory serves, you can convert ("copy") clips IN CAMERA from 60P to 60i AVCHD.