I got the DVX100! I have some Qs!

[David Nussbaum]

Man this camera is a beauty.

ok, i have some questions.

1.) How come sometimes when im zoomed in all the way, just testing lighting and stuff, shooting my cat, it starts to zoom out on its own very slowly? i have no idea why its doing that...

2.) What is the difference between 24p and 24p advance? Which should I use?

3.) Which brand of MiniDV tape do you recommend?

4.) I use 24p mode, and hook it up to my tube TV, but i can still see interlacing, shouldnt 24p neutralize this? or is it because my TV doesnt support something?

[Tim Otholt]

1. No idea why it is zooming out. Is this in 60i with auto-focus?

2. Don't use 24pa (advanced) unless you have dvfilmmaker from dvfilmmaker.com. 24pa requires pre-processing step before importing into a 24fps timeline, something you will need to do more research to into (and buy new software) to take advantage of.

3. Panasonic 63MQ tapes... www.tapestockonline.com... 5.75 each.

http://www.tapestockonline.com/pan63minmaster.html

Dry lubricant tape, Panasonic's best. Whatever brand you choose, don't change brands or you risk head clogs. I refuse to put other other people's tapes in my camera now that I've seen how annoying head clogs are.

4. 24p won't get rid of interlacing on an interlaced tv. Your tv is still interlaced. 30p on the otherhand should look quite pretty darn close.

Tim

[Jeff Donald]

If your shopping tape please consider Pro Tape, one of the sponsors of this community. Their pricing is very competitive and they offer the same products.

http://www.pro-tape.com/

Jeff

[David Nussbaum]

thanks for answering! yeah i've read about headclogs. what exactly happens? thats why im affraid to put these tapes i bought into my camera. I bought some panasonic ones, but my friend who really knows his stuff recommended another brand, so im scared...

[Jeff Donald]

I think by far and away the Panasonic's are the most popular brand here. I would also consider Sony and Fuji as high quality tapes also. The general consensus is to pick a brand and do not switch brands. This is one of the most popular topics here. Searching the forums will yield additional thoughts and comments on the subject.

Jeff

[David Nussbaum]

cool, i check older posts.

k, I hooked up the S-video and my dvx100 to my HDTV, and it minimized the scanline, but then again it isnt quite as sharp.

I think it looks better on the tube TV downstairs.

[Tim Otholt]

I own a 6 year old Sony 53" KP53XBR45 tv ($4000), one of Sony's ancient but top of the line projection TVs for the time. I had it ISF calibrated, manual lens focusing, blah, blah blah. I plugged in my DVX100 into it through both composite and s-video, and got a really awesome looking picture from it.

I plugged the DVX100 into my friend's brand new $3000 HD tv through the s-video inputs, and was terribly unimpressed. For starters the guns aren't even close to converging correctly, even after I used the very limited menu adjustment procedure. Then I tried all the usual stuff: turn down the contrast, turn down the brightness, etc, etc.

It would also appear that the resolution on some of these HD tvs just isn't there. The majority of these "HD" tvs *appear* to be nothing more than a non-HD tv with an HD decoder.

I got this nagging feeling that TV manufacturers are trying to pull the wool over our eyes... or at least when they claim an HD tv, it's an HD tv only because it can decode HD, but that's it.

Very sad.

I'll stick with my ancient 4:3 set for the foreseeable future. The only thing that impressed me are those 3-chip DLP projectors, but the little lines between the pixels still are too big for my taste.

Tim